This chilling yet satirical semi-surrealistic political thriller is set in an unnamed Northern country in a horribly possible future world. A paternal government spoonfeeds the stolid unthinking masses with tales of show-piece Royals and of successful, materialistic workers. Taste has been deadened through the medium of sugary newspapers and magazines, all the monopoly of a publishing trust organization housed in a huge glass tower which overlooks the whole city. An anonymous letter arrives to say that there is a bomb in the building. It is in effect a hoax, and Chief-Inspector Jensen is given a week to find the culprit. There are false confessions. Then Jensen begins to wonder if the heads of the trust really want him to pry into their secrets. What is the mystery of the 31st floor?
Murder on the Thirty-First Floor, the first part of Per Wahlöö’s diptych with Chief-Inspector Jensen, is another crisp, fast-moving, sardonic story of ruthless power-politics by the author hailed as one of the 20th century’s finest Swedish writers.
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