The absent one

Grumpy Copenhagen police detective Carl Morck finds that Department Q, the cold-case Siberia to which he was exiled in The Keeper of Lost Causes (2011), has become a little less chilly since he cracked the famous Lynggaard case although his uneasy partnership with the genial Assad has been complicated by the transfer of a difficult second assistant named Rose. A file lands on Morck's desk and leads him to a group of industry titans who may have been getting away with murder literally since their days at an elite boarding school. Adler-Olsen riffs on inequality in Danish society, which is timely, although the predations of the bad guys are so over the top that they teeter on the edge of parody. And while Morck's guilty feelings over his old partner's injury gave depth to the first book, they're treated cursorily here. Most memorable is the portrait of Kimmie, the absent one of the title, a damaged but deadly cipher who has fallen out with the group. She's no Salander, but she's almost as original. Less riveting than the first one, but worthwhile for fans.--Graff, Keir Copyright 2010 Booklist

In Adler-Olsen's latest installment of his Department Q series, Copenhagen detective Carl Morck is drawn into a case that will reveal the darkest sides of the privileged, the depraved, and the dispossessed. Returning from vacation, Morck is tasked with investigating a previously closed case: the brutal murder of a brother and sister in 1987. In resurrecting the old case, the detective investigates a group of individuals-now successful and influential-who attended boarding school together at the time of the murders. Morck's sleuthing soon leads him to Kimmie, a woman who harbors dark secrets that could change the lives of her former classmates forever. In this audio edition, narrator Steven Pacey ably brings Adler-Olsen's intricate mystery to life. He lends the characters-the perpetually cranky Morck, his eager-to-please assistant Assad, or the damaged Kimmie-distinct and absolutely spot-on voices. A Dutton hardcover. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

In the second installation of his "Department Q" novels, Adler-Olsen (The Keeper of Lost Causes) brings Det. Carl Morck out of the basement and back onto the streets of Copenhagen. Twenty years ago, a brother and sister were sadistically tortured and murdered in their family's cabin. The original suspects (boarding school gang members) are from highly influential and wealthy families, most of whom have grown into elite and untouchable millionaires. After being turned on aggressively by the others, Kimmie, the only female of the group, has gone off the radar and threatens all that the men hold dear-and Morck is on a mission to find her, no matter the odds. Verdict Adler-Olsen has created a wonderful addition to the detective fiction genre in his sleuth. Morck is a tenacious, hard-hitting force who can't be diverted from his case. Readers of detective fiction, international crime fiction, and suspense fiction will highly enjoy this thriller. While the book can be read as a stand-alone novel, readers will be unable to resist seeking out and devouring the first and subsequent series titles.-Jennifer Funk, McKendree Univ. Lib., Lebanon, IL (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Copenhagen Deputy Detective Superintendent Carl Mrck returns from vacation to discover that his tiny cold case unit, Department Q, has been reshuffled, and a citizen's complaint has reopened a 20-year-old case on which all the relevant documents have disappeared. Ditlev Pram is a founder of private hospitals. Ulrik Dybbl Jensen is a stock market analyst. Torsten Florin is a prominent designer. Before they achieved their success, however, they were fifth-form students together at Rdovre High School along with Kristian Wolf, Bjarne Thgersen and Kirsten-Marie Lassen. These last three haven't done so well. Kristian died in an apparent hunting accident; Bjarne is doing time for killing Lisbet Jrgeneon and her brother Sren back in 1987; and Kimmie is living on the streets of Copenhagen. Now new evidence suggests that all six of them were responsible for the Jrgensens' deaths and for a whole lot more mayhem as well. The upshot of Carl's dogged investigation is to get himself suspended from the force. But aided and abetted by his loyal Syrian assistant, Hafez el-Assad, and his new secretary, Rose Knudsen, assigned to his unit after she failed her police driving test, he continues to build a case against his influential quarry, themselves desperate to track down Kimmie, whose voices have been telling her that it's time to get revenge on them for their mistreatment of her. The long, eventful, often tedious chase climaxes in a wild hunt guaranteed to satisfy the most bloodthirsty readers. As in Department Q's debut (The Keeper of Lost Causes, 2011), Adler-Olsen plots and writes with both eyes on Stieg You-Know-Who. The result is overscaled, lumpy, strenuously unnuanced and destined for the bestseller lists.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Grumpy Copenhagen police detective Carl Mørck finds that Department Q, the cold-case Siberia to which he was exiled in The Keeper of Lost Causes (2011), has become a little less chilly since he cracked the famous Lynggaard case—although his uneasy partnership with the genial Assad has been complicated by the transfer of a difficult second assistant named Rose. A file lands on Mørck's desk and leads him to a group of industry titans who may have been getting away with murder—literally—since their days at an elite boarding school. Adler-Olsen riffs on inequality in Danish society, which is timely, although the predations of the bad guys are so over the top that they teeter on the edge of parody. And while Mørck's guilty feelings over his old partner's injury gave depth to the first book, they're treated cursorily here. Most memorable is the portrait of Kimmie, the "absent one" of the title, a damaged but deadly cipher who has fallen out with the group. She's no Salander, but she's almost as original. Less riveting than the first one, but worthwhile for fans. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.

In the second installation of his "Department Q" novels, Adler-Olsen (The Keeper of Lost Causes) brings Det. Carl Mørck out of the basement and back onto the streets of Copenhagen. Twenty years ago, a brother and sister were sadistically tortured and murdered in their family's cabin. The original suspects (boarding school gang members) are from highly influential and wealthy families, most of whom have grown into elite and untouchable millionaires. After being turned on aggressively by the others, Kimmie, the only female of the group, has gone off the radar and threatens all that the men hold dear—and Mørck is on a mission to find her, no matter the odds. Verdict Adler-Olsen has created a wonderful addition to the detective fiction genre in his sleuth. Mørck is a tenacious, hard-hitting force who can't be diverted from his case. Readers of detective fiction, international crime fiction, and suspense fiction will highly enjoy this thriller. While the book can be read as a stand-alone novel, readers will be unable to resist seeking out and devouring the first and subsequent series titles.—Jennifer Funk, McKendree Univ. Lib., Lebanon, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Adler-Olsen, Denmark's leading crime fiction author, outdoes his outstanding debut, Keeper of Lost Things, with his second Department Q novel. No one knows how prickly Copenhagen Deputy Det. Supt. Carl Morck, the head of Department Q, which handles cold cases, received the file about the 1987 murder of an 18-year-old brother and a 17-year-old sister in a summer cottage. At the time suspicion fell on six boarding-school friends, but the police could find no evidence. Nine years later, a member of that group, the only one who had been on scholarship, confessed and went to prison. Morck and his misfit assistants, Assad and Rose, discover that the blood lust of those same students, now wealthy leaders of society, has not abated. These men fear only one thing—a homeless woman who used to be part of their gang. An insightful look at ruthless people seduced by violence and hiding behind their wealth fuels the surprise-filled plot. Morck's life is never simple, whether it involves office politics, stymied investigations, or guilt over his paralyzed partner. Agent: Sarah Hunt Cooke, international rights director at Penguin UK. (Aug.)