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LOCKED IN by Jussi Adler-Olsen and Caroline Waight, trans. Dutton, December 2024 512 pages $30.00 ISBN: 0593475690

In an interview in the Huffington Post that appeared when the fifth entry in the Department Q series had just been published in English in North America, Jussi Adler-Olsen described how he viewed the developing work:

"It's more than a series. From the very beginning, I intended to write a very long novel whose elongated plot uncovers the secrets of the main characters. I view each of the five novels as a "chapter" in an overarching story, where each one can also be read as a stand-alone novel. Once all the novels in the series are completed, the overall story will have been told."

It is unclear from this remark whether the author knew just how many volumes it would take before the whole story was told. We now know–the whole story of Department Q and its conflicted head, Detective Carl Mørck, is concluded in LOCKED IN. Number 10 in the series, it will be the last, or so Adler-Olsen assures us. I am inclined to believe him, though I will miss Mørck and would be delighted with a visit to the Danish counterpart of the Reichenbach Falls if one should ever emerge,

If the Department Q series had appeared as one novel, it would have reached more than five thousand pages, something that most readers could barely lift let alone snuggle into bed with. But this final volume demonstrates that Adler-Olsen has succeeded in his task – LOCKED IN does indeed provide an ending to the previous on-going story of Detective Mørck and his loyal associates and their successes achieved despite the indifferent or hostile organization literally above their basement office.

As a result, it is a bit different in approach than the earlier nine. Although it unfolds in a similar way, opening with a flashback prologue and proceeding with a number of brief chapters headed by the names of their central characters. But this time out, Mørck is seldom very far from the centre of the narrative, for he is the target of plotters that want him dead. It did strike me that knowing ahead of time that this was the last of Mørck's cases made a difference in how I experienced the suspense. Though series protagonists frequently get into dire trouble, the reader knows they will get out of it or the series will end. This series is ending, but what will be Mørck's fate? We don't find out until the very end.

If I have counted correctly, at least four different hands have translated this series, with Martin Aiken at three and William Frost at four, and responsible for the lion's share. Despite this variety, the books as I remember them came across in their English version as in the style of a single author. Just two of the translators were women–Lisa Hartford, who did the first Department Q, THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES, and Caroline Waight, who did this last. If anything but chance accounts for this oddity, I have no idea, but I was pleased to see it as it as part of the happy circular closing to the series.

As much as I enjoyed LOCKED IN, although I have read the earlier entries fifteen years is a long time to retain plot details, let alone the names of characters who appeared in just one of nine novels. I wish I could because I so much enjoyed catching a reference when I did. This is not to say for a minute that readers new to Department Q will not have a good time with LOCKED IN, merely that they will get more enjoyment out of it if they have read a couple of the earlier entries, especially the first, THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES. The Prologue of the final book records the central action of its opening, the events that were responsible for Mørck's regrets and the founding of Department Q. What a clever way to close the circle from beginning to end of what has turned out to be a very long and engaging novel in ten parts!

§ Yvonne Klein is a writer, translator, and retired college English professor who lives in Montreal. She's been editing RTE since 2008.

Reviewed by Yvonne Klein, January 2025

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)

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