Missing

If you liked the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, you will love this one. The heroine is a young homeless girl. How she survives in Sweden is amazing. The mystery follows her on the run from a crime she did not commit. Well written, gripping with a satisfying ending.

For fifteen years Sibylla has chosen to live off the grid. As an occasional escape from her homelessness, she sometimes cons lonely businessmen she meets in hotel restaurants into treating her to a meal and good night's sleep at their hotels. Unfortunately for Sibylla, her latest benefactor turns up dead the next morning, and she is the prime suspect. As she runs from the police, additional bodies are found, making the once anonymous Sibylla well-known as a wanted serial killer. Her only way to save herself is to unravel the identity of the true killer. Missing is a fast-moving thriller featuring an intriguing heroine. In addition to the murder mystery, a second mystery unfolds as the reader discovers the secret in Sibylla's past that led her to chose her unconventional lifestyle. Highly recommended.

Others have given a pretty good summary of the book. I'd like to add that this absorbing, suspenseful, rapidly moving story is highly reminiscent of the Ruth Rendell (who also focused on similarly troubled loners and the unpredictable course that fate hands them) at her peak. I was always involved in the fate of the woman who finds herself the prime suspect in a series of bizarre, serial like murders. And what made it especially notable was how she survived as an almost non existent, homeless person relying on the meager handouts of her parents, and on her wits. The ending was satisfying especially for the very courageous woman at the center of the story.

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

In Stockholm, Sweden, thirty-two years old Sybilla Forsenstrom is the daughter of affluent but cold parents; after an undesirable pregnancy, she fled from her life of wealth. Now almost fifteen years later, she is a professional homeless person who knows all the tricks of the trade to get a hot meal, a hot shower, and a warm room when the city is freezing. She pretends to be a businesswoman in Stockholm staying at the Grand Hotel. There she meets Jorgen Grundberg whom she cons into paying for her meal and a room. However, the next day he is found murdered. Soon after that another male is killed in the same MO including mutilation. The police believe Sybilla with her wig and more is the killer; she has become public enemy number one. Fearing that her homeless state means guilty, she eludes the cops with some help and begins investigating the homicides. The woman on the run plot is intermingled with flashbacks to Sybilla's childhood especially the late teen years when she is forced to give away her son; her parents are icy pips. Thus readers understand her motives as a street person. Her inquiries are entertaining as she sees the clues differently than the cops. Newspaper clippings on the serial killings insure the heroine is the most sought after person in Sweden. Interestingly if this reviewer read this book before fairy tale stories claimed as true by the media but ultimately deblogged as made up, the clippings would feel wrong lacking official police sources yet now seem very accurate. Fans will enjoy this fine Swedish amateur sleuth tale. Harriet Klausner