The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

This is the discussion thread for the Fall 2016 Group Read The Keeper of Lost Causes AKA Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen. Please post your comments here. This thread is not restricted to those choosing this book for task 20.10, feel free to join in the discussion. Warning- spoilers ahead!

The requirement for task 20.10: You must participate in the book's discussion thread below with at least one post about the contents of the book or your reaction to the book after you have read the book.

CYNBAXTER:

I really enjoyed the story once I got beyond the initial confusion of the back and forth of timelines. I love it when authors bring seemingly loose ends together and begin twisting and twisting until the story is tightly held.
I have wanted to read this book for quite awhile as I have in my library the later volumes of Department Q...but didn't want to start them until I had finished the first one. Now I am looking forward to learning more about Assad, especially. What is his background and skills? He is like the Kato to Carl's Green Hornet. Completely enjoyable exchanges and the building of their relationship as they tackle Denmark's cold cases that deserve a second look. Hurray for Department Q!

I started with the audiobook but switched to print version. I was digging the audio version but one character brought to mind the old Hans and Franz SNL skit every time he spoke. We want to...pump...you...up! Anyone? :-) Anyway, I liked this book and will definitely read more by the author.

Cindy wrote: "We want to...pump...you...up! Anyone?...."

I'm listening to the audio right now and that's exactly what comes to mind! In all fairness, I do like the fact that the reader is using different voices for the characters.

Rebecca NJ wrote: "Cindy wrote: "We want to...pump...you...up! Anyone?...."

I'm listening to the audio right now and that's exactly what comes to mind! In all fairness, I do like the fact that the reader is using di..."

Yes, I quite liked the different voices as well. It's just a failure on my part to get distracted easily. :)

My library only has the audio version so I chose this one since I was headed on a week long road trip. I found the plot quite compelling. I loved it when Carl learned how much the government had set aside for the special investigations and held that over his supervisors head. Like others, I want to learn more about Assad's background. I'll be continuing with the series.

Readerboard Name - Rebecca NJ

I don't know if it's because I've been on a mystery kick recently but I really enjoyed this book. In listening to the audio book, I had some trouble keeping the characters apart but as I noted earlier, the narrator did use different voices for the characters which helped. While it took a little bit to start, by the time I got to the last 6 chapters or so, I didn't want to put the book down.

As with the previous comments, I really want to learn more about Assad - that alone will be enough for me to read the next in the series. I would be interested to see how Carl develops as a detective of cold cases.

Rebecca NJ wrote: "Readerboard Name - Rebecca NJ

I don't know if it's because I've been on a mystery kick recently but I really enjoyed this book. In listening to the audio book, I had some trouble keeping the chara..."

I didn't read this this time, but I did find when I read it that it hooked me on the series. I've been reading each one as it came out, and I have really enjoyed the development of several secondary characters, not just Assad.

Sandy wrote: "...I've been reading each one as it came out, and I have really enjoyed the development of several secondary characters, not just Assad..."

I'm glad to hear that the secondary characters also get some development. Sometimes they do get lost in the series.

I could not put this book down for a while, but then the end began to feel predictable. I am intrigued by the characters though and will look for the next installment.

I've had a bit of drama going on at work while I was reading so I really struggled to be able to concentrate at the beginning. Towards the second half of the book, I became hooked and couldn't put it down. I liked how most of the loose ends were all tied up and I have put the next instalment on my reading list. I would like to note that I found some of the scenes in the "pressure room" to be quite confronting to the point where I felt physically ill. I didn't realise quite how horrific and gory the book would be. As opposed to the Millennium trilogy where I expected everything to be depraved. I think I just wasn't ready for it.

Cindy wrote: "I started with the audiobook but switched to print version. I was digging the audio version but one character brought to mind the old Hans and Franz SNL skit every time he spoke. We want to...pump...."

Cindy, I listened to this years ago. I'm also not a fan of thick accents in audios. I thought it sounded like Jean Claude Van Damme & Arnold Schwarzenegger were trying to help the Count find his way back to Sesame Street. But if you decide to listen/read more in this series...the thick accent problem is resolved.

I loved this book. I thought it was compelling and it didn't all come together in the end with a nice red bow. Flawed characters and a good premise. I did enjoy the main character and Assad. I have read in other's comments above that other characters are fleshed out more in the subsequent books in the series. I am interested to know more about Assad.

The only parts I didn't enjoy was anything to do with the ex-wife and the step-son. I found them both to be incredibly annoying characters and the way he interacted with them made me almost angry.

I will definitely be reading more in this series and from this author.

READ 60

I am so glad that this was the book offered as group read. I never read this author before and now I want to read everything he has written . I hope that as the book jacket states that it is the first installment of the Department Q series and more will follow. There is so much material here and so much I want to learn. What happens to Hardy, what is the deal with Assad, what the author come uo with next.

I didn't really dig this one. I think it's probably more me than the book that was the problem, but I've never been able to enjoy the nordic crime drama genre. This is my third or fourth in that genre I've read, and none have impressed or given me much enjoyment.

They really do like the dark - torture porn thing.

I'm also a fan of Nordic/Scandinavian crime novels. Henning Mankell and Camilla Läckberg in particular write dark cold mysteries, you can feel the open spaces where there are no humans out there. Smilla's Sense of Snow is one woman against the snow and an evil plot. The Millennium Trilogy is bleak, Salander and Blomkvist against a huge unknown conspiracy. The weather, elements, and open space components are almost a character in Nordic noir, and I felt it was missing in this novel. I like and empathized with the three protagonists, but it did not feel like its soul was with the other books I have read in the genre. Carl was a bit creepy with the women he was attracted to and that turned me off. I liked Assad and want to know more of his story. Carl's boss backed him up and did not come off as a slimy politician or bumbling oaf. I might read another in the series, but I'll stick to Mankell and Lackberg for now.

I have really enjoyed this book. I have not read anything else by this author but am really impressed. He gives the reader lots to work with in his characterisation without drowning us in detail. I loved Carl - he was a real curmudgeon, not well liked but with a strong sense of going after what is right and,I felt, a real soft heart underneath. Assad's character worried me in that i could not work out why he was in the role he was in and I don't think this is truly sorted out within this book but maybe in books to come in the series. The method of "killing" was really novel and I enjoy it when a writer brings something new to an old genre. I am not sure that comparing it to the millennium trilogy is useful I believe it has a slot of its own in crime.

trishhartuk

As Scandi crime goes, this is a pretty decent example. I figured out who had captured Merete pretty early on, although it was good to get my view confirmed as the book continued. I was annoyed by how contrived the timing was, though: that Carl just happened to decide to look into Merete's disappearance at the same time that her designated captivity was winding to a close, and she was making pland to speed up the process. But I guess that was just to build up suspense.

The scenes with Assad offered some much needed light relief, as a lot of the rest of the book was very...Scandi crime! I assume that somewhere in his past he was either a policeman or an intelligence agent (or maybe a criminal!). As far as the other secondary characters were concerned, I liked Marcus Jacobsen and Morten the lodger, and I thought Uffe was both interesting and different. However, Bjorn and Bak were stereotypically unhelpful, and I agree that both the wife and stepson were annoying.

Perhaps its just me, but in a book with quite a lot of disturbing scenes (torture porn, did someone call it earlier in this thread? I know exactly what you mean), the DIY dentistry was the worst.

As a general comment, I think the US title actually fits the book better than the British one (it looks like the whole series has been renamed to one-word titles over here). I'm certainly planning on reading more of the series, although as a question to anyone who has read more of Department Q, do you need to read the second book (which sounds as if it's not really about Carl and Assad), or can you skip it and not lose anything?

Overall I enjoyed this book, and I'll definitely pick up more books in the series. I too was confused at the beginning by the timelines, but I suspect that also had something to do with the fact that I wasn't paying as close attention to the unfamiliar names as I should be. There was a few places where the writing felt a bit stilted-maybe from the translation. I was surprised at how long it took me to figure out who took Merete, so I'll have to try the next one to see if it stumps me too. Overall worth the read.

i've had this book on the pile for a while, which is why i nominated it when it came time for group read nominations (yay, a book I nomianted finally won - haha!)

i just started listening to it today - for me since i'm very much an aural learning (learn by hearing) - hearing how the names are pronounced is key for me and the audiobook narrator (Erik Davies) is doing a good job so far - i'm looking forwarded to listening to the rest of it ;)

I have a new mystery series to read, so thank you!
I love Assad, and am very curious to find out what his story is. Carl seemed to be getting indignant that his assistant was finding more clues and answers than him. A good kick in the butt.
I look forward to seeing how this partnership develops.

This was an introduction to Adler-Olsen for me, so I'm really glad this was picked. I enjoyed the balance of tension between the current timeline and the retrospective timeline. Even though I had the bad guy figured out early (we can thank 10 seasons of Criminal Minds for that) I got really into worrying whether Mørck (I was listening on audio so I'm not too solid on spellings) would find out what happened to Merete in time or how he would do it. I'm definitely going to keep going in the series. I do hope we find out a lot more about Assad (and meet his family) and that Hardy becomes a Lincoln Rhyme-like consultant.

I am really tired of the "loner detective with obnoxious ex-wife and weird housemates and dead/permanently injured partner" trope in crime novels. I know happy people don't make tension-filled protagonists but do they all have to be Sam Spade knockoffs? I wasn't a fan of his attempts to make a pass at the psychiatrist.

Minus one star for the audio production - it was SO SLOW that at 2x speed it sounded completely normal. AND the narrator used Danish accents for all dialogue voices but American for all narration. Very distracting.

Trish wrote: "trishhartuk

although as a question to anyone who has read more of Department Q, do you need to read the second book (which sounds as if it's not really about Carl and Assad), or can you skip it and not lose anything? "

It has been a while (8 yrs or so) since I read it, but it is definitely another book with Carl and Assad. It is stand alone, but if you skip it you'll miss the development of the back story. As far as I remember a new permanent character of the series is introduced in this book.

Books 3 and 4 are my favourites so far - I find that though I read the series for the crime/mysteries - I really love the back story.

Didi3023

The protagonist, Carl Mørk, is assigned to head up department Q, a department he is being placed in to prevent him from returning to his previous position due to a calamitous investigation where one partner is killed and the other paralyzed. The newly developed department of one is to investigate old cold cases that had high political importance. Carl hires a sidekick, Assad, to assist him with simple tasks but who turns out to be quite competent and useful to the investigation. They choose to investigate an old case regarding a political leader who disappeared 5 years earlier. Carl’s struggle with his past and present situation, his lack of motivation bolstered by his partner’s enthusiasm provides both a serious and a light hearted story, moving at a pace that keeps you both interested and entertained.

Emu wrote: "t has been a while (8 yrs or so) since I read it, but it is definitely another book with Carl and Assad. It is stand alone, but if you skip it you'll miss the development of the back story. As far as I remember a new permanent character of the series is introduced in this book.

Books 3 and 4 are my favourites so far - I find that though I read the series for the crime/mysteries - I really love the back story."

Thank you. I'll bear that in mind.

I finished this today. I thought it was brilliant and I was on the edge of my seat by the end. I will say that the beginning was a bit confusing but I just went with it and soon got into it. I love Assad. I hope we find out more about him in the next book in the series....which I've already got out from the library to read!

I enjoyed the book and appreciated the lighter tone of the Assad character contrasting with the criminal investigation. I found the ex-wife an annoying aside and too many characters had only negative qualities or were dealt with pretty superficially. I am assuming it rounds out more in the later books. I might pick up another in the series. Not as engaging (for me) as the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny, not as gritty or intense as Stieg Larsson was (for me).

i think what i like the most about this (and other nordic noir books) is that the authors have no issues with showing that cops do fuck up (for lack of a better term) - they might not pursue all leads, miss a key witness etc...so much of this book might have never occurred if the original cop has done his due diligence rather than thinking that Merete had drown

finished this up on the drive home this evening...i have to admit at the end i thought Merete was going to be killed and so i was glad to see how the epilogue went. I'm planning on continuing the series (already requested bk 2 from the library to listen to)

Cindy wrote: "I started with the audiobook but switched to print version. I was digging the audio version but one character brought to mind the old Hans and Franz SNL skit every time he spoke. We want to...pump...."

Hah, I did the same thing although not for the same reason. The reader was toooo slow!

I want to like this book so much more than I did. It just never really grabbed me--I figured who was probably behind the plot fairly early--and then I put the book down several times and read something else before finally going back and forcing myself to finish it. I did get a good feeling for Carl. It was hard to tell how much of his rather cold personality was there before the shooting in Amager and how much was a result of what happened to his partners. I did love the character for Assad, and yes, would love to know more about his background. The characters in Carl's house, and his not-quite-ex-wife in the backyard, didn't seem to really mean a whole lot. And while what happened to Merete was what kept the book going, it never really got to me. Overall, disappointed.

A co-worker recommended this series to me a few years ago, but somehow I never got around to reading it. Now that I've finally read the first book in the series I'm so glad I did, because I really enjoyed it. I loved the interactions between Mørk and Assad, and all the little details about Mørk's life. Definitely a series I'm going to continue with!

I loved the sometimes bungling, yet perceptive Assad. He was a good opposite for Mork. The writing style was very similar to that of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. Merete as a character I could see, realistic but too harsh or aloof for most people. I will read the next in the series.

who do people think Assad is/was?

I think he was a police detective or something...he's got some kind of analytical background

Dee wrote: "who do people think Assad is/was? "

I was thinking something with the military.

Mossad-like?

I enjoyed this, by the end, but did spend the first quarter or so NOT liking Carl at all. But once he settled into investigation I liked him much more.

Loved Assad! I'm not sure what his background is, but full detective / secret agent? probably not, unless he deliberately made those stupid mistakes to put Carl off the scent. Which would be really cold, bearing in mind it tipped off the criminals.

I enjoyed the reality of the police work - that there's office politics, laziness, mistakes & so forth, not to mention documents going AWOL.

Will be going onto the next books. maybe after I stop worrying about air leaks!

I wasn't sure that I was going to enjoy this book initially, but once Assad entered the picture, things clicked for me. I really enjoyed the humour that was injected by Assad, and the interactions between him and Carl. Carl was strangely likeable despite a general grumpiness. I thought the mystery was quite different than the usual run of the mill, although ultimately it was easy to determine who was behind it. Still very gripping though.

I really enjoyed this book. I've read a lot of Scandinavian fiction and this one doesn't disappoint. It deals well with the realities of police work. The characters are defined well. I plan to read more in this series; I am curious how the Carl/Assad relationship develops.

I picked up this book simply because it was a group read. I'm glad I did because I really liked it. I liked Carl and Assad and I look forward to learning more about Assad as the series progresses. He's a very interesting character who we only learn a little about during this book.

I particularly liked that Carl got sucked into the mystery too. He was rather ambivalent about his new job and planning on doing nothing until Assad talked up the case and piqued Carl's interest.

I liked how events transpired though I was surprised that Carl got away with the attitude he gave his boss. That seemed a tad unrealistic. I figured out what was going on a little more than halfway through but enjoyed that the detectives had to work for it. A very well put-together mystery and a wonderful start to the Department Q series.

***perletwo***

I'd never heard of this series. But I'm a sucker for this setup - the ostracized cop shunted onto cold cases, who gets catched by the intricacies of the cases and their own acumen. J A-O has a nice way of building characters. At first I thought Carl was the typical depressive Scandanavian hero, but he has a real trauma driving his depression - he's not just depressed, he's grieving. And Assad is just a love.

The structure, cutting back and forth between the 2002 and 2007 timelines, made for a choppy reading experience that kept me from really getting involved with the book until, oh say, the point where the briefcase reappeared in the '07 timeline. After that things seemed to flow more naturally.

All in all though, I think I probably will give the next book in the dept Q series a shot. There's what, 3 books so far?

Brooke TX

This book has been hanging out on my TBR for a while; I just don't read as many contemporary crime/thriller books as I used to. That said, this one was pretty good - the divergent timelines were used to good effect; the culprit wasn't terribly hard to figure out, but Merete's situation injected enough tension into the plot to maintain a reader's interest; and Mørck is gruff and damaged enough to be an entertaining narrator, especially with the mysterious and entertaining Assad as a sidekick/foil. I enjoyed it enough to add the rest of the series to my TBR, but not so much that I immediately placed the next one on hold at the library.

Suzanne wrote: "***perletwo***

All in all though, I think I probably will give the next book in the dept Q series a shot. There's what, 3 books so far?

looks like 7 books, but only 6 translated into English

I've had the book for a while, but there are so many I want to read, and so little time. But, once I got into it, I could not put it down, read on half the night :)
Even though I figured out about halfway through what was what, the way the story was written and the interesting characters made it a great read. I have read other Scandinavian authors before, but this was my first by a Danish author. I much look forward to the next volume in the series.

If anyone is interested in reading any more of these, they're 99p each on UK Amazon today (2nd July 2017)