The Keeper of Lost Causes

Jussi Adler-Olsen, 2011 Date Read: 7/15/2022

If you were to compile all of the stereotypical detective novel tropes into one single book, you'd have this novel. It legit checked every single box:

• hard-bitten, misanthropic cop with a tragic past

• ridiculous ex-wife and obnoxious kid

• bureaucratic shenanigans

• comedic sidekick who ends up solving the case

• beautiful victim

• crime with a ridiculous premise and execution

• super smart criminal who concocts said ridiculous premise but makes one fatal error that only the cop could have discovered

This was just a very long episode of CSI. This sort of crap is why I prefer to read true crime.

Length: 394 pages in hardback

ReReadability: Almost quit when the antagonist was revealed because it was that ridiculous

Classic: classic example of stereotypical trash pumped out to the mass market