The Abominable Man

The striking seventh novel in the Martin Beck mystery series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, finds Beck facing one of the greatest challenges in his professional career.

The gruesome murder of a police captain in his hospital room reveals the unsavory history of a man who spent forty years practicing a horrible blend of strong-arm police work and shear brutality. Martin Beck and his colleagues feverishly comb Stockholm for the murderer, a demented and deadly rifleman, who has plans for even more chaos. As the tension builds and a feeling of imminent danger grips Beck, his investigation unearths evidence of police corruption. That’s when an even stronger sense of responsibility and something like shame urge him into taking a series of drastic steps, which lead to a shocking disaster.“A taut, gripping narrative.... A book you won’t—easily—put down.”
—Chicago Tribune

“Lively, stylistically taut . . . Sjöwall and Wahlöö changed the genre.”–Henning Mankell

"One of the most authentic, gripping and profound collections of police procedurals ever accomplished."–Michael Connelly

“Sjöwall and Wahlöö write unsparingly and unswervingly. . . . Their plots are second to none.”–Val McDermidMaj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, her husband and coauthor, wrote ten Martin Beck mysteries. Mr Wahlöö, who died in 1975, was a reporter for several Swedish newspapers and magazines and wrote numerous radio and television plays, film scripts, short stories, and novels. Maj Sjöwall is also a poet.