Thoughts at the half way point of The Terrorists

There is something rather odd reading a book penned in the 1970s that covers terrorism in a way that seems almost fresh. We are so familiar with the idea of bombings, political assassinations and explosions designed to disrupt society that it is almost taken for granted.

But here the idea of a terrorist cell turning up on Swedish soil to target the visit of a US senator is one that throws the police into confusion. As usual Mart Beck emerges as the calm in the storm and is given responsibility for protecting the senator.

But before the senator arrives there is the case of a bank robbery to be dealt with and the lessons from the latest political assassination which is witnessed by a Swedish policeman sent to watch and learn how an anti-terrorist campaign is run.

The failure of those efforts to prevent the bombing and the poor state of the anti-terrorist forces in the Swedish police indicate that any attempts to stop the bombing in Sweden are going to be a close run thing.

A review follows on completion...