失蹤的消防車

Martin Beck #5

by Maj Sjöwall, 麥伊·荷瓦兒, Per Wahlöö

先是一聲震耳的巨響，接著火就燒了開來。一樓右邊住家的窗子炸開，

山牆幾乎整個崩離，同時，冰藍色的長長烈焰從破窗熊熊湧出。

剛瓦德．拉森站在小丘上，雙臂大張，好似一尊救世主雕像，

愣愣地看著路那一端發生的事情。屋裡傳來痛苦、恐懼的絕望叫喊……



瑞典，斯德哥爾摩，深夜。就在探員剛瓦德・拉森抵達城中某座公寓附近，準備和在寒風中監視一名毒販的菜鳥警察換班時，十一點零九分，公寓突然爆炸，瞬間陷入火海。拉森立刻衝向公寓營救住戶，在此同時，某個神祕男子也從城中某座電話亭通報火警。然而早已派出的消防車遲遲不來，火場已有數人喪生。

儘管火場鑑識認為，火災肇因是那名毒販封死公寓住處，開瓦斯自盡所致，但馬丁・貝克對此判斷依然存疑——引爆瓦斯火花從何而來？消防車為何詭異地姍姍來遲？而後，犯罪鑑識組證實了他的懷疑——引爆的火花，竟來自一顆藏在死者床底下的燃燒彈。

是誰裝設了這顆定時炸彈？他的目的為何？

公寓爆炸當下打電話報警的男子是誰？早已出發的消防車為何憑空消失？

多名死者之間的種種連結和糾葛，真相又是如何？

馬爾摩海港中一輛沉車裡的腐屍，是否能透露破案線索？

或許，這層層套疊、起於人性的多重謀殺案，謎團的答案就在火場灰燼餘溫裡！

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Scandinavian Literature, Thriller, Sweden, Detective

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Maj Sjöwall was a Swedish author and translator. She was best known for the collaborative work with her partner Per Wahlöö on a series of ten novels about the exploits of Martin Beck, a police detective in Stockholm. In 1971, the fourth of these books, The Laughing Policeman (a translation of Den skrattande polisen, originally published in 1968) won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Novel. They also wrote novels separately.

Sjöwall had a 13 year relationship with Wahlöö which lasted until his death in 1975.

Reviews

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't remember what I've said previously about the Martin Beck books (beyond my general positivity), so I apologize if you find me repeating myself (I am too lazy to go back and read all my previous reviews). I think it is also important to note that my star rating here is contrasted with the other books I've read in the series. The rating doesn't reflect my feelings about The Fire Engine that Disappeared compared to all books -- only other Martin Beck books.

That business complete, I have to say "I dig these books!" They are amongst the best police procedurals I've read, and all Swedish crime fiction (perhaps all crime fiction) since the sixties, including (especially?) Steig Larsson, owes these books an immeasurable debt. But I don't care about the plot of this book tonight. I care about the characters, which is, I think, what Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahloo most wanted us to care about.

Martin Beck -- The man from which the series gets its name is not much more than a bit player in this tale, but he's still the place to start. He is the pivot around which everything else revolves, and the relationship between himself and his daughter, Ingrid, is one of the most beautiful father-daughter relationships I've ever read. It is true in a way that other manifestations simply aren't. At one point, she suggests that he should move out of the family home as she's about to do, hinting at a much needed divorce from the wife and son that make him so miserable. It is an expression of trusting intimacy that is potently honest. I can't help but love them both for that moment.

Kollberg -- Sarcastic, bombastic, sextastic, Kollberg has been my favourite throughout the series, and he remains so here. He starts out petulant and sarcastic, fucking with the rookie, Benny Skacke, incessantly, and winds up with nine inches of steel in his belly. It's a sweet little arc that keeps my favourite vibrant and alive. Will he still be anti-gun after his stabbing? I'm guessing yes. Dogmatically so.

Benny Skacke -- And speaking of young Skacke ... not too bad. He's a smart operator, and it is all down to his tenacity. I get the feeling that his desire to be Chief of Police is going to come to fruition by book ten. And his final error, the error that leads to serious danger, is the kind of error that will be misconstrued as heroism -- much to his benefit. Lucky bastard.

Gunvald Larsson -- Perhaps the most important man in this book, Gunvald Larsson is also the biggest prick, the most unlikeable, the most insufferable. He's the ugly cop. He's not dirty, no, no. But he is brutal, unswerving, unreasonable. He is a bully of the worst kind. He is mean, insulting, close-minded, foolish. Yet he starts this book as a hero, dragging eight people from a horrible house fire. And he milks it for all he can.

Einar Rönn -- He's Larsson's best friend, and he brings Gunvald a bunch of flowers while he's recovering from his heroism, to which his friend wonders aloud: "Did you pick them off a grave, Rönn?" Rönn winces, genuinely hurt, but his love for Larsson never wavers. Dumb? Yes. But I can't help loving him for it, and as cops go he's actually kind of okay.

Fredrik Melander -- is just plain old Melander. He pseudo-solves things early on. He loves his Plain Jane wife. He is his ordinary boring self. I can't do anything but love him for who he is.

And that, ultimately, is what makes me love these books. The characters. They are true. True and real. And I can't and won't ask for more.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fire Engine That Disappeared is #5 in the Martin Beck series by ​​Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, and it’s a good one, a superb police procedural with a side of social commentary. Sjöwall and Wahlöö are socialists, and this 1969 book reflects some of their glum thinking about the failed “liberal experiment” in society, making subtle comments through characters such as the cynic Larson throughout about free love Sweden, and the infusion of narcotics into the culture, as they watch teenaged girls prostituting themselves to get these drugs. And the increasing presence of guns they decry. Sound familiar? There aren’t many jobs for the young to land. Tough times for the non-rich, which is mostly everyone.

Larson at one points says of a criminal, “. . . between him and the root of the evil lay an enormous complex of political miscalculations and failed social philosophy.”

Another kind of socialist dimension of these books, it seems to me, to undermine the notion of the individualist loner sensational detective hero model, is that though these books are associated with Martin Beck, but it’s really a team operation, as most detectives everywhere know is the way things get done. Larson, Kolberg, Melander, Rönn, all take roles in solving this case, and I really like all the quirky, snarky, cynical personalities--all of them distinct and interesting.

There’s a lot of stuff going on. At the opening a man kills himself, Martin Beck's name is found written in his apartment, and later that night a house inhabited by a suspect in a car theft ring explodes in flames. Gunvald Larsson saves many lives in that fire, and the investigation ensues. And would seem to be figured out, after plenty of false leads, and so they close the case, but then Rönn buys his son a fire engine for his birthday, and loses it (title reference!). Rönn mentions it to Beck and Larsson, who recall a fire engine never showed up on the night of the fire. That turns out to be a key turn in the reopening of the investigation.

But while this is a complex plot, the book is more about developing characters and depicting a social moment in late sixties Swedish history. Beck is for the most part almost out of the case, visiting his mother in a retirement home, lying to his wife so he won’t have to go out on a weekend with his family, dealing with his teenage kids, just being his dour, sad sack self.

I think there’s more humor in this book than the previous ones, including a continuing gag about two cops from Skane, Kristianssen and Kvant, Keystone cops; Larson rips into them for incompetence in a comic way. They look “very much like a couple of concrete statues representing two radio policemen in leather tunics with shoulder straps and polished buttons.”

As Larson also notes, “There are lots of good cops around. Dumb guys who are good cops. Inflexible, limited, tough, self-satisfied types who are all good cops. It would be better if there were a few more good guys who were cops.”

This is a good one, very easy to read, well-written, but with no warm and fuzzy central character like Armand Gamache in the Louise Penny books or the comically grumpy Salvo Montalbano in the Andrea Camilleri books, but the writing is more than solid.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a fabulous title this one has, conjuring images of a ghostlike fire engine speeding in the dark, its sirens blazing, the blue and red flashing lights reflected off of the wet tarmac suddenly no longer illuminating the night. A huge mystery is on our hands this time Mr Beck.

This is part five of the ten book sequence of The Story of a Crime and it is as fascinating and intriguing as ever. Not so much for the mystery at the heart of this one but the police procedural nature of it all, the growing insight in to the lives of the many protagonists and the statement on Swedish society at the time.

A man kills himself, Martin Beck's name is found written in his apartment, later that same night a house inhabited by a suspect in a car theft ring explodes in a ball of flames. Gunvald Larsson saves many lives and an investigation as labyrinthine as any Sjowall & Wahloo have concocted to date ensues.

This is far from an ideal starting place for this series for those of you considering jumping in, it is a very deliberate exploration of characters and situations already established in which the crime is backgrounded and not even particularly interesting as far as the series has gone to date. I very much doubt whether you would take as much pleasure in this as veterans of the sequence.

The characters are what make this one, Martin Beck may have his name on the series but once more he is a peripheral figure with his own domestic problems keeping him busy. The evolution of this character throughout the series is a major statement on the direction of Swedish society and as such he deserves to be the most famous of the group of individuals investigating murder in Stockholm. Beck aside we are treated to Gunvald Larsson as hero of the press, Kollberg not taking an interest in anything, a new recruit Skacke, a second appearance from Mansson of Malmo, Ronn more interested in spending time with his family than thinking about murder and a chief of department with his eyes firmly on retirement. No wonder this case isn't solved in the space of an episode of CSI.

As enjoyable as these characters are and as fascinating I find their slow and methodical nature of crime solving, this book does seem to suffer from missing that central core of exciting mystery that the other books in the series contain.

Part 1: Roseanna
Part 2: The Man Who Went Up In Smoke
Part 3: The Man On The Balcony
Part 4: The Laughing Policeman

[paper0r0ss0 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Episodio un po' sottotono della saga di Martin Beck, nel quale peraltro il nostro eroe quasi non compare. I personaggi comprimari la fanno da padrone in un'indagine difficile ma non particolarmente intrigante. In questa opacita' emerge pero' una gustosa rappresentazione di figure umane caratteristiche del nord Europa di fine anni '60. Quasi come un piccolo trattato di sociologia, i personaggi del libro ci parlano di una societa' che fu.

[Algernon · Rating 4 out of 5]

She looked appraisingly at him and thought that her suntan must look fine against her white dress. This was a real man, she could see that at once. Big and strong and blunt. Perhaps a little brutal too; nice.
- Who are you? she said, with interest.
- Police. My name is Larsson.

Nominally the series is about Martin Beck, but with every new book it becomes evident that the focus is on teamwork and guesswork, not on the brilliant Sherlock Holmes revelations of some brainiac detective. Coincidences and accidents play as big a role in the solution to the crime as intuition and deductions. This is where the title of this fifth novel comes from and why a little kid losing his brand new red toy of a fire engine can hold the key to the unravelling of a misterious fire in Stockholm.

Martin Beck does almost nothing for the whole novel, he just sits in a corner with an arm resting on a file cabinet and listens to the brainstorming sessions of his team. His best scenes are outside the office : visiting his mother in a retirement home, playing truant on the weekends from his family, dealing with his teenage kids, being his usual depressive, hypochondriac self. The primetime is left open for Gunvald Larsson to play the hero in an excellent opening sequence where the gruff, fussy dresser reacts with speed and cold blood to a house going out in flames and pulls eight people out of the pyre. He's not an easy man to like, he goes out of his way to make people uncomfortable and an angry look from him sends little, kind old ladies running back into their appartments and barricading the doors. He thinks witnesses should be properly scared in order to give credible evidence, and he's a bit old school about using his fists on ocassion. But he's the real deal, the guy you want on your side if you are in a rough spot, the guy for whom police work is not a day job, it's doing what's right and doing it well:

The doctor told him to take it easy and put him off work for ten days, until Monday, the twenty-fifth. Half an hour later, he stepped out into the bitter wind outside the the front entrance of South Hospital, flagged down a taxi and headed straight for the police station of Kungsholmen.

On a side note, he likes to read Sax Rohmer and to wear expensive clothes, and he has a deadpan delivery of one liners that makes you wonder for pages: did he cracked a joke or not? A scene with a bunch of flowers from Ronn comes to mind.

What I said about him applies to most of the rest of the team. They are none very pleasant people: Beck is relentlessly downbeat ( One has to save up the cheerful subjects ), Melander is arrogant about his elephantine memory and spends hours in the toilet, Hammar the Boss is only thinking about his retirement while Kollander is bullying the rookie something fierce (sends him on pointless missions in order to strenghten his leg muscles) and has a foul temper when he's not sneaking home for a quickie with the wifie during lunch break; Benny Skacke the rookie dreams of one day becoming the Chief Comissioner while trying to balance his love life with his frequent overtime hours. Later on there's another quirky character from the Malmo police force : Per Mansson, who is both a married man and a bachelor. I'll let you discover how it is possible (... only in Sweden)

I'm talking more about the people than about the plot, both because the plot wasn't as impressive or special as in previous books, and because the people are the main attraction in the series for me. The authors did once again a great job in presenting them as fallible human beings, bored and short tempered at the crawling pace of the investigation, at the lack of leads, at the lousy weather and at their problematic family lives. They are also shown as relentless, dedicated, quick thinking and selfless when dealing with emergencies.

Kollberg puts it very well at one time : There are lots of good cops around. Stupid guys who are good cops. Inflexible, limited, tough, self-satisfied types who are all good cops. It would be better if there were a few more good guys who were cops.

What makes this book special for me within the series, is how much fun I had reading it. The subject is grim, the weather is abominable, the people all morose, the political landscape all messed up... yet I think there are more jokes here than in the rest of the previous books put together. The blackest, most dry type of humour, but all the better for coming out of the left field, from people with inflexible upper lips and piercing stares:

from Gunnart Larsson : He was wondering how anyone could ever find a missing murderer when one could not even get hold of a policeman

from Beck : Skacke stood six feet away from Beck, strongly resembling a dog sitting up and begging for a sugar-lump.

from Skacke, in a jealous mood: He grew so agitated at the thought of Monica with that smug slob that he had to drink two glasses of milk to calm himself down before calling her up again.

Beck and Kollberg on pop music in the 60's:

Loud pop music was booming through her closed door.
- The Beatles, said Martin Beck. It's a miracle her ears don't drop off.
- The Rolling Stones, said Kollberg.
Martin Beck looked at him in surprise: - How can you tell the difference?
- Oh, there's a great difference, said Kollberg, starting down the stairs.

from Larsson again: Gunvald Larsson was putting on his boots and sports jacket and glancing sourly at Ronn's machine knitted woolen sweater, which was red and blue and green and awful and had elks on the front.

from Lennart: - He's cunning and ruthless, but probably not all that bright. And that's where where our chance lies.
A little later he added maliciously:
- Of course, most policemen are not that bright either, now, so in that respect the odds are even.

from Hammar : This is getting crazier and crazier. It would be a good thing for once if you could find someone involved in this case who is alive.

There's a running gag in the series, dating back to the second book I think, about a couple of inept highway patrol cops - Kristianssen and Kvant, the Keystone duo, who manage to mess up the evidence in every case that comes on Beck desk:

Both were from Skane, blue-eyed, broad-shouldered and nearly six feet tall. The moment Gunvald Larsson's eyes fell on them, they stiffened and actually did look very much like a couple of concrete statues representing two radio policemen in leather tunics with shoulder straps and polished buttons.

and a last one (I promise) from a brainstorming session:

- We also know that they both travelled first class, that they sat in the smoking salon and drank beer and ate two sandwiches containing cold beef and cheese, which agrees with the little that remains of the contents of [...]'s stomach.
- That's obviously what he died of, mumbled Kollberg. Swedish Railway sandwiches.
Hammar threw him a murderous look.

With this last quote I was trying to segue into the social commentary part of the novel. Yes, it is there, in the peddling of drugs to school children, in the gang of cars thiefs, in the young girls from the countryside selling their bodies, in the demonstrations about the Vietnam War, and in the shortcomings of the social services. But Sjowall and Wahloo are skillful about the presentation, never preachy or bitter, often with the same dry humor approach that has more to to do with their disillusionment with the leftist movement than with any proselityzing efforts. They don't shy away from the issues, but they are not beating the drums of revolution, appearing to me more tired than anything else.

In Eupatoria on the Black Sea, Mansson was looking dully at the dove-grey Potemkin horizon and wondering how they had been able to achieve socialism and manage their five-year plan in three years in a country where it was 104 degrees in the shade and they did not have grape juice.

Note : I live close to the Black Sea, and I can tell you, grapes are for wine and tzuica, not for soft drinks.

The Laughing Policeman remains my favorite Martin Beck book so far, but this sequel was no slouch, and it was a lot more entertaining than I expected. Will surely check out the rest of the series.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

“As usual, he was standing to one side, fairly near the door, leaning with his right elbow against a filing cabinet.” p23

The Fire Engine that Disappeared… 5th in the Martin Beck series by dynamic Swedish duo, Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, pioneers of the Scandinavian Noir genre. This is one of my favourite series of all times and curling up with this book is like ‘coming home’, cozy, inviting and immensely satisfying.

While Martin Beck is the name against the series, he takes a back seat for much of this one, allowing a number of other characters to take centre stage. In some ways even the plot takes a back seat to the characters in this one. At the centre of the plot is the unexpected explosion of a set of units on Sköldgatan (or is it Ringvägen 37?), witnessed by police officer, Gunvald Larsson, surveilling the units for possible sighting of notorious Bertil Olofsson. Larsson, who by the way is a cranky and insufferable, quickly becomes the hero of the hour, single-handedly rescuing a number of occupants from the burning building while waiting for the fire engine that seems to be taking forever.

What follows is a manhunt for the above mentioned, in connection with organised theft syndicates, unpacking what caused the explosion, and resolving what happened that the fire engine seemingly disappeared when it should have been on the scene.

This fifth instalment to the series brings Larsson and fellow policeman, Lennart Kollberg to the fore, antagonistic and sarcastic, always ready to trade insults with each other. We continue to get to know Martin Beck, unhappy at home, always seeming to have a cold and upset stomach, generally depressive, everything that I love about a Scandi Noir detective character.

And in the midst of everything, Sjöwall and Wahlöö, still manage to make social comment about America and Vietnam as per… “instead, they were handled by people who thought Rhodesia was somewhere near Tasmania and that it was illegal to burn the American flag but positively praiseworthy to blow your nose on the Vietnamese.” P167 and the Greek military junta and political prisoners.. I love this about this series. A social commentary on the day and age through Sjöwall and Wahlöö’s socialist Marxist lens.

This is a 5 star series.. this one a 4 star read.

[Thomas Stroemquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another one of the top books of the series (yes, it is crowded at that particular top!). This one continues to develop the characters and the mystery is a great one. Just the right amount of the happenings are due to random chance to give that unique feeling of reality.

[F.R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The man lying dead on the tidily made bed had taken off his jacket and tie and hung them over the chair by the door.”

I love that opening line. It has a kind of beautiful, banal poetry to it, and it’s the perfect beginning for ‘The Fire Engine That Disappeared’ – a book where violent crime and complicated mystery are forever subsumed by the commonplace as the investigating officers try to solve a baffling crime whilst getting on with their lives.

Just look at the events of the first three chapters:

Chapter One: man’s body is found in apartment.
Chapter Two: Martin Beck visits his aged mother.
Chapter Three: a house explodes killing three and imperilling nearly a dozen others.

The fact that in-between those incidents which are the butter and bread of any crime novel, we have that quiet little visit sets the tone for the book as much as the opening line does. It’s a crime novel that will be full of dramatic turns and unexpected events, but one that will not be consumed by it. This is not a story of a tense cat and mouse between good guy and bad guy, where nothing else matters right until the improbable melodramatic ending – instead it’s a story about policemen with ordinary lives and everyday concerns and how they deal with them whilst also dealing with inexplicable and violent death.

It’s a police procedural in the absolute best sense. The cover has ‘MARTIN BECK’ written on it in huge letters (much bigger than the title actually), but this is the most un-Martin Beck novel I’ve read in the series. Rather than the star, he is a supporting character amongst supporting characters. It’s a perfect ensemble: with each of the officer taking their turn in working towards the solution, whilst the various antagonisms and back-biting between them spills out, but in a way that adds low-level drama rather than soap opera. And as befits any good police procedural – and I think this is a great police procedural – the ending isn’t an over the top twist and is instead built to gradually, efficiently and with due amount of well-earned tension.

Written in 1969, the crime of course isn’t the only dramatic event that’s hitting these policemen’s lives. In the background we have anti-Vietnam protects, drugs and the growing view of police as the unloved bully-boys of authority. Of course this is a book with cops as heroes, and yet it doesn’t dismiss these protestors – instead the range of responses from the characters makes the book feel genuine and true and even sympathetic: from Martin Beck’s baffled inability to tell The Beatles from The Stones; to plodding detective Månsson taking up the offer from an artist he locates to have sex with her to help her relax before questioning; to young Skacke’s comic attempts to fit into a hip nightclub he’s staking out. There’s bathos, pathos and just plain horniness, and clearly rather than condemning this more disrespectful world, these men are just trying to find their places within it.

A crime novel that tries to be more than a crime novel, and in being so genuine, human and torn from life absolutely succeeds. Brilliant!

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arriving at the 5th installment out of the 10-book series to feature Martin Beck, the action begins on a freezing night police as Detective Gunvald Larsson goes to check on Officer Zachrisson, who is maintaining a surveillance on an apartment house. Offering a bit of a respite to the near-frozen officer, Larsson takes over for a bit, and while he's struggling to stay warm, things unexpectedly heat up when the house explodes. While in a bit of a state of shock, Larsson eventually rescues several people from the house, but sustains a head injury and is put into the hospital. As it turns out, the man the police were watching wasn't among the survivors. But how did the fire start? What caused the explosion? Was this a suicide attempt, terrorism or just an accident? And where was the fire engine that had been sent for? In the meantime, a man who committed suicide is discovered in his apartment, leaving no note, just a piece of paper with the name "Martin Beck" written on it. This time Martin Beck isn't exactly in the forefront, but the mystery is challenging, and watching the solution unravel is intriguing.

The Fire Engine that Disappeared is yet another sterling work in this series. The character development continues to grow stronger with each installment, so that by this book (if you're reading them in order) you get the feeling that you're checking in once again on what your old friends are up to. What I find so amazing about this series is that each of these books is rather short, but there's a full story, great characterization, and an interesting look at the authors' world view in each one without any superfluous detail that often bogs down a police procedural and makes you want to skim to get back to the meat of the investigation. I'm sitting here looking at my copy of Nesbo's The Leopard, coming in at 611 pages; I mean, what a contrast! But back to the Beck series: there's also enough witty humor so that the reader will often walk away with a chuckle in the midst of a lot of serious business. This book is no exception, especially when Wahloo and Sjowall bring in Inspector Mansson, who is a complete contrast to Beck.

You could read this book as a standalone, but it will definitely serve you better to read the entire series because of the social/political components that the authors are trying to highlight and because the characters become more familiar with each book. Highly recommended, not to just to readers of Scandinavian crime fiction, but to crime fiction readers in general. And for Pete's sake, don't expect Stieg Larsson here, and don't complain when you don't get him. With this series, the authors have created some of the best crime fiction I've ever read.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another smashing book in the Martin Beck series. In this one a crook is found dead after a house fire. A tragic accident? Of course not - there are nefarious goings on.

A locked room mystery with several twists. As ever the charm is in the simple, Spartan prose, with not a word wasted. Beck is a peripheral figure in this one, as the ensemble takes up the case with gusto.

We have the usual light touch, gentle humour and some right on social commentary. Worth a read.

[Seher Andaç · Rating 5 out of 5]

Çocuğunuzun evde oyuncağı kaybolursa ne yapacaksınız? İpucu vereyim; Malmö’den komiseri evinize yemeğe davet etmelisiniz. Yalnız küçük bir ayrıntı var; sofranızda iyi kızarmış bir geyik eti olmalı:))
Zor evet zor, hatta imkansız:)))
….
Serinin beşinci kitabı ve neşelisi. Hadi bakalım, devam:)

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is not difficult to say what I like so much about this series. The personalities are drawn with such sensitivity and skill that they are as alive with human motivation as anyone we might encounter. More alive, in fact, because they are so exquisitely observed by this poet and journalist author team. The brevity of the sentences and the complexity of the action make for very powerful fiction. What I love most about this particular book, but I could have said (and perhaps I did say) the same about Roseanna , is that a murder presents itself, and the policemen spend much time thinking, talking, waiting for people to come back from vacation...there is so little frenetic activity. Perhaps that is why it is so extravagantly restful and reassuring to read this series. The stars are still in the sky when there is another slim volume to pull off the shelf.

[Judith Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Can't wait to read the rest of the series!

[Dorothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man commits suicide in a Stockholm apartment. He leaves behind a cryptic note with just two words: "Martin Beck."

Later, on the night of that same day another apartment building in Stockholm explodes in flames while the police are watching the building, because of a low-level criminal who lives there. Eleven people live in the building and had it not been for the policeman who was watching at the moment of the explosion, Gunvald Larsson, they would likely all have died. Through his heroic efforts, eight of the people escaped, although one later died.

One resident, a teenage girl, was trapped and burned in the attic apartment and the man in the apartment where the fire started also died. It turned out that that man was the criminal whom the police had been watching and that an incendiary device had been placed in the man's mattress. However, complicating matters, it seems that the man was dead before the fire.

Martin Beck and his squad at first assume that the fire was an accident due to a gas leak, but once the incendiary device is discovered, they reluctantly accept the inevitable and commence the investigation.

The investigation proceeds at a snail's pace. The police search for weeks for their main suspect, an associate of the criminal who died in the fire, but no one has seen him since before the fire. It is suspected that he has gone abroad, but there are no clues to where or why.

Finally, a connection is found between the man who committed suicide and left his strange note and the criminal who died in the fire. But no one, including Martin Beck, can quite figure out what it all means.

Then another body is found by two boys who are fishing. They see an old car under the surface of the water. When the car is brought up, there is a long-dead body in it. Is this death somehow related to the others which the police are investigating?

This is the fifth book in the Martin Beck series - the halfway point of the ten book series. After I recently finished the fourth book in the series, The Laughing Policeman, I realized that I wasn't quite ready to give up the company of this group of characters and so I plunged ahead to read The Fire Engine That Disappeared. I'm glad I did, because I got to know several of the characters considerably better.

Martin Beck, now Chief Inspector, continues to be as much of a sad-sack as ever. His home life is abominable. In this book, his teenage daughter is making plans to move out of the home and one night she asks her father, "Why don't you move out, too?" Foreshadowing, perhaps?

Beck's best friend, if that he can be called, is Lennart Kollberg. He is a sensualist. His main joys in life are sex and food. He has a happy home life with his wife and child. He is sarcastic and rude to his colleagues, frequently expressing the opinion that they are all idiots.

One of the main targets of Kollberg's vitriol is Gunvald Larsson, who gets to be a hero in this book. He is the black sheep of a very rich family. He, like Kollberg, is lacking in interpersonal skills, but even though he can be boorish and tactless, he is actually a competent detective.

Larsson's only real friend on the squad is Einar Ronn, a calm and peaceful individual, who is also a hard-working and efficient detective. Even though Larsson is just as rude to him on the job as he is to everyone else, they are actually good friends.

Fredrik Melander is a detective with a flawless memory and a knack for always being in the restroom whenever anyone is looking for him. He seems to have no temper at all, always maintaining an even keel.

In this book, also, we get introduced to Benny Skacke, a young detective, with all the flaws of the young and inexperienced.

There's one other detective of note here: Per Mansson is not from Stockholm. He's actually from Malmo, but he turns up repeatedly in Martin Beck's cases, and this time he provides the clue which eventually helps to break the case.

This is an interesting group of men, none of whom have very attractive personalities, with the possible exception of Mansson and Ronn. They are a prickly lot who don't really like each other very much, and yet they are capable of working together efficiently when circumstances demand it. One thing they all seem to have in common is dogged determination. Even when there seem to be no clues, they keep following their procedures, working the case, and somehow always reaching a conclusion. And we lucky readers get to follow them step by step.

[Juan Nalerio · Rating 3 out of 5]

¿Cómo decidieron dos periodistas denunciar la traición de la socialdemocracia sueca a la clase trabajadora? A través de novelas policiales, donde libro a libro se van deslizando críticas al estado de bienestar burgués de dicho país.

Adicionalmente, los autores fueron pioneros en la literatura europea de la novela de procedimiento policial. Importa más describir cómo se lleva a cabo una investigación que la resolución del crimen.

Importa mucho como afecta dicha investigación a los propios policías. Al pasar los capítulos. vamos conociendo a los protagonistas, sus vidas personales, sus manías, sus actitudes. ¿Muy Wallander, no?

El lenguaje es claro y preciso, con estilo casi periodístico. Se lee con comodidad y rapidez manteniendo una cierta tensión. Martin Beck y su brigada muestran sus falencias en esta entrega. Se equivocan mucho, son antipáticos, aburridos y en algún caso desagradables. Se agradece que sean así.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Kate]

I'm always curious as to how other readers' impressions of a book align with or differ from my own. When I reached the end of The Fire Engine that Disappeared by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, I did a quick scan of review sites and found that other readers had expressed disappointment in it, opining that it didn't measure up to the rest of the Martin Beck series, particularly the book that immediately preceded it, The Laughing Policeman . Well, I must confess that I haven't yet acquired a copy of The Laughing Policeman and, as a consequence, I skipped straight from #3 ( The Man on the Balcony ) to #5. And without The Laughing Policeman—which is by many accounts the standout of the series—looming over it, The Fire Engine that Disappeared held up just fine. Indeed, my impression of the series, as expressed in yesterday's post, is that it gets better and better with each book.

I was thoroughly puzzled by the mystery at the heart of The Fire Engine that Disappeared—the links between a disparate group of small-time crooks and their connection to the big, shocking, and seemingly professional crime that occurs at the start of the novel—and enjoyed unraveling it alongside Martin Beck and his team. The accent truly is on team here, as the reader witnesses not just Martin Beck and his usual colleagues working together, but also their assistance from and cooperation with other branches of the Stockholm police, a laconic Malmö detective, and a counterpart of his in Copenhagen, as the case takes on an international dimension. I felt that I got to know Martin Beck much better in this installment, and I also relished learning more about the thoroughly unpleasant but very intriguing Gunvald Larsson. The only negative for me is that there seemed to be more in this book of an element in the series of which I am wearying—a string of minor female characters who appear to be willing to sleep with anyone at the drop of a hat. Could this be an accurate reflection of sexual mores in Sweden in the late 1960s? Or is a nod to hard-boiled crime fiction convention? Regardless, it feels out of step with what otherwise seems to be a realistic portrayal of 1960s Sweden. That's a minor annoyance however and my enthusiasm for the series continues unabated.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

From BBC radio 4 - Saturday Drama:
The apartment of a suspect being staked out by Gunvald Larsson explodes, killing three people. Arson and murder isn't at first suspected - much to Larsson's fury - but when it becomes clear that the fire was started on purpose, the case hinges on the needle-in-a-haystack chance of finding a man who fits an impossibly vague description who was somewhere in the area around the time of the fire.

[cloudyskye · Rating 4 out of 5]

And again, time machine to Stockholm in 1968. Repeating myself, but I simply love these books, they are well written and The Real Thing.
Our group of cops solves another case, sure enough. And their personal stories continue.
Again, I find myself amused at the political views fashionable among the young/intellectuals - flirting with the Soviets, finding fault with the Americans. Some things don't seem to change. ;)

2025 reread: Still great. This series has aged well.

[hans · Rating 3 out of 5]

This case giving me some anticipation at first-- intro with suicide and building on fire. Not much of Martin Beck but the team as a whole was perfectly portrayed here. I love how the case indirectly related to Rönn's lil boy missing fire engine toy. Fantastic and I love Månsson-- he was so mysterious but very trustworthy.

This was okay. It moves slowly but straight forward. Crime was not that complicated or me too eager want to know where the heck is the culprit, I like how 'em all really into the case although it turned out to be quite messy with few dead suspects and such. The thrill and excitement was fairly enough, not that dramatic but engrossing me to the end.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This brilliantly understated series continues with an unusually dramatic start. Gunvald Larsson is observing a shared house where a petty criminal lives when the house suddenly explodes. Larsson throws himself into a rescue attempt, bravely saving some of the inhabitants, but others are killed. From this point, the narrative retreats into the usual account of painstaking police work by Martin Beck and his colleagues - undertaking door to door enquiries, following up every detail and discovery, questioning witnesses and other police officers.

I am finding this series totally compelling and this was one of the best episodes - I read it in two sessions. The action moves outside Stockholm, to Malmö and on to Copenhagen, as the team begin to uncover a criminal enterprise. The dynamics in the team continue to develop with alliances appearing - Beck and Kollberg, Larsson and Rönn - and a new eager young police officer called Skacke who has to learn the job the hard way. There is a dramatic but totally convincing denouement that shows how a routine job can quickly turn bad.

My only issue with this story is that we didn’t see enough of Martin Beck, although the glimpses of his disintegrating family life were interesting. This is a great series that keeps its social comment subtle, and balances the personal and the professional lives of the characters without overshadowing the crime story.

[Hung Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cuốn 5 trong series Martin Beck có đề tài khá khác biệt so với các cuốn trước, khi mà án mạng không còn là trọng tâm điều tra của Beck và đồng sự. Tuy nhiên cách thể hiện có không tốt lắm, thiếu thuyết phục. Khoảng 80% đầu truyện là các manh mối rời rạc và thiếu liên kết, mãi đến cuối cùng mọi sự việc mới liên kết lại với nhau một cách logic nhờ một nhân chứng quan trọng. Martin cũng không có nhiều đóng góp trong cuốn này. 3⭐

[David Ärlemalm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ungefär en gång om året blir jag sugen på stekt fläsk och rårakor. Gärna med lingonsylt. Det är alltid gott, på det där trygga välkända sättet, trots att jag inte har något minne av att det serverades under uppväxten.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

So...there isn't just one fire engine that disappears, but two. The fifth book in the Martin Beck series byMaj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö finds a great deal going on in Stockholm. It all begins with the suicide of a man whose only farewell note consists of two words: Martin Beck scribbled on a notepad by his bed. Beck has never heard of the man and, as there is no doubt about the circumstances of his death, he promptly forgets about him. Not long after his colleague, Gunvald Larsson is headed home for the night--with no plans at all for becoming a hero. He stops on his way to check on a stake-out that he has organized and when he finds his man freezing at his post he takes over long enough for the officer to take a half hour break to warm up and get some coffee inside him.

He never expects the apartment house to explode in flames before his eyes. Before the night is over, he will be rescue eight of the eleven people inside and be proclaimed a hero--particularly because the fire department was so unreasonable slow in responding. But Malms, the man they had been assigned to watch, is dead and the methods are unclear. An autopsy reveals that the man died of carbon monoxide poisoning--apparently a suicide. A suicide who just barely cheated his murderer of the chance to take his life--for lodged in his bed had been the source of the blaze...a tiny chemical explosive.

It has been assumed that Malms was a small-time operator in the world of drugs and car theft and the hunt is on to find his contact, Olofsson. Olofsson has been missing for some months and every trail seems to lead to a dead end. The trail will lead to Malmö, Denmark, and even to contacts in Interpol before Beck and his team finally get to the bottom of who planted the bomb in Malms' bed.

Oh...and the title? Rönn, another of Beck's team, buys his son a spiffy red fire engine for his birthday. Within a couple of days the boy has managed to lose it--without having left his apartment. It is...the mystery of the fire engine that disappeared. And when Rönn mentions it to Beck and Larsson, they are reminded of another fire engine that disappeared on the night of the fire. A fire engine that was supposedly on its way within minutes of the explosion, but didn't arrive. That clue sets the team on most informative track.

A fast-paced police procedural with a realistic view of police work. You have a hodge-podge of various character types--some of whom definitely don't like each other--who manage to work together and get the job done. Just as in real life, I can't say I like all these men. But it's obvious that they know their jobs and they each have their specialty. Sjöwall and Wahlöö have also begun to show the police as having more than one case going on at a time. In many of the books prior to this (by other authors), you would think that when Lord So-and-So gets murdered that all the burglars and other criminals take a holiday while the police force concentrate on just one crime. Or...if any other crimes do occur then they naturally wind up being part of the overall mystery. Not so here--or in real life.

Not quite as un-putdownable as The Man on the Balcony (the best Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö that I've read so far), but a fairly intricate mystery that holds you till the end. Three stars.

{This review is mine and was first posted on my blog at http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/20.... Please request permission to repost any portion. Thanks.}

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been working through the Matin Beck series, and have been thoroughly enjoying the ride. The Fire Engine that Disappeared is probably, so far, by favorite entry so far (excepting the first outstanding book in the series, Roseanna).

The Fire Engine that Disappeared opens with the mysterious explosion at a small Stockholm apartment building. Eleven people are inside. Fortunately, Detective Gunvald Larson, who is staking out the building (though he's not sure why), is able to save several (but not all) of the people in the building. Larson is often ugly tempered, prejudiced, sometimes violent, and close-minded. He's also rather fastidious, as he worries (before and after the explosion) about his pajamas and new slippers. (Throughout the book the authors are brilliant with these kinds of character revealing details.) Larson is also dutiful and persistent, as is revealed a few pages later, in his coarse (but effective) interrogation of a young prostitute who survived the fire, starts questioning whether the explosion was something more than just an accident.

But Larson (who reminds me of Fat Ollie from Ed McBain's 87th Precinct) is only part of a team of detectives, each distinctly different in personality (Martin Beck, Kolberg, Melander, etc.), with lives and troubles that extend beyond their cases. And each of them (and others) will bring something to this particular investigation. It is in this book where I feel for the first time the full depth of these characters, which the authors have been carefully developing for the four previous novels. The authors have also followed a historical trajectory as well, as Vietnam protests, the sexual revolution, divorce, drugs, and the differences between the Rolling Stones and Beatles are all deftly introduced. If you're old enough, you will be struck by the authenticity of the historical layering. Still, I was taken aback when Martin Beck conceded that his 16 year old daughter (soon to be 17), was probably old enough and mature enough to move out on her own. I don't know if that was just a sixties thing, or a Swedish sixties thing.

I haven't talked too much about the plot, but to say too much would be to reveal too much. Then again, the real fun here is how it all unfolds in real time, week by week, month by month, complete with many frustrating vacations by key witnesses or detectives. That said, there is a shocking ending. But there's nothing cheap about it. It's well earned in a book of remarkable balance and pacing.

[Mal Warwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the fifth of the ten books in the venerable Martin Beck series of police procedurals — the original Nordic noir series — the authors’s left-wing politics become more obvious than they’d been in the first four books. The Swedish couple, Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, who wrote these novels in the 1960s were both dedicated socialists but had made a habit of treading lightly on social and political issues. And even in The Fire Engine That Disappeared they usually limit the political statements to dialogue, refraining from pontificating as the authors.

Political perspective in the original Nordic noir series

For example, here are two passages that reflect the authors’s known viewpoint:

** One of Martin Beck’s colleagues ponders the culpability of a small-time drug trafficker, realizing that “between him and the root of the evil lay an enormous complex of political miscalculations and failed social philosophy.”

** And here they are describing another, unconventional police officer’s views about the attitudes of the police toward demonstrators: “These people thought that water cannons, rubber billy clubs and slobbering German shepherd dogs were superior aids when it came to creating contact with human beings, and the results were according to those beliefs.”

A reflection of reality in this police procedural

Politics aside, The Fire Engine That Disappeared is a complex and deeply satisfying example of the police procedural. Martin Beck, now a Chief Inspector, is relatively uninvolved in the protracted investigation he and his team undertake to learn whether a fire in which three people died had been deliberately set. Beck’s team, most of them familiar to us from the earlier books, play larger roles, as do several characters new to the series — and everyone’s private life comes under the microscope as well.

Police mysteries on television and film routinely cover just hours or a few days at most. In reality, which Sjöwall and Wahlöö are clearly intent on respecting, a complicated case like that in this novel can stretch over many months and involve hundreds of hours of ultimately pointless effort on the part of a large contingent of police. Expect that when you read The Fire Engine That Disappeared. If you haven’t already read the preceding entries in this original Nordic noir series, do yourself a favor, and start with Roseanna.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Halfway through this wonderful series; the very heart of Scandinavian detective fiction; the pantry of all that we now enjoy, as we banquet upon in the modern crime genre. Most contemporary novelists acknowledge the legacy they owe to Sjowall & Wahloo.
A police proceedural was never demonstrated better than in this inconsequential mystery around whether a fire was arson or murder.
Setting aside the date of the original writing this is a gripping tale of hard police work, excellent co-operation between forces of law enforcement within Sweden, Stockholm & Malmo as well as into Denmark.
It is often termed the Martin Beck series but this account clearly shows the breadth of investigations and the piecing together of everyone's contribution. It is familiar in thses books and no less enjoyable as a result. I love the humour, the less than stereotypical view of characters and situations. Some of the language may appear dated and less pc as it was written before we thought about such things.
However, as a book of its time it remains a worthwhile read and the case it follows has many a twist and turn. The writing is compact and never over done, sharp and witty as I have stated. There are tensions between the police officers, not vying for attention so much as a real picture of life in the murder squad. The characters are believable, and read true both at work and in their domestic situations.
These books are a delight to read and I have 5 more times of enjoying their quality and proclaiming their value in further reviews.

[Ben Thurley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fire Engine that Disappeared, begins delicately – with a visit by Inspector Martin Beck with his aging mother and a seemingly low-key stake-out in the freezing Stockholm night. When the unlikeable but brutally effective Gunnvald Larsson relieves a less experienced officer on watch, Sjöwall & Wahlöö quickly shift gears.

Gunvald Larsson looked at his watch. Nine minutes past eleven. Eight minutes left.

He yawned and raised his arms to start beating them round him.

At that precise moment the house exploded.

The horror of the burning house, with the desperate residents throwing themselves – or throwing children – from windows to escape the flames is visceral.

From this explosive opening, the novel proceeds to develop slowly and carefully the multiple layers of plot that connect some fairly pathetic underworld characters with a more brutal and far-reaching conspiracy.
The novel demonstrates better, perhaps, than any of the others in the series how easily police investigations can be led down blind alleys through mistakes, assumptions or shortcuts.

Sjöwall and Wahlöö continue to patiently develop the characters and their relationships. This is a crime series with real depth.

[tara bomp · Rating 3 out of 5]

The crime itself isn't particularly mysterious and the ending sort of whiffs out a bit. But it keeps your interest enough and as others have said it's mainly about the characters, which are well written and believable.

The book is full of a sort of understated and sometimes grim humour which makes it pretty enjoyable to read. The characters feel very real and a lot is made of their daily routine, their home life, what they like to eat and drink, their frustrations with police work... it gives it an edge over much of the "gritty" stuff that usually turns me off because it's super unrealistic and macho. Also I feel justified in thinking some of the characters are utter pricks and bad and I feel the author agrees with me on that. I dunno, it's just a refreshing change of style. There's a few crappy moments here and there but nothing too awful.

Also it's really interesting reading a book where the Greek junta is talked about as present but without it being a plot point. A lot of late 60s politics appears as background in these books and it interests me

[Skip · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man commits suicide by gunshot on the same evening as a suspect under police surveillance dies when the apartment building in which he lives explodes in flames. Detective Gunvald Larsson saves several people from the burning building, but the suspect was already dead. As in the prior book, the Stockholm police seem baffled, and cannot locate a critical person of interest until two small boys find him in Malmo. A local policemen there goes to Denmark, and interrogates a young woman, who helps them figure out the puzzle.