Reviews

• “A brooding and biting forecast of the future. /…/ Something quite special and fascinating. /…/ This is black caviar of the finest grade.”

• “But time has absolutely not left it behind, neither in a literary nor a political sense. On the contrary. /…/ An unusual — and unusually consistent — novel. And thus — as stated — just as painfully current as it is thrilling.”

• “An explosive narrative talent /…/ This is an impudent, exciting balancing act. /…/ Murder on the Thirty-First Floor is one of the most caustic critical contributions from our youngest prose writers. You might see the book as a symbolic thriller, but it's more a work in the spirit of pop art. /…/ It strikes with sharp fangs against the life we now live.”

• “I will heartily recommend Murder on the Thirty-First Floor as a perfectly constructed novel of politics and the future, situated on such an unshakeable ideological base, that not even the most careless reader can mistake it.”

• “For this is a satire, and a satire of diabolical malevolence and accuracy. Wahlöö is effective and hard-hitting.”

• “Wahlöö demonstrates this year that he can not only write a perfect depiction of anything whatsoever but also analyze social problems. His book is depressingly good.”

• “Per Wahlöo writes with youthful fervor, you might say naive fervor and eagerness which in a peculiar way is combined with clear calculation and hard-edged efficiency. /…/ Wahlöö is something of an odd duck among younger prose writers, an unusual narrative talent, intense and dangerous. It is one of the truly exciting new storytellers who has written this wicked fairy tale about human beings, and human wreckage, in the Consensus State.”

• “Murder on the Thirty-First Floor is a cutting satire, an urgent warning, a hard-hitting contribution to a debate which ought to be carried on with much more force than is the case.”

• “An extremely exciting novel about a future society where all spiritual and cultural life is levelled out and smoothed over, where all debate is dead.”

• “Per Wahlöo is an elegant fencer in the literary arena, with a secure sense of form. He is one of those storytellers who has a message to convey and who doesn´t hesitate to dress up the message in a form that draws attention to the content. /…/ Wahlöö´s narrative art measures up, even to high standards. It is seldom one encounters such vigorous, lively prose.”

• “Wahlöö´s novel [is] clear and sharp, as though cut with a diamond on a gigantic store window. /…/ With its cool objectivity, with its steel-frame construction, this is a hard-hitting book.”

• “As a whole, this is a frightening and upsetting novel.”

• “A portrayal with serious intent, which however has very great entertainment value.”

• “Per Wahlöö is one of the fastest-working and most skillful narrators among the younger generation of Swedish authors. /…/ Per Wahlöö is a master at writing terse dialogues that say a lot with few words.”