The Purity of Vengeance by Jussi Adler-Olsen

 

(hb; 2013: fourth book in the Department Q series. Translated from the Danish by Martin Aitkin.)

 

From the inside flap

“In 1987, Nete Hermansen plans revenge on those who abused her in her youth, including Curt Wad, a charismatic surgeon who was part of a movement to sterilize wayward girls in 1950s Denmark.

“More than twenty years later, Detective Carl Mørck already has plenty on his mind when he is presented with the case of a brothel owner, a woman named Rita, who went missing in the eighties. New evidence has emerged in the case that destroyed the lives of his two partners─the case that sent Carl to Department Q.

“But when Carl’s assistants, Assad and Rose, learn that numerous other people disappeared around the same weekend as Rita, Carl takes notice. As they sift through the disappearances, they get closer and closer to Curt Wad, who is more determined than ever to see the vision of his youth take hold and whose brutal treatment of Nete and others like her is only one small part of his capacity for evil.”

 

Review

Purity, like its three prequels, is an entertaining, character-interesting, and slick police procedural that not only focuses on the main story (Storyline A) about a villain─or villains─that Carl Mørck and his associates are investigate, but also reveals more their personal-life mysteries and histories (the shooting involving Mørck’s two previous partners, Rose’s possible-alternate personality Yrsa, and Assad’s real home address). This one sports a wild twist near the end that turns Purity’s climax on its head. Worth reading and owning, this. Followed by The Marco Effect.

#

The resulting Danish film, retitled Journal 64, was released on October 24, 2018 in Denmark. Christoffer Boe directed it, from a screenplay by Nicolaj Arcel and Bo Hr. Hansen.

Nikolaj Lie Kaas reprised his role of Carl Mørck (from the first three Department Q films). Fares Fares reprised his role of Assad (from those same films). Johanne Louise Schmidt reprised her role of Rose Knudsen (from The Absent One and A Conspiracy of Faith). Søren Pilmark reprised his role of Marcus Jacobsen (from the first three films). Michael Brostup reprised his role of Børge Bak (from the first three films).

Fanny Bornedal, billed as Fanny Leander Bornedal, played a young Nete. Birthe Neumann played Nete as an older woman. Clare Rosager played Rita, Nete’s untrustworthy roommate. Luise Skov played Gitte Charles.

Elliot Crosset Hove played a young Curt Wad. Anders Hove (Full Moon Pictures's Subspecies franchise) played Curt Wad as an older man. Marianne Høgsbro played Beate Wad. Nicolas Bro played Brandt. Anders Juul played Gunnar.

 

Note: This is the final Department Q film to retain the cast of Journal and its three prequel films, since screen rights for the franchise are no longer owned by Zentropa, but Nordisk, the latter of whom released the fifth Department Q film (The Marco Effect) in Denmark on May 27, 2021.