The Absent One by Jussi Adler-Olsen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A disappointment! I liked Jussi Adler-Olsen's "Keeper of the Lost Causes" quite a lot. "The Absent One" is definitely not in the same class. Carl Morcks's character is still interesting, but the characterizations of two other protagonists, Assad and Rosa, are just caricatures.

"The Absent One" could have been a great revenge story, yet it veered into a totally unbelievable territory. Would you believe rich industrialists and fashion celebrities to be mass murderers? No, I guess not. But the book asks us to. Add to it a rabid fox. A hungry hyaena. Hunting wild animals in the heart of Denmark? Come on, man! Be serious.

The novel reads pretty well for about 300 pages, and then it deteriorates into a totally ridiculous mess of utterly contrived fast-paced action of the worst Hollywood variety. This is globalization of rubbish. This is crap on the order of "Da Vinci Code".

Three and a half stars for the first 300 pages. Zero stars for the last 100 pages. What an utter waste of human talent! I am hesitant to read any more stuff from this author.

Two stars.


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