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I like the Department W team. Their work in figuring out the crimes, connecting things up, discovering the signature elements the killer left, was all very interesting. The story telling was good, keeping up the suspense over a long book.
The killer’s motives and back story were fine, but it was hard to believe that they were able to build their fortune and to assemble a team to carry out the plan the way they did.
Also it was unbelievable that the Q team would be able to get away with their actions in the last half of the book.
Using Assad as a caricature foreigner, mangling phrases and telling bad camel jokes was offensive.
A potentially 4 star book faded the more that the setup was revealed.

I have not read any others in this series. Some reviewers who have are very disappointed by this edition. I’ll have to check out the earlier books.

Den här gången tog det inte så lång tid innan jag gav mig på nionde delen om Avdelning Q, Natriumklorid. Jag hade lagt till den i min Finish That Series-utmaning och en mini-semester i Köpenhamn gjorde att det blev dags att läsa den i juni. För första gången läser jag alltså en av böckerna på plats, vilket så klart gav en extra krydda åt läsningen, men speciellt mycket externa miljöer är det inte i denna.

Den där speciella tonen som jag har saknat så länge är tillbaka, lite av den i alla fall, men jag tycker att det är på tok för lite av Rose, Assad och Gordon. Framför allt deras samspel. En röd tråd som har löpt genom samtliga böcker smög plötsligt upp bakom mig och bet mig i svansen. Den såg jag inte alls komma och jag gillar inte alls den vändningen.

Natriumklorid är mer en polisroman än en Avdelning Q-roman. Polisromaner går det ju tretton på dussinet på (minst), men tack vare de unika karaktärerna så håller den sig ändå i det övre skiktet. Men jag vill (alltid) ha mer Rose, Assad och Gordon.

OBS! Detta är en kraftigt förkortad text. Hela finns på min blogg

Same good story, but edited completely different from first five.

I am a longtime fan of Jussi Adler-Olsen's Department Q novels. Department Q includes a small cast of clever out-of-the box thinking misfits who handle cold cases that are typically notorious, often gruesome and always beyond the detection and solving capabilities of ordinary officers. The Shadow Murders opens with a scene in which a woman survives a lightening strike that killed the other people in her group and a foreshadowing of madness, And then, the team begins to focus on what seems to be a non-case. A woman has committed suicide and the head of homicide, Marcus Jacobson remembers her as the mother of a three year old boy who died in an explosion in 1988. He never forgot the case, because he was nearby when the automobile repair garage blew up and the child's stroller was blown from his mother's hands. Marcus never quite believed it was not an intentional act as opposed to an accident in an area with a lot of flammable chemicals. And so, he asks Carl, head of Department Q to start looking at the old files and something strange becomes apparent in a crime scene photograph..

From this seemingly minor detail, the team begins reviewing and researching accidents or homicides that have a similar detail. We are also introduced to a strange cadre of people with a somewhat violent propensity for monitoring and correcting the behavior of citizens of common but annoying rudeness but with, a group whose darker purpose unfolds slowly through the novel.

As the title suggests, we learn about murders that have occurred over a period of time that might be related, the victims interesting and unlikeable characters. The theme for the next Department Q novel is established as well, and will focus on the old nail gun case that plays a recurring role in other books in the series. This is a well-plotted and at times nail biter story with, as is typical of Adler-Olsen psychological "action" style. And, as usual, what I like the most are the members of Department Q, Carl, Rose, Gordon, and Assad, each with a back story with several of them featured in other novels. This one adds some information on Gordon, but it is more of a team focused piece.

A Department Q novel is never less than four stars. This one is a five star for me. The intertwining of a variety of individuals connected to the victims, the weird cult-like group of people, the madness of their leader and the cleverness of Department Q was at its best in this one. As usual, there is a lot of humor, like when Rose is consigned to put out national bulletins seeking information and shoots dagger eyes at Carl because she will have to handle all the responses, more of a clerical duty smacking of her prior position in Department Q. Assad's family is featured, roiling from their escape from a horror story in Iraq and adjustment to Denmark.

I could not go into as much detail as I'd like due to spoiler. potential but highly highly recommend this whole series, TO BE READ IN ORDER unless you are not one for rather gruesome crime scenes or crimes, a hallmark of Adler-Olsen. (They can be read as stand-alone but they are so much better when you know the players and follow their development chronologically). The Shadow Murders is arguably tamer than some, but that says more about the others being more vividly terrible than this one, not to detract from the tension that Adler-Olsen brings here to his incredibly competent work in the psychological thriller genre. Looking forward to the tenth entry, especially since we already know its general focus.

As the penultimate book in the 'Nordic Noir' Department Q series, The Shadow Murders did not disappoint! Set in Copenhagen, Detective Carl Mørck and his team are faced with their most challenging crime yet... a series of unsolved and seemingly accidental deaths that occur every two years. It just so happens that 2020 is one of those alternating years. Meanwhile, a case from the very first book of the series comes back to haunt Carl, with a cliffhanger beyond cliffhangers that will leave you wanting the next book stat (unfortunately, we will have to wait until the end of the year). The witty banter between the team and the twisting plot makes this a must read, even as a standalone from the series. - Hanna G

I have read the entire Department Q series and am a big fan of Adler-Olsen's writing. [a:Adler-Olsen Jussi|31377124|Adler-Olsen Jussi|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] some covers site a 2nd author and I thought perhaps this is someone from Jussi's life... perhaps a beloved nephew, like a 7 year old nephew, or a neighbour who just dropped by... who contributed 2/3 of the book... or simply a new translator who used the nephew or the neighbour as a resource..

I have given all of the other Dept Q offerings 4-5 stars, and SOME of the chapters in this book were deserving of same.. the difference in writing chapter to chapter was jarring... chapter six for example "Ragnhild" was nuanced and subtle and reminiscent of the wonderful writing of past books and then some were just crap.

Beloved characters, themselves with great nuance in past books, just became tropes in this book... yes, English isn't Assad's first language... ha ha he misinterpreted or misused a colloquialism... ha ha...

the plot was thin. the writing very poor. come back to us Jussi!! but just you this time... will have to think hard before taking on book #10