De politiemoordenaar.
Blijft gezellig en ontspannend. Toch ook niet slecht dat het de voorlaatste is in de reeks (de kritiek op de Zweedse samenleving in de jaren zestig en zeventig krijgt af en toe teveel aandacht) ( )

The 9th in Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö's series of police procedural novels featuring Stockholm homicide detective Martin Beck is faster paced than some of the previous entries, which is not to diminish those prior books in any way. This one revolves around the disappearance of a woman in southern Sweden, the likelihood that the killer is a man Beck knows from a previous case (depicted in the first Beck novel, ROSEANNA), and Beck's increasing realization that there's more going on than the open-shut case everyone thinks this is. Beck is a great character, in part because he has no flamboyance, no colorful stereotypical detective-novel traits. He's a guy who slogs through his job and does his best and worries about whether it actually is his best. The Beck novels are thorough and cynical and very involving, filled with not only intricate, well-plotted mysteries but pungent social criticism. I'm sorry there are so few of them. This one was very good. ( )

Cop Killer (1974) (Martin Beck #8) by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo. Like the first seven books in the Martin Beck series, this too is great. A woman disappears in a small Swedish town. This is an almost daily happening somewhere in the world and nothing to be too alarmed about. People walk away from their lives for thousands of different reasons, while a small percentage are taken from their routine life against their wishes. This woman might have been abducted by her neighbor, Folke Bengtsson. He was once convicted of murdering an American tourist. That murder was detailed in the first book of this series, Roseanna.
With his return in this crime novel, the powers that be decide to send Martin Beck and Lennart Kollberg from of the National Police Squad to assist in the investigation. The woman is missing and signs point to Folke as possibly having given her a ride back from town to her house. A house that is down the road a bit yet the next house along from Folke’s.
While the investigation drags along slowly, a second event, seemingly unrelated occurs. Three policemen, during a traffic stop, are shot at by one of the two young men in the stopped car. One young man escapes, the other is killed. One of the police is killed by the unexpected and surprising “Cop Killer” of the title. A nationwide alert is put out for the car the second man drove off in, but he soon ditches it and steals another, then heads off for Stockholm.
As in each of the previous books, seemingly random events lead to the actual criminal. Beck and Kohlberg talk to a lot of people, eat many meals, and wait for the puzzle to break. The woman’s body is discovered by hikers almost at the end of the book. Folke is arrested though neither of the detectives is convinced he is guilty. There is the usual interference from higher authorities that called for his arrest, quietly wanting the case ended without further ado.
But this book is not meant to be only a police story. This decade of novels written over a decade is a cry from the authors calling out injustice in Swedish society of that time. The books are about the overwhelming injustice felt at all but the highest levels of society. Look to the streets of any country today and you can see what they were writing about almost 60 years ago.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
While these books are now relics from a former age, you might be surprised at just how alive they are and relevant to the world of today. And they are among the first of the “police procedural” novels out there, framing the structure for what was to come. Read these as fun, as a journey to the past, as a harbinger for today and tomorrow, but just read them. And I suggest you start with Roseanna and go straight through the series. You won’t be disappointed. ( )

The 9th book in the Martin Beck series has Martin investigating the disappearance of a middle-aged divorcee in a remote Swedish town. As the plot unfolds, a separate police shooting incident in Stockholm entangles the Cop Killer of the title and some of Martin's team are diverted to the ensuing manhunt.

Sjowall and Wahloo are scathing here about the Swedish police force. Their writing seems to become more political as the series progresses.

This novel has a lot of references back to the earlier books, notably Roseanna. This tested my memory a bit and reduced my enjoyment of the book. The story is good though, and the ending rather neat. ( )

En kvinna försvinner i den skånska orten Anderslöv, och eftersom hennes granne Folke Bengtsson tidigare dömts för mordet på en amerikansk turist, Roseanna McGraw, kallas Martin Beck till platsen. Efter en tid hittas kvinnans kropp i en dypöl, och Folke Bengtsson häktas misstänkt för mordet. Kort därefter blir en polispatrull inblandad i en skottväxling med två unga inbrottstjuvar; en av tjuvarna dödas och poliserna skadas allvarligt. När en av poliserna senare avlider, inleds en intensiv polisjakt på den överlevande tjuven. Denne har flytt till Stockholm.