The Keeper of Lost
Causes
Jussi Adler-Olsen
Carl
Mørck,
a Danish police detective has been through a lot lately. He and his
partners were involved in a shot out that left one partner dead and
the other paralyzed. When Carl gets back to work he finds there has
been a reorganization at the police force that has left him the head
of a new department called simply Q, located in the basement. As head
of this department which has one “assistant” who also serves as a
cleaner, Carl is expected to look into old unsolved cases. The first
one on his list is the disappearance of a well know politician Merete
Lynggaard. Five years previously she disappeared from a ferry without
trace. Many had come to the conclusion that she had committed suicide
but Mørck
decides to have one last look into the case before closing it for
good.
The
story that follows the investigation is dark, gripping and unnerving.
It alternates chapters between Carl's world, ie. his home life and
his office life and Merete Lynggard's world. I found the chapters
dealing with Merete's disappearance at times difficult to read, they
were so unnerving. Luckily, the chapters dealing with Carl's attempts
to come to grips with this investigation and his own personal
problems give the reader a reprieve from overwhelming darkness. So
the back and forth of the chapters was a good structural development.
This
is an absorbing and gripping novel that will be best enjoyed by those
who like dark, nordic thrillers.
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