The Man Who Went Up in Smoke
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| The Man Who Went Up in Smoke | |
| Author | Sjöwall and Wahlöö |
|---|---|
| Original title | Mannen som gick upp i rök |
| Country | Sweden |
| Language | Swedish |
| Series | Martin Beck series |
| Publisher | Norstedts Förlag |
| Publication date | 1966 |
| Pages | 189 pp |
| Preceded by | Roseanna |
| Followed by | The Man on the Balcony |
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 summary
Beck leaves his holiday and travels to Hungary to search for a missing journalist called Alf Matsson. After intersecting with the Budapest police and the criminal underground, he begins to wonder if Matsson ever entered the country.
[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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