What do you do with a good, but damaged (physically and emotionally) cop whom no one wishes to work with? You take advantage of government funding and create a brand-new department for him alone (and keep the rest of the money in your own budget). Let the guy handle Copenhagen's (and maybe all of Denmark's) cold cases, allowing him a small basement office and an assistant whose immigrant background allows him to settle for menial work while his intelligence makes him a valued member of the team.

Jussi Alder-Olsen has created an engaging premise to a new series, in which Carl Merck and his Department Q (in other words, Carl and his assistant Assad) investigate the case of a rising political star who vanishes from a ferry between Denmark and Germany 5 years beforehand. Did she commit suicide? Was she murdered? Or, as the reader will quickly realize (especially if they read the dust jacket), perhaps she's not even dead yet

Alder-Olsen also manages to successfully manage jumping around various locations and even times without confusing the reader certainly a challenge that has stymied other writers.

I picked up this book simply because of its locale I'd never read a mystery set in Denmark. I plan to pick up the next one because the author impressed me, regardless of setting.

RATING: 5 stars.

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A very entertaining book with some fresh, eccentric characters. I enjoyed this quite a bit even though the story setting up 'Dept. Q' is very reminiscent of what Nesbo used starting the Harry Hole series. I'll definitely look for more in this series.

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Slow to get going and jumps back and forth in time, but picks up steam eventually. Carl is a not someone it's fun to spend 400 pages with, though. He is what used to be called a Male Chauvinist Pig, although he does treat his Syrian assistant decently. I thought it was too long and there were some plot holes along the way, and a few too many non-essential characters. Even though Denmark isn't that vast a country, it would have been helpful if the publishers had included a map to help follow the action. Not a failed book, but could have been tighter and better.

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Very good read, the author was new to me and that is actually why I requested the book. I will be reading as many more of the Adler-Olsen books as I can find.

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Copenhagen's police department created a new department called Q in the basement of their building. It is headed up by Carl Morck, a flawed policeman that nobody wants to work with. He is given an immigrant named Assad who is suppose to do menial work but his intelligence is very helpful to Carl. Department Q is in charge of cold cases and one case catches the eye of Carl. It is a liberal woman politician who has been missing for 5 years. Some surmise suicide or murder but she may still be alive. Carl and Assad are bound and determined to find out.
This book has a very interesting plot but the story moved very slow for me. I don't know if it was the translation but the book was very wordy and could have used better dialogue. Carl and Assad were unique but the other characters seemed very stilted to me. I switched to the audio version and that worked better for me. I will continue with the series and I would recommend to those who like mystery noir from Denmark.

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