Redemption is the third in the series of Department Q novels which centre on Danish detective Carl Morck and his assistant Assad. So far so trivial. But! This is a scandi-noir novel of the highest quality.

It’s brilliantly written with superb plot development, character building and literary craft.

The plot focuses on a serial killer who’d been brutalised as child in a fundamentalist household. He learned survival skills. Unfortunately, one skill was an incredible ability at concealment, which led to murder as a problem solver. As an adult he turned murder into a business. Focusing entirely on religious cults, and their secrecy, he carefully chose two children, kidnapped them and extorted money from their wealthy parents. One was released and the other….

Scandi-noir can be gratuitously grim and blatant. Redemption is neither. It’s subtle and engrossing.

If you like reading a series I suggest you start with The Keeper of Lost Causes, which is the first one. But it absolutely isn’t necessary to enjoyment of a superb story.