A Conspiracy of Faith (Department Q Series #3)

by Jussi Adler-Olsen Narrated by Graeme Malcolm

Overview

Detective Carl Mørck*and his colleagues Assad and Rose must use all of their resources to uncover the horrifying truth in this heart-pounding Nordic thriller from the #1 international bestselling author Jussi Adler-Olsen.

Carl Mørck holds in his hands a bottle that contains old and decayed message, written in blood. It is*a cry for help from two young brothers, tied and bound in a boathouse by the sea. Could it be real? Who are these boys, and why weren't they reported missing? Could they possibly still be alive?

Carl's investigation will force him to cross paths with a woman stuck in a desperate marriage-her husband refuses to tell her where he goes, what he does, how long he will be away. For days on end she waits, and when he returns she must endure his wants, his moods, his threats. But enough is enough.*She will find out the truth, no matter the cost to her husband-or to herself...

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Audio

In Adler-Olsen’s latest Department Q novel, a message in a bottle is discovered 14 years after it was written and tossed into the ocean. The barely legible note, written in blood, is from two kidnapped children begging for help. Detective Carl Mørck and his eccentric team of Danish detectives are tasked with investigating the legitimacy of the note and, once it’s authenticity is confirmed, discovering the fate of the two victims. What they ultimately uncover is a serial killer who has kept his criminal activities hidden for over a decade. With his slightly accented reading, Graeme Malcolm does an excellent job of bringing this dark Nordic suspense story to life. His melancholic delivery aptly reflects the story’s often-somber content. That said, he fully captures each of Adler-Olsen’s quirky characters and, in the case of the Department Q’s personnel, allows them to bring sparks of humor here and there before things become too grim. In all, Malcolm’s skillful performance lets this mystery unfold at a natural, steady pace with just the right balance between the dark and light, making for a satisfying listen. A Dutton hardcover. (May)

Publishers Weekly

A cold 14-year-old murder-arson case preoccupies crotchety Copenhagen Deputy Det. Supt. Carl Mørck in bestseller Adler-Olsen’s third Department Q thriller (after 2012’s The Absent One), a shattering parable of honest individuals caught up in the corruption of our times. Mørck must also contend with such problems as an office torn asunder by idiotic governmental asbestos mitigation; the replacement of his assistant Rose by even quirkier Yrsa; his enigmatic Arabic deputy, Assad, gone bonkers; his wayward wife, Vigga, threatening to return; and his paralyzed partner, Hardy, in residence in his living room. To complicate matters further, a mysterious SOS in a bottle puts Mørck on the trail of one of the most cannily conceived serial child-killers imaginable. Mørck faces these heart-wrenchers, small and large, by perceiving them as essentially analogues to everything that Denmark’s welfare state has turned rotten—problems that are all immaterial, Mørck insists, as long as he’s doing his job. (May)

From the Publisher

Praise for A Conspiracy of Faith

“A shattering parable of honest individuals caught up in the corruption of our times.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Adler-Olsen's cast might seem like stock crime-fiction characters at first glance—the curmudgeonly detective, the flighty secretary, the suspiciously resourceful assistant—but in his hands they are unpredictable and entertaining. This series has enough twists to captivate contemporary mystery readers and enough substance and background to entertain readers with historical and literary tastes.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“[T]his mix of offbeat departmental politics, puzzling clues, and pulse pounding pursuit delivers the goods.”—Booklist

More Praise for Jussi Adler-Olsen's Department Q series

“If you like the dark humor, wisecracking, and layered betrayals of Raymond Chandler, then read Adler-Olsen’s Department Q series.”—Men's Journal

“A tense, pleasurable read.”—USA Today

“[A] sordid tale...inspired by actual events during a dark period of Danish history. Ah, but there is more, so much more in this frenzied thriller.”—The New York Times Book Review

“This book is not for the faint of heart, but for readers who enjoy dark humor and wisecracking hero's and heroines, you’ll love Department Q.”—Suspense Magazine
 
“It can be hard to distinguish Scandinavian crime writers—there are a lot of them, and their names have consonant clusters and umlauts and all that jazz—but Jussi Adler-Olsen is a name to know. In a crowded genre, Adler-Olsen is an outlier.”—GQ.com 

“Adler-Olsen merges story lines...with ingenious aplomb, effortlessly mixing hilarities with horrors...This crime fiction tour de force could only have been devised by an author who can even turn stomach flu into a belly laugh.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“When your series relies on cold cases, it’s not always easy to craft plots that have both historical interest and an air of urgency, but it’s something Adler-Olsen is very good at.”—Booklist

Library Journal - Audio

★ 09/15/2013
An intriguing message in a bottle motivates Det. Carl Mørck's assistants Assad and Rose to look further. Is it a prank from 20 years ago or a desperate cry for help? Though no related cold case exists, his determined assistants push Carl into the search for what turns out to be multiple crimes by a diabolical serial killer. This latest series entry (after The Absent One) is given an outstanding reading by Graeme Malcolm. This is an extraordinary mystery by a writer at the top of his game. The translation by Martin Aitken captures the ironic nuances of police and government bureaucracy, the terrors of victims and captives, the subtleties of racism and sexism, and the excitement of dangerous chases and confrontations. VERDICT This adult audio, with its moments of laugh-out-loud humor, is a must for adult fiction collections. ["This series has enough twists to captivate contemporary mystery readers and enough substance and background to entertain readers with historical and literary tastes," read the starred review of the Dutton hc, LJ 3/15/13.—Ed.]—Cliff Glaviano, formerly with Bowling Green State Univ. Libs., OH

AUGUST 2013 - AudioFile

Anyone who thinks Sweden has a monopoly on soul-shaking Scandinavian murder mysteries should cross the Øresond to Denmark and sample Adler-Olsen’s police procedurals. The characters and stories of Copenhagen’s Department Q will keep listeners up at night. The plots are cunning, and the eccentric investigators earn their clues. This is the third audiobook in the series but the first with Graeme Malcolm as narrator. His British accent matches the slangy but accessible British English translation. His voices for the central characters are distinct, and their dialogue can be hilarious. It helps to have a map of Denmark handy, but confusing place names don’t dim one’s enjoyment. F.C. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Inspector Carl Mørck and his raffish colleagues at Copenhagen's Department Q (The Absent One, 2012, etc.) go up against a truly fiendish kidnapper. A few days after he and his brother Tryggve were abducted, Poul Holt managed to scrawl a plea for help in his own blood, deposit it in a bottle and toss it into the sea. Hundreds of miles away, the bottle made landfall and was turned over to Scottish police Sgt. David Bell, who made no attempt to open his discovery. Years passed. Bell died. A computer expert in his station smashed the bottle and immediately contacted Department Q, the perfect venue for the case since "it's old, it's unsolved, and no one else could be bothered." The group's assignment begins with trying to figure out, after all this time, what the message says, who wrote it and when. These tasks are made more difficult since no one reported any children missing at the time and place the message indicates. While Carl and his crew are working feverishly on the dead case, the kidnapper is at work bringing it very much back to life by targeting another pair of children, Magdalena Krogh and her big brother, Samuel. (The reason why he prefers to snatch two victims at a time is the story's most cunning secret, and its most disturbing.) Even after Carl and his Syrian assistant Hafez el-Assad have surmounted the obstacles thrown up by Poul Holt's parents, who insist that he's still alive, they'll have to overcome a much wider conspiracy of silence the kidnapper has been counting on to make accomplices of his victims' families for all these years. Less byplay among the regulars than usual, mainly since whenever promising domestic and group complications arise, Adler-Olsen lets them die on the vine. But the detection and thrills are authentic.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169786330
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	05/28/2013
Series:	Department Q Series , #3
Edition description:	Unabridged

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Prologue
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "A Conspiracy of Faith"
by .
Copyright © 2013 Jussi Adler-Olsen.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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