Gods of the old world
Title : The Hanging Girl
Author : Jussi Adler Olsen
Published : 30/06/2016
Pages : 608
Genre : Crime Thriller
Publisher : Quercus
In the middle of a hard-won morning nap in the basement of police headquarters, Carl Morck, head of Department Q, receives a call from a colleague working on the Danish island of Bornholm. Carl is dismissive at first, but then he receives some shocking news. Carl then has no choice but to lead Department Q into the tragic cold case of a vivacious seventeen-year-old girl who vanished from school, only to be found dead hanging high up in a tree. The investigation will take them from the remote island of Bornholm to a hidden cult, where Carl and his assistants must stop a string of new murders by a skilled manipulator who refuses to let anything or anyone get in the way.
With this book, I got my first introduction into the world of department Q and those who work there. Within the books the encompass the genre we call Scandinavian noir it is not often that I come across a dud. So I never tend to worry too much when I pick a new one up. In part, I was drawn to this book by a story if hidden cults and long-buried secrets. It was also a good opportunity to dig into a big book, Also with it's six hundred and eight pages, I was hoping for something a little more on the complicated side of things.
As I was getting my introduction to these characters midway through a series there is always the worry that somethings won't make any sense and I would be left feeling like I was ion the outside of some personal joke. But I think in this case the author gave me enough to gain insight into each of them. He manages to walk that fine line between leaving new readers in the dark and overdoing the flashbacks to the point where long-term follows question why it fills half the book.
This small team has some great interactions and they come off feeling like long-term work colleagues. You also feel like your getting the staples of this genre in the time of people that work for the police. At this point, I'm foundering if this is anything like reality or simply what we have all come to expect as we have seen it so many times in books and t.v.
I felt in this case that for me the story was a little bit more of a draw than the lead characters. With the plot surrounding the history of a cult on a small island, it gives us a true mystery to delve into. This book definitely starts off with a bang and after the end of the first chapter, I felt like I had been thrown through a loop. But as I continued you realize this is the lure thrown out for our team. Throughout we get to follow the two timelines, one the story of the girl hanging in the tree in the past and the other of murder in the present. This is another of those books that like to keep you on your toes. For me, it was not an idle read and I kept having to think back to previous parts to see where I was going. But it defiantly did deliver on the complexity that I had been looking forward to in my next read.
When push comes to shove for me this wasn't the best example of its genre but is by no means the worst. It gave me a story that peeked my interest in the characters enough to want to pick up the first in the series and in and of itself was an enjoyable enough read.
With this book, I got my first introduction into the world of department Q and those who work there. Within the books the encompass the genre we call Scandinavian noir it is not often that I come across a dud. So I never tend to worry too much when I pick a new one up. In part, I was drawn to this book by a story if hidden cults and long-buried secrets. It was also a good opportunity to dig into a big book, Also with it's six hundred and eight pages, I was hoping for something a little more on the complicated side of things.
As I was getting my introduction to these characters midway through a series there is always the worry that somethings won't make any sense and I would be left feeling like I was ion the outside of some personal joke. But I think in this case the author gave me enough to gain insight into each of them. He manages to walk that fine line between leaving new readers in the dark and overdoing the flashbacks to the point where long-term follows question why it fills half the book.
This small team has some great interactions and they come off feeling like long-term work colleagues. You also feel like your getting the staples of this genre in the time of people that work for the police. At this point, I'm foundering if this is anything like reality or simply what we have all come to expect as we have seen it so many times in books and t.v.
I felt in this case that for me the story was a little bit more of a draw than the lead characters. With the plot surrounding the history of a cult on a small island, it gives us a true mystery to delve into. This book definitely starts off with a bang and after the end of the first chapter, I felt like I had been thrown through a loop. But as I continued you realize this is the lure thrown out for our team. Throughout we get to follow the two timelines, one the story of the girl hanging in the tree in the past and the other of murder in the present. This is another of those books that like to keep you on your toes. For me, it was not an idle read and I kept having to think back to previous parts to see where I was going. But it defiantly did deliver on the complexity that I had been looking forward to in my next read.
When push comes to shove for me this wasn't the best example of its genre but is by no means the worst. It gave me a story that peeked my interest in the characters enough to want to pick up the first in the series and in and of itself was an enjoyable enough read.
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