Missing [Paperback]

Karen Alvtegen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2004

In The Grand Hotel, a homeless woman charms a businessman into paying for dinner and a room. When his dead body is discovered the following morning she becomes the prime suspect. When a second person is killed in similar circumstances, Sybilla, having left her comfortable middle class upbringing for the anonymity of the streets, becomes the most wanted person in Sweden ...Missing is a totally compelling read and a classic thriller that confirms Alvtegen as a crime writer worth comparison with Henning Mankell. But at its core, the book also explores the terrifying isolation for a woman who has rejected the values of her background and intimacy of her family.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Sybilla may have been born to wealthy parents, but her home life was never easy, and she ran away at 17. Ever since, Sybilla has been homeless and living off the grid. Her peaceful existence comes to a sudden end when she is accused of murder and goes on the run, too scared to go to the police and clear herself but frantic to regain her carefully built life. Both a mystery (Who is really doing the murders?) and a psychological study (Why did Sybilla run from her family?), Missing heralds the arrival in the U.S. of another outstanding Scandinavian crime writer. Winner of the Glass Key Award in Sweden, this is a taut, riveting, and impossible-to-put-down story of a young woman caught up in a bad situation. Recommend to readers who enjoyed Petra Hammesfahr’s The Sinner (2007), for the similarly tormented female main character, and fans of Asa Larsson’s Rebecca Martinsson series (Blood Split, 2007), for a Swedish woman who must solve a crime that requires facing her painful past. Highly recommended for all crime-fiction collections. --Jessica Moyer --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

'Alvtegen powerfully evokes Sibylla's sense of persecution and conveys what it means to live as an outsider, without ever compromising this compulsive thriller.' Metro --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd (May 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841954985
• ISBN-13: 978-1841954981
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,505,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent thriller, April 5, 2004

By 

Linda Oskam "dutch-traveller" (Amsterdam Netherlands) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Missing (Paperback)

Sibylla Forstenström is the daughter of a rich but insensitive merchant and his wife. After a depression and an unwanted pregnancy she flees as an 18 year old girl from her family and the institution where she is kept. She starts to live as a homeless person and is capable of taking rather good care of herself for 15 years. But then things go wrong: she is wrongly accused of murdering a businessman and while she hides from the police three other murders follow. In the end she is capable of unravelling the true cause of these murders with the help of 15 year old Patrik, who she meets when hiding in the attic of a secondary school.

This was a very entertaining introduction to the work of yet another excellent Swedish author of thrillers. Definitely worth a read.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Swedish Thriller, January 24, 2009

By 

Lucinda Surber "Stop, You're Killing Me!" (New Mexico & California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Missing (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Missing is the story of Sibylla Forenström, a 32-year old drifter on the streets of Stockholm. Dressed in her best thrift-store suit, Sibylla cons a wealthy businessman into buying her dinner and a hotel room in a fancy hotel. When the police arrive the next morning she assumes the con has been exposed and flees. But the man has been brutally murdered, and the police identify Sibylla's fingerprints and charge her with the crime, revealing that she disappeared from a mental institution 15 years earlier. Two other murders follow, and Sibylla, whose survival on the streets depends on her anonymity, finds she is now the most wanted criminal in Sweden with her face on every newspaper. A fortuitous encounter with a 15-year-old loner with computer talents provides Sibylla with an ally who is eager to help her track down the real serial killer. Throughout the book, Sibylla's past is slowly revealed, adding depth to this well-written thriller. Originally published in Sweden in 2000, Missing came out in the US in 2008 and is a finalist for the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Mystery.

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/A_Authors/Alvtegen_Karin.html

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Cool Swedish Thriller!, February 19, 2009

By 

Ray J. Palen Jr. "Ray" (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Missing (Paperback)

Having just read Stieg Larsson I continued with my streak of Swedish-based mysteries with Karin Altvegen's "Missing", which has also been nominated for the 2009 Edgar Awards Best Novel.

The book is small and reads quickly almost like a novella (I can only wonder what may have omitted in translation). The story of a 32-year old willingly homeless woman named Sibylla who suddenly finds herself accused of being a serial killer is compelling.

The first half of the book jumps between present and past. In the present, Sibylla is on the run from the authorities who think she has committed several gruesome murders; in the past, a young Sibylla is tormented and mistreated by her Upper Class parents who force her to give up a baby conceived out of wedlock and eventually having her committed to an asylum. Upon getting out, she has avoided her rich family and chosen to live on the streets turning small cons in order to get by and find shelter.

Could Sibylla be responsible for these murders and are we reading about the thoughts of an insane killer? Or, is the murderer someone unsuspecting? The victims end up being part of a pattern that Sibylla and a 15-year old boy she befriends named Patrik, who helps her try to track the real killer.

Fast-paced and well plotted, I can see why Karin Alvtegen is called "Sweden's Queen Of Crime". Hope to read more from her!