christmasespast 's review for:

The Purity of Vengeance by Jussi Adler-Olsen

4.5

challenging funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

A lot of development of what’s going on in Department Q’s personal lives in this one. Did somebody radicalize Jussi Adler-Olsen between books 3 and 4, or has the misogyny, racism and homophobia been Carl’s character flaws all along?? The eugenicist abortion doctors are all comedically over-the-top evil, literally internal dialogue says things like “that miserable little peasant, the book opens up with Carl being offended by someone making a casually racist joke about Assad, vs Carl making the casual racist joke himself in his internal monologue, and Morton gets a boyfriend and he is literally a godsend……. I’m excited to see if book 5 continues this streak.