In the, for me strange, art of writing with four hands (a formula perfectly exploited today by Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril under the pseudonym of lars kepler), we found two other Swedes who were able to set the tone for the Kepler's success, as they were the first to outline those stories exposed to a shared creative space. I am referring of course to the team formed by Maj Sjowall and its already deceased partner: Per Wahlöö.
Be that as it may, the truth is that in this matter of literary tandems, this Nordic country seems to lead the way, also for the same criminal genre that, in the case of Sjöwall and Wahlöö, was taken as a reference for the genre that even the largest of the always thriving black genre, Henning Mankell, He took as an example for the development of his sagas around Kurt Wallander heir to the Martin Beck created previously by this unforgettable couple.
To this fertile union we owe a true decalogue of crime. A set of plots that revolve around a Martin Beck surely enriched as a character thanks to this conjunction of his narrative paternity. Because Martin Beck was born from the inspiration of Ed mbain and its 87th district, full of detectives.
And Beck ends up mimicking many of them, gathering in a single character a multitude of edges that border the contradictory spirit of the human being, capable of the worst and the best, of succumbing to the temptation to finally find himself back on the right track. An enigmatic guy, unpredictable but enriched in the 10 novels through which he walks like a tightrope walker on the tightrope of good and evil.
Top 3 Recommended Books by Per Wahlöö and Maj Sjöwall
roseanna
The first novel of this couple came out back in 1965, four years after one of the most fruitful meetings in literature. Currently, it can be considered one of those classics of the genre that, thanks to its elegance and its masterful development that is supposedly literary and far from dark effects or macabre claims, invites us on a timeless journey to those diffuse origins of black as a balanced combination between the police and the thriller.
The victim in the story has little to do with a list of suspects that runs to nearly a hundred. Desperation is guiding a Martin Beck in whose debut we already discover the intensity and meticulousness of the researcher.
In order to close the circle around the murderer of this young woman who came from a place as remote as disconnected from the slightest clue, Martin Beck will have to contemplate every minute detail and stretch the slightest hint to find something that is beginning to tear down the wall of a murderous instinct that can be guided by the most untimely passion or by the most thoughtful of outcomes ...
The locked room
The doubts about which is better Between Roseanna and The Closed Room are gigantic. Between the tension made narrative elegance of Roseanne and the assessment of a plot of greater voltage as is the case of The Closed Room, the decision will always be very personal.
The perspective of the serial killer always brings that added bonus of what can happen, the morbid point of whether the cops will arrive before the killer finds a new victim.
In this eighth installment of the saga, the narrative team had to leave the skin to achieve that offset effect between the action of a robbery and the appearance of a victim made a dilemma because death appears without a motive or human possibility of having materialized.
The room in which the victim lies is presented to us as a challenge to the intellect, as a challenge, an enigma at the height of the most disconcerting Agatha Christie. While the thieves are wanted in a chase at times comical, both the reader and Martin Beck himself can begin to wonder if all this is nothing more than a misdirection maneuver ...
The terrorists
Reading this tenth and final novel knowing that there can no longer be a continuation is a point of melancholy disappointment. With this story we bid farewell to a Martin Beck who has beaten us with great stories even on the brink of death.
And to leave the scene, Martin Beck must face one of those cases in which the sword of Damocles looms over him, with a superhuman responsibility in taking charge of security during the visit of an American politician who, on the other hand, he won't make it easy for you.
These are difficult days in a Sweden shaken by fear not long ago. And any minute detail can awaken the psychosis of all those who must ensure that nothing happens.
Only Martin can ensure that things go well. Or at least that's how he takes on the mission until his security is cracking to unsuspected points. Nothing around them seems prepared to avoid disaster, and mass fear specialists would know how to find the fault from the first moment.
2 comments on “The 3 best books by Per Wahlöö and Maj Sjöwall”