A review by spygrl1
The Exception by Anna Paterson, Christian Jungersen

4.0

Four Danish women work in a small office, a government center that researches genocide. The hope is that studying horrifying events will lead to insights that can prevent their recurrence. But in spite of what the women know about the human capacity for cruelty, they are unable to prevent office cliques and subtle exclusion from growing into paranoid rivalries and delirious attacks. Perspective shifts among the four women -- glamorous but dependent Malene, intellectual Iben, outsider Anna-Liese, and secretive Camilla -- enabling (or forcing) the reader to identify with then hate and fear each in turn.

I think the book's more melodramatic, thriller-ish elements are a mistake -- I wish Jungerson had kept his characters in the psychological hothouse (the main part of their office is called the Winter Garden) rather than sending them into the streets to struggle with unequivocal thugs, but the novel remains a rich, provocative experience.

The New York Times review