The Abominable Man: Martin Beck Series, Book 7

The bloody murder of a police captain in his hospital room exposes the particularly unsavory history of a man who spent 40 years practicing a horrible blend of strong-arm police work and shear brutality. Nonetheless, Martin Beck and his colleagues scour Stockholm for the murderer, a demented and deadly rifleman.

As the tension builds and a feeling of impending danger grips Beck, his investigation unearths evidence of police corruption. That's when an even stronger sense of responsibility and something like shame urge him into taking a series of drastic steps, which lead to a shocking disaster.