The Keeper of Lost Causes: The First Department Q Novel (A Department Q Novel) Paperback – July 31, 2012

The rare method of torturing the victim was unquestionably the centrepiece of the story. The excellent film version introduced me to the moody detective Carl Mørck, played excellently by Danish actor NIKOLAJ LIE KAAS and prompted me to pick up the book to get deeper into the story. Read it in English and then a second time in Norwegian. It was a tremendously satisfying read from start to finish of this intense police-crook story on vendetta. Certainly not for the faint-heart because it contains excruciating psychological and physical torture that made me squirm. I am quite puzzled with the choice of "Mercy" as the English translated title which is quite meaningless considering the story is all but merciless throughout. Cruel fate had no mercy striking the monsters with immense tragedy in their early lives that shaped them into revengeful blood thirsty monsters. These monsters themselves, in feeding their lust for vendetta, had no mercy for the victims or innocent bystanders. I much prefer the Danish/Norwegian title "Kvinnen i buret" or "The lady in the cage" because it describes the story excellently. The story is of course best read in Danish (or Norwegian as the written form is quite similar) like all books are best enjoyed in their original language. So with  Mercy (Department Q Series Book 1) , familiarity with Danish history, culture, lifestyle, geography and pathos go a long way to fully enjoy the genius of Adler-Olsen. Unfortunately, all translations as in this English version inevitably lose important nuances and many gems relevant in the Danish setting. I absolutely love  Mercy (Department Q Series Book 1) , my first crime novel by Danish author Adler-Olsen who paid great attention to details to give us a plot that was highly intelligent and unique, the characters were winsomely realistic be they the police detectives, the victims or the crooks. Despite the mostly sombre and heavy mood, there were some light moments of humor where Carl Mørck grappled with his dysfunctional marriage and incorrigible stepson wrecking havoc at home. Thankfully Carl gratefully had a reliable rent paying tenant called Morten, who loved opera and freely and lovingly volunteered making comfort food and home making service on a daily basis. Morten's playdo collection, audaciously borrowed without permisjon eventually lent valuable support to Carl in helping to uncover the bad guy in the story. Otherwise, much of the moronic fun were provided by the unlikely partners of Carl Mørck and Assad thrown unexpectedly together, whose backgrounds couldn't be more diverse and polarised, giving us comical confrontations while sussing each other out in the newly formed Department Q. There trust and admiration for each other were eventually forged after their harrowing life and death experience in solving their first case together. More so for Carl whose life was saved by the skin of his teeth when his quick thinking, stoic and resourceful assistant Assad came to his rescue. The special police department was a political initiative endorsed by the Danish parliament to reopen old unsolved cases that had attracted media and public great attention one time before they were unresolved and shelved. To establish credibility and to restore the good standing of the unpopular detective Carl Mørck, who was despised and abhorred by his colleagues, solving the all important first case "Woman in the pressure chamber" cannot be more critical on the line. And what a first case it was. A tale of 1extreme inhuman revenge, meticulously planned over a long period of time to torture the victim for a long five period since her abduction before exacting the most cruel form of execution. Adler-Olsen cleverly segmented his story into two different periods at the beginning before the two segments converged in the end to a nail biting finish. It was an incredible suspenseful, and emotionally beautiful ending of reunion and closure. The reader got so caught up with the characters in the book, that hot tears were shed in the end. Already a big fan of Scandinavian crime novels, I have read Norwegian and Swedish crime fictions by Larsson for his Blomkivst journalist , Nesbø for his alcoholic, insomniac, cheerless, Jim Bean addicted Harry Hole, and Staaleson for the physically abused Aquavit addicted Varg Veum. I love them all, each for their unique heroic and conscientious protagonist trying their utmost to rid the world of evil. Adler-Olsen with his creation or Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde "Carl Mørck", is now for me another fantastic Scandinavian crime fiction author, my first from Denmark.

This book was recommended to me since I generally like Scandinavian mysteries. It was sitting there in my reading queue, so I thought why not? I'll read you next.Then I started reading and I groaned because it seemed this was going to be just another moody Scandinavian mystery with a dour, emotionally and psychologically damaged detective with a crazy ex-wife. But I kept reading and soon discovered how wrong my first impression was. This was one funny book!Well, perhaps I should explain here that the main mystery involves a horrendous crime starting with the kidnapping from a ferry of a young, dynamic, and beautiful Danish politician. Details of her kidnapping and the crimes against her are sprinkled throughout the book, interspersed with the chapters that detail the detectives' efforts to solve her mysterious disappearance, and some of those chapters are very hard to read, particularly if one suffers at all from claustrophobia. Fortunately, the chapters about the detectives are much lighter, some of them laugh-out-loud funny. I found myself frequently chuckling at the interactions between the two main characters.Jussi Adler-Olsen introduces us to Carl Mørck, a detective with the Copenhagen police. We meet him as he is just recovering from a terrible experience.As he and two partners were following leads on a case, they were jumped by two gunmen. In a hail of bullets, one partner was killed outright; another was paralyzed and there seems no hope for his recovery; Carl Mørck was shot in the head but escaped with only an interesting scar. His shame and guilt, however, is that he never drew his weapon during the shootout.Carl is a brilliant and intuitive detective, but he is also a pain in the butt. None of his colleagues wants to work with him, so when his boss gets news that funds have been allocated for a new department, an ideal solution occurs to him: He will assign Mørck to be the head and only member of the new department.That is Department Q, The Keeper of Lost Causes. The commission of the department will be to reopen cold cases, lost causes, and clear them.Carl Mørck is not amused by his new assignment. So he sits with stacks of these "dead" cases on his desk and plays games on his computer. Then he learns something about the amount of money that has been appropriated for his department and he demands of his boss, Marcus, that he hire an assistant for him, someone he envisions as a janitor to keep the place clean. He also demands more up-to-date equipment and a car. Marcus gives him everything he asks for just to keep Carl in his basement office and out of his hair.The "janitor" that Marcus sends him turns out to be much more than that. His name (he says) is Hafez el-Assad. He is a Syrian refugee, a political asylee, who, slowly, during the course of the book unpacks a bewildering package of skills and knowledge.Who is this man and what is his background? When it comes to detecting, he matches the brilliance of Carl Mørck. Even though he is not supposed to be involved in the investigatory side of the department, he manages to insinuate himself and Mørck gradually learns to depend upon him, even though he is still suspicious of his background.Assad prods Carl into action on the case files covering his desk, and the first one they pick up is that politician who was kidnapped back in 2002. It is now 2007 and that case is very cold indeed.As Carl and Assad look at the case file, they realize that it was sloppily done. Things were overlooked or mishandled and slowly they follow every little discrepancy, teasing them out, and looking for a solution to the problem.Reading the interactions between Carl and Assad was just a delight. They play off each other very well and as their relationship grows and deepens, the humor becomes both drier and broader. I fell in love with charming Assad and even dour Carl and I am eager to learn more about them in future books. I think Jussi Adler-Olsen has created a couple of winners here.

This Swedish author is an excellent writer. The suspense builds and there is a little bit of humour throughout. The characters are well developed and realistic. And excellent read.

... full of surprises and unsolved personal misteries.

This is the first time that I am reading this book by the author and frankly speaking was totally bowled by the entire plot. The writing, the cliffhangers, the mysteries and the backstories are simply the best. Definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a detective novel with a feel of the real world stories

I had watch this ,before I bought but it took time to buy this complete edition having doubts that maybe another kind of stereotype but no I am very wrong I really enjoyed every page turned, Now excuse me I have 6 novel yo read.

Carl Morck ist ein abgehalfterter dänischer Polizist, der nach einem Anschlag auf ihn und zwei Kollegen von Selbstzweifeln gequält wird und kaum noch arbeitsfähig ist. Aus der Rekonvaleszenz zurückgekehrt schiebt man in in den Keller und das neugegründete Department Q ab, das sich um alte, abgelegte Fälle kümmern soll. Im zur Seite steht Assad, ein rätselhafter Syrer, der von der Putzhilfe zum Hilfspolizisten mutiert.Der Roman schildert die Entführung einer Politikerin fünf Jahre vor dem Hier und Jetzt (2007). Durch einen Zufall stoßen Morck und Assad auf Hinweise, die sie schließlich zur Erkenntnis führen, dass das Opfer noch lebt und sich in den Händen des/der Entführer befindet.Parallel dazu wird die Geschichte der Entführung und der Entführten erzählt, die von ihren Peinigern grausam gequält und gefoltert wird. Dem Leser bleibt der Grund dafür bis kurz vor Schluss rätselhaft, klar wird nur, dass es um irgendeine Form der Rache geht. Leider erfährt man für meinen Geschmack etwas zu früh, um was es tatsächlich geht, danach ist die Geschichte leider vorhersehbar.Die beiden Handlungsstränge laufen aufeinander zu, der eine in der Gegenwart, der andere aus der Vergangenheit kommend. Beide treffen sich in einem furiosen Finale, dessen Ausgang ich hier nicht verraten will.Das Ganze ist sehr unterhaltsam erzählt, mit Ironie und rabenschwarzem Humor gewürzt und nicht sparsam mit Seitenhieben und Einblicken in die dänische Gesellschaft und Politik. Vor kurzem verfilmt ist das ein toller Stoff für einen Bestseller (ist es in Dänemark wohl schon) und auch in der englischen Übersetzung absolut lesenswert und zu empfehlen.