Monday, September 26, 2011

The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Carl Morck sincerely wishes he had been the one killed in the gunplay in the dead man's room, but that's not how it worked out.  And he's suffering greatly from the guilt he feels for not doing more...

Dutton, a division of the Penguin Group, and Net Galley allowed me a copy of this ebook for review.  The book was published in August, so you will be able to find a copy at your local bookstore now.

This story is set in Denmark.  Carl has lost one staff member and the other one is paralyzed.  He's finally well enough to go to work, but he gets along with no one.

I always enjoy reading books written by authors in other countries.  It tells me something about the area the story is set in and it also shows me how similar and how different Americans are from other nationalities.

Mr. Alder-Olsen writes a mean detective story.  He takes his angst-ridden main character and puts him in a control of a new department, Department Q.  He's the manager and also the only employee.  And he's happy with that.  Looking at closed cases and taking naps sounds good.  Especially since he ends up stuck in the basement.

This story is wound around old events and new terrors both.  The road to a solution is twisted and Carl tries not to be interested in the case, but it annoys him because the investigation was not the best and half the info received was never written down.

The ending is fast paced and traumatic.  I had a suspicion about what might have happened, but I never anticipated the stormy ending.  

This was a very good read.  Why not visit Denmark and do some sleuthing with Carl yourself?  There will be more in this series, and I'll be watching for it.  It was a very good read.

Happy reading.

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