Review: Missing

There are some books you read because they are written by your favorite authors, and so you've been waiting for the next book with eager impatience. There are some books you read because there's considerable hype attached, and only occasionally is the hype warranted.

Then there are the books you pick up on a whim. Maybe it's the cover that catches your eye, maybe it's the premise, but you know absolutely nothing about the book before you read it. And when it turns out to be one of the most riveting books you've come across, it's an added bonus. That's exactly what this, the first of Karin Altvegen's books to be translated into English, was for me.

For the last fifteen years, Sybilla Forsenstrom has been living as the ultimate outsider. In breaking away from an oppressive girlhood, where her mother quashed thoughts and actions in the most passive- aggressive way possible, Sybilla has found a way to survive by drifting on the streets of Stockholm. Although she gets a monthly stipend--sent to a post office box--she hordes the money, never spending it. What money she does get is obtained by the occasional scam or two. The one that's worked the best of late for Sybilla is to waltz into a hotel restaurant, charm a well-to-do gentleman into buying her dinner and perhaps a night's stay in a hotel room.

When she meets Jorgen Grundberg at the Grand Hotel, the scam goes according to plan. But the next morning, Sybilla awakes to a horrifying nightmare. Grundberg is the victim of a ritual murder, and all the signs and physical evidence points to Sybilla as the killer. But she has no recollection of what happened. Other victims soon follow, and Sybilla is dubbed The Grand Hotel Murderess. Now, the safety net she'd found by living on the streets has been cruelly taken away, and to save her own skin, she must find new places to hide and sort through the wreckage of her past.

Alvtegen keeps the pace exceptionally fast, and the tension mounts and mounts until the horrifying conclusion. Interspersed with the current action are flashbacks into Sybilla's tortured past. It's never easy to keep past and present straight, but Alvtegen does so wonderfully well. When Sybilla has a fleeting moment of strength, standing up to the misery her parents have put upon her, I cheered, even though she is crushed not too long later. The point is made Sybilla faces brutal challenges but the rage and strength inside her carries her forward, and in attempting to clear her name, she finds she's a stronger woman than she realized.

As a suspense novel, MISSING is a winner, but as a character study of a unique and complex woman, the novel truly shines. Ultimately, Alvtegen is a storyteller; a character trait that seems to run in the family, as she is the great-niece of Astrid Lindgren (of PIPPI LONGSTOCKING fame). To the best of my knowledge, Alvtegen has written one other book. I can't wait for that, and future books, to be published, and based on MISSING it's clear why Alvtegen has been feted in her own and in other countries. I suspect it's likely that the English-speaking world will do so as well.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Sarah - RAM

Book Review: Missing