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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
A lot
A mass shooting on a city bus — the act is the starting point of the investigation
Language
Barely any
Clean Scandinavian prose in translation; mild language
Sexual Content
Barely any
No significant sexual content
Substance Use
Barely any
Some drinking in the Stockholm detective milieu
Emotional Intensity
Some
The psychological weight of an investigation into a mass killing; Martin Beck's quiet, persistent depression; the way violence exposes the underside of Swedish social democracy
What this book is about
Eight people are shot dead on a late-night Stockholm city bus, including an off-duty detective. Martin Beck and his team must discover what the detective was doing on the bus — and who committed the massacre. Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel, the fourth Martin Beck novel is one of the great set-pieces of Scandinavian crime fiction: a dark, methodical investigation with a political edge sharp enough to cut.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
A mass shooting — the central event and starting point of the investigation
The psychological cost of the investigation on Martin Beck's team
Reader Verification
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