The Department Q team is back with another cold case that gets its big break from a message in a bottle that makes its way from Scotland back to Denmark. While Detective Carl Morck and his assistants can no longer help the kidnapped boy whose cry for help came to them long after he was gone, following the clues from the kidnapping helps them look for a kidnapper who was never found. Another excellent story by Adler-Olsen with plenty of twists and turns along the way. ( )

almost too ridiculous for a bit there, but it worked out. ( )

Guess what? Another book from Scandinavia. Here are my thoughts regarding this book.
1. This is a translated version of the original. The complete lack of editing means that anytime two or more people are talking to each other it is as if they are in separate rooms. There is zero continuity in this book.
2. The translation seems to be geared to a British reader, so the use of slang and everyday language is still foreign to an American reader, which is fine except with the complete lack of editing it can be very hard to follow.
3. This book is easily 200 pages too long. The removal of those 200 pages would not have any impact to the core story.
As far as I can tell this is what the primary storyline is, this; a bottle is picked up by a Scottish fishing boat with a note inside it is forgotten about for a period of time. Everyone who has come in contact with the bottle has bad luck (not relevant because it is never expanded on) the note is in Danish and sent to the Denmark police, the note was written by a kidnapped victim, through unbelievable sleuthing it is finally deciphered, and the cold case decision sets about finding the kidnapper.
The kidnapper, hates religious people, as he was brought up in an abusive highly,Religious family, therefore he targets his victims to match his growing up. He is married, but the wife character is completely unneeded since she is weak and makes no difference to the story except in the last chapter.
As if this is not convoluted enough, the cold case department is also working on a series of Arson cases which add nothing to the primary story other than to act as a distraction.
1. Carl Morck is a detective in a cold case division of the Denmark police. He is a dull burnt out policeman, who seems to either get lucky solving crimes, happens to be in the right place at the right time enough times to figure out the case, or through unbelievable coincidence puts cases together. He seems to have a love interest with Mona, don't know why and didn't care as it seems to be thrown in whenever Carl is becoming to dull to read about.
2. Also in the department are Assad who is from Syria. And Rose/Yrsa who is bipolar. These two characters are so poorly explained, behave so strangely, and don't seem to follow any standard chain of command with Carl. They also are a complete distraction, and their quirkiness is never explained, they are not funny, and don't add anything.
3. Carl's former partner apparently was injured in the previous book in this series and is now paralyzed and living in a hospital bed it Carl's living room.
4. Carl is separated from his alcoholic wife who wants to move back in, but is crazy..... And really who cares, and why is she in the story.
I could go on but let's summarize,
A. Book is way too long.
B. Editing is horrible.
C. Translation is bad and confusing.
D. Characters are either dull, quirky, or badly drawn out.
( )

Very entertaining book. A mixture of humor, violence, and suspense - the series gets better with each book (or maybe I'm just getting to know the characters better).

This one is mostly about the worst type of serial killer. His "business" is kidnapping for ransom. He imprisons two young kids - siblings - for a period of time until their parents pay his ransom; then, to prevent them from reporting it, he kills one of the two, and threatens to kill more if they tell anyone anything. He chooses large families that are members of some religious sect that are pretty isolated to start with, so there's less chance they will talk to outsiders.

Everything goes well until his deeds attract the attention of Dept Q, the department of lost causes. Dept Q is a very unusual department, and very entertaining with their oddball mix of characters. I look forward to more from this series. ( )

Captivating and absorbing, a great read, no unexpected twists and turns, good solid storytelling. I just didn't like the jokingly use of xenophobic remarks. ( )