Jussi Adler-Olsen - The Absent One (Department Q #2)
If I had one word to describe Detective Carl Mørck, it would be quirky. And then there would be a lot of expounding after.
He was once the sole detective in Department Q, handling Copenhagen’s coldest of cold cases, and relegated to the basement. It isn’t just the cases that the law enforcement hierarchy wished to hide, but being smarter than your colleagues, no matter the personal or social demons you struggle with while solving a national kidnapping case (go read The Keeper of Lost Causes), tends to keep one in the spotlight.
And when a folder winds up on Carl’s desk piquing his interest, not even suspension will deter him from following leads and digging up the past.
Several of the country’s top movers and shakers in the world of high-finance seem connected to a series of unsolved disappearances and murders, and Carl begins searching for those connections. When numerous clues lead him to the trail of a prodigal daughter, now living on the streets and stealing to survive, he sets in motion an avalanche of events that may prove detrimental to his career and health.
Utilizing Assad, a previous assistant, and gaining another, Carl is happy to assign the mundane tasks of tracking bits of information to them while he handles the more interesting interrogations. Still an apparent underachiever when it comes to the normal routine police work, once Carl is on the case, things begin to happen, even while managing to cause subtle mayhem for his superiors.
One of a kind detective and department, infused with dark humor and quirkiness that makes for a fantastic read. Now waiting until more of the Department Q novels are translated.
He was once the sole detective in Department Q, handling Copenhagen’s coldest of cold cases, and relegated to the basement. It isn’t just the cases that the law enforcement hierarchy wished to hide, but being smarter than your colleagues, no matter the personal or social demons you struggle with while solving a national kidnapping case (go read The Keeper of Lost Causes), tends to keep one in the spotlight.
And when a folder winds up on Carl’s desk piquing his interest, not even suspension will deter him from following leads and digging up the past.
Several of the country’s top movers and shakers in the world of high-finance seem connected to a series of unsolved disappearances and murders, and Carl begins searching for those connections. When numerous clues lead him to the trail of a prodigal daughter, now living on the streets and stealing to survive, he sets in motion an avalanche of events that may prove detrimental to his career and health.
Utilizing Assad, a previous assistant, and gaining another, Carl is happy to assign the mundane tasks of tracking bits of information to them while he handles the more interesting interrogations. Still an apparent underachiever when it comes to the normal routine police work, once Carl is on the case, things begin to happen, even while managing to cause subtle mayhem for his superiors.
One of a kind detective and department, infused with dark humor and quirkiness that makes for a fantastic read. Now waiting until more of the Department Q novels are translated.