Book Log 2012 #1: The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olson


The success of the Millenium trilogy opened the way for other Scandinavian crime writers, which would be great if my library actually acquired books in order. We seem to have a lot of second or third books in a series showing up, which is a problem for me and my OCD about reading series in order.

I wasn't so hampered with this book, as it's the first in the series, and the only novel in the series published in the US (so far). The series follows a Copenhagen police detective named Carl Morck, who believes his slow reaction to a shooting incident will lead to his firing. Instead, his boss finds the perfect solution for getting rid of Carl - he's bumped up to  lead Department Q, a newly-formed cold case squad. Or "squad," as the department is staffed by Carl and his assistant, a shadowy Syrian immigrant named Assad who is hired to make coffee and clean but winds up being much more involved in the investigation.

That investigation involves the disappearance of a member of Parliament five years previous. Dedicated to work and caring for her brother (who suffered some sort of brain injury in a car accident), she disappears off of a ferry bound for Germany. The assumption is that she fell (or jumped) off the ferry, but as Carl begins to investigate, he thinks there's more to the story. Morck also stays involved in the shooting case that started his new career in cold cases, and chips in on another investigation as well.

His personal life is about as messed up as work, as he lives with his teenaged stepson and a basement tenant. His wife lives in a garden shed, forcing Morck to live in limbo. He pursues other women, but can't quite escape his wife's orbit (though he seems pretty much over her romantically).

The story is told in parallel tracks between the present day and the past timeline of the cold case. It's done pretty effectively, allowing the mystery to build in one track while it then unfolds in the other. It helps that Morck is a pretty interesting character, though it's hard to tell if his melancholy is permanent or not. I really enjoyed the developing relationship he has with his assistant, and to future revelations on just how he got to Denmark from Syria.

Overall, the book is a worthy representative of the genre, and I'm hopeful the other books will work their way into English.