The Man Who Went Up in Smoke
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The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (1966) is a novel by Sjöwall and Wahlöö in their detective series revolving around Martin Beck and his team. (Original Swedish title: Mannen som gick upp i rök.)
[edit] Plot
Beck is called back from his holiday when an important journalist called Alf Matsson has gone missing. Important, because the reporter's publisher threatens to release some (unspecified) information that would be embarrassing to the Swedish government.
Matsson was last seen in Hungary, so this is where Beck is headed too. But once he gets to Hungary, he finds that the trail is cold. Somebody is shadowing him though; Beck suspects communist suspicion at work, but why would the police be tailing him, yet deny there is anything odd about Matsson's disappearance?
[edit] Characters and their development
Beck and Kollberg have their first, short run-in with detective Backlund of the Malmö police force, who lacks the imagination required for his line of work, for which he thinks bureaucracy is a replacement.
It might be argued that Beck and his wife are already getting estranged. It only takes the flimsiest amounts of passive-aggressiveness from his superiors to make him give up his holiday, even though both make clear to him that he does not have to go if he does not want to. Although he reflects on his marriage several times (as does the narrator on marriage in general), he does not draw any conclusions yet.
| Preceded by Roseanna |
"Martin Beck" timeline, part 2 of 10 | Succeeded by The Man on the Balcony |
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Sjöwall and Wahlöö novels, featuring Martin Beck
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| Novels: Roseanna | The Man Who Went Up in Smoke | The Man on the Balcony | The Laughing Policeman | The Fire Engine That Disappeared | Murder at the Savoy | The Abominable Man | The Locked Room | Cop Killer | The Terrorists |
| Authors: Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö |
