I think I like the premise of the Department Q novels more than the execution. This, the fourth in the series, has our reluctant hero pursuing decades old missing persons cases that implicate a neo-Nazi party of today and dredge up unpleasant racial cleansing and forced abortions from Denmark’s recent past. I don’t find the hero very engaging, but his team is growing on me and Adler-Olsen has a real knack for crafting believable, sympathetic baddies. And in this one, he manages a little twist in the end that surprised me. So, I’ll keep going through the series.
No. 7 of 100 books I intend to read and review in 2020.
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Patrick Sherriff, an Englishman who survived 13 years working for newspapers in the US, UK and Japan. Between teaching English lessons at his conversation school in Abiko, Japan, with his wife, he writes and illustrates textbooks for non-native speakers of English, releases Hana Walker mystery novels, short stories, essays and a monthly newsletter highlighting good fiction published in English about Japan. Saku’s Random Book Club is his latest project to spend more time with books.
Patrick Sherriff 