Q&A

ABOUT JUSSI ADLER-OLSEN

Where do you get inspiration from?

Ideas swarm before the one with wide-awake eyes. Newspapers, other media, people around, there are ideas everywhere. Maybe it's just strange reaction patterns or wrong decisions. Everything can be the building blocks of a good story. But WHEN the story begins to take shape, it is important that the author asks himself the question: Why do I want to write this book? The basic plot emerges strongly when you know the answer to this 'Why'.

Research is very important to me, because if I haven't been thorough enough and something is wrong, I ruin the credibility of the novel. I do as much research as possible early in the process, but there will inevitably be situations during the writing process where I have to admit that I have to go out into the field again to be absolutely sure that what I am writing is described correctly. I spent two years researching The Washington Decree because it takes place abroad in an environment that is shrouded in secrecy and is fully staffed with experts in a wide range of fields. I didn't want to get criticism from them with this controversial story. Such novels are time-consuming because you don't have as easy access to the information as if the action were set in Denmark. But for example, Department Q, which was written in Denmark in environments that are not so difficult to access and which takes place under Danish conditions, takes me between two and four months to research.

Carl Mørck contains elements of myself, CARL Valdemar Jussi Henry Adler-Olsen. For example, we are both basically quite lazy. I'm just not that keen on accepting it, whereas Carl would rather put his feet up on the table and take a nap. Carl Mørck is a complex person who contains a good portion of irony, satire and self-irony combined with humor. These character traits combined with great police professional skills and a difficult private life should not stand alone in the overall picture of Carl Mørck. That is why he has also "inherited" some characteristics from a patient my father had, who was actually called Mørk (without the "c"). I got to know this Mr. Mørk as a child and loved him very much. My father told me that he had killed his wife and I learned through that that good and evil are basic elements in all of us, and my memory of this patient's struggle with evil itself has fueled an important part of my main character, Deputy Commissioner Carl. And that's why he was ultimately named Carl Mørck.

I hate abuse of power and injustice, and in each of my novels I tell about a variation of abuse of power and show ways to break it. I am convinced that my readers do not just want to be entertained – of course they do – but they also want to learn something and take away something that makes them think. One of the reasons I have chosen to write crime thrillers is that it allows me to touch on all subjects. Evil is a useful tool, and when you describe the contrast between good and evil you can also send a message.

The major theme of the entire series is ABUSE OF POWER in all its forms: in society in general, in families and for individuals. At the same time, the entire work on Department Q is an illustration of a couple of decades in an investigative unit, where we closely follow the development of key figures and society. In addition, my work on this long story has been an experiment for what can be achieved with the well-known tools of the thriller such as suspense, character development and motifs in established points-of-view. What can this tight structure give the readers, and how do you maintain their attention with these literary devices?

Basically, I wanted to create the world's longest continuous thriller story, where each chapter (book) has its own tone with a new constellation of characters. I hope that while the skeleton may be recognizable from novel to novel, by working with the plots and the substance that holds the skeleton together, I have created something new and different and hopefully also something quite original.

I enjoy the freedom it gives me. I can work where and when it suits me, and I can take time off when it suits me. That's right. The success I've achieved has meant that I don't have the degree of freedom I had when I started, because there are requests for me from many places. But that's also something I love: being an author who is read by many. For me, that's the greatest compliment an author can receive.

I'm always curious about how a new novel will be received. Not so much by the reviewers, but by the general reader. Do they like what I write? Or do they drop me. I write first and foremost to be read, so it means a lot to me that my loyal readers also like the new stuff I write. It's always a challenge to combine my need to develop as a writer and still have support from my readers.

We all know the concept. First and foremost as a conscious action that almost all people under the right (or rather wrong) conditions can perform in a given situation, often with excessive psychological or physical violence as the result. But in my view, evil is shaped to an equal extent by the very absence of consciousness. The politician who starts a war or keeps it alive. The public figure who agitates for xenophobia. Of course, there is a difference in the nature of evil, whether you are the one who cuts off a person's head with your own hands, or the one who, in the holy name of freedom of expression, pressures a person to expose themselves as a future, possible victim. But the result is often the same. No one can define evil exactly, and no one knows whether it is something we are born with. This is, among other things, why the concept is so fascinating and an eternal source of entertainment and literature of all kinds.

John Steinbeck, Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo and absurdist writers like Peter Bischel, Jerzy Kosinsky and even the strange Norwegian Erlend Loe. Original writers with original language and plots that can make the tear ducts burst and the laughter muscles twist. Many different and in many genres.

Laughter releases endorphins in the brain. These substances induce positive thinking and a good mood – you become more receptive to new impressions, and thus you become better equipped to feel moods and a better and more attentive reader. When you laugh while reading my books, it increases the connection to the characters you are reading about and makes difficult and powerful scenes more palatable.