“Brilliantly written, this book describes the horrifying brutality and dark depths of human behaviour, the unchangeable laws of physics and the importance of refusing to give up: both on living and on an investigation which seems to be going nowhere.”
NO MAJOR SPOILERS
Its 2007.
Copenhagen’s infamous homicide detective, Carl Morck, narrowly escapes death when he, and his two colleagues, Anker and Hardy, are ambushed while checking out a crime scene. Morck is shot in the head, the bullet grazing past his temple. Anker is killed, and Hardy is left paralyzed, having taken a bullet in his spine.
Consumed with guilt and warding off PTSD, when Morck finally returns to work, friction with his colleagues leads his boss to transfer him to head a new unit, Department Q, tasked with resolving “cold cases”, i.e. cases which have run into a dead-end and have been shelved.
The purpose of the assignment is to keep Morck out of the way, and utilise the extra funds Dept. Q is going to bring into the force.
Morck too is initially content just to kill time, however, with a little pushing and probing, from his assistant Assad, he finds himself reopening the case of a high-profile mystery: the 2002 disappearance of a prominent female politician, Merete Lynggaard.
Alternating between the viewpoints of Merete and Morck, this is a fantastic unputdownable thriller!
Merete, presumed to be dead, is being held captive. The question is why? And by whom?
You may be able to guess the motive behind it sometime in the course – however, not for once does the book lose its pace.
Brilliantly written, this book describes the horrifying brutality and dark depths of human behaviour, the unchangeable laws of physics and the importance of refusing to give up: both on living and on an investigation which seems to be going nowhere.
I stumbled upon this while randomly browsing for a Nordic Noir – and I am so glad I picked this up!
5/5 for me.
Reviewed by:
Ranjini Sen
Added 7th April 2018
