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Classic Swedish Noir

Martin Beck Book Series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö

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In 1965 writing partners (and partners in real life) Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö embarked on a quest – to write and publish ten novels in ten years featuring Stockholm’s Martin Beck. The novels, police procedurals, were structured as not only mysteries, but reflections and commentary on modern Swedish society. The duo wore alternating chapters – but since I haven’t read any of their individual works I couldn’t;t guess who wrote which chapter in any given novel. The books are cohesive and follow policeman Martin […]

I never read prologues.

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

White Fang by Jack London

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

The Man on the Balcony by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

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In the Dream House – 4/5 Stars This memoir came out a year or so ago, and because I was kind of mixed on the short story collection, I didn’t pick it up. Since then, I’ve been a little back and forth on reading it or not reading. Partly, because of the subject matter, I knew it would be rough going. And it is. This is a book that involves Carmen Maria Machado looking back and narrating being in an abusive relationship with another writer, […]

The room was small and shabby.

The Man Who Went Up in Smoke by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

The Fog by James Herbert

The Influence by Ramsay Campbell

Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

The Dark Country by Dennis Etchison

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

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The Man Who Went up in Smoke – 4/5 Stars This is the second of the Martin Beck books, and I’ve read about half of them now. This follows up Roseanna, the first of the books, and a strong entry into the series. I think this book is also quite strong, and like the other books in the series seems to be laying the groundwork for a lot of the ways these books have been so influential over the years. In this book, we follow […]

Leaving it all on the field

The Terrorists by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö

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Is this it? Really it? All I get from the Martin Beck series? Damn. What great books these are. They’ve ruined the police procedural for me forever. When I first sat down to read Roseanna about five years ago, I would have never guessed this would become one of my favorite book series of all time. I found it to be a drab, uninspiring procedural novel. Fun if you like reading about shoe leather detective work but otherwise nothing special. And then someone turned me on to […]

The Swedish Maigret? Hah!

Cop Killer by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö

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I don’t know if Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö planned for there to only be ten books in the Martin Beck series but here, at book nine, things seem to be wrapping up. This book is the most self-referential of its predecessors by far, even going as far as bringing a former convict from one of the past crimes back as a minor but important character. It acknowledges the journey you go on with these people. At the heart of this one is Martin Beck. […]

His name was apparently Charles Penrose and the record was called The Adventures of the Laughing Policeman.

The Laughing Policeman by Maj Slowall and Per Wahloo

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This is the fourth Martin Beck novel and I didn’t like it as much as almost any of the others I’ve read, but it’s still good. It begins with a terrible incident on a bus in which a group of riders is murdered by a gunman with a machine gun. In a lot of ways it previews the kinds of horrific violence we understand daily in the US and the book is pretty angry that a mass killing has made its way to the shores […]



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