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Victim 2117

By Jussi Adler-Olsen

This is it, the story we’ve all been waiting for! Who is Assad? What did he do before he joined Department Q? What is Assad’s story?

The beauty of many Nordic Noir series is that you can jump in and read any book at any time. Each one is its own packaged story, everything that you need to know is there in that story. However, I think they work at a better level if you read them in order. The characters develop from one story to the other, there are relationships that grow, the secondary characters have full lives of their own. It makes for a more complete story when they are read in order.

Every time I immerse myself into another one of Adler-Olsen’s Department Q novels I find myself getting back together with some long-lost friends. He has developed these characters to the point that I know them, their hopes and dreams, I know their fears, I know what makes them tick. All of them except Assad. Victim 2117 is my chance to know what makes Assad tick.

Victim 2117 was all about the big reveal. If you’ve read the stories, you understand; if your spouse has read the books, you are like my wife, she understands how important Assad’s story is. Assad has always been an enigma, he is a junior assistant to a police inspector, yet he has some dark connections, he knows how to get things done without following all of the rules. We all want to know...where did he come from?

I must be honest; I was a bit disappointed at how quickly within the story Assad’s past came out. I was expecting a more patient, slower paced reveal, a piece-by-piece striptease of Assad’s past. Instead, it felt more like he vomited it all out to kick off this story. I know that I can’t always get what I want, sometimes I just get what I need. I see how this process worked for this story.

I’ll give credit to Adler-Olsen, he continues to build the relationships and the connected stories, and I continue to care about these people. Sometimes I find that I am finished with a series before the author is, they often get redundant after a while. I thought that this might be the end for me and Department Q, but Adler-Olsen has kept more intrigue there. There are still some stories that could be told.

*4 Stars