INSPIRATION FOR THE NETFLIX SERIES DEPT. Q In this tenth installment of the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling series, the team must solve the cold case that has put their own leader behind bars, a place where his enemies are plentiful and time is quickly running out. When the head of Department Q, Detective Carl Mørck, finds himself handcuffed in a police car headed for Copenhagen's Vestre prison, he realizes that a violent case from his past has finally caught up with him. But he is being framed. Someone has a million-dollar bounty on his head to make sure he doesn't talk, putting him in grave danger among the prison's incarcerated criminals and corrupt officers. Carl's colleagues at the Copenhagen Police Department instantly turn their backs on him, leaving the ever-loyal Department Q team as his only hope. With only one another to trust and Carl's battle against the unknown mastermind's henchmen worsening by the day, they must work faster than ever before if they are to clear his name—and save his life. “A thrilling and satisfying conclusion to Mr. Adler-Olsen’s series.” —Wall Street Journal “Suspense and plot twists combine with action and emotional scenes leading up to a fantastic showdown.” —Mystery & Suspense “Adler-Olsen brought energy, suspense, and heart to this series, along with a welcome dose of humor.” —Air Mail "Thrilling." —Crime Reads "The New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling Department Q series comes to a thrilling conclusion when the team must turn inward to solve the cold case that has put their own leader behind bars, a place where his enemies are plentiful and time is quickly running out." —Book Reporter "The Department Q series have become legendary in Nordic Noir." — Nordic Watch List “Adler-Olsen sends this excellent series out on a high note, reaping the benefits of his deep character work in the previous novels. Fans will be thrilled.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) “Verklempt series fans will want to start this series’ ride over again.” —Booklist Jussi Adler-Olsen is Denmark's #1 crime writer and a New York Times bestselling author. His books routinely top the bestseller lists in Europe and have sold more than twenty-seven million copies around the world. His many prestigious worldwide crime-writing awards include the Barry Award and the Glass Key Award, also won by Henning Mankell, Jo Nesbø, and Stieg Larsson. 1 CARL Saturday, December 26-Sunday, December 27, 2020 The predicament in which Carl now found himself reminded him of childhood, of the moment when its haze of innocence had been cruelly and definitively lifted. When, for the first time, he had come to see everything a little too clearly, to feel the sting of lies. It was the experience of injustice burning itself into his cheek after an unearned slap. Of his younger years, when his love was unrequited, or later in his adult life, when a lover's betrayal loomed suddenly and without warning. All these emotions came rushing back the second his most valued colleague, Chief of Homicide Marcus Jacobsen, clicked the handcuffs around his wrists-a lot tighter than necessary. They pressed harder still as he was dragged away from Mona and shoved into the waiting patrol car, while she signaled to him from the top of the steps that he wasn't alone. Cold comfort. Things went from bad to worse when the officer in the front seat instructed the driver to head not to the police station but directly to Vestre Prison. "Hey, no, what are you doing? That's not right. Why aren't you driving me to the secure unit at the station?" he asked, but received no answer. He heard only mutters from the front seat, as well as Marcus Jacobsen's name mentioned several times. Carl leaned gingerly forward between the front seats, trying to find a position where the cuffs behind his back weren't cutting off his circulation. It was blindingly obvious now that although he'd worked like a dog at the station for decades, solving difficult-almost impossible-cases, from this point on, he could forget about receiving any support from his colleagues. What had he expected, really? How many times had he escorted someone in custody to that bleak mammoth of a prison? And how many times had the tear-choked detainees in the back seat fought desperately to defend themselves with everything they had . . . or didn't have? Innocence, remorse, a family left behind-always in vain, mind you. The disgrace and humiliation simply had to be endured until the preliminary hearing. Pastoral care wasn't his job. He was just there to get them from A to B. At this point in the process, you were guilty until proven innocent. Now, the day after Christmas in 2020, as the car drove down dark and frozen streets decorated with now-redundant wreaths and snowflakes, Carl tried to imagine what defense he could possibly muster. What am I even defending myself against? he wondered. He had been arrested