The Absent One (2008)

*** Spoiler Alert ***

Different Nordic Noir. At first It seemed to reveal the murderers and I wasn't impressed. However the way it detailed the eventual downfall of all the guilty parties was fitting and revealed exactly who carried out all the murders. Also the protagonist Carl Morck was not so much brave as stubborn and this made a change from most crime fiction. I'll be reading the rest of the series. ( )

Departamento Q ( )

Despite many other things to do, I seem to be in a real reading mood... It seems like I'm back in my first years of grammar school, when I went to the library at least every second week and took home about 7 books each time. And brought them back read...

Well, now about this book. A good thriller, for me a new plot, familiar things of course, but I never had the feeling that I had already read something like this.

I like Moerk and his colleagues :-) They do their job thoroughly and despite that Moerk seems to lack every bit of humor, that makes some scenes quite funny.
For some reason I compare him to Gregory House, he's the same kind of pain in the **** for his superiors and colleagues.

Recommended! ( )

My blog post about this book is at this link.
( )

When I finally gave in to the "Dragon Tattoo Nordic" wave (and no, I still haven't read that series), I started with Adler-Olsen's chilling "The Keeper of Lost Causes." It was diabolically excellent, and although it didn't launch me into Nordic Frenzy, I couldn't wait for the next Department Q installment.

This is the second in what I feel certain is going to be a long relationship -- "The Absent One" was diabolical in a whole 'nother way. As concentrated as the evil was in "The Keeper of Lost Causes" (which created claustrophobia anxiety in this reader!), in "The Absent One," the evil comes from every direction, including the innermost workings of the most damaged minds.

Adler-Olsen does the reader a huge favor by giving us time with Carl Morck and his none-too-hapless assistant, the mysterious (and unintentionally hilarious) Assad. Without frequent trips back to Department Q and the repartee between these two (and Rose, a spectacular addition), I don't know if I would have been able to stand the tension.

Although I understand that the scope of this story made it necessary to pay only scant attention to Carl's son and tenant, I missed them -- but there is every reason to expect that they will both play much larger roles in (please, please, please, hurry!) the third in the series.

Note: BOOK RELEASE DATE -- AUGUST 21, 2012 ( )