Beck was a refreshing character, flawed and prone to indigestion and the flu. His home life is a wreck, and he does little to improve it. The case comes first, his wife and children an afterthought (as seen with his talk about Christmas presents and continuously forgetting to pick them up, he even uses a small break to go out with a colleague to quickly purchase some). His police work and drive are fascinating (his searching for Roseanna through many different countries police forces and Interpol), and his instincts are very good. His characterization drove the book and made the case more interesting and realistic. Maj and Per decided, with this book, to place emphasis on the bureaucracy of police work, the red tape and processes you must follow in order for an arrest to actually lead to a prison sentence. You feel Martin Beck's dismay when he knows who the culprit is, but he has no concrete evidence that will put the man behind bars. The book was written in a way that introduces the reader to the realities of the law, how easy it is for someone to commit a crime and get away with it. It is anger inducing, discouraging, but also important in making sure that innocent people are not unduly arrested and put in prison. The narrator reminded me very much of the American crime fiction detective, it added to the Nordic Noir atmosphere. He voiced each character with impact and brought the book to life. There were a few detractors in this book, which made it not quite a fantastic read. It was slow to start out and there were parts that fell off, storylines that were dropped that seemed important or were brought up but lead no where. However, the two major detractors, for me, were the implication that Roseanna's sexual appetite made her an easy target for death and the throw away statement, at the end of the novel, that she was brutally murdered, but could so easily have accidentally died from falling down a flight of stairs. That throw away statement was so weird, after going through such a long and detailed investigation. That murder is akin to an accident? What is the purpose of this statement, that life is fickle? That Roseanna asked for her own death, or fell in to her own death, because she enjoyed sex? Was this implying her death was, in some way, her own fault? Is the book saying that women who enjoy sex are welcoming death? These were all thoughts floating through my mind as I listened to the end of the audiobook, it bothered and angered me. To go through this whole novel, this search for a killer, just for the authors to say "hey, she was killed, but she could have tripped and died, so oh well". Otherwise, I enjoyed the character study of Beck, the thoroughness of the investigation, and the atmospheric listen.
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