The Hanging Girl by Jussi Adler-Olsen

(57. - 1240.) The Hanging Girl by Jussi Adler-Olsen - Carl Mørck is relaxing in his Copenhagen office after a series of difficult cases. He brushes aside a call from a rural Danish police officer, Christian Habersaat, plaintively seeking help with a cold case that has haunted him.

When Habersaat commits suicide at his retirement party in protest over decades of official “indifference and thoughtlessness” especially concerning the cold case, Mørck is shamed by his assistant Rose into going to the island of Bornholm where Habersaat worked and died. Assad and Rose accompany him.

They are provided with the files for Habersaat’s case. A teenage girl, Alberte Goldschmid, was hit head on by a vehicle and thrown up into the branches of a tree where she died. Her death was 17 years earlier. There are neither non-investigated leads nor evidence ignored. They will have to go over the whole investigation again.

When Habersaat’s 35 year old son, Bjarke, commits suicide the day of his father’s suicide there is heightened attention to the case.

The Department Q team starts digging down into the cold case re-interviewing those closest to Alberte who was attending a folk school.

Assad effectively leads initial interviews with aggressive questions.

Alberte was a beautiful sensual teenager.

In the present June, Habersaat’s ex-wife and Bjarke’s mother, is a bitter resentful woman.

A guru, Atu Abanshamash Dumuzi, is operating the Nature Absorption Academy in Sweden not far from Bornholm.

Pirjo Abanshamash Dumuzi, his devoted aide, is obsessed with wanting to become his lover and bear his children. He is indifferent to her desire.

Atu is mesmerizing. Before his devoted, well paying, disciples:

When Atu stepped forward in his yellow robe with the beautiful detailing on the arms, it was as if a light in the darkness - an aura of energy - was suddenly lit. It was like beholding the truth of life itself when he opened his embrace toward the assembly and took them into his world.

How Mørck and his team connect them to the deaths in Bornholm is fascinating.

Department Q probes and challenges reluctant witnesses about past statements as it finds out who Alberte was associating with almost two decades earlier. They are meticulous in examining thousands of pages of evidence assembled by Habersaat.

The search for Alberte’s last lover is frustrating but convincing as the Department interviews, examines and analyzes information. Their thoroughness produces incremental breakthroughs.

Department Q is a team guided rather than led by Mørck.

Mørck barely talks to his family. The death and funeral of an outspoken cousin draws accusations against Mørck going back decades.

As with several previous books in the series the investigation delves deeply into an aspect of society. In The Hanging Girl, Department Q examines a New Age religion based on multiple ancient sun based beliefs. A focus is Norse religious worship and the use of sunstones. 

The ending is a thriller in the best American tradition. It need not have gone almost all the way to Hollywood. There was drama enough in what happened 17 years ago and the present.

You can quickly see in Adler-Olsen’s books where the investigation is going but the pleasure is following the investigation. Department Q eventually gets there. It is the endings which have surprises.

The books in the Department Q series are good but long at 500 pages. It would be interesting to see what Adler-Olsen could do in 350 pages.

****

Adler-Olsen, Jussi - (2011) - The Keeper of Lost Causes; (2012) - The Absent One; (2020) - A Conspiracy of Faith; (2020) The Purity of Vengeance and Involuntary Sterilization in Denmark and Canada; (2023) - The Marco Effect

Revenge in For She is Wrath

In reading For She is Wrath by Emily Varga I enjoyed the book as an adventure fantasy, a romantasy. I found Varga’s exploration of revenge compelling. Dania escapes from prison and sets out on a mission to avenge those who grievously wronged her and killed her father. 

This post, exploring revenge, will have some spoilers. They do not disclose the ending but they reveal more than some readers might want before they read the book. 

A warrior woman, Dania, will risk her life for revenge. 

As set out in my review, the preceding post, she ingests a blend of zoraat seeds that allow her to transfigure her appearance.

With the power of zoraat magic also come whispers in Dania’s head. Revenge is advocated in those whispers. It is hard to resist pleas made in your mind. They never leave. 

I was reminded of Hamish McLeod in the Ian Rutledge mystery series written by Charles Todd (a mother / son duo for most of the books). Hamish was a corporal executed by his commanding officer, Lieutenant Rutledge, for failing to follow orders in WW I. Rutledge was forced to kill Hamish. After the war Rutledge returns to England and resumes his career as a police officer. 

Hamish talks to Rutledge giving him advice. The comments are often pointed. Rutledge finds them unsettling; even disturbing. Rutledge conceals that Hamish is inside his head.

As a criminal defence lawyer I have represented people who hear voices. For confidentiality I provide no identifying particulars. What I describe in this post was stated in open court. I recall an accused who said he was hearing voices telling him to hurt or kill people. He was finding it harder and harder to resist the voices. It was frightening. He wanted help. Eventually, he was sentenced to the regional psychiatric centre where he could receive treatment.

The voice inside Dania becomes more frequent and more insistent. 

Dania wants her enemies to suffer before death. Varga skilfully addresses the dilemna of revenge. At what cost to your principles will you exact vengeance?

When Dania is desperate to save her friend Noor, an evil djinn, a magical supernatural being, offers her greater powers than the zoraat can give her. 

Dania makes a Faustian bargain. Each of us, in real life, has experiences on whether we will barter our soul, our integrity.

A deal with a demon has consequences.

When Dania exercises her new powers of destruction and death:

Elation filled my blood.

To experience joy through causing devastation and death is not the Dania who had lived an honourable life.

The soldiers she kills are abstracts to her. She has lost empathy. Her victims are not people. She does not think about their families. 

Noor is upset. She tells Dania no revenge is worth what Dania has surrendered. 

Can you withdraw from a deal with a djinn? 

In the Catholic faith a person’s soul can always be redeemed. The worst sins can be forgiven through the act of confession and seeking God’s mercy. That mercy does not mean escape from temporal punishment for crimes and misdeeds but the soul is saved.

Dania engages in a fierce battle for her soul.

The voice of the djinn in Dani calls out to her “Revenge. Revenge. Revenge”. It is a seductive call.

Can she save herself? 

Her closest friend Maz, who betrayed her, confesses he put revenge ahead of Dania and begs forgiveness. He lets her decide if he will live or die.

Dania sees in a person close to her the fearful costs of revenge. That person exacted revenge which involved killing. The revenge proved a temporary satisfaction for it left the avenger deeply damaged.

I recognize that fighting evil and exacting revenge can be intertwined but in the real world there are alternatives to violence.

Josef Lewkowicz was a Jewish Polish teenager during WW II. He survived 6 Nazi camps. Last year I read his book The Survivor which he wrote with Michael Calvin.

He describes the evil Amon Goeth who was in charge of the Plaszow camp. Goeth personally murdered at a whim. Because of a dropped brick Goeth killed the man who did not catch a brick tossed to him by Josef. Josef said Goeth then “raised his revolver until it was about two inches from my face, and pointed it between my eyes”. Josef prays the Shema Yisroel and awakes in a hospital bed. He has survived because a Jewish man who aids the Nazis beat Josef and told Goeth to save his bullet as Josef is “already dead”.

After the war Josef searches for and finds Goeth. He could have killed Goeth but his “only memory of logical thought was an inner determination not to kill him”. To have summarily killed Goeth when he found him in a prisoner of war camp “would have made me no better than him”. 

Josef had already sworn an affidavit against Goeth and helps find others who confirm his identification. Goeth is taken to Poland where he is tried and convicted and hung.

Josef sets out the personal code that sustained him:

… I was, and am, a man of faith. That meant that, in the worst of times, I had something to hold on to. If you have no belief system, what do you cling to? A lamp post? A new car? An expensive watch?

I believe everything happens because of God's will … in my darkest moments I believe he was by my side.

In 1946, when Josef searches for and finds Goeth he is 20, about Dania’s age.

There are no courts of law in the empire depicted in For She is Wrath but there is personal choice. You will need to read the book to find out Dania’s choice on revenge.

****

For She is Wrath by Emily Varga

For She is Wrath by Emily Varga

(2. - 1246.) For She is Wrath by Emily Varga - I had not ventured into the world of YA romantasy before reading For She is Wrath. My son Michael, who is a law school classmate of Emily, gave me a signed copy for Christmas and encouraged me to read the book. 

Dania (Dani to her family and friends) has been in prison for 364 days charged with a murder she did not commit. She has been tortured by the warden, Thohfsa, for many of those days. Dania has carefully worked out an escape to take place on a day Thohfsa is absent from the prison. With precision she slays a guard and escapes to the prison yard where she is surprised to find Thohfsa and other guards waiting. She is captured and tortured and returned to her cell.

Dania meets a fellow prisoner, Noor, who has been working on an escape for 3 years.

They live under the rule of the Emperor Vahid who struck a deal with djinn, who “were powerful magical beings”, to acquire zoraat seeds. The zoraat “had given him healing magic, an endless food supply, and an indestructible army”.

Dania, daughter of the emperor’s sword maker, is most comfortable with a sword in her hands.

Noor and Dania make a dramatic escape from the prison.

Dania has revenge in her heart. She is intent on avenging her betrayal by Mazin Sial (she knows him as Maz), the ward of the emperor, with whom she had grown up. She had given him her heart.

Her fury is multiplied when she is told of the death of her father by the emperor through betrayal by her father’s friend Casildo.

Noor, though no warrior, is equally intent on retribution.

While they are avenging personal loss they are also planning to take down the emperor and his regime.

Hunted by the Emperor’s soldier and guided by the stars, they journey through mountains seeking the site where Souma, for whom Noor blended seeds, hid zoraat seeds and his treasure.

The seeds give great power but are deadly if mixed improperly. Noor blends seeds to create a powder that allows Dania to transfigure herself into a different appearance.

Magic changes Dania. She calls herself Sanaya Khara, the daughter of a warlord in the north.

Patience comes hard for Dania. She is not a subtle person. She struggles to quell the emotions pulsating through her body when, while visiting Casildo’s home he unexpectedly introduces her to Mazin, now the emperor’s second-in-command.

Maz sees Sanaya:

I was a frivolous, beautiful confection. Not a warrior. But he didn’t know warriors could wear jewels just as well.

Her wrath requires more than the death of her enemies but ruthlessness does not come naturally to Dania. I was glad she had a conscience.

There are dangers with any drug and zoraat is no exception. The veins in her wrists become black tendrils for longer and longer periods of time.

Dania’s mind is complicated by conflicting emotions as she pulls Maz ever closer to Sanaya. I was caught up in the challenge of dealing with someone you once cared about who is now drawn to a different you but only you know you are the same person.

Dania is stalwart, bright, lovely and a powerful warrior. She risks her future with powerful magic. She is not perfect. She can be petty and impetuous and righteous.

Varga delves into the dangers of certainty based on incomplete knowledge and assumption. There are strong reasons for requiring proof of guilt in criminal trials beyond all reasonable doubt.

My next post will examine Dania dealing with revenge and its costs.

The narrative moves briskly. As the end nears there are striking twists involving magical power that neither I nor Dania / Sanaya foresaw. They had me racing to finish the book.

Varga has succeeded in creating that rare thriller that is action packed and thoughtful. I think it is an excellent book and deserving of its success. 

The Waiting by Michael Connelly

(58. - 1241.) The Waiting by Michael Connelly - “Let’s dig down and make cases” - “Dig Down” is the code by which Renée Ballard lives and works. 

She is the head of the LAPD Open-Unsolved Unit with five volunteers assisting her in the investigation of 6,000 unsolved murder cases. They clear about 3 per month. The volunteers collectively have experience in law enforcement, the law, genealogy and the internet. They are a formidable team.

In a current domestic assault case a routine DNA test on the accused, Nicholas Purcell, triggers a familial identification in the cold case of the Pillowcase rapist sought for 46 rapes and a murder. Renée has long been haunted by the murder, her first case as a homicide detective. The DNA shows he is the son of the rapist. Renée is startled to learn the son’s father is the presiding judge of the L.A. Superior Court, the Honourable Jonathan Purcell. The DNA results are a “hot shot” taking the case to the top of their cases.

On the side, Renée is pursuing a thief who stole her badge and gun and ID from her Defender while she was surfing. Her weak personal security was startling.

Her search for the thief takes her into a group of “Sovereigns” - Americans rejecting government authority. To aid her she enlists Harry Bosch, who is battling cancer. Renée and Harry amplify their individual rogue natures when they work together. Yet again I lament that the talented Connelly has the pair engage in blatantly unlawful actions as they pursue bad guys.

At the unit Madeline “Maddie” Bosch volunteers to work on the cold cases. She hopes such work will aid her efforts to become a detective. Striving to be her own woman she seeks out the position, not even wanting Harry to know she has applied. 

Once aboard the “raft” - a collection of linked office desks and short partitions at the Unit that signify they are floating on a sea of unsolved cases - Maddie looks into the famed “Black Dahlia” case from 1947. Renée is very familiar with the case. A lot of America knows about the case.

With the public at grave risk and Renée at personal risk, Renée and Harry tipoff the FBI.

When the higher ups learn of the investigation of Judge Purcell they are queasy. Renée is on a short leash. Further DNA evidence startles the Unit and sends the investigation in a completely new direction.

Unexpected new information in the Black Dahlia case turns it into an active investigation. Suddenly they are looking for a serial killer almost 75 years after Elizabeth Short was killed. Maddie is a touch shaken.

All the members of the Unit contribute to the investigations. 

The feelings of Caroline Hatteras about cases continue to drive Renée crazy. At the same time her internet skills at following genealogical trails are brilliant.

Having Maddie on the team frees Renée from having to do all the work that requires a badge. She can pursue leads personally.

As Renée closes in she returns to being a Lone Ranger. At least Harry did work with a partner. Harry’s role in the series is diminishing from book to book. Renée needs a partner. I can see Maddie replacing her father.

Unlike most police, Renée recognizes she needs help with the trauma in her life and sees a psychologist weekly as they dig down into her mind on why she has chronic insomnia. I believe there is significantly more to be learned about her psyche.

Renée is an interesting character but has only a token personal life in the books. While Harry did not have stable relationships he interacted with people and tried to have relationships. I hope Renée’s life outside the Unit is developed in future books. 

Some events happened rather abruptly. Once again we learn little of the villain. The Waiting is a very good book but not one of Connelly’s best.

****

Connelly, Michael – (2000) - Void Moon; (2001) - A Darkness More than Night; (2001) - The Concrete Blonde (Third best fiction of 2001); (2002) - Blood Work (The Best);  (2002) - City of Bones; (2003) - Lost Light; (2004) - The Narrows; (2005) - The Closers (Tied for 3rd best fiction of 2005); (2005) - The Lincoln Lawyer; (2007) - Echo Park; (2007) - The Overlook; (2008) - The Brass Verdict; (2009) – The Scarecrow; (2009) – Nine Dragons; (2011) - The Reversal; (2011) - The Fifth Witness; (2012) - The Drop; (2012) - Black Echo; (2012) - Harry Bosch: The First 20 Years; (2012) - The Black Box; (2014) - The Gods of Guilt; (2014) - The Bloody Flag Move is Sleazy and Unethical; (2015) - The Burning Room; (2015) - Everybody Counts or Nobody Counts; (2016) - The Crossing; (2016) - Lawyers and Police Shifting Sides; (2017) - The Wrong Side of Goodbye and A Famous Holograph Will; (2017) - Bosch - T.V. - Season One and Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch; (2018) - Two Kinds of Truth; (2019) - Dark Sacred Night and A Protest on Connelly's Use of Vigilante Justice; (2020) - The Night Fire; (2020) - Fair Warning; (2021) - The Law of Innocence and Writing a Credible Trial; (2022) - The Dark Hours; (2024) - Resurrection Walk; (2024) - Kim Stone and Harry Bosch

Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal

(56. - 1239.) Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal - Maggie Hope reluctantly agrees to become one of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s typing secretaries in May of 1940. She resents being denied a “private secretary” position because she is a woman. They are “traditionally held by young Oxbridge men from upper class families”. Being a “Wellesley graduate, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, fluent in German and English, about to start working toward a doctoral degree in mathematics from M.I.T.” are not enough credentials for a woman in 1940.

In the shadows of London, Mike Murphy from the I.R.A. is causing chaos setting off bombs. The latest was in a rubbish bin at a London Underground Station.

When one of the typing secretaries, Mrs. Tingsley, is sick, Miss Hope is called into the breach to take dictation from the Prime Minister after dinner. Churchill entered the room, never looked at her and began to dictate letters that she typed as he spoke:

She became almost hypnotized, engrossed in her task as he went on and on - she imagined herself not as a typist but as an extension of him, a link between himself and the page. They went on in this manner, with various letters, for almost an hour before he finally looked at her.

Realizing she was not Mrs. Tinsley, he assessed her carefully and said “[W]e need some hope in this office” and that she could stay.

On subsequent nights he roars disapproval at mistakes such as single instead of double spacing and misspelled or misunderstood words. Occasionally he kicks the wastebasket across the room. Unexpectedly for Churchill, she stands up to him and earns a modest acknowledgement from him that he has been overbearing.  

The fear of spies and saboteurs is intense. There is reason to fear disruptions.

Maggie participates in the typing of multiple drafts of some of Churchill’s most famous speeches.

The waiting for the Blitz to start is excruciating. The work at the Prime Minister’s Office goes on day and night.

The Blitz causes horrific damage. As in Germania life goes on in London. Maggie helps organize a birthday party. Rations are saved for a month to make a birthday cake.

Londoners “went on as though they were people in one of those classic English plays - always polite, terribly formal, occasionally stiff”.

There is a credible ingenious Nazi plot that actually could have changed the war had it succeeded.

A message is sent to Germany via Norway through dots and dashes embedded in a women’s clothing ad.

The drama comes from reading how it was thwarted. As the plot unfolds Maggie is dismayed by who is treacherous.

Through the book there are references to Maggie having some mysterious unknown family connections. Maggie ends up shaken by family revelations.

The resolution shifts into high Hollywood mode. Until the conclusion Mr. Churchill’s Secretary had been a very interesting book. The theatrics were unnecessary. 

Maggie is not an action hero. She is an excellent character of great intellect. She is not cut out to save the world. I was reminded of Maisie Dobbs until the ending. Maisie solved mysteries without mayhem in almost all her books. Maisie’s most powerful weapon was her mind. I wondered if the conclusion was MacNeal’s choice.

Mr. Churchill’s Secretary is a good book. I am going to read more in the series.

The Hunter by Tana French

(1. - 1245.) The Hunter by Tana French - Trey Reddy is growing up. The skittish 13 year old of The Searcher is now 15. She can carry on a conversation with Cal Hooper, the former Chicago police officer, who moved into a cottage near her home in Ireland. Still Cal finds he gets more from her shrugs than her words. 

Trey and her dog, Banjo, spend a lot of time at Cal’s place. There is an old desk at which she does schoolwork. Mainly, Cal and Trey work on carpentry projects. They built a shelving unit and put up peg boards for all their tools. They are starting work on the restoration of a chair.

Trey is upset with her father, Johnny, casually returning home after 4 years. She asks Cal if she can stay the night. Uneasy about her father’s reaction, he arranges for her to stay with Miss Lena Dunne.

Miss Lena has no time for the easy talking Johnny wanting to charm her. She knows there is no substance, only a facade to Johnny.

Trey is glad Miss Lena and Cal share nights together but keep their own residences. Trey says she is “never gonna get married”. 

Johnny calls her Theresa.

Within a few pages I was caught up in the book

French continues to capture the lyrical expressiveness of the Irish and their blunt descriptiveness. Mart Lavin greets Johnny - “Look what the fairies left on the doorstep” after Johnny had been “over the water” in London. Mart asks - “Then what brought a cosmopolitan fella like yourself back from the finest city in the world to the arse end of nowhere?” Johnny replies - “Doesn’t matter how great the big city is; in the end, a man gets a fierce longing on him for home”.

Cal has embraced the boring life of Ardnakelty. He is restless as he feels Johnny will upset the “boringness”. Equally he is uneasy for Trey who has become special to him. To calm his soul he takes a night time walk with Lena:

…. They head for the road that twists away between the fields, faint and pale in the starlight. The night flowers have the rich, honeyed scent of some old cordial.

Trey refuses to let Johnny into her life despite his earnest contrition over leaving them and his promises of a grand life when the idea he has brought back with him is a great success. A well dressed and mannered Englishman, Cillian Rushborough, is with him.

There is a wariness about involving Cal in this idea. As inevitable with a character such as Johnny there are aspects of the idea that would not go well if there were police scrutiny.

Cal is working on letting things be in his life. He is concentrating on fixing furniture rather than problems in Ardnakelty after the painful lesson he endured in The Searcher.

Though carefully warned, Cal cannot let Johnny’s idea be absent from his participation.

There is powerful self-deception over the idea. Those participating, even Mart and Cal, want it to be true. Most are convinced it is true because of that want.

The summer is in an unseasonable heat wave. Farmers are concerned about drought. Everyone is edgy.

Trey is not always honest but she has a fierce integrity. Still at 15 she lacks the life experiences to fully deal with complex situations. Her involvement with her father and Rushborough sent a tingle through me.

She remains bitter about the disappearance of her brother Brendan. She realizes knowing who was involved would not make her hate the non-involved less but:

“I’d know what ones to hate more”.

There is vast history in Ardnakelty. You cannot displace it. Their allegiances are to each other.

In The Searcher Cal learned the genial farmers of Ardnakelty are hard men who will tolerate no interference with their business. Cal has been there but two years. He is still a blow-in. The residents of the townland can be ruthless and they settle issues on their own. 

How can Cal follow his fixing desires in dealing with the idea when the complexities of neighbours and friends involved in the idea also involve Trey? Problems are bound to arise when a fixer intervenes where he was not invited to fix.

Greed and deceit and revenge are a potent combination. The Irish are grand at all three and strong on a grudge.

And then there is murder and Trey finds the body. Cal doubts she understands how much events change when the Guards are investigating murder.

Trey surprises Cal with her mastery at 15 of the Irish talent for telling detailed stories which require close attention. He had not realized how carefully she had analyzed events in her hatred.

Guard detective Nealon is a good investigator and an observant man. He knows information will be sparingly supplied to the Guards.

It is the wily Mart who speaks for the townland. Little he says is direct but the questions and the suggestions and the possibilities and the discursions are clear on where the investigation will be led.

It was amazing how French created a credible 15 year old girl thinking well ahead of the adults around her as she works to her goal. But the locals can catch up once they realize her plan. They have decades of experience in dealing with troublesome situations.

I raced through the last 100 pages. The subtlety of the plotting of the parties is breathtaking. All the information is there but I did not reason my way through to the actual resolution. The ending was spectacular.

French shows how the complications of life and a murder do not need the powerful and wealthy to be fascinating. The Hunter is better than The Searcher as Trey has come of age. The best book I will read in 2025 is likely to be the first book of the year. 

****

French, Tana - (2022) - The Searcher