I have had three books by Karin Alvtegen sitting on my bookshelf for a number of years and I finally decided that they needed some attention. I chose Missing to read first as it was the first published and it had won the Glass Key Award for best crime novel in Sweden in the year 2000. I am so glad that I finally picked up one of these books, because this one was excellent.

Sibylla lives as an outcast. Homeless, jobless and living by the moment, she charms a man into buying her diner and paying for her to have a hotel room. When his dead body is found the next morning, she becomes the prime suspect. Then when a second person is killed in the same manner, she becomes Sweden’s most wanted criminal. On the run and desperate, she needs to live by her wits more than ever in order to stay clear of the police and to find out who is trying to frame her for these murders.

Missing was a suspenseful, intricate thriller that held me hostage while I read it. By using flashbacks to Sibylla’s earlier life, we learn how and why she came to be on the streets which helped to make the story believable. I was okay with some of the plot points being a little predictable as over all this was a fun and fast-moving thriller. ( )

Een thriller van 250 bladzijdes die pas na 150 bladzijdes enigszins spannend wordt, is niet echt een thriller. Dat eerste deel is een beschrijving van het leven van Sibylla heeft geleid en wat tot haar huidige situatie heeft geleid. Ook is dat gedeelte niet met veel vaart geschreven en is een beetje saai qua schrijfstijl. En als dan de jonge Patrik op Sibylla's pad komt gaat het ineens vreselijk snel, maar de schrijfstijl blijft saai en vlak. Niet echt een aanrader wat mij betreft. ( )

This is an entertaining book and very easy to read, but basically way too unrealistic for a novel of its genre (what were the police THINKING??). I'm not sure that the author did any research for the novel. Shame. ( )

Review: Missing by Karin Alvtegen.

The book is a well written psychological thriller. The story is about a thirty-two year old woman named Sibilla Forenstrom who is a drifter who lives on the street. She goes around begging for food and is always seeking a businessman in the lounge area in a hotel and even sometimes she gets them to pay for a room for her. However, she is in trouble when she wakes and knocks on the door where the man she had scammed and there was no answer. Sibilla heads back to her room, got her stuff and left the hotel, she was thinking the man must have left early.

As the story moves on she finds out that the man was found in his room brutally murdered and the police were looking for her. She had run away from a mental institution fifteen years earlier.

As the police are still looking for her there have been two more murders. It was a well put together fast paced plot that was intriguing and captivating. Sibilla stayed low while she tried to investigate what was going on. Is Sibilla guilty…? ( )

Tehtaanjohtajan tyttären tarina yhteiskunnan ulkopuolisena. Henkirikokset tuntuivat ylimääräiseltä kuviolta kirjassa, itse Sibyllan tarina oli kiinnostavampi. Kirjan loppu oli ennalta-arvattava. ( )