This year I’ve decided that I’m going to try to read more paper books – and to challenge myself to read everything available to me, whether given to me or found on the shelf. It all started when I left my iPad at Rachel’s before Christmas and burned through the paper books I was given in a matter of days. I’d forgotten just how much I enjoy handling paper books, and have vowed not to give into the convenience of the Toronto Public Library ebook system and my devices. You have to understand: I read constantly, and I really do mean constantly – on the TTC, while I’m waiting for appointments, before bed – any chance I get, I’ll have my nose in a book. The problem has been that I read so much and so quickly that I would have to be carrying around multiple books at a time, and that gets heavy. Also, they didn’t all fit in my bag. So I shifted first to an ereader and then my iPad, and would switch between them depending on my mood. But there’s nothing like a paper book. Another thing I challenged myself to do this year is to keep a running list of the books I’ve read in 2018. This is something family friends have been doing forever, one childhood friend of my mom’s has a list of every book she’s read since high school – which frankly seems insane and there’s no way I’m committing to like forty years of this list but I thought I’d give it a shot and see what it tells me about my reading habits. So far all we’ve learned is that I read a ridiculous number of books, which if you remember from earlier in the post, is not really a shock, but I’ll keep you guys posted if anything more earth-shattering comes of it!

 

In Rachel’s living room, we keep two shelves of books that are essentially the want to read, haven’t read pile. Before the start of 2018, I’d read a few of them, had added a few of them, but largely had stuck to the series or authors I knew or random books that were recommended to me. My paper book challenge has changed that. (Okay, confession: I’ve read a bunch of ebooks too but that’s because trying to read paper books in bed with the puppies really freaks Daisy out and it just doesn’t seem worth it. Phew – I had to get that out!) Anyway, the other day I’d finished the book I had been reading and went to the shelf in search of a new one. I was in the mood for something with a different vibe than the mysteries I had been reading, but wasn’t sure exactly what I felt like… So when I stumbled across The Keeper of Lost Causes, I was intrigued.

 

First of all, the cover is awesome: at first glance it looks like the clean black text is superimposed over an abstract, distressed look but when you look closer you can see that it’s actually the branches of a tree. And in the branches, there’s a faded image of a bird in a bird cage – the symbolism of which meant nothing to me until I started reading. Oh and the entire cover is this interesting coral-tinged orange. So as the sister of an aspiring graphic designer, the cover had already caught my attention and I hadn’t even read the back yet. Once I did, I knew I had my next book.

 

Set in Denmark, the book flips between two timelines: one beginning in 2002 and the other firmly in 2007. This could have been super confusing but surprisingly wasn’t (well once I realized I needed to pay attention to the year listed at the start of each chapter; the first few chapters were a bit confusing – luckily I made that mistake for you so you don’t have to, you’re welcome!). This was a really interesting way to approach the plot, and gave a depth and urgency to the mystery that I don’t think would have otherwise been there without that in real-time flipping between the victim and the detective working on the case. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

 

The main character is a detective with the Copenhagen Police, Carl Morck, who is returning from a leave of absence after an attack on his team left one of his colleagues dead and the other paralyzed. Though he was once one of their best detectives, he’s become a pain in the ass for the department, and their counterintuitive solution is to promote him to a new department requested by the government: Department Q. He quickly learns that he is to be a department of one, in charge of solving cold cases from all across Denmark, reporting to the government but run out of the Copenhagen police force.

 

Carl is an interesting character: his life is a mess, both personally and professionally, and he has no issue stepping on some toes to get what he feels he needs. When the story begins, he is content to hide in the basement office he’s been banished to and do the bare minimum for these unsolved cases until one grabs his attention: the disappearance and presumed death of an extremely popular member of parliament five years earlier. The body was never recovered, and Carl and his new assistant soon come to the realization that there are a lot of loose threads from the original investigation. As we’re going along with his investigation, we get glimpses into what really happened, from the point of view of the victim herself, Merete Lynggaard. This does an excellent job of getting you invested in the story – you’re rooting for her even as you know something awful is about to happen to her. We join her story before her disappearance, when she is the rising star of the Democratic Party with a hidden tragic past and a personal life she keeps incredibly private. These glimpses give us as readers clues into what happened and why – and trust me, you get an intense amount of satisfaction when you’re able to put it all together.

 

This book was beautifully written, detailed enough to have you immerse yourself in the story without being overly descriptive, with characters that had depth and flaws but still left you wanting the best for them. The story kept me on my toes – there were enough twists that I wasn’t entirely sure if I was on the right track about where it was going, which is always such a bonus. The style of the book is similar to an Agatha Christie mystery, which builds the story around the characters all the while leaving little clues to propel you towards to solution, blended with the feeling a thriller. It was so good that I don’t want to give anything more away than I have to - just know that the ending is satisfying, and I’ve already put the next couple books on hold from the library!

 

If you do end up picking up a copy of The Keeper of Lost Causes (and I hope that you do!), let us know what you think! I was able to find it online both at Indigo and Amazon, and the library has both physical and ebook copies available – which is why I put the price rating smack in the middle: the paperback is around $20, which is a bit pricey, the ebook version is $13.99 for both kobo and kindle, but if you’re willing to wait for it to become available at the library, you can read it for free!

 

Best,

Megan