Department Q in Denmark is always suspenseful and this book is the most suspenseful I can remember reading in the series.

The themes alone are amazing: the police department is hampered by Covid restrictions but must investigate a woman who kills herself many years after losing her young son in an horrific explosion at a car repair shop, an explosion that also kills the mechanics and the shop owner.

It's also Christmas time, so people are on vacation, and things slow down for the police group. The group of four investigators however carry on especially when they realize that the car shop explosion is linked to many, many other murder cases, with the culprit or culprits still in operation and planning a Boxing Day murder.

Vengeance, insanity, misguided religiousness, megalomania, are all mixed up in the case, which challenge Department Q - Carl, Assad, Rose, and George - to the nth degree and threaten their own lives.

It took me a while to read the previous installments of this series, and I am quite satisfied with this work.

There are strong changes in the group of protagonists, but they felt throughout like valuable additions and very interesting character development.

Enjoying it requires a taste for somewhat dark and raw literature, but once you start reading, you're hooked and it's hard to stop.

I would recommend it primarily for people who already follow this series of books, but it can be a good entry point for those who don't.

When I started this book, I didn't know that I would be gripped so much by the story because I didn't want to miss some detail. I tried even taking notes and staying late at night to see what would happen next with our unit Department Q. I can't wait to read the next installment of this series, because I was left with a cliffhanger. I highly recommend the book to all readers that love Department Q cases and all who like to read a good crime story.

First of all, a huge shout out to Mr. Adler-Olsen for ruining the excellent Department Q film series ((2013-2018) by insisting on disbanding the entire cast and crew that audiences had grown to love and follow, and bringing in deadwood actors and director for The Marco Effect (2021). The dismal box office numbers and reviews for The Marco Effect are proof that an author does not always know what is best for his characters and visual storytelling.

He singlehandedly destroyed an excellent connection between audience and Q stories that had been built over half a decade. I doubt many will watch the remaining 'upcoming' films.

Secondly, as excited as I was to get my hands on an ARC of 'The Shadow Murders', the story is too much of a talkathon and never really flies.

The killers in the previous books (keeper of lost causes, purity of vengeance, even victim 2117) were relatable and one could feel some empathy for them, and understand the very real childhood trauma that got them to that killing point. The 'trauma' of the 'Shadow' mastermind as well as that of his/her partners are all robotic and have no personality.

The deaths of Ragnhild, Tabitha and Pauline were shocking and the entire sequence of how Pauline meets her fate is spine-chilling. Anyone thinking this is a spoiler, needs to read the rest of 300 pages after these deaths have already occurred.

Getting to know how each member of Department Q is doing is always a pleasure but the elephant in the room is the investigative skill of Carl Morck, Assad, Rose and Gordon: the dismal manner in which they zero in on the mastermind and the manner in which he/she is finally reached is so boring and tedious.

I think Covid isolation caught up with Mr. Adler-Olsen.

Jussi Adler Olsen never fails another tense well written book in the series.I was drawn in from the. First pages and it kept me turning the pages.#netgalley #duttonbooks

This 9th in the cold case series set in Copenhagen, has Department Q investigate a series of gruesome killings, where piles of table salt were left at the scenes.

This episode opens in 1982, when first responders arrive at a scene of carnage. There are six lifeless bodies, all struck by lightning, and one survivor, a young woman whose reaction is odd to say the least.

Fast forward to 1988, as single mother Maja's small son Max is killed when a repair shop is blown up nearby. Forward again to 2020, when Maja commits suicide on her sixtieth birthday.

Detective Carl Mørck's team uncovers a vigilante group of vengeful women, whose activities escalate, Meanwhile, Carl is being investigated for involvement in a large-scale cocaine trade!

Of course, the author ties all these threads into another unusual and thrilling plot, but this episode ends on quite the cliffhanger for Carl himself.

I have read all of the authors books and they never disappoint. This was a terrific book and it kept me going all the way through. Thanks for the opportunity to read in advance.

I have listened to or read every single one of the Department Q series of books; each one is well-written, dark, yet also humorous, and always satisfies me in the end. This one is a worthy ninth book in the series.

The whole crew is back in this book: curmudgeonly Carl Morck, who drives everyone crazy but also is wicked smart, Rose, the hilarious sidekick who sees things the guys can’t, Assad, the refugee who always bring an insightful eye to cases, and Gordon, the innocent young legal mind who is brave and loyal. This time around they’re investigating some crazy murders, that go back for decades. The pathway through all the rabbit holes is complex, tense, and ties all the strings together in the end.

The best thing about Department Q series is that, while they’re best read in order, imo, they can also be read on their own. They’re just great mysteries!

I had trouble getting into this book. I think one of the difficulties is with crime, I have to be in the mood of the style the book is in. This particular book had a lot of moving parts which is fantastic but it was a bit of a struggle for me to get the momentum to finish it.

This is the 9th entry in this compelling police procedural series set in Denmark. Department Q usually investigate cold cases, however in this novel an old case is tied to a recent case. As the quirky characters compile the evidence it becomes apparent that a serial killer has been active for many years.

A woman's suicide on her sixtieth birthday, brings an old case to light. Years before this same woman's small son was killed in an explosion at a garage where others were killed. It seems a straight forward suicide but Detective Carl Morck and his superior Markus Jacobsen believe that this case an another one are connected to her suicide. Department Q is asked to investigate and when they find a connection the investigation takes a turn for the worst.
This was a page turner from the start with twists and turns all the way. It had me reading well into the wee hours trying to encourage the team to see the pattern. I have read others books by this author and enjoyed them all and I'm sure I will enjoy future books too.

The Shadow Murders is the 9th book of the 10-book series. The book is a whole set-up for the last book to come. It was a dark and violent book with chapters switching back and forth between the good and bad guys. The story had multiple POV's. The cliffhanger at the end will lead into the last and final book of the series. I have read the other books of the series but this book is only 3 stars for me. I do look forward to the last book and hopefully will enjoy that one more. If you love books about cold-cases then you would love this book. I would like to thank Penquin Group Dutton and NetGalley for a copy for an honest review.

Here is the conclusion to my longer review on Reviewingtheevidence.com :

THE SHADOW MURDERS is the ninth in a series which the author has said will conclude with number ten. While I will certainly be sorry to see Department Q retire, I didn't need a cliff-hanger to convince me to anxiously await its final appearance. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

§

I have not read the previous books in this series but it did not impair my understanding of the story. The Shadow Murders is dark and full of violent and gruesome acts that are skillfully detailed by the author. The main characters in charge of finding the culprit are well put together and work as a team. Who will be faster - the killer in making another victim before he is found or Department Q in finding him? This is an interesting story that will be enjoyed by readers who like dark and more violent tales.
I thank the author, his publisher, and NetGalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of The Shadow Murders, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

After the international events of the previous book in the series, Victim 2117 takes place back in Denmark, with the 4 members of Department Q working together to solve a complicated case, spanning over 20 years, pushed on them by their boss, Marcus Jacobsen. COVID has complicated everything, although, as you can probably imagine, the Department Q team doesn't pay a whole lot of attention to the orders they're given which would curtail their work.

To make life more complicated, Assad is facing a number of difficulties with bringing his wife and children back to Denmark, both in terms of bureaucratic tangles and in terms of their emotional reactions to their events as prisoners over the last 10 or so years, and how to reintegrate their lives. And Carl is enjoying his life as a new father and suddenly is a lot more interested in leaving work on time!

Solving the main series of crimes requires all of their considerable abilities, and it's an interesting problem. However, after about halfway through the book, much of this is overshadowed by a resurrected investigation into the Nail Gun case, focusing on Carl. While the current case goes on, we have to spend more and more time worried about Carl and whether he's being set up. The description tells us that this book is the penultimate book in the series, so we're left with a cliffhanger ending, to wait for the tenth and apparently last book in the series to wrap everything up.

The Shadow Murders is the latest installment in the Department Q series. Although this can be read as a stand alone novel it would lead to greater enjoyment to have read at least the last couple of books in the series. The personalities of the main characters become more revealed over time. This, like the others is a detailed complex plot. The megalomania of the protagonist is clearly developed and while uncomfortable to read very believable. The cliff hanger ending leaves the reader gasping and hoping that it won't be too long for the next book in the series to be published.

The Shadow Murders by Jussi Adler-Olsen is the Nineth in the acclaimed Department Q series by the Danish master of crime thrillers. The department, responsible for solving long-unsolved ‘cold’ cases, is known as much for the anarchistic ways of its members as its crime-solving prowess, and its latest case is as cold as they come. Marcus Jacobsen—Chief of Homicide of Copenhagen Police—is reminded of this case, a blast in an auto-repair shop that had killed several persons including a three-year-old boy thirty-two years ago, when he comes across the news of the bereaved mother’s recent suicide. Though the case was concluded as an accident, Marcus—a young detective at the time—had suspected otherwise but could not follow it up due to various reasons. Deeply affected by the mother’s heartbreak, he rereads the old case file and sees something odd that he feels to be deserving of a relook by Department Q.

The talented team, headed by Chief Inspector Carl Mørck and consisting of Rose Knudsen, Hafez el-Assad and Gordon Taylor—its youngest member, takes up the task and finds another case from the archives that, though occurred decades later and concluded as a suicide, shares the same odd feature with the first case. Convinced now that the commonality is no mere coincidence, the team redoubles is efforts and unearths more such cases that suggest of a long-running series of killings committed by one or more persons of extraordinary cunning and patience, with a twisted sense of justice. As a result of the team's unstinting hard-work amidst the restrictions posed by the global COVID-19 pandemic, and a bit of much-deserved luck, a sinister pattern into the murders starts to emerge that portends of another brutal killing within the coming few days. But the Department’s efforts towards stopping the killer(s) and saving the would-be victim get interrupted rudely when Carl is notified that he is being investigated by the narcotics team in connection with a thirteen-year-old case. Carl’s focus, as expected, is on preventing the murder and it becomes a race against time for Department Q to catch the ingenious killer(s) before it gets too late in more senses than one.

The Shadow Murders was my first taste of this celebrated author’s work, and I greatly enjoyed it. The dark premise and the engrossing plot grip the reader right from the start and do not let go until the very end. The eccentric and highly resourceful team of Department Q is crafted to perfection and the interactions among its members are immensely amusing. The characterisation of the antagonist(s) and their chilling backstories too are impressively done. Jumping into this series at the nineth novel meant that I had some trouble making sense the multiple characters and their ongoing troubles from the past episodes, though it works well as a standalone. Unexpectedly, there is plenty of humour in this intense tale that succeeds at lightening the brooding atmosphere. The smooth translation by William Frost makes The Shadow Murders a difficult book to put down.

Apart from certain minor plausibility issues, I found The Shadow Murders to be a fantastic, riveting thriller and would recommend it to all fans of the genre. I am grateful to the publishers, Penguin Group, Dutton, for providing me the ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy of The Shadow Murders by Jussi Adler-Olsen. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for providing an ARC to review.

This is the third or fourth book in the series that I have read and I remain conflicted. On the one hand, I don't like any of the characters. They tend to be just too cranky and aggressive for my tastes. But that aside, the mysteries are so darn good that I always pick up that next novel when I see it on a shelf. This might be my favorite mystery out of the ones I have read. It was wonderfully complex and even though we find out who the villain is halfway through, I remained invested. I give The Shadow Murders 3.75/5 stars.

A woman struck by lightning. A dangerous group who are intent on ridding the world of people who don’t meet their morally righteous beliefs, and Department Q. Already working on the outer edges of the police, Carl, Rose, Assad, and Gordon are now also hindered by the rapidly spreading Covid pandemic while trying to solve a particularly upsetting case from 1988, which they believe could be linked to a number of other murders in the following years, right up until the present day.

The Department Q novels are always dark and complex, both the crimes being investigated and the glimpses into the private lives of the team and The Shadow Murders is no exception. When investigating an old case at the request of his boss Marcus, Carl and the team begin to string together a number of cold cases where one particular element has been overlooked each time. The way these crimes were connected was so cleverly done, leaving just enough doubt that it was the work of the same killer that Department Q could only rely on themselves to hunt down the perpetrator before they struck again.

The tension certainly built up towards the end of the story, not helped by the fact that Carl is also faced with a misconduct investigation linked to the Nail Gun Case thirteen years earlier which has been haunting him ever since. As he tries to avoid arrest, the team are in a frantic race against time, trying desperately to save the next victim of their killer.

Another strong addition to the series, the story is set up perfectly to lead into Book 10 and the final conclusion.

I have read all of the Department Q novels so it was fantastic to join the gang again for another intense and complex investigation. The case is typically dark and this time Carl Mørck and his team are faced with extra challenges as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.

I felt a different vibe while reading this installment, knowing that the next book will be the last in the series. In addition to the main storyline, it was obvious that the build up to the final book was being introduced and I did find myself a bit distracted by this, wondering how Carl's future will be affected by the revelations.

The tension certainly ramped up in the last few chapters and I'm still a big fan of the series, very much looking forward to the final book.