Bestselling author Jussi Adler-Olsen He has a lot of experience with cancer - but this time he is facing death

dpa

2.2.2025 - 14:16

The Danish bestselling author Jussi Adler-Olsen has been diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. (archive picture)
The Danish bestselling author Jussi Adler-Olsen has been diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. (archive picture)
Henning Kaiser/dpa

It's a shock for many crime fiction fans: Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen makes an incurable cancer public. Despite the diagnosis, the Dane is not losing hope.

DPA

No time? blue News summarizes for you

  • Jussi Adler-Olsen is one of the biggest names in Scandinavian crime fiction.
  • Now the Danish bestselling author has announced in an interview that he is terminally ill with bone marrow cancer.
  • "So I'm going to die of this disease. It's incurable. For the time being anyway," said the 74-year-old.

The successful Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen ("Erbarmen") is terminally ill with bone marrow cancer. The 74-year-old announced this in an interview with the newspaper "Politiken".

"I am doing well. According to the circumstances," says Adler-Olsen. And continued: "So I will die of this disease. It's incurable. For the time being anyway." He is hoping for new treatment methods.

One of Scandinavia's best-known bestselling authors

Jussi Adler-Olsen is one of the biggest names in Scandinavian crime fiction. His novels about the special investigator Carl Mørck from Special Investigation Unit Q of the Copenhagen police are considered one of the most successful thriller series of recent years, and have enjoyed great success in Germany in particular.

The works have sold millions of copies, won numerous awards and been made into films several times. They have been published in more than 40 countries.

His tenth and final installment in the series, "Betrayed", was published in Swiss bookshops in March 2024. He told the German Press Agency at the time that it was not difficult for him to say goodbye to his characters.

"They are in my heart and sometimes they talk to me," he said. "The only difference is that I no longer write about them."

Cancer diagnosis a year ago

At the time of the book's publication in Switzerland, Jussi Adler-Olsen already knew about his illness without initially making it public.

He had already been admitted to a hospital in Copenhagen last February after suddenly developing back pain while lugging moving boxes. The diagnosis: multiple myeloma, commonly known as bone marrow cancer.

It turned out that three vertebrae in his back had collapsed, Adler-Olsen told Politiken. "The cancer has eaten them up." Two more vertebrae were to follow in the fall.

Following the findings, he was transferred to a special ward at the renowned Copenhagen National Hospital. He stayed there for almost six months - under his real name Carl Olsen, so that he could cope with his diagnosis and the enormous pain as undisturbed as possible.

He canceled all his appointments, including a planned book tour. He continues to receive chemotherapy and morphine, he explains.

Adler-Olsen: "I will die from this disease"

Adler-Olsen has already been diagnosed with cancer several times. In 2000, he was diagnosed with colon cancer, followed by prostate cancer in 2009. Two years later, cancer cells were found again during a routine examination.

This time the disease is even more serious. Some time ago, the average survival time for patients was three years, said Adler-Olsen. Now they are hoping for seven to ten years.

What will happen to Carl Mørck?

The Mørck series will now be continued by the author duo Line Holm and Stine Bolther, as announced by the bestselling author. He himself is still involved in the background.

The eleventh part of the series is due to be published in Denmark at the end of March under the title "Døde sjæle synger ikke" (Dead Souls Don't Sing) - with a female protagonist of French origin called Helena Henry. It is not yet known when the novel will be published in Germany.


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