The Keeper of Lost Causes

Department Q, Book 1

By: Jussi Adler-Olsen

Narrated by: Erik Davies

Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Get to know the detective in charge of Copenhagen's coldest cases in the first electrifying Department Q mystery from New York Times best-selling author Jussi Adler-Olsen.

Carl Mørck used to be one of Denmark’s best homicide detectives. Then a hail of bullets destroyed the lives of two fellow cops, and Carl - who didn’t draw his weapon - blames himself. So a promotion is the last thing he expects. But Department Q is a department of one, and Carl’s got only a stack of cold cases for company. His colleagues snicker, but Carl may have the last laugh, because one file keeps nagging at him: A liberal politician vanished five years earlier and is presumed dead. But she isn’t dead...yet.

Darkly humorous, propulsive, and atmospheric, The Keeper of Lost Causes introduces American listeners to the mega-bestselling series fast becoming an international sensation.

©2011 Jussi Adler-Olsen (P)2011 Penguin

Best Mystery Thriller Release in Past 14 Months!

If you could sum up The Keeper of Lost Causes in three words, what would they be?

Fresh, Perfect, Exciting

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Keeper of Lost Causes?

The frantic conclusion

Which scene was your favorite?

The final, final scene..sorry I can't spoil it. It says too much about humanity and love.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Glass Key Award Winning Scandinavian Missing Person Thriller

Any additional comments?

This is a very artful novel that transcends the genre of the modern thriller mystery. This book is fast-paced and constantly engaging. The storyline is so creatively fresh and new. For fans of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, this is something even better. I am stunned at how fresh and creative this novel is. It is a book that you will long remember and treasure the experience of listening to Danish accented narration that brings the locale names into perfect pronounciation and adds to the atomosphere. It has an internal parallel contruction that reveals the plot's progress from different eyes which makes the story much more complex, rich in characterization and engaging. The ending is thrilling beyond description. The author creates characters of immense depth and enigma. This novel won the coveted Glass Key Award that recognizes the best of Scandinavian mystery novels. So you are talking about that kind of novel.

Total Immersion

Great road trip book and no way will you get sleepy listening to this edge of the seat cop thriller. It made the miles go by effortlessly and my wife was totally caught up in spite of herself.

Excellent read

I rarely give a 5 star review but this is well deserved. The book was good from beginning to end without dull spots. Narration is fantastic. I enjoyed it so much that I purchased the next book in the series and I can’t wait to start.

Excellent Adventure

This is a great story that was narrated beautifully. A very suspenseful novel beautifully told by the author.

Let's Start at the Very Beginning...

This is book one of the Department Q series.

Dept Q is an underfunded department specializing in cold cases. The government has given it top priority, but the police chief gives it litte thought. The department is manned by 3 misfits.

Carl Mork is the lead man, by far the best detective on the entire force, but he is also insubordinate, impossible to work with and impulsive. No one likes him or wants to work with him. So his chief puts him the newly formed Department Q.

Assad is a real mystery figure. He's Syrian, speaks poor English, (this was translated from Norwegian.), and no one seems to know how he came to be employed at all. They don't have a personnel file on him, no one has ever seen the family he speaks of, and no one seems to know where he lives.

Rose is another strange character. She works when she feels like it, is at least Morks equal with insubordination, she wears her emotions on her sleeve, and is just maybe a bit mentally ill.

Carl Mork , Rose and Assad have a charisma and synergy that makes you want see them go at it for years to come. They are smart, resourceful, mysterious, ruthless and hilarious.
I love the entire series.

Too Disjointed

I was quite excited when I read that this author had won the same award the author of the "Girl With The Dragon Tatoo" series had won. The characters are interesting, and the main story line is good, it has all the elements of character development, mystery, and suspense. That is why I rated it a 3.

Unfortunately, there were so many story lines I found myself zoning out quite frequently, and not having the desire to reverse to see what I'd missed. I love books with multiple story lines, and authors like Elizabeth George and Ruth Rendell, seem to have a talent for tying the story lines together throughout the book just enough to build ones curiosity. This book did not. I felt there were so many story lines the author was trying to pack in that the entire story felt too disjointed.

I listen to many books set in England, Ireland, and Scotland, so I am probably not a good judge of how well the narrator performed the Danish accent, but there were a few times when I felt like he was "falling" into more of a southern United States accent! It was quite disconcerting.

really good story

half way through you know who did it but no idea how it will end. great writing.

Brilliant

So excited to have found this series. Excellent characters, riveting plot with just the right amount of humor. On to the next book!

Great mystery; reader's accents are awful!

Thrilled with the author. Will avoid the narrator. His rendition of accents are painful. It would have been better if he did not even try.

Funny Accent? WHY???

When a book is translated into English, we assume that the native speakers in the original language speak without an accent. So why did the producers of this book opt to have the reader use ridiculous "foreign" accents for ALL of the characters. They all talk like they have marbles in their mouths, they all sound the same, and it makes for hard listening.