Reviews

• “A frighteningly effective and clear book. /…/ The Assignment is a novel with clear documentation as an organic component, but set up for a brave film director (perhaps a Kubrick). It is as exciting as a thriller by Graham Greene, unpleasant, because its not written as entertainment, but in concentrated novel form sets forth shocking material. /…/ An international book of unseen cogency.”

• “The Assignment is something as uncommon as a political thriller which is equally excellent as a thriller and as a political novel. You rush through it with pounding heart and cold hands, but it is so precisely constructed and so sensually written that it is impossible to read it superficially.”

• “Frighteningly effective.”

• “For example, I can't see that Our Man in Havana is in any respect a better book than The Assignment. And the choice between an entertainment with Greene's turbid Catholicism at its core and one with Wahlöö's social and political awareness is not difficult.”

• “A powerful and relentless book.”

• “Even if The Lorry was a clear success, you don´t hesitate to deem The Assignment even more brilliant.”

• “You come close to the source of the contemporary Swedish thriller novel … if you read The Lorry and The Assignment.”

• “It´s with these two books [The Lorry and The Assignment] — and now my voice is trembling — that the Swedish crime novel got a human face.”

• “The Assignment is a fascinating book. It is caustic, bitter and hard. In addition, it´s significant.”

• “Astoundingly good.”

• “The Assignment is that unusual and sought-efter thing, an extraordinary novel which is easily accessible, entertaining at the same time as it is important and serious.”

• “The Assignment offers the basis for a film, which ought to enthuse even a master like Luis Buñuel.”

• “It is cleverly done, gruesome and fascinating.”

• “Top-notch adventure. /…/ Wahlöö´s language is clear and cogent, and he narrates his exciting plot without missing a beat.”

• “A tour de force.”