Quirks, quips and quandaries
A very last visit to Department Q - a book review of LOCKED IN
Jussi Adler-Olsen has led a life almost as quirky as that of his celebrated central character, Carl Mørck - though I am happy to say that his has been rather less hazardous than that of his frequently worn, wounded and woebegone Danish detective.1
Adler-Olsen, born in Copenhagen in 1950, is well-known for the diversity of his writing. He has a background in political studies, film science, and is the son of a noted psychiatrist. He began his career with international stand-alone novels such Alphabet House and The Washington Decree before gaining widespread recognition with his Department Q series, starting with The Keeper of Lost Causes in 2007. ​ Adler-Olsen has also held various roles in publishing, editing, and in the Danish Peace Movement. ​ He has received numerous awards and honours, including being appointed Honorary Craftsman by the Danish Craftsman Association in 2017. ​ His work spans multiple genres, including thrillers, crime fiction, and comic strips.
His latest novel, Locked In, marks the end of the Department Q series, and does so in superb style. If you’ve not come across Adler-Olsen before, and if you enjoy twisty police procedurals, then I suggest that you read through the series right from the beginning until you reach this powerful dénouement. Although the book does stand on its own two sturdy feet, and can be read that way, it makes much more sense if you have been following Mørck and his team since their inception. A lot of characters are recalled for the finale, and a lot of storylines are satisfactorily resolved - in more or less drastic and surprising ways.
The book opens with a flashback, if one can call it that, to an event which occurs before the whole series opens - an ambush in which Mørck’s partner Hardy is shot in the spine and rendered quadriplegic. It is partly Mørck’s traumatised response to that event which led to him to being reassigned from front-line detective work to the supposedly quieter waters of Department Q, which deals with cold cases. The book then quickly moves forward to the present day, and with Mørck being held on remand, suspected of drug-trafficking, money laundering, and murder. As well as having to clear his name, Mørck also has to run the customary risks of a policeman being banged up in prison with many of those he has worked assiduously to consign there, and - the cherry on the top of this particularly vexatious cake - he is being targeted by the actual head of the drug-trafficking ring, who wants to make a spectacular and irrevocably final example of him.
The rest of the book unfolds with Mørck working to regain his liberty and the life he has built with his wife and small child, while dodging vindictive violent cons and conscience-free hired killers with a penchant for drama. All of Mørck’s team, and many other characters whose lives he has saved in other adventures in the series, come together to support him and to enable the extremely satisfying final outcome.
As always, Adler-Olsen writes with wit and compassion, and with an astonishing grasp of all the highly complex plot-lines which make up this last hurrah of the delightful Department Q. It is a series which will be much missed, but it certainly goes off with a bang!