First of all: Thank you to NetGalley and Ullstein for this great book.
"Glücksmädchen" (probably lucky girl) is written by Mikaela Bley and centers around the disappearance of Lycke and Ellen Tamm, a reporter, who does more than anyone else in order to find her.
CONTENT
LYcke was supposed to show up at her tennis training, but she never came home. The police, at first, think she just ran away, and Ellen's boss wants to use Lycke's story to get more people to watch his channel, but soon it becomes clear, that the little girl did not just run away. Ellen, who has lost her own sister in a similar way, and is massively obsessed with death goes out of her way to find Lycke. The case gets more and more dramatic, when it gets clear, that Lycke's parents did not know (or want?) her. The father has a new family, the stepmother has her own child to care about, and Lycke's mother Helena has more important things to do. Only Mona, an elderly woman who babysits the shy girl knows how she feels.
SOMETHING OVERALL
The chapters are divided in days, and the time. It is like this: Sunday, 25th May; Ellen 9:30. It is very interesting, that we get the exact time; I thought it was very helping. I always knew when something happened. Sometimes, however, there are two or more "Ellen chapters", if some time has passed in between, and sometimes there are those little stars "***". I like the latter more, but anyway, what bothered me was the change.
After this it is obvious, that we have more than one narrator. The story is told, mostly from Ellen's point of view, but there are also chapters told by Lyckes mother, stepmother, and Mona.
A very important topic was divorce, and what it does to a child. I becomes very clear that Lycke suffers a lot, because nobody wants her, and she knows.
Another topic was death; Ellen, who has lost her sister is obsessed with it, and works as a criminal reporter, where she is surrounded by it every day.
This book gives you a lot to think about; apart from being thrilling it is also very deep.
By the way: I enjoyed it being told mostly from Ellen's point of view, because she is not an officer, or someone else working on criminal cases (well yes, she is, BUT) she is also a surviving dependant.
CHARACTERS
Ellen Tamm, reporter, obsessed with death. At first I way unsure whether I could like her, but she is stubborn and she does what she wants. I lime that. She searches for Lycke, in her own way, and probably more than anyone else, although her own life seems tough enough. Apart from the fact that she blames herself for her sister's death, there is also this relationship she's had with her boss quite some time ago, that keeps coming up.
Lycke's parents are not very likeable. Both don't know much about their daughter. Her father, Harald, seems to have problems with relationships in general, and her mother is very controlled, even cold. Both can't admit that they do know nothing of their daughter, which, in my opinion would have helped.
Haralds's new wife CAN be very loving and caring (for her son), but she seemed to hate Lycke- at least she wanted her out of the house. The parts, that are told in her perspective, show, how many problems she had with another woman's child, but in the end, although you could understand a lot, she just did not seem to even try to accept Lycke in her family.
Then there is Mona, the only person that loved Lycke, and I loved Mona.
OPINION
It's thrilling, well written, and the Names, of which I feared would be difficult were not difficult at all (remember that I read this in German)- the streets and places however were.
I liked the plot, the twists, the turns, the way everything way revealed at the very end, and yet, did not get boring. The subplots that centered around Ellen were also very interesting, and I need more.
By the way, Lycke, or Lykke, means luck- if she was lucky or not: you have to read for yourself.
This book keeps you up, makes you think and entertains you. And that is everything a good book should do.