- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd; New edition edition (31 May 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841959383
- ISBN-13: 978-1841959382
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 337,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Missing
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Missing may well bring the half-Swedish Ruth Rendell irresistibly to mind." The Independent "Joltingly original." The Times "Missing heralds Alvtegen as a grisly talent and a name to watch." The Guardian "A taut, suspense-filled story with an unconventional heroine." Sunday Telegraph "Alvtegen keeps up a cracking pace." Uncut"
Product Description
"Missing" grabs the reader from the first page, and doesn't let go until the gruesome denouement. This fabulous thriller won the Best Nordic Crime Novel in 2000 (previous winners include Peter Hoeg's Miss Smilla's and Henning Mankell's "Faceless Killers") and has enjoyed massive success all over Europe. Sibylla is on the run from the authorities and convention. Choosing to live of-no-fixed abode for many years, she tricks affluent businessmen into paying for dinner then putting her up in expensive hotel rooms. When one of them is found mutilated, Sibylla - with her unconventional life style and the fact that she was spotted fleeing the scene of the crime - leads her to become 'Sweden's Most Wanted' as a serial killer. But more that being an excellent crime novel, the book explores the terrifying isolation of a woman who has rejected the values of her background and intimacy of her family. Alvtegen uses stunningly direct prose in a plot of tremendous pace and verve. "Missing" is an irresistible reading experience.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Karin Alvtegen is the niece of Astrid Lindgren, but this is not a tale involving pigtails in any shape or form. Instead this gripping crime novel gives us an in-depth portrait of the life of Sibylla Forsenstrom, a homeless Swedish woman.
Sibylla's ambition is someday to have a sanctuary, a home of her own, and she is assiduously saving money to reach this goal. Her plans for the future are thrown into disarray when she is framed for a murder that she didn't commit. With the help of a schoolboy, Patrik, who becomes her friend when he discovers her sleeping in the attics of his school, Sibylla turns detective and solves the crimes. The author sensitively handles the traumas in Sibylla's background, and it is a relief to find a crime novel that doesn't automatically relegate a homeless person to the role of murder victim.
Sibylla's ambition is someday to have a sanctuary, a home of her own, and she is assiduously saving money to reach this goal. Her plans for the future are thrown into disarray when she is framed for a murder that she didn't commit. With the help of a schoolboy, Patrik, who becomes her friend when he discovers her sleeping in the attics of his school, Sibylla turns detective and solves the crimes. The author sensitively handles the traumas in Sibylla's background, and it is a relief to find a crime novel that doesn't automatically relegate a homeless person to the role of murder victim.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Sibylla Forstenstroem 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.
This was a very entertaining introduction to the work of yet another excellent Swedish author of thrillers. Definitely worth a read.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Put aside two or three hours and read this book from beginning to end. It's a tense and involving read, and you won't want to be distracted.
Sybilla is an outcast, living off the radar of the authorities in Stockholm. She has various safe places and strategies for surviving each month until her meagre payment from her mother arrives at a PO box. One of her ploys is to put on a smart suit she keeps in her rucksack (bought from Oxfam), go to a luxury hotel bar, meet a businessman, flirt, pretend to lose her wallet, and trick the mark into paying for her room for the night. Unfortunately, on one of these outings, the man she tricks is found murdered the next morning. Sybilla escapes, but soon finds that she is the main suspect, becoming the victim of a police and media hunt.
Sybilla's survival over the next few days is interspersed with the story of how she came to drop out of society. She suffered a childhood of awful mental abuse, which made my blood boil to read about. With nobody to sympathise with her (to the contrary, everyone is against her and/or betrays her) she falls into a trap made of her own idealism and trusting nature, as a result of which she is abused even further by the authorities. The story of Sybilla's childhood leading up to her eighteenth birthday, is equally as harrowing as that of Lisbeth Salander, the main character of the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, and Sybilla's solution, of living "off the grid", is remarkably similar to Lisbeth's.
Matters come to a head when Sybilla discovers that her source of income has dried up. She's now desperate, and friends she's made since living rough cannot or will not help her now. The hunt for her intensifies. Eventually, she thinks of one hiding place where she is likely to be safe - and while there, she finds an unusual ally and a strategy for dealing with her dilemma.
MISSING is a tensely exciting book with an extremely sympathetic and capable main character. I think Karin Altvegen is one of the very best talents writing crime fiction today. Congratulations to her for writing such insightful, exciting and thought-provoking novels, and to her English translators for bringing them so effectively to a wider audience.
Review first published at the Euro Crime website.
Sybilla is an outcast, living off the radar of the authorities in Stockholm. She has various safe places and strategies for surviving each month until her meagre payment from her mother arrives at a PO box. One of her ploys is to put on a smart suit she keeps in her rucksack (bought from Oxfam), go to a luxury hotel bar, meet a businessman, flirt, pretend to lose her wallet, and trick the mark into paying for her room for the night. Unfortunately, on one of these outings, the man she tricks is found murdered the next morning. Sybilla escapes, but soon finds that she is the main suspect, becoming the victim of a police and media hunt.
Sybilla's survival over the next few days is interspersed with the story of how she came to drop out of society. She suffered a childhood of awful mental abuse, which made my blood boil to read about. With nobody to sympathise with her (to the contrary, everyone is against her and/or betrays her) she falls into a trap made of her own idealism and trusting nature, as a result of which she is abused even further by the authorities. The story of Sybilla's childhood leading up to her eighteenth birthday, is equally as harrowing as that of Lisbeth Salander, the main character of the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, and Sybilla's solution, of living "off the grid", is remarkably similar to Lisbeth's.
Matters come to a head when Sybilla discovers that her source of income has dried up. She's now desperate, and friends she's made since living rough cannot or will not help her now. The hunt for her intensifies. Eventually, she thinks of one hiding place where she is likely to be safe - and while there, she finds an unusual ally and a strategy for dealing with her dilemma.
MISSING is a tensely exciting book with an extremely sympathetic and capable main character. I think Karin Altvegen is one of the very best talents writing crime fiction today. Congratulations to her for writing such insightful, exciting and thought-provoking novels, and to her English translators for bringing them so effectively to a wider audience.
Review first published at the Euro Crime website.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Kindle readers beware
A couple of niggles about the kindle version of this book that I have just finished reading. Firstly when I started reading the book it didn't actually open on the first page. Read more
Published 6 months ago by mythicalkings
A crime novel about outcasts
'Missing' is the second Alvtegen novel I've read and is the more original of the two. Murders in this story are reported rather than discovered, as it concentrates on the story of... Read more
Published 7 months ago by D. J. H. Thorn
A Different Read
I loved the character of Sybilla and the concept of the main character being homeless was something not often tackled by authors. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Madeleine Godbold
good read
MISSING has mixed reviews form 1 star - 5 stars, and is the first work I have read from Karen Alvtegen.I thought the story was good and enjoyed reading it. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mystery lover
Beware of the language
I had previously read 'Betrayal', and hoped that 'Missing' would be an improvement. The cover notes proclaimed Ms. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Hounslowgirl
Missing - any sense of suspended disbelief -
Oh dear, the first two chapters were good - I suspect that the synopsis for the book was OK too, which probably explains why it ever got past the publisher's readers. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Patience Skillings
Persecution
This is a particularly engrossing and chilling novel. Sibylla is badly treated by her family and particularly her mother. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Caz Mysteries
More Swedish Authors
Another great find in the list of Swedish thriller authors. Every one is different but always well worth reading. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Pattie
Not as good as Steig Larson's trilogy.
Although the story takes place in Sweden I was dissapointed by the story. I felt it was weak in places. Read more
Published on 26 Sep 2009 by maggiedottir
not great
To be honest i didn't think this was a particularly well written book, the plot kept me reading but i probably would'nt buy this author again.
Published on 31 Aug 2009 by tara
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