Missing

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

'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