I think I enjoy the character development in these books, especially with Assad and Rose. What is going on with them individually? Rose does something really strange in this book, and I hope we find out why eventually. Assad's mysteries continue to be revealed bit by bit. Karl continues to be acerbic and pretty funny. The mystery here is great--the message in the bottle gets deciphered and brings the team into an old kidnapping case. It seems that Adler-Olsen will always have lots of tension, with the criminal continuing to act as they methodically solve the case. There is another tense action scene near the end. Is Carl finally getting somewhere? Is he actually seeing his colleagues in a new light? Must have something to do with his love interest. But what is happening with Department Q's actual offices. Seems like when one thing starts to improve, other things go haywire. And Rose/Yrsa is an intriguing mystery on it's own. All this plays against the horrific child abductions and the race to find the perpetrator and his latest victims. A well structured story, but missing some of the ingredients that I loved about the first two books: emotion. Seems to be written very close to a formula. It has to be hard to keep the characters true to their initial background and to let them grow as well. But I am spoiled by the Rebus stories and the Harry Hole stories. Those are the best of this type of writing.
