The Fire Engine That Disappeared

A Martin Beck Police Mystery

By: Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

The cunning incendiary device that blew the roof off a Stockholm apartment not only interrupted the small, peaceful orgy underway inside, it nearly took the lives of the building's 11 occupants. And if one of Martin Beck's colleagues hadn't been on the scene, the explosion would have led to a major catastrophe because, for reasons nobody could satisfactorily explain, a regulation fire truck has vanished. Was it terrorism, suicide, or simply a gas leak? And what if, anything, did the explosion have to do with the peculiar death earlier that day of a forty-six-year-old bachelor whose cryptic suicide note consisted of only two words: "Martin Beck"?©1970 Random House, Inc. (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The first great series of police thrillers.... Sjöwall and Wahlöö caught the color of the political times and are above all truly exciting." (Michael Ondaatje)
"For me, the best criterion of a good read is to wish that it had gone on a bit longer. I felt that here...This is a 'police procedural' from the top drawer." (Colin Dexter, from the introduction)

not a fan of the reader

While I enjoy the books by Maj Sj?wall, Per Wahl?? the reader is not my favorite. Wish someone else narrated the books

Very good story. Terrible narrator.

The mystery was well drawn out. The narrator made a mess of this. Silly voices, especially for the women and mispronouncing the names of people and places. It’s almost too terrible to listen to except that the story is good. Read the book instead.

Entertaining

All the characters, in each book, are supplied with a background that allows them the reader some insight into their behavior. And it’s this behavior that moves the story forward.
I often find myself pausing in my tasks to listen more closely or to laugh out loud. I am so glad I found these books on Audible.

Wonderful

Very good Swedish police procedural and funny at times and great picture of Swedish culture at that time. Highly recommended.

Crippled by translation choices

The storyline itself was well constructed, but the translation choices (not sure who made them) ruined things for me.

Specifically:
* Translation is made into formal British English (which would have been fine if the narrator spoke it).
* Idiomatic conventions are translated literally from the original text, resulting in a form of address ("one person addressing another" sense) which will feel foreign to most English speakers.
* Narrator speaks American English.