The long way round
Author : Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
Title : The Man Who Went Up In Smoke
Published : 23/06/2011
Pages : 288
Genre : Crime Ficiton
Publisher : Fourth Estate
Martin Beck has just begun his holiday: an August spent with his family on a small island off the coast of Sweden. But when a neighbor gets a phone call, Beck finds himself packed off to Budapest, where a boorish journalist has vanished without a trace. Instead of passing leisurely sun-filled days with his children, Beck must troll about in the Eastern Europe underworld for a man nobody knows, with the aid of the coolly efficient local police, who do business while soaking at the public baths - and at the risk of vanishing along with his quarry.
This is a book that has taken me some time to get around to reading, sitting on my to be read pile patiently waiting for its turn. When I first bought it sounded like an interesting book to spend some time with. I was however unaware that these two authors were responsible for the style of crime fiction that I have come to love and experience many times over.
In the reading of this book, it is far to easy to fall into the trap of thinking of Beck as the cliche of the broken cop trying to do his best and solve the crime. I think for the most part this is down to how modern procedural crime fiction is written. This series of books came out long before and serves as-as sort of template for what came after. So I have to look at it objectively and push past the like of Bosch and Harry Hole and seem him as he was when these books first came out. It must have been like a strong wind brushing away the cobwebs of established crime writing.
At first, I struggle to get a grip on who Beck was, This in part I think is down to joining him in the second book in the series. Unlike new incarnations little time is spent catching new readers up to date. The is also the issues of how we tend to get a handle on people by how they interact with friends and colleges. Here Beck is thrown out of his comfort zone by being sent to Budapest. However, as the book progressed thing started to become more apparent. He falls more into the cerebral detective section, Breaking down each clue and splitting it down till nothing is left.
There are times when this book still feels like the useless foreign detective need help to solve a crime. But overall the local cops seem to be completely lacking in interest as to what happened to the missing journalist. What stood out most for me was the way in which the describe Budapest, in the beautiful passages it brings the city to life and you can feel your self-immersed as Beck wonders around the city. There are some small thriller elements to the book but this isn't really what it's about. By the time you get to the ending, it does seem a little too anticlimactic and all too mundane. It is however very realistic, And as I previously stated you have to take it in the context of when this book came out in the sixty's. What I do think is work as an appetizer for what is to come. So I'm sure I will return to Beck to see what he has been up to.
This is a book that has taken me some time to get around to reading, sitting on my to be read pile patiently waiting for its turn. When I first bought it sounded like an interesting book to spend some time with. I was however unaware that these two authors were responsible for the style of crime fiction that I have come to love and experience many times over.
In the reading of this book, it is far to easy to fall into the trap of thinking of Beck as the cliche of the broken cop trying to do his best and solve the crime. I think for the most part this is down to how modern procedural crime fiction is written. This series of books came out long before and serves as-as sort of template for what came after. So I have to look at it objectively and push past the like of Bosch and Harry Hole and seem him as he was when these books first came out. It must have been like a strong wind brushing away the cobwebs of established crime writing.
At first, I struggle to get a grip on who Beck was, This in part I think is down to joining him in the second book in the series. Unlike new incarnations little time is spent catching new readers up to date. The is also the issues of how we tend to get a handle on people by how they interact with friends and colleges. Here Beck is thrown out of his comfort zone by being sent to Budapest. However, as the book progressed thing started to become more apparent. He falls more into the cerebral detective section, Breaking down each clue and splitting it down till nothing is left.
There are times when this book still feels like the useless foreign detective need help to solve a crime. But overall the local cops seem to be completely lacking in interest as to what happened to the missing journalist. What stood out most for me was the way in which the describe Budapest, in the beautiful passages it brings the city to life and you can feel your self-immersed as Beck wonders around the city. There are some small thriller elements to the book but this isn't really what it's about. By the time you get to the ending, it does seem a little too anticlimactic and all too mundane. It is however very realistic, And as I previously stated you have to take it in the context of when this book came out in the sixty's. What I do think is work as an appetizer for what is to come. So I'm sure I will return to Beck to see what he has been up to.
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