Rating: 
Summary: Gruesome Murder
Review: Welcome to Stockholm Sweden the home of vicious murder. The Laughing Policeman begins similarly to a James Patterson novel with a gruesome act of terror and human sacrifice as a meticulous criminal times his entry onto a double-decker bus and mows down all the passengers with a shower of bullets. The crime seems to be without motive until super detective Martin Beck guesses that the act of terror was not random, but some one was intentionally killed and the mass killings are a twisted and evil cover up. This enticing introduction can pull readers in, but the lack of mystery to follow slowly takes away this mystery's momentum. The book seems more about the Swedish detectives, as the story takes us into their imperfect and all to familiar lives. We see the detectives interacting with bosses, and family, but never enough on the trail of the killer. Most of the detection done here is done at the office and through questioning. Discovery of facts comes from looking at old files and the detectives just don't get their hands dirty enough. While there is a clear blend of class and rank found in the social status of Stockholm in this book I didn't feel that it was enough to keep the flow of the mystery theme. A solid book for anyone interested in characters and but not so much for those who want an action packed mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Gruesome Murder
Review: Welcome to Stockholm Sweden the home of vicious murder. The Laughing Policeman begins similarly to a James Patterson novel with a gruesome act of terror and human sacrifice as a meticulous criminal times his entry onto a double-decker bus and mows down all the passengers with a shower of bullets. The crime seems to be without motive until super detective Martin Beck guesses that the act of terror was not random, but some one was intentionally killed and the mass killings are a twisted and evil cover up. This enticing introduction can pull readers in, but the lack of mystery to follow slowly takes away this mystery's momentum. The book seems more about the Swedish detectives, as the story takes us into their imperfect and all to familiar lives. We see the detectives interacting with bosses, and family, but never enough on the trail of the killer. Most of the detection done here is done at the office and through questioning. Discovery of facts comes from looking at old files and the detectives just don't get their hands dirty enough. While there is a clear blend of class and rank found in the social status of Stockholm in this book I didn't feel that it was enough to keep the flow of the mystery theme. A solid book for anyone interested in characters and but not so much for those who want an action packed mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: I can't hope to find better mysteries
Review: What is it that attracts readers to a volume by an unknown author who has had no publicity, only to discover some exquisite reading? My little library branch displayed among its new arrivals "Somewhere In France" by Gardiner. What led me to check it out I don't know. But I was glad I did.In 1990 I was waiting to be checked out at a bookstore when my eye fell on Patrick O'Brian's "Master and Commander," displayed alongside his "Post Captain" on a shelf below the counter. I'm not a big fan of sea stories. Had never heard of O'Brian (and wouldn't hear a peep about him out of the reviewers for a year). But I bought the book for reasons I'll never fathom. Next day I returned in a great fever to get "Post Captain." Like a literary Johnny Appleseed, I have been turning friends on to O'Brian ever since. In the early seventies I had never heard of the Swedish husband/wife writing team Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo -- names that should have put me off. But some cosmic force compelled me to open their "Roseanna" and I was hooked. Still am. For years, while re-reading their exquisite novels, I pondered what it is about them that is so satisfying to me. Their contempt for many police officers is one attraction. There are pilots who should never leave the ground, doctors who should never touch a patient, and so on. So it is not surprising there are police officers who belong in another line of work. These novels describe fine detective work AND contemptible police work in delightful detail. It is often subtly hilarious if you are paying attention. In one of the stories a body was found in an enclosed snow-covered yard. A fine opportunity to examine clues, us armchair detectives note. Unfortunately, the two beat-cops who found the body idly strolled over every inch of the yard while waiting for the detectives to get to the scene. There are reporters (probably a majority) who should be reading the news instead of trying to write it. Woven into these stories are scenes that describe the incompetence of members of the press - high-up detectives have a lot of intercourse with the press. An example is offered in a press conference early in "The Laughing Policeman." A Stockholm bus is found with the driver and passengers dead. Among the passengers was a detective. One of Martin Beck's Homicide Division officers volunteered for the unpleasant task of conducting a press conference. The crime has only just occurred and little is yet known about it. Some of the questions are illustrative the Sjowall's and Wahloo's view of the press. (Sjowall was himself a reporter.) Some of the answers reveal the detectives' compulsion to play with their questioners. A few examples from a long conference: Q: How many persons were in the bus? A: Eight. Q: Were they all dead? A: Yes. Q: Was their death caused by external violence? A: Probably. Q: Were there signs of shooting? A: Yes. Q: So all these people had been shot dead? A: Probably. Q: Are there any traces or clues that point to one particular person? A: No. Q: Were the murders committed by one and the same person? A: Don't know. Q: Is there anything to indicate that more than one person killed these eight people? A: No. Q: How could a single person kill eight people in a bus before anyone had time to resist? A: Don't know. Q: Was Inspector Stenstrom [the officer who was killed] one of the passengers in the bus? A: He wasn't driving at any rate. Superb writing. And the stories reek with credibility. The crimes are solved with dogged and sometimes brilliant detective work. Never by incredible coincidence. When there is a coincidence it is wholly credible - indeed, chance happenings often lead to the solutions of real crimes. Too often in real life, though, the coincidental discovery of evidence is ignored. Remember that the L.A. police spent months querying police departments nationwide about a .22 revolver that might have been used by the Charles Manson gang. The father and son who found the gun in Laurel Canyon and turned it in gave up after repeatedly reminding LAPD that they probably had the gun. They finally appealed to a TV reporter who woke the cops up by threatening to go public with the info. (Read "Helter Skelter.") Judging by some comments below, as a Sjowall/Wahloo fan I'm in good company. Warning: Those who read with their minds in Park won't fathom some of this. And if you are really hooked on a few of the hot crime writers of today that come to my mind, you might not like this realistic stuff.
Rating:
Summary: what lurks among us
Review: When a bus turns up with nine murdered passengers and zero suspects, the Swedish police force must solve a crime that has very little precedence. In an interview, Gunvald Larsson pauses to stare at the questioner and responds that he cannot say the crime scene is the most ghastly sight he has ever seen. By refusing to elaborate, Larsson makes palpable the reality of the private police force investigation... The investigation proves more than just a murder mystery, however. It becomes an exploration of Swedish society itself examining the mysterious interweaving amongst the underworld, private life, and the idealized society that is Sweden. Beck, Kollberg, and the rest of the force soon discover the assassin is a man who lives among them, and their pursuit leads them into the world of success and security that Swedish society promotes. Ultimately, it is this prosperity that breeds the protective instinct and drives the assassin to criminal measures.
Rating: 
Summary: The Laughing Policeman
Review: While "The Laughing Policeman" ostensibly focuses on Sjowall and Wahloo's protagonist Martin Beck, the book truly gains its appeal not solely through the depiction of Beck, but rather through the colorful cast of all the policemen involved in this mystery of a busload of citizens and one policeman murdered, seemingly without motive. Sjowall and Wahloo are not only skilled at character development, however. The pleasure I got from meeting and getting to know each of their idiosyncratic policemen was only surpassed by seeing each of their methods and discoveries coming together to finally solve the case (whose solution, itself, brilliantly comes through the examination of a policeman's character). Every time the narrative found a new policeman to follow, I found myself wishing that this one had been the protagonist. And while I occasionally found myself confused by the names of the characters and places of the story (I admit to being a novice regarding Sweden and Swedish), I found Wahloo/Sjowall's depiction of 1968 Stockholm as a dark, dreary city full of criminal elements and lacking any innocents on a par with the literary Londons, New Yorks, and Los Angeleses of the world. Despite being more of a police procedural, concerned with the details of the case, rather than a Sherlock Holmes-style case with an explosive surprise ending, "The Laughing Policeman" kept me interested both in its characters and its story up until the last page. I'd recommend it to anyone as a good read, and especially to fans of the police procedural.
Rating:
Summary: The Laughing Policeman
Review: While "The Laughing Policeman" ostensibly focuses on Sjowall and Wahloo's protagonist Martin Beck, the book truly gains its appeal not solely through the depiction of Beck, but rather through the colorful cast of all the policemen involved in this mystery of a busload of citizens and one policeman murdered, seemingly without motive. Sjowall and Wahloo are not only skilled at character development, however. The pleasure I got from meeting and getting to know each of their idiosyncratic policemen was only surpassed by seeing each of their methods and discoveries coming together to finally solve the case (whose solution, itself, brilliantly comes through the examination of a policeman's character). Every time the narrative found a new policeman to follow, I found myself wishing that this one had been the protagonist. And while I occasionally found myself confused by the names of the characters and places of the story (I admit to being a novice regarding Sweden and Swedish), I found Wahloo/Sjowall's depiction of 1968 Stockholm as a dark, dreary city full of criminal elements and lacking any innocents on a par with the literary Londons, New Yorks, and Los Angeleses of the world. Despite being more of a police procedural, concerned with the details of the case, rather than a Sherlock Holmes-style case with an explosive surprise ending, "The Laughing Policeman" kept me interested both in its characters and its story up until the last page. I'd recommend it to anyone as a good read, and especially to fans of the police procedural.
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