Ben Sevier is executive editor at Dutton, where his list includes Harlan Coben, Tami Hoag, Lisa Gardner, Jonathan Tropper, John Lescroart, Linda Fairstein, T. Jefferson Parker, Selden Edwards, Daniel Suarez, Brad Taylor and Marcus Sakey.
As an editor, what attracted you most to The Keeper of Lost Causes?
Quite honestly, it's one of the most original, engaging and compelling crime/thriller novels I've read in the last 10 years, in any language. I have a very simple acquisition strategy: I'm looking for books that keep me interested, keep me turning pages, keep me up at night. No matter how well-positioned to take advantage of a particular trend, no matter what platform or background an author might have, no matter what language the book was originally written in, if I don't fall in love reading the book I don't believe I'm going to have much success in finding an audience for it.
The Keeper of Lost Causes has won numerous awards and has been compared to the work of Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson. How is this novel different from other Scandinavian thrillers that American audiences are already familiar with?
I'm a longtime reader of Henning Mankell and of course I've read the terrific Stieg Larsson trilogy; I've also recently discovered the work of Jo Nesbø. So with some experience but something far short of expertise, I would say that Jussi's work has a sunnier worldview than some of the Scandinavian crime fiction I know. It is a world where bad things happen to good people, but it is also a world where there is laughter and lightness and promise. I'm sure Jussi shares many characteristics with writers who happen to come from the same part of the planet he does, but I caution us all from lumping these terrific writers together as one; there is at least as much variation between and within their works as there is similarity.
A look at current bestseller lists would indicate that readers have embraced the kind of psychological complexity and flawed characters so well represented by The Keeper of Lost Causes. To what do you attribute the current popularity of these darker kinds of novels?
I think flawed characters are familiar and reassuring to readers. We all know our own darkest thoughts and deeds, and we know those of our friends and families too; that intimacy forms the bond of our closest connections with people. To know a character like Carl Mørck with all his flaws and imperfections is a bit like looking in the mirror, isn't it? Or like a wonderful evening with your oldest friend, the one you've grown up with and fought with and been disappointed by and felt ashamed in front of. There is room in literature and entertainment for the perfect comic book hero who saves the world without a hair on his head out of place, but how many of us can truly relate to that character?
What were the challenges of adapting and editing this Danish novel for an American audience?
Happily, we did no adaptation. The translation was made with the goal of faithfully telling Jussi's story in a new language. It was a great help that Jussi speaks excellent English himself, and through the efforts of a wonderful professional translator as well as an American-born bilingual consultant who knows Jussi very well and the Danish editions of Jussi's works intimately, I believe the English language edition of the book hews very closely to Jussi's vision and to the Danish original.
On a related note, was there any aspect of The Keeper of Lost Causes that you felt needed to be "lightened up" for an American audience?
Quite the opposite, actually--the major editing and revisions to the translation were made in consultation with Jussi in order to make sure the lightness and humor in the original work was carefully preserved. The darkest elements of the story are universal, in my opinion, and to "tone down" the work would have been unfair to the author and, perhaps more importantly, would have been the wrong editorial choice for the story. --Debra Ginsberg