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

The Nitty Gritty Pieces

The book was interesting and engaging. I enjoyed following the main detective as he pieced together clues to the cold case's conclusion and resolution. The narration was good and I especially liked the character Assad with his unique and homey contributions to the police department. Overall, I recommend the book.

Totally engrossing!

Fascinating plot, great complicated characters and well written. I highly recommend it for anyone who loves a good story that is impossible to put down.

Cliché upon Cliché

This is going to be a negative review, but I will concede that at least until the plot became plodding and routine about halfway in, I found the book very enjoyable. If only the author could have sustained my interest in the second half . . . but, alas, he did not.

I can forgive an author of a police procedural for allowing the reader to solve the "whodunit" before his detective does. Indeed in this novel, which was always planned to be the first of a series, the reader is given information that the main character never has, so I was not too surprised when I figured out who the villain was fairly early in the story (I was even a little disappointed when the author confirmed my deduction -- I was hoping that it would be more complicated). However, when the reader knows the who,what, why and how well before the story concludes,the author better make the story really good -- and that, in my opinion, is where this book fails.

SPOILER ALERT -- I will try not to reveal too much about the story, but to make my point it will be necessary to give a few details.

First, I understand that this book is setting up a series, so it is necessary to introduce the "regular" characters we expect to see in the future. However,I was very disappointed that those characters were all from central casting:

Tormented Hero -- Check
Sometimes Bumbling, Sometimes Brilliant Assistant with a Mysterious Past -- Check
Gruff but Lovable Boss -- Check
Bureaucratic, Officious Superior -- Check
Nagging Ex -- Check
Sulky Teen -- Check
Injured Former Partner -- Check (Double Bonus if you guessed said partner is paralyzed and wants Tormented Hero to help him end his life)
Dead Former Partner-- Check
Beautiful Secretary that Flirts but it's all Innocent or is it? (i.e. Bond/Moneypenny) -- Check
Damsel in Distress -- Check
Psychotic Villain -- Check
Mentally Challenged Henchman -- Check
Psychotic Villain's "my boy can do no wrong" Mother/Henchwoman -- Check

Also, it is clear the author holds the Danish Civil Service and Political Establishment in utter contempt (perhaps with good cause, as I know little of Danish politics or government bureaucracy).

Second, the story was just too long, especially the dwelling over the torture/degradation of the victim. I get that the premise is that the hero is looking into cold cases and that the twist here is that the "murder victim" is still alive (not really a spoiler, as the reader is privy to this information early on -- and can figure it out even before then). Nonetheless, we are treated to scene after scene of just how bad the victim's circumstance is yet we are supposed to believe that she is the unique person who can retain her sanity despite 5 years of solitary confinement and torture (newsflash -- in true solitary confinement, i.e. no contact with other humans and confined to featureless environment, most people go stark raving mad within DAYS, and at most you can survive a few months -- with the addition of torture, its simply not credible that this victim would be lucid and plotting her revenge FIVE YEARS later). I would have eliminated at least half of the sections that detail the treatment of the victim by her captors, and even then I am not buying the "love for my handicapped brother and a desire for revenge are keeping me sane").

Even when the hero realizes that he must act immediately, we are treated to the cliché of a traffic jam keeping him from reaching his destination, buying the villain just enough time to tie poor Nell to the tracks as the train is on its way (though the villain's prior location is not specified, he, of course, had no such ill luck in rushing to scene of the final showdown).

Another problem with the final showdown (SPOILER ALERT) is that the villain has rigged an elaborate system to assure the victim's instant death (in case she tries to kill herself and, thus, rob him of the pleasure of deciding the time and manner of her death), but this system is conveniently disablde because a battery has run down (and has been for a week or more). His henchman notes that another battery is available, but instead of going to get it he tries to accomplish the same result by brute force. When the villain arrives on the scene, he berates the henchman for his efforts, telling him that only the system that requires the battery can do the job, Yet mere minutes later when taunted by the victim into attempting to effect the instant death scenario he DOES NOT GO TO GET THE FRESH BATTERY, but instead adopts the same brute force methods of the henchman. He then goes to Plan B which for some reason takes 20 minutes to work (well, the reason is the hero is stuck in traffic and needs the extra time to arrive at the last minute). It was just a little much to suspend disbelief over.

Finally, while the reader is OK, I have a real problem with his use of accents for the characters. Yes, I get that the book was originally written in Danish and the characters are, with one principal exception, Danes. But why do the characters have to speak with Danish accents in an English translation? It really adds nothing to the performance of the book (and quite frankly, sometimes make the reader difficult to understand as he uses the thickness of the accent to indicate the class/social position of the speaker). I would have been OK with all the dialogue being without accents except for the one non-Danish character -- and frankly that is the accent on which the reader puts the least effort.

I might give the second novel in the series a try just see if the pace picks up a little, but my expectations won't be as high as they were for this much praised book. I'd be curious to see the film adaptation if it is available with English sub-titles .

Great book!

The pace is slow and enjoyable at the beginning as it slowly builds to a nail biting page turning end. Love the main character, cringeworthy warts and all.

It's a KEEPER!

What did you love best about The Keeper of Lost Causes?

I originally began reading this book and just put it away. After reading some of his other books I came back to this book and I am so glad I did.

The story is a keeper!

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

When he realizes who done it!

What does Erik Davies bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He brings life to the characters.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

YES! Initially I hated it and later got further into it and found it was an excellent read.

Excellent

What did you love best about The Keeper of Lost Causes?

This was a shot in the dark book for me. I knew nothing about the author or the premise of the book. It was a little hard at first getting use to the Danish names, but once I got that down it was a very thrilling book.

Looking forward to the rest of this series

Where does The Keeper of Lost Causes rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's near the top of my audiobooks list

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

So many angles, kept you wondering

What about Erik Davies’s performance did you like?

Decent but understandable accent.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes it was

Sensational A New Favorite

Storytelling at its finest. This investigative duo is refreshing. I was connected to the characters in no time. I was invested in the outcome because the author seemed to include us. I was happy about the invitation.

Du c on bf n

Slow start but once it got moving I really enjoyed it. Great Narrator, which makes all the difference with audiobooks.

Danish accents

The Danish accents are maddening. Plus, it's hard to tell the characters apart. I won't buy any more books narrated like this.