I've read almost all of Adler-Olsen's Department Q books but I just couldn't get into this one. I didn't finish even after reading at least a third of this... I'm not sure if it was the story or if it just dragged. I hated to give up on a series I previously enjoyed.

The lastest installment in Jussi Adler-Olsen's Department Q series. I have been a fan of Jussi and his books from the first one I've read and this is no different. Another page turner!

#8 in the Department Q series, this story finally answers the question of Assad's mysterious background and connections within the Danish police department. The "Victim 2117" of the title is the 2117 refugee to die in the Mediterranean Sea, but when she washes up on shore, she turns out to have been murdered rather than drowned, and her death draws Assad and his team into a cat and mouse game with a clever terrorist who has a personal score to settle.
Like the last book, The Scarred Woman, there are a lot of complex storylines that gradually come together before it all begins to make sense, and then the action races like a Jason Bourne thriller. And that's really what this one is, a thriller rather than a mystery. Even the secondary investigation is a race to track down the suspect before he kills - and in keeping with the last book's fondness for coincidence, also has a tie to Victim 2117.
For those who love the characters, you'll be happy to have Rose back into the fray, and finally understand Assad much better. Carl has moved on with his life nicely, and even

#FirstLine ~ PROLOGUE ~ A week before Assad's family left Sab Abar, his father took him to Saturday market with its bustling throng of stalls with chickpeas, pomegranates, bulgur, brightly colored spices, and crackling poultry awaiting the ax.

Another great installment of the Department Q series. It was another action packed, relevant novel that was both intense and quickly paced. I loved the depth of the story and the action within it. I love being able to sit down and read and forget about everything happening around me, all the Department Q series books allow me to do just that...escape and read! A fabulous and enjoyable read!

Oh. My. GOODNESS! I LOVE THIS SERIES!!

Okay, gushing aside, I seriously do. I have been meaning to start the Department Q books for some time now. I love dark noir detective fiction and had heard great things, but somehow just never got started. I had a so-so time with one of Adler-Olsen's stand-alones on here (The Washington Decree), but was still eager to try the Department Q series. When I was asked to review this latest (eighth) installment on here, I asked whether I'd need to read all seven before starting it, because I was worried about continuity and timing. I was told I only needed the first to establish the characters, which was just enough cover for me to jump on the request and the opportunity to start the series.

I know myself. It was highly unlikely that I'd read book one and then book eight; I have an obsessive need to read series books in order. The author writes them that way. Ergo, that's how they're meant to be read. Characters develop A LOT over the course of seven books (or at least they should) and it seems to me that it's impossible to really get the impact of the story if you're missing all of that development.

I was, of course, right on all counts. (It happens...)

I raced through book one and was immediately hooked. I proceeded to request the next five from my local library before Things Happened in The World and libraries closed, at which point I bought a used copy of the seventh online because there was no way I was going into book eight without the fullest possible understanding of where these fascinating characters had been...

I'm immensely glad I stuck to my guns and read them all in order. This is an INCREDIBLE series full of rich, complex characters who undergo tremendous personal and professional development, and I cannot imagine reading Victim 2117 without all of that backstory to inform it. This latest book tackles the history of one of the series' central characters (Assad) and his journey - within the Department and within his life - was, I think, absolutely necessary for this book to have its full emotional, gut-wrenching impact.

The writing is superb. The characterization and character development are incredible. The plots are always intricate and involved and full of a push-pull between the past and present, both in terms of the specific cold case (and some not-so-cold cases) being addressed by the team in the book and in terms of the storylines of the individual team members (and associated supporting characters). The stories just keep getting better - they are action-packed, emotionally gut-wrenching, violent and dark. They keep me furiously flipping pages in a way that few well-established series do, and I cannot wait to see where book nine (purportedly taking on Carl's experience with the shooting that sets up the entire Department/series) will take readers!!

Another exciting turn of this author in this series. Topical, lots of twists and turns so that the ending IS a surprise! This didn’t disappoint. I will again mention the topical nature-In some ways almost felt too real.

This reader is so pleased that Jussi Adler-Olsen has returned to his Department Q series. In addition to developing two interesting plot threads, he has finally addressed the backstory of Assad. This is a terrific and most welcome addition to the series.

So I have previously read all the department Q novels and have also been impressed. I really like all the characters and think they bring a lot to the table and Orr well together. While I think that book captured that, at times I feel like there was a little too much going on. With two different “events” it sort of took away from the main story line at times. I think it was interesting, and definitely gave Rose more of a central storyline, but as a whole it could have been sharper. Overall I enjoyed the story and thought it was action paced. It was slightly different from previous Department Q, I’m that it wasn’t the typical cold case, but I like how Assad ‘s backstory came out a little more.

Thank you to Jussi-Adler Olsen, netgalley and Quercia for providing me with an advanced reading copy.

Victim 2117 Sets Off a Chain of Terror

Joan Aiguader, a down on his luck reporter, thinks he has a story about the migration to Europe when victim 2117 washes up on the coast of Cyprus. He knows he’s on to something bigger when the woman is turned over and instead of drowning, she was killed by a stab wound in her back.

Alexander, an isolated teenager, stays in his room playing video games and building anger toward the world. Victim 2117 is his sign to take action.

Department Q, headed by Detective Carl Mørck becomes involved through Assad. The victim is someone from his past. He knows the murder spells possible acts of international terrorism. Finally, he breaks his silence on his background as he and his co-workers are drawn into a very dangerous plot.

This is an outstanding Department Q Novel. The plot is complex involving not only the characters from Department Q, Carl, Rose, Gordon, and Assad, but a troubled teen, an international terrorist, and a news reporter. The action pulses with tension as events unfold.

The characters in Department Q are shown to advantage as they work together against two fronts, a teenager who wants to take out his hostility on his family and the world, and Ghallib, an international terrorist who has ties to Assad’s past. I think this is one of the best Department Q novels from the standpoint of plot and getting to know more about the characters. I highly recommend it.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

The Department Q novels are addictive; the characters are fascinating and the myriad plots are woven into intriguing grand themes. VICTIM 2117 was a tad more difficult for me just because it was so timely a political topic, not my usual preference for thrillers or police procedurals. I prefer cold cases, to be honest. But author Jussi Adler-Olsen is a master and this is a difficult book to forget. I’m eager for the next in the series. I received my copy from the publisher through Netgalley, many thanks.

VICTIM 2117: A Department Q Novel
Jussi Adler-Olsen; translated by William Frost
Dutton Books
ISBN 9781524742553
Hardcover
Thriller

Those who have been faithfully reading Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Department Q books will rejoice upon cracking the binding of VICTIM 2217, the latest installment in the series. Adler-Olsen introduced Assad, the enigmatic and quietly brilliant member of the team as a bit of a counterbalance to Detective Carl Morck, who has been heading the initially disrespected, basement-dwelling cold case unit of the Amsterdam police by default. Quite a bit has happened since the introduction of Department Q in THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES, which was published in Adler-Olsen’s native Denmark in 2007, and this latest installment finds the team getting the appreciation it deserves while supporting Assad in the abrupt arrival of his time of need with all of its considerable brainpower.

A photograph of a war refugee launches the events of VICTIM 2117. The photograph is specifically of a poor soul whose body has washed ashore in Cyprus. To the media, the victim is an anonymous casualty of war, the two thousand, one hundred seventeenth refugee ---”Victim 2117” --- to die in the Mediterranean Sea. A number of things happen in short order. One is that Assad recognizes the dead woman as an extremely important part of his past. Other revelations occur which lead Assad to reveal his background to the other members of Department Q as he comes to realize that parts of his life --- both good and bad --- which he thought he had lost forever are, for better or worse, still very much a part of this world. When it is discovered that the dead woman was murdered and not drowned it becomes all the more important for Assad to go to the scene in order to not only rescue some people very dear to him but also to exact revenge against a known terrorist who attempted once to destroy Assad’s life and is determined to do so again. In order to implement his plan, he wants Assad to see the havoc he wreaks in person and begins a countdown which is to come to a very personal and cataclysmic ending in Germany. In the meantime, an extremely troubled and isolated young man in Amsterdam named Alexander has taken notice of Victim 2117 as well. He pins a clipping of the article to the wall in the bedroom which he almost never leaves, glancing at it while he plays a first-person online shooter game practically non-stop during his waking hours. Alexander’s plan is to keep playing until he scores 2117 hits, at which point he plans to unleash his wrath upon the world outside of his bedroom, beginning with his parents and then the people on the street where he lives and beyond. Alexander cannot resist taunting the police about his plans, and with the use of an untraceable burner phone taunts a member of Department Q about his plans. There is little that can be done other than to hope that Alexander --- or someone, or something else --- will reveal his plans before he fully implements them. Adler-Olsen (with a very able translation assist from William Frost) keeps twin plot clocks ticking almost in unison as two separate plans by two lunatics head toward their conclusion, even as Department Q races on separate fronts to end them.

Adler-Olsen is a master of intense suspense. There is really no way to guess how any particular scenario in VICTIM 2117 is going to end. We are talking big budget here, folks. Adler-Olsen over the course of the past ten years has been lauded frequently and repeatedly by crime fiction organizations and books such as VICTIM 2117 demonstrate why. It is a superior read.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2020, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

Jussi Adler-Olsen continues his Department Q series, in which a small unit investigates challenging cases for the Copenhagen Police Department. Fifty-three-year-old DI Carl Mørck has finally gotten his act together. He no longer falls asleep during the workday with his feet on his desk, and he has given up smoking. Years earlier, when Carl was a burned-out shell suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, a newly-hired employee, Hafez el-Assad (everyone calls him Assad but his real name is Zaid al-Asadi), changed Carl's perspective. Assad showed Carl how precious life is, and prodded him to do his job with renewed purpose. Subsequently, Carl, Assad, and the eccentric Rose Knudsen became an effective crime-fighting team.

The central focus of "Victim 2117," translated from the Danish by Walter Frost, is Assad's plight (he fled from Saddam's regime) and the misery of fleeing Syrian refugees. In addition, Adler-Olsen devotes chapters to other characters, such as a down-and-out journalist, Joan Aiguader, who is trying to revive his moribund career. We learn details about Assad's background, his family's suffering, and his untiring efforts to locate and rescue his wife and two daughters. Abdul Azim, known as Ghaalib, is the arch-villain of the tale. He is a psychopath and a terrorist who holds a grudge against Assad and is determined to destroy him psychologically and physically.

Those of us who have followed the Department Q crew for years will be eager to find out how they are doing. We discover why Assad has kept his past private and continue to be touched by Carl's kindness towards Hardy, a paralyzed former cop. It is heartening that Carl is in a committed relationship and courageously risks his life to help Assad confront Ghaalib. "Victim 2117" has poignant moments, Adler-Olsen uses dark humor effectively, and the author integrates incisive social commentary into his narrative. Therefore, it is all the more disappointing that this book, which had so much potential, is weakened by its cluttered and rambling plot, excessive length, and predictable conclusion.

I could not finish this book. I have read her mysteries before and liked them. However, this translation made it difficult for me to become involved in the plot. The English was awkward and the phrasing was off putting. I don’t know if this was a different translator but I put the novel down and have not been able to begin again. This rarely happens to me. Sorry.

Love the Department Q series, however, this one is quite different than the previous books in the series. Without trying to spoil the plot, it is nice to finally learn about Assad's background.

This eighth installment of the adventures of Department Q, the cold case division in Copenhagen’s police homicide department, focuses on the background of Assad, one of three assistants of Carl Mørck, the head (in name, at least) of Department Q.

The story begins somewhat slowly, with freelance reporter Joan Aiguader attempting to resuscitate his less than stellar career by reporting on the bodies of refugees washing up on the shores of Barcelona. Joan does a feature on Victim 2117, only to learn, to his chagrin, that this woman was not in fact a refugee but a murder victim.

Back in Copenhagen, Assad nearly has a breakdown when he recognizes the picture of Victim 2117 as well as the people standing around on the shore by the body. It turns out they are none other than his family in the company of his sworn enemy, the terrorist Ghaalib, whom Assad had encountered in Iraq. After Assad tells his story to Carl, Rose, and Gordon, it is clear that Ghaalib has staged the news story to draw Assad out of hiding and finally get his revenge.

Carl joins Assad to Germany to follow the trail of his family. In the meantime, Rose and Gordon have to deal with a psychopath who keeps calling them to apprise them he is about to go on a killing spree, as soon as he achieves the 2117th victory in his online game.

The storylines continue to coalesce with a dénouement full of tension and carnage. In both cases it is a matter of matching wits between the good guys and the bad guys, with the bad guys having the advantage that they have no moral compasses and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals.

Carl is 53, but finally shows his mettle in this installment, with, as usual, a great deal of help from his intrepid staff. It is never clear, however, if all of them will survive, and what the outcome will be of the new shock in Carl’s personal life.

Discussion: I had trouble at the beginning of the book; Assad’s background was quite complicated, and I wasn’t sure where the story was going. By the halfway point, however, I was fully invested in the plot, and the level of suspense was so high I was whipping through the pages.

Evaluation: I am a big fan of the Detective Carl Mørck series. While some might find the behaviors of the “bad guys” over the top, one only has to read the papers to see all of it is sadly not out of the realm of possibility. I look forward, as always, to more from Department Q.

Followers of Jussi Adler-Olsen's Department Q series remember well the opening of the first book in the series when Carl Morck returns from leave and is tapped to launch Department Q, a dead-end, cold-case department located in a windowless basement. Exhausted and shell-shocked, Carl doesn't make a peep, seeing this as an opportunity to sit at a rickety desk and nap or watch soccer on his laptop. He needs a break from police work.

But his dream is interrupted early on with the assignment of Assad, a Syrian refugee, as his assistant. As cheerful as Morck is grumpy, Assad fills the space with fragrant Arab coffee, tasty meals brought by relatives, and colorful rugs. He gets them what ever they need with charm and gentle humor. But Assad is there to work, and he shows from the start that he has a good feel for the cold-case pile, getting Carl back into police work.

Over the series, we've seen flashes competence and skill from Assad that don't quite fit his origin story. In "Victim 2117" we find out why.

A photo on the front page of a Danish newspaper shows an older woman washed up on a beach with Syrian refugees. But this woman didn't drown, she was stabbed. And Assad knew her.

What follows is a hair-raising story that will change Assad and Department Q forever. I'm curious to see how the next novel will manage to blend horror and the humor that brightens the series.

I don't find the writing of the Department Q novels as good as some of the other Scandinavian writers. It's a little stiff, awkward, but the originality of this this novel's plot over comes that and makes for an exciting and heartbreaking read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital review copy.

~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader

Latest in the Department Q series. I was really excited to receive this from NetGalley. This is one of my favorite series! We finally get to learn about Assad's secretive past, because of the death of a Syrian refugee in the Mediterranean, victim 2117 to die in the sea for the year, although this woman was murdered. Another great book in this series. 4.5 stars rounded to 5.

I guess I didn't realize this was the 8th book in the series when I started reading. I have a hard time reading series mid-stride, especially translated ones... This is just a personal problem I have as a reader.
However, it was clear to see why so many readers are fans! The action was present and it was fast-paced and interesting. I wish I had more experience with the characters because much was lost on me. I am going to track down book #1 and read from there!

Jussi takes us on a long trip with Assad to his former life in Iran and Syria where he was with the UN security forces and was made a prisoner for getting Lars Bjørn's brother (Jess Bjørn) out of prison and then falling into a trap. Letting his wife and two daughters and his unborn child into a 16 year captivity. Carl was told by Monica that she was pregnant. Rose comes back after having her way with Assad. Joan, who's a Spanish character as a journalist, goes to Greece to record the people coming ashore from Syria in boats. Gordon has Alexander call him up at Department Q and tell him he is going to kill people by beheading them. All these things go on to complete the story which involves many more characters which Jussi adds to the story. Carl goes crazy when he has to leave Assad in Germany to face his enemy, Monica sends him back. This is really a good story to read and is broken up by characters into chapters. I hope you can read this story because it is full of action, you won't believe with out reading it.

Finally, the backstory for one of our favorite characters, Assad! Since he found the basement over ten years ago, we have little information about his life before Department Q. And although he’s confounded Carl in the past with his esoteric knowledge of the Middle East and shadowy references to military skills, we never get a clear view of who he is and where he comes from. I mean, he’s an awesome character with his malapropisms and endless parables involving camels, but we’ve all been waiting for this book. And 7 books in, we get it.

It all starts when a down-and-out Spanish journalist picks up a story about immigrants who are dying on their way across the Mediterranean Sea. Joan focuses his narrative on Victim #2117 of the year… At the beginning, the cause of death seems to be drowning, but further inquiry reveals murder. His story is picked up by outlets all over Europe and Assad sees the picture that accompanies the article. It is a woman who he knows, a woman who was like a mother to him. And standing next to her is his wife and one of his daughters…

From the North, Carl and Assad begin to track the killer, a terrorist known intimately to our sidekick. And from the South, Joan finds himself manipulated by the killer. He needs the scoop and the terrorist provides…

Mona, Rose, and all the other regulars are back in Copenhagen dealing with their own crap… which includes a huge surprise for Carl and Mona. And a copycat crime of sorts for Rose, a young man has repeatedly called the station stating that when he gets to 2117 ‘kills’ he will decapitate his mother and father. What the heck!?!?!?

Overall, a capable book in the series. The huge positives included, obviously, Assad’s backstory which is told in an interesting way. He breaks down and tells the rest of the crew the story, but when it gets to the action Adler-Olsen shifts the POV and the reader experiences the accounts directly. Also of note is the furthering of each of the other characters’ stories. From the first details of Carl’s placement on Department Q and the solidifying of the rest of the crew, this has been a series that has been awesome. I have raved about it to all my reading friends.

Now for the downsides of the book. I felt myself having to suspend my disbelief a lot more in this book than any of the others in the series. Maybe because it was a plot that ranged all over Europe and the Middle East or just because there were so many twists and turns.

Another wild ride from the Department Q gang. One that pushed Assad to the edge over and over again.

4 out of 5 stars

Thank you to Dutton Books and the author for an advanced copy for review.