THE PURITY OF VENGEANCE, Book 4 in the Department Q Series by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen, is a tortmentingly heartwrenching narrative exploring how horribly the past may clench its grip on the present and future, and the persistence of evil when ordinary people stand aside while others commit unspeakable acts. If you're thinking of the Holocaust, of Rwanda, of Pol Pot, such is true of these others and far too many more. However, the focus of evil here (mind-blowing and stomach-churning and infuriating it is) is in the 1950's and earlier in the nation of Denmark, where a fairly systematized genocidal approach stood firmly in place. I've read that such a systematic approach also took place in Canada in the early 20th century, and likely also elsewhere, notably in California. Remember that the 1920's through 1950's were a peak era for Eugenics, the theory promoting ethnic purity as the method to ensure a proper gene pool.


I am assured that it will be a rare reader who consumes this mystery with alternately raging and weeping copious tears.