Bogormen

Title: Journal 64
Author: Jussi Adler-Olsen
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 462
Date read: November, 2011

Abuse, violence and neglect was the norm on the small isolated island, where Danish women were deported and left to their minders' whims. When Rita Nielsen reached the island for the first time, nobody could know that she would be implicated in a drama that 55 years later would turn out to be Department Q's most complex case.

Carl, Assad and Rose stumble across the case almost by accident, and soon they realize that this is just a small piece of a much larger case, dealing with assault of the worst sort. Assaults that started more than half a century ago, but which turn out still to be going on.

A fascinating story involving racism and bigotry of the worst kind. Carl and Assad are really put to the test, when they meet influential people with opinions that were best suited to Nazi-Germany of the late 1930s and which any decent person should be ashamed to entertain.

The story was fast-paced like all of Jussi Adler-Olsen's novels, and the plot actually a good deal more believable than some of his previous novels. I did get very annoyed at times with Carl's lack of a spine when it came to dealing with Assad and Rose, but loved how he stood up to his soon-to-be-ex-wife.

But though the main plot of this novel got neatly tied up in the end, the eternal questions of Carl's initial murder case, and what on earth Assad was up to before he joined Department Q are still left unanswered, so the series obviously isn't over yet!

The first book in the series has been translated to English, so hopefully the rest will be too - I highly recommend it.

Title: Kvinden i buret (The Woman in the Cage)
Author: Jussi Adler-Olsen
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 379
Date read: January, 2010

I've found a new author to look out for. Jussi Adler-Olsen writes excellent page-turners, and so far I've been very impressed by his books.

A beautiful winterday in 2002 the young, ambitious politician Merete Lynggaard disappears completely. The media jump on the story and headlines guess everything from murder or suicide to a deliberate disappearance. The police immediately start an elaborate search, but with no results. Merete Lynggaard is nowhere to be found.

Five years later, Carl Mørck is made head of the new police department for 'Cases of special importance', and picks up the Merete Lynggaard case again. A seemingly innocent remark turns out to be a new clue, and soon he and his assistant Assad are on the hunt of a ruthless criminal with an insane plan. The question is whether they're in time to prevent the hideous outcome, or if they'll be victims as well.

Jussi Adler-Olsen writes both from the POV of Carl Mørck and Merete Lynggaard which makes for a more interesting read, than if we had just gotten one of the stories. It starts a bit slowly, as he sets up his characters and the universe, but quickly picks up pace and keeps it high for the rest of the book.

It's not really meant to be a 'whodunnit' (I'd guessed the identity of the criminal before it was revealed), but more a psychological thriller. I was shocked by the thought of being kept captive for 5 years with nothing for company but your own thoughts. I think I'd go mad!

Excellent book. I'm looking forward to reading more of his work.

Title: Flaskepost fra P (Message in a Bottle From P)
Author: Jussi Adler-Olsen
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 486
Date read: December, 2009

In the small town of Wick in Scotland, a bottle had been forgotten in the old police station for many years. When somebody finally notices a letter hidden inside, possibly written in blood and with only the word "HELP" legible, the bottle travels to Denmark where policeman Carl Mørck and his assistant Assad discover a disturbing case about kidnapped siblings who've never been reported missing by their parents.

A true page-turner. It's almost 500 pages long but I simply couldn't put it down. It's well-written and the changing narrators fits the style and plot well and helps build the tension. I was absolutely mesmerised and found myself alternatively feeling pity for the perpetrator and being absolutely disgusted by him.

"Flaskepost fra P" is the third book in the series about Department Q, but though I could occasionally sense references to the previous books, they were in no way necessary in order to follow the plot of this one.

Brilliant crime novel. I hope it will eventually be translated to English so more people get to read it.

Title: Watership Down
Author: Richard Adams
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 7/10
# pages: 398
Date read: February, 2007

Summary: Living in the Sandleford Warren with its Chief Rabbit and Owsla maintaining a comfortable social order, Hazel and his little brother Fiver are content enough. But Fiver has the gift of prophecy, and when he warns that the warren has to be abandoned right away or they are all going to die, Hazel and a small circle of friends believe him and leave despite the fact that have no idea where they are going. Fiver envisions a great high place where they can be happy and safe, but there are a series of imposing obstacles to overcome, from not only humans and predators, but other wild rabbits as well. Consequently the basic story of "Watership Down" is the ancient quest for home, although in this case it is a new home that represents a wild rabbit's idea of utopia. (From Amazon.com)

Review: Watership Down is a cute book, but I had difficulties loosing myself in it. Perhaps because the main characters were rabbits, so I couldn't really relate? In any case I never forgot it was a book.

It's the kind of book that makes me almost embarrassed to be a human. Especially when I read about the gassing of the original colony. What makes us think we have the right to kill animals, just because we happen to have bought the area of land that they live on? A question that has no answer I guess, but one can't help (well - *I* can't help anyway ;) ) drawing parallels to what happened to the Native Americans when Europeans first came to America, to the Aboriginals in Australia and to the Maories in New Zealand. Not too big a difference there, except to say that people are obviously able to treat other human beings like that as well, and not just animals.

I like the idea that all animals have some sort of common language. I don't know how realistic it is, but it's a nice touch. And it seems a lot more realistic that it's a foreign language for all of them, rather than that they're just able to understand each other right off the bat, as many books and movies presume.

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