Our August book group was as raucous as a book group can get, with everyone eager to add their opinions.
Summary:
A senior policeman known for brutality is violently knifed while in his hospital bed. Within a 24-hour period, Martin Beck investigates the policeman’s many enemies in an attempt to identify the killer, for whom the murder was only a precursor to a Charles Whitman-style attack on Stockholm. Since they cannot find a starting clue, the police go in the archives of the police ombudsman where they find many old complaints about Nyman. They encounter the entry of their former colleague Åke Eriksson; Eriksson’s wife was in diabetic coma but she was considered drunk by Nyman and locked in the drunk cell, where she died. Finally, on the roof of a skyscraper in downtown Stockholm, it comes to a showdown with Eriksson, who has lost everything, at which point the novel ends with Martin Beck seriously injured by a gunshot. The Abominable Man. (2017, April 22). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:15, September 3, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Abominable_Man&oldid=776612790
Group Review/Comments:
8 thumbs up! All members present who read the book voted it thumbs up. Following are some of the comments from group members:
“I liked the conflict between the leads.”
“There was no love interest to distract .”
“Ending was abrupt, but liked it.”
“Interesting perspective on Sweden-the negative view on the ‘nanny state’.”
“Wasn’t so much a mystery, as in “who done it” but “how to catch him.”
“Not formulaic.”
“Exciting read.”
“Sweden an integral part of story.”
“I liked the social commentary; I learned about Sweden and Stockholm.”
“The nicotine was everywhere! A real sense of place and time.”
“Well written action scenes, really able to invoke movements.”
“Good portrayal of police activities.”
” Beck was a product of his culture and time.”
“A Swedish version of an American hard boiled detective.”
