Review: THE TERRORISTS, Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

• English translation first published 1975
• this edition published by Fourth Estate 2011
• ISBN 978-0-00-743920-1
• translated from Swedish by Joan Tate
• 324 pages
• #10 (final book) in the Martin Beck series

Synopsis (Good Reads)

An 18-year-old woman is accused of a bank robbery she never intended to commit. Later, a producer of pornographic films is found murdered at the home of his mistress. Meanwhile, Martin Beck is placed in charge of Swedish security ahead of the visit of a US senator whom a group of international terrorists is determined to assassinate.

My take

Dennis Lehane wrote a wonderful introduction to this title, well worth reading, in which he talks about the chaotic forms of terror described in this story.

Martin Beck, head of the Murder Squad, seems to have risen as high as he can go, and he seems to have managed to get life in some sort of perspective, thanks to Rhea, his lover. But he still doesn't always get it right. A police procedural with a really different approach. 

This is a series worth reading, in order, if you have never tackled it. Vintage crime fiction.
1. Roseanna (1965)
2. The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (1966)
3. The Man on the Balcony (1967)
4. The Laughing Policeman (1968)
     aka Investigation of Murder
5. The Fire Engine That Disappeared (1969)
6. Murder at the Savoy (1970)
7. The Abominable Man (1972)
8. The Locked Room (1973)
9. Cop Killer (1975)
10. The Terrorists (1976)

My rating:  4.5

I've also reviewed
4.7, ROSEANNA
4.7, THE MAN WHO WENT UP IN SMOKE
4.5, THE FIRE ENGINE THAT DISAPPEARED
4.5, MURDER AT THE SAVOY
4.7, THE ABOMINABLE MAN