Julie's Review: The Absent One

Summary: In The Keeper of Lost Causes, Jussi Adler-Olsen introduced Detective Carl Mørck, a deeply flawed, brilliant detective newly assigned to run Department Q, the home of Copenhagen’s coldest cases. The result wasn’t what Mørck—or readers—expected, but by the opening of Adler-Olsen’s shocking, fast-paced follow-up, Mørck is satisfied with the notion of picking up long-cold leads. So he’s naturally intrigued when a closed case lands on his desk: A brother and sister were brutally murdered two decades earlier, and one of the suspects—part of a group of privileged boarding-school students—confessed and was convicted. But once Mørck reopens the files, it becomes clear that all is not what it seems. Looking into the supposedly solved case leads him to Kimmie, a woman living on the streets, stealing to survive. Kimmie has mastered evading the police, but now they aren’t the only ones looking for her. Because Kimmie has secrets that certain influential individuals would kill to keep buried . . . as well as one of her own that could turn everything on its head. Every bit as pulse-pounding as the book that launched the series, The Absent One delivers further proof that Jussi Adler-Olsen is one of the world's premier thriller writers. ~amazon.com

Review: It is no secret that The Keeper of Lost Causes was one of my favorite books of 2011, so needless to say I was excited to know that the next one in the series, The Absent One, was coming out this year.

Let me say that these people are so extremely messed up and demented. If people of all ages didn't read this I would use some other choice words. This is what makes this book so scary, is that these people are crazy. It isn't gruesome but it's the underlying fear that this books emanates.

None of these characters are remorseful and none of them deserve a readers pity but when it came to Kimmie, I did feel sorry for her at times. That is until the very end of the book, when I feel that she really did get what was coming to her. Maybe she felt guilt, maybe she didn't, but one thing was for sure, it was too late.

Carl Moerk has to be one of the best detectives out there. He bucks the system and constantly goes against orders. Now, in the real world there would be definite consequences but here he gets to soldier on. He's tenacious to a fault. Assad is still along side him being an assistant and asking the questions that make Carl think and crack the case wide open. Plus we have the addition to secretary, Rose to the Department Q team and she soon proves herself valuable to the team in conducting research.

I don't want to say too much about about the plot because you really do need to read it for yourself. It is one that will keep you on the edge of your seat and you will want these people to pay for the twisted, sick things they put people through.

You don't need to read The Keeper of Lost Causes but it will definitely help you understand Carl and the rest of the characters. I'm excited for the next installment and I hope we keep learning more about what happened to Carl, Hardy and Anker when they were ambushed.

Jussi Adler-Olsen is definitely up there as a favorite author.

Final Take: 5/5

Thanks to Dutton for an ARC of this novel!