by Jussi Adler-Olsen, translated by K. E. Semmel
Dutton, 2012. 406 pgs. Mystery.
Among the pots and pots of high-quality, austere, noirish Scandinavian mysteries on the shelves these days, how many would you describe as funny? Jussi Adler-Olsen's Department Q mysteries are that rare exception, murderous stories set in Denmark that use comic relief like Shakespeare did, to provide counterpoint to the darkness of, in this case, a series of particularly sadistic criminal acts perpetrated by a gang of boarding school friends who have become rich and famous, but not the less cruel through the years. Carl Morck, long-suffering and jaded head of the cold-case department, is goosed along by two unlikely assistants: Assad, the open-hearted but mysterious emigre from the Middle East, and Rose, the annoying new girl with the braying laugh and the blinding competence. Together the three take on the long unsolved case of a brother and sister murdered and humiliated in death by their attackers. Multiple points of view ratchet up the tension as the wicked and the mostly just dance their terrible dance of revelation and concealment. As with most Scandinavian mysteries, this one is filled with brutality and occasional graphic sex. Certainly not for the faint of heart or stomach, but a terrific book to close out the summer reading season. (See also Adler-Olsen's first Department Q mystery, Keeper of Lost Causes.)
LW
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