The Scarred Woman - Jussi Adler-Olsen

The Scarred Woman - Jussi Adler-Olsen

She Read

Release Date: Sept. 19, 2017

This is the seventh in the Department Q series police procedurals by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen. Department Q is Copenhagen’s cold cases division and in the Scarred Woman they are juggling five cases.  A recent homicide is similar to an unsolved one from more than ten years ago.  Young ne’er-do-well women are victims of a hit and run driver. There has been a robbery at a local club and a murder nearby.  Finally, the team is grappling with the dark history and instability of one of their own. 

Denmark is often identified as one of the happiest countries in the world. Adler-Olsen focuses on the decidedly seedier side of this society in this Scandinavian Noir tale.  He writes with a sense of humor, irony, and social commentary.   

I have not read the previous novels in this series and I think that was a disadvantage. Some of the recurring minor characters were not that well developed; I felt as though I intruded in the middle of some of their lives and was left wondering who they were and their relationship to each other.  I did enjoy the members of Department Q, particularly the endearing immigrant Assad who hasn’t quite got a grip on the local language and keeps misspeaking idioms. 

I thought the story was a bit convoluted with a rush toward the ending. Despite that, I enjoyed the book and would like to go back and read the prior ones as well as read future works by Adler-Olsen.  If you enjoy Nordic Noir, do read this!