The Vanishing of Katharina Linden

by Helen Grant

After Pia’s grandmother dies in a freak accident, the neighbors in her little German hometown of Bad Münstereifel glance at Pia with wary eyes. But then something else captures the community’s attention: the vanishing of Katharina Linden. Katharina was last seen at a parade, dressed as Snow White. Then, like a character in a Grimm’s fairy tale, she disappeared. Ten-year-old Pia and her only friend, the unpopular StinkStefan, suspect that Katharina has been spirited away by the supernatural. Their investigation is inspired by such local legends as that of Unshockable Hans, visited by witches in the form of cats, or of the knight whose son is doomed to hunt forever. Then another girl vanishes, and Pia is plunged into a new and unnerving place, one far away from fairy tales—and perilously close to adulthood.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Young Adult, Germany, Fantasy, Adult, Mystery Thriller

316 pages, Paperback

Published April 26, 2011

About the author

Helen Grant has a passion for the Gothic and for ghost stories. Joyce Carol Oates has described her as 'a brilliant chronicler of the uncanny as only those who dwell in places of dripping, graylit beauty can be.' A lifelong fan of the ghost story writer M.R.James, she has spoken at two M.R.James conferences and appeared at the Dublin Ghost Story Festival. She lives in Perthshire with her family, and when not writing, she likes to explore abandoned country houses and swim in freezing lochs.

Helen's most recent novel Jump Cut was published by Fledgling Press in 2023.

Reviews

[Malia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a bit late on the boat with this one, but better late than never. When this book came out, it was very popular, however I didn't know what to make of the summary and forgot about it. Then, as these things happen, a copy made its way into my bookshelf, and I was finally compelled to open it:-)
From Germany myself, I was charmed and excited that the book was not only set there, but contained so many cultural references that were so familiar to me, and a part of my own childhood. Fortunately, that is where the parallels between my life and this book end because, as you might have guessed from the title, little girls begin to go missing in the small town of Bad Muenstereifel. The story is told by ten-year-old Pia, though she tells it as an adult, so her mature and elegant language never feels out of place in the narrative. Pia was a lovely, clever character and I especially liked her school friend, StinkStefan (despite the unflattering nickname...)
The plot is twisted and certainly reminds of Grimm fairy-tales, perfectly fitting the book's setting, and I could see it all before me as I was reading, so familiar are the dark German woods and charmingly gloomy Fachwerk cottages. The story is not fluffy and light, despite the fairy-tale connection, but much like the Grimm tales themselves, dark and strange and not lacking the odd big bad wolf.
Definitely a page turner, and an author I will absolutely keep an eye on!

Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com

[Alana · Rating 2 out of 5]

With all the hype surrounding the US publication of The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, I was eagerly anticipating Helen Grant's debut. Sadly, the marketing copywriters are doing better work than the actual author and once halfway through the book, I found myself impatiently waiting for the completion of a book that was decently written but poorly conceived. The publisher would do well to stop likening it to other works because not a single comparison pans out... particularly the idea that the narrator here, Pia Kolvenbach, bears any resemblance whatsoever to the intelligent and delightful Flavia de Luce (the creation of Alan Bradley). If anything comes close, it's the reference to the book having the air of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales -- but the real fairy tales that are frightening and twisted, not the Disney-fied versions, thank goodness -- and yet one wishes that the real plotline had enjoyed some of the imagination that the stories suggest rather than simply lacing Pia's perspective with the stories so that she might half-wonder if fantastic things really are coming to pass. In short, everything that I read about the novel beforehand led me to expect something quite different... and probably soured my reading experience as a result. I found myself a bit annoyed in the beginning because of all this, then was more pleasantly disposed as I focused on the story... but quickly grew annoyed again when the "mystery" worked itself out to be disappointingly predictable. Grant's writing style is acceptable if not particularly noteworthy, but had it not been for the author stumbling onto the legends of this particular German town and retelling them here, I would have found the whole thing very dull indeed.

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is set in the late 1990s and I started the novel feeling surprised, as nothing I had read seemed to hint at the modern time period. Also surprising was the fact that since the author's European location is hyped, I expected a translated work and was a bit thrown by the ridiculous abundance of German words purposely inserted into the English text. I feared that this would be the only consistent way to tell that the story was set in Germany and not simply any old European town with a history rich in folklore but there are enough subtle differences of to make this somewhat unfounded... and of course, there's the occasional awkward reference to Nazis and the war. There's a glossary in the back of the book, but it's rather unnecessary once one accepts the presence of the liberal scattering of German words. Needless to say, the author is English and simply moved to the Continent with her family... and actually lived in the town where the book is set, as a matter of fact, but I can't see any townspeople thanking her for putting their location on the map if it's to do with the abduction of little girls.

Bad Münstereifel is a small German hamlet, filled with people who like to gossip and since everyone knows everyone (and often knows everything about them for several generations back), few things are ever forgotten. What our ten-year-old narrator, Pia Kolvenbach, would like everyone to forget is the unfortunate incident of her grandmother's demise, which involved an Advent wreath, a match, and an abundance of hairspray. As a result, Pia is the girl whose grandmother exploded and even if it isn't true (she technically died from a heart attack as a result of the surprise of going up in flames at the dining table), it's the thing Pia will be known as to the rest of the town's inhabitants... particularly the nasty school children. After this, Pia can only claim to have one friend, the class pariah known as StinkStefan, and even having this one friend is enough to make Pia depressed if she's sunk so low as to need Stefan's companionship. (Thankfully, Stefan's unfortunate moniker is a result of his tendency to linger like a bad smell rather than from any odor emanating from his personage.) Pia herself is the daughter of a German man and an English woman, a first of two progeny from very tense marriage that is clearly heading for divorce from the get-go. (Side note: they're also terrible parents. Pia's little brother is a baby and given little attention from the narrator. Neither parent seems to make any attempt to connect with their first born and the entirety of their parental concern is expressed in forbidding Pia to go places so she can be safe in the house.)

Well, if gossip is what the town wants, then that's certainly what it gets. Katharina Linden, a little girl nearly the same age as Pia, disappears in the middle of a town holiday celebration where children dressed in costume. The little girl dressed as Snow White simply vanished without a trace and the town can find no sign of her. Immediately, the other children in town feel the repercussions as parents go into overdrive to keep their children indoors and away from whoever or whatever snatched up Katharina Linden. Pia and Stefan are about as interested as anyone in the missing girl and mention as much to their elderly friend, Herr Schiller, a kindly grandfather figure who Pia used to visit with her grandmother and now continues to visit on her own and with Stefan. The allure of Herr Schiller rests in the fact that he treats children like intelligent beings... and has a never-ending supply of stories derived from the fantastic folklore of the area. Unfortunately, Herr Schiller only seems tired when they try to discuss Katharina's disappearance -- and then the children learn that this is due to the fact that Herr Schiller once had a daughter named Gertrud who disappeared years ago in another instance where young girls went missing. The town is inclined to point its finger towards local recluse Herr Düster, Herr Schiller's estranged brother. Frau Kessel, one of the old women in the town with a reputation for knowing everything tells Pia and Stefan that in their youth, both brothers fought over the same woman and Herr Schiller won -- only to have her die of illness during the war and then have his daughter stolen and murdered by a jealous brother. Of course, this is just her suspicion, but in a town where gossip is enough to condemn you, it was only the fact that Herr Schiller did not give credit to this theory that kept Herr Düster from real blame.

Three girls went missing then -- and more girls will go missing in the present time before Pia and Stefan ultimately play a role in solving the mystery. At least the author is not unaware of the danger facing young children as they attempt to solve a crime and adults aren't always as inept as they can sometimes be depicted. Herr Schiller continues to scare the daylights out of Pia and Stefan with his wonderful stories (which are, indeed, quite interesting) and the kids try to survive school and their home lives, turning to the mystery as a thing that they can work on together. At one point in the novel, Pia is sent off to spend part of the summer with her grandmother in England, enduring cruel cousins and intense boredom, before she starts realizing that perhaps this trip wasn't just to keep her safe from whatever is snatching children in her hometown, but perhaps the move might be more permanent as her parents continue to feud.

Ultimately, while I was disappointed with the novel as a whole, there were elements of Grant's writing that I enjoyed and I hope will serve as the cornerstones of her future work so she might improve... though if she continues to write books with this mystery edge to them, I'm not sure I'll bother much as the question of who (or what?) kidnapped the little girls was easy for the reader to decipher from the beginning. I also like the fact that the story is essentially told by Pia looking back on this time of her life with a few years' worth of distance so that occasionally she might note things she hadn't realized at the time, mostly dealing with the motivations of adults that don't make sense to children. Of course, what I particularly liked about this was the fact that adult Pia didn't feel the need to necessarily spell these things out. In all, I wasn't delighted with The Vanishing of Katharina Linden but I did see some promise in Helen Grant that I hope stretches beyond the creativity of the folklore that was the truly delightful part of this novel to carry her through the next few novels that "Delacorte eagerly snapped up" according to the ARC.

[gremlinkitten · Rating 5 out of 5]

One word to describe The Vanishing of Katharina Linden : Engrossing.

My interest in this book was piqued when I saw it described as a "charming horror novel," and while that isn't totally accurate, charming it is, horror it isn't, I very much enjoyed the book. Helen Grant has such an ease about her writing that I find it hard to believe this is her first novel. Her descriptions of Bad Münstereifel and its inhabitants are key to the book and provided most of the atmosphere; I could quite easily visualize everything and everyone in this little town. Pia was a realistic and relatable narrator who kept the story going at a fairly brisk pace. Sometimes she used words that I don't think an eleven-year-old would, but since the book is told by adult Pia reminiscing back, I'm willing to let that pass. The legends of this small town are wonderfully interwoven through the story and add an extra element of childhood innocence to the book. Some may find the mystery obvious or weak, but I don't think the mystery is reason for this book, it's Pia at a major point in her life, with major events happening that affect her and in turn, how she deals with them. Parts of the book are chilling, light, quiet, humorous, thoughtful, predictable, surprising, absorbing, and more, but altogether it is a book that impressed me.
4.5 stars

Received for review through the Amazon Vine program.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_M%C3...

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ten-year-old Pia Kolvenbach is known at school as the girl whose grandmother blew up. Far from showing any sympathy to a girl whose Oma died on Christmas Day, Pia endures taunts and the sudden absence of her friends. The only person in her class brave enough to sit next to her (in case it's catching) is StinkStefan, himself the most unpopular boy. Pia becomes friends with him by dint of him following her around, and because there's no one else.

When Katharina Linden goes missing at Karneval - just vanishes it seems, there one minute, gone the next - Pia hopes that the gossipy small town of Bad Münstereifel will finally have something new to talk about. Unfortunately not. Not even when a second, and then a third, little girl vanishes, does Pia cease to be ridiculed by her classmates. But she's got more important things to think about now: she and StinkStefan have their own theories about the missing girls, partly inspired by the scary stories old Herr Schiller tells them over incredibly thick, strong coffee. As the two children embark on their own investigation, they draw ever closer to the adult world as they stumble innocently onto the truth.

Grant is originally British, lived for a time in Bad Münstereifel and now lives in Brussels (Belgium). I don't know that I took Pia's mother to be representative of Grant, but I could definitely see her sympathising and being able to write the character and her growing pissed-off-edness quite easily. (With Pia looking on, slow to understand the arguments between her German father and English mother, her mother's growing hatred for this small town, the small-minded gossip, and the growing danger that her own daughter could very well be next: it all felt very real.) I wanted to read a born-and-bred German author for this challenge, but I had recently heard about this book through Alex and really wanted to read it, without looking into where the author was from.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I thought it was very finely written, with an interesting mix of old and new, blending history and gothic horror stories with a realistic family life. On the other hand, I had trouble with the prose itself - it's articulate, it's intelligent, it's very fine, but this relatively short novel took me quite a while to read because I couldn't "sink into it". There was always this short brick wall between me and it that I stumbled against, or a strong hand pushing against my chest, holding me back from connecting with it. It's one of those cases where an author's style just didn't click with your brain - it happens.

I still enjoyed the book, but part of the problem was Pia: I don't know whether it's just the way she's written or because she's ten (and then eleven), but I struggled with her narrative voice. Pia is telling the story as an older teen, about 17, looking back on this time in her life, so you can forgive the more mature narration for that fact. The scattering of German words throughout is explained at the very end, when the older Pia mentions that she can't remember much German anymore, only odd words and phrases (I found this to be incredibly sad, for Pia) - I didn't realise there was a glossary at the back until I was halfway through, because it was buried under sample chapters from her new book that looked to be the end of this one (and I don't read the end of a book first, ever); that would have been helpful to know about earlier.

The book is set in 1999, before mobile phones and the internet (as in, before the internet was what it is today - back then there was very little on it and it was pretty useless), and with the quaint setting with its old-world charm and all the old ghost stories, it has the feel of an older place, an older story. When Pia leaves Germany for a summer holiday visit with her gran in Middlesex, England, it's almost like a jolt: it's easy to forget that, while all this is going on in Bad Münstereifel, the rest of the world is still out there, and it's a different place in many ways.

The town - an old historic spa town that looks very picturesque (I looked it up) - is very much a character in its own right, one that Pia feels very attached to even if she hates that everyone knows each other and each other's business. Which leads me to gossip: gossip is a character too, perhaps captured best by Frau Kessel, the biggest busybody of all the busybodies, who takes a kind of cruel pleasure in knowing everything and being able to dangle things in front of people. But she's not the only old biddy spy in the town. In fact, this is a story between the children in the town, and the old people. The past clashing with the present? The young adults, the parents, anyone else - they're barely present, remaining on the periphery of the action. It is very much a world seen through the eyes of a child.

This is also a kind of gothic horror novel. Sprinkled with juicy ghost stories told to Pia and Stefan by their 80+ year old friend Herr Schiller, it also has something of a nail-biting climax. It's a lengthy, detailed ending that got a bit too long and overly detailed, and while I could totally understand eleven-year-old Pia's inability to reconcile her understanding of a person with a new truth, she did get annoyingly dense and behaved increasingly foolish. I think that captures my problem with Pia: I never really felt like I knew her or understood her, so I wasn't very sympathetic towards her behaviour. I would sometimes forget she was a child, because of the sophisticated prose, and then be jarringly reminded by her childish reactions or self-absorbed dismissal of others. Because Pia narrates, it got confusing.

The ending was unsatisfactory in another sense: it wraps up fairly quickly after the climax, which is fine, but like the selfish younger Pia, older Pia tells us nothing about Stefan, whether she still talks to him or what, and we don't know anything about her father, or her mother and brother, or how it's going in England - all things that would have helped solidify Pia's character, and helped with context. And my curiosity. After all, why write a mystery and then leave readers hanging on such simple questions?

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden isn't really about little girls disappearing, or crime or mystery or acting detective. It's a coming-of-age story more than anything else, a story of being a child in a town of mystery, ghosts and a poorly buried past. It has atmosphere, but where it lost me was in the sense of the tourist. Because Grant isn't a native German, there's always to explain "the German way". Helpful, yes, but it also came across as a bit condescending. I could explain it away by reminding myself, again, that Pia is narrating this from England where she's been living in the interim, but you don't know that until the end and it doesn't change the fact that reading this made me feel like a tourist. I wanted to vicariously visit Germany, yes, but not have attention drawn to that fact.

So like I said, I have mixed feelings about this book. Do I recommend it? Sure, especially if you like stories about child sleuths (or nosy, would-be sleuths, as the case is) and ghost stories. If you like murder mysteries that are clever and unpredictable, this probably won't satisfy you - it doesn't bother with that side of things, since a whodunnit is secondary to Pia's personal story. But if nothing else, it brought to life a small, old town in the mountains of Germany, and I would very much like to see it.

[Rick Riordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to read an advanced copy of Grant’s novel and it still haunts me. Wonderful, creepy, atmospheric mystery that would fit perfectly in the darkest collection of Grimms' folktales.

[Krystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book simply because of the cover design. Yes, yes, I know. Don't judge a book by its cover. But guess what. That's what I do 9 times out of 10. Sue me, I'm a designer. It's what I notice first, more often than not.

This is a great coming-of-age story about a young German girl (well, half-German, half-British) who lives in a town going through a bit of a crime spree. Which is to say, several missing children. Little girls, snatched up from underneath everybody's watchful eyes. This being a very small town, these kidnappings are most disturbing. Gossip and suspicion abound.

Anybody who's ever lived in a small town can certainly appreciate this book, as the reactions to the kidnappings occur in such a realistic way. You can easily imagine your neighbors acting in just the same way in your own small town, were something so awful to occur. But what was so particularly interesting about this book is not just that it shows a realistic portrayal of a town and family ripped apart by a series of terrible events, but that it's told from the perspective of a child.

Children have a special way of seeing things; it's what makes them great characters in books, in my opinion. And this is no exception. This child has grown up listening to stories told by a kindly neighbor, stories full of magic and lore. Therefore, when strange things begin to happen in her town - other little girls vanishing as if by magic - she naturally begins to suspect that something otherwordly is going on. Now, we as adult readers know this isn't the case ... or do you? There is a wonderful blend of childish whimsy and realistic portrayals. I wasn't entirely sure if the book was going to take the fantastical route until the very end when the clues started coming together. And when those clues do finally reveal what's behind the mystery ... well. I was shocked. I hope because it was cleverly done and not because I'm just that dense. I actually was sure the culprit was going to be another seemingly harmless character, which I thought was twist enough, but then it turned out to be someone completely different. They twisted my twist!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It had a little of everything: childhood innocence, fantastical folklore, grisly kidnappings, a fascination mystery, and thoroughly interesting characters everywhere you turned. Not to mention that you're going through all this alongside the narrator, a little girl going through her own coming-of-age problems. I definitely recommend this book to any lovers of mystery. Great read!

* on a minor note: I did have one complaint, which had nothing to do with the story and everything to do with the physical construction of the book itself. The hardcover edition I read had a deckle edge on the pages. This doesn't bother me, in fact, I think it adds a lovely detail to a book. However, in this story, set in Germany as it is, there are often little words and phrases scattered here and there that are written in German, to add to the atmosphere of the story. There is a glossary in the back to define all these words and phrases, which I definitely recommend doing as they sometimes flesh out necessary dialogue. The problem I had was that with the deckle edge, it's very difficult to flip back and forth to the glossary. The way the deckle edge is constructed makes it hard to flip to a certain section as it wants to flip in sections, in the chunks that makes up the deckle edge. It was minor and yes, ridiculous to complain about, but extremely annoying nevertheless. And now I have ranted about it and I feel better. :)

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pia Kolvenbach is known as "the girl whose grandmother's head exploded" in a freak accident at the Advent Dinner table. Advent Candle met Aqua Net hairspray...the rest was "history", with which Pia has to live every day. When young girls start to disappear, Pia and her trusty sidekick, StinkStefan, are "on the case". Two pariahs, and the avuncular storyteller Herr Schiller, explore the history of their village, Bad Munstereifel, through folk tales and gossip. Eventually, the dark side of the town begins to show itself, and Pia begins to learn the hard lesson, that people are not always what they seem to be.

I thought this was more a novel of manners, customs, and small town life- not unlike The Little Friend by Donna Tartt. The Thriller/Mystery angle took a back seat to the Town itself...The missing/"vanished" girls were a vital part of the story, but more so as a part of Pia's coming-of-age. The pacing of the story was slow until the last 1/3 of the book. The ending seemed a bit rushed to me, but in hindsight i think it was right, since the leisurely pace of the first 2/3 was good preparation for an ending that wasn't lurid, yet still kept the pages turning.

Pia Kolvenbach was not a precocious child, by any means. She was witty, a bit of a smart aleck, but all told she was just a kid,trying to deal with a situation where even the adults seemed to be at a loss. Curious, selfish, petulant and persistant, she carried this tale on noble 10-year-old shoulders, and lived to tell it years later.

I enjoyed the book and gave it the rating I did , for being both a coming-of-age story..and a mystery about Life itself, as we grow into it. Recommended.

This is a review of an ARC.

3 Stars (***)

[Felice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been wondering. Wondering why it sometimes happens that a novel will be published here as an adult novel and elsewhere as a young adult (YA for readers anywhere from 12 to 16 years old)) novel. The first time I noticed that was when the bookThe Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time came out. Here in the U.S. it was published as an adult novel and in the U.K. and Australia it was initially published as an YA novel. After it's well deserved huge success it was repacked in all 3 countries for both markets and why not? If there is a chance you can sell the book from two locations to separate audiences that's good business and I'm all for that but why the difference in the first place? Why wasn't it published for both age groups from the get go?

What has taken this issue from the archives of my brain file and put it back into my everyday thoughts area is the book The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant. Vanishing has recently been released here by Random House as an adult novel. Prior to this it came out in England and Australia as a YA novel. I was drawn to Vanishing because of it's absolutely stunningly beautiful cover. Upon reading the synopsis I wanted to read it because of my interest in fairy tales. I had no idea that was labeled a YA outside of the U.S. Would that knowledge have influenced my decision? Absolutely. I would have passed on it. I would not have bought it for me and I would not have looked for it in the library. I might however have purchased it for my 14 year old niece who is also a lover of fairy tales and retelling of fairy tales.

So? Is it a YA? It sure is. Did I enjoy it? I did. It was thin on plot but it had interesting characters and was well written and imaginative. Grant did a good job creating an atmosphere of darkness and menace that has been sanitized out of the traditional fairy tales we read these days. The book is about ten year old Pia Klovenbach the "potentially explosive schoolgirl". It's a cold, dank winter in Bad Munstereifel (umlauts would come in handy right now) and little girls of the town are disappearing. When the lovely Katharina Linden disappears after being Snow White in the parade, Pia and her only friend, the equally unpopular "StinkStefan", take the case. Pia has been brought up on a steady diet of haunted woods and evil spells stories and is convinced the solution to the mysteries lies in the supernatural.

There seem to be a lot of mystery solving teens around the bookshelves these days. You don't have to be Nancy Drew to know that's nothing new in YA literature, but adult books? There was Curious Incident and more recently: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, The Earth Hums in B Flat, etc. All three of which I thought very highly of at my current 14++ age and would have been wild about and treasured as a 14 year old. And. All three of which can be easily classified as YA books despite being identified by their publishers as adult novels.

Where the author is most successful with Vanishing is in writing about Pia's scary first steps into adulthood. Like the coming of age heroines of classic fairy tales, Pia's trials are courage testing, self sufficiency building and life changing. Grants uses these experiences not only to move the story forward but also to highlight the pettiness of Pia's school yard world and village life. Like most YA novels the adults in the book are for the larger part depicted as self absorbed, not too bright and lax in protecting their children.

My niece thought this book was great. She read it in a flash, talked about it for days afterward and wanted to pass it on to friends. Yea! I have to say that although I did like it while I was reading it, after I finished it I was left with nothing. Then when I discovered that Vanishing was selling as a YA across the oceans I felt duped. I'm not a part of that adult fraternity who are mad for YA books. I need more subtlety, more character development, more plot and writing that allows me to discover and interpret to be sated by a book.

So? Why did Random House decide to sell The Vanishing of Katharina Linden as a hardcover adult novel in the U.S.? I read it and I couldn't tell you. I'm looking forward to seeing how they sell it when it comes out in paper.

[velma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Personally, I think this book was horrendous. It claimed to be the vanishing of Katharina Linden yet, at the end, I didn't hear her name once. I was excited for a mystery yet the plot dragged out into nothingness. Immensely disappointed. Never again.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I usually listen to audiobooks only when I paint or when I do house chores. Well, I did not have enough house chores for this one, and as I could absolutely not wait to get more hours on the following days, I ended up listening to it sitting on my couch. I have NEVER done this before. This is enough to say this is a real page turner, you get the idea, even if that one was an audiobook.

A friend of mine asked why I liked it so much. It is actually hard to pinpoint, apart from the fabulous quality of the writing that keeps you going, with excellent handling of suspense. Publishers Weekly description of it as a “charming horror novel” is quite fitting. The tone of the book is very peaceful and friendly, as Pia, the narrator, is a 10 year old sweet nice girl. The horror comes little by little with what she has to encounter, but it is narrated in such a way that it sounds more like folk tales than the stuff horror movies are made of. And indeed, the book is based on Helen Grant’s research on folk tales connected to the city where Pia lives – a real city where the author herself lived.

I have not yet read this in any other review about this book, so I’d underline an interesting theme that seems to me to go along the book: ostracization. Pia is ostracized by her school mates after what happens to her grand-mother, and the only friend she is left with is the most ostracized kid of the school – his ostracization went so far as giving him a surname. With what happens between her own parents, Pia feels more and more isolated from her own family as well. Her father is German, her mother British and never feels like fitting in this German city. When Pia is sent one summer to England, the ostracization follows her, notably through her mean British cousins. There’s a lot of ostracization going on in Pia’s German city, between neighbors, with stories going back decades before, and focusing especially on one strange character that 2 young heroes seem to finally befriend – but do they?

I tweeted Helen Grant about this point, and here is her reply:
Yes, I think your view is spot on. This is why Unshockable Hans is so important to the book because he is one of the few “people” who does not let Pia down. I’d also have to say that autobiography has an influence on the book. I loved living in Bad M but on days when things didn’t go so well I REALLY felt like an alien myself! PS The original working title of the book was “Unshockable Hans”! [tweeted by @helengrantsays on Feb 28 2011.]



My only regret is having been mislead by the American book cover, the British one is different, with a black cat. So all along, I was trying to figure out if the cat was…. oops, I will not give you a spoiler. The cat does have a role, but not as prominent as the book cover would imply. Never judge a book by its cover, I know.

If you are looking for a good page turner, I highly recommend you this book. I don’t think it’s a YA book.

Helen Grant has written another book, and more are coming. The exciting part is that she’s just 2 years older than me, so I’ll have lots to read by her!

FIRST LINE:

My life might have been so different, had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother exploded. And had I not been born in Bad Munstereifel. If we had lived in the city–well, I’m not saying the event would have gone unnoticed, but the fuss would probably only have lasted a week before public interest moved elsewhere. Besides, in a city you are anonymous; the chances of being picked out as Kristel Kolvenbach’s granddaughter would be virtually zero. But in a small town–well, small towns everywhere are rife with gossip, but in Germany they raise it to an art form.

Original post:
http://wordsandpeace.wordpress.com/20...

Emma @ Words And Peace

[pdbkwm · Rating 5 out of 5]

When someone tells you that a certain author is someone to watch, I always feel a bit wary. I want to experience the same sort of love that they felt, but I always end up disappointed.

Which is why, I’m pleasantly surprised that I loved this book so much. Helen Grant really brought forth an amazing debut and I can’t wait to read more from her. If she continues writing excellent novels like this, then I agree with my fellow reader who says she is one to watch.

But enough about her, what about her book.

The premise of ’The Vanishing of Katharina Linden’ is fairly simplistic. Children are disappearing in the small town of Bad Münstereifel and two 10 year olds, Pia and Stefan, decide to solve the case. But in a town like this, secrets don’t always come out that easily and soon, they’ll find themselves discovering more than just the killer. They’ll discover a side to their old town that they wish they never knew.

Add in some family drama, some supernatural, and a town that truly comes to life with every page that you read and you’ve got ’The Vanishing of Katharina Linden.’

I don’t really want to sound like a fangirl, but this was the best book I’ve read this year….even though it was released two years ago. Grant’s writing style and world takes hold of you and refuses to let you go until you finish the novel. I found myself staying up late trying to find out what happens next.

There is a lot of great things in this novel, but sadly, it isn’t perfect. The mystery surrounding the disappearances is a bit predictable and while normally I’d be bothered by this, I wasn’t here. There was more to the book than just this mystery, so you could easily forgive it.

What I couldn’t forgive and what took me slightly out of the book, was just one character. Pia.

Now, like I said before, Grant brought flavour and substance to her world and the characters are no different. Each one felt real and had an air of mystery and old country charm to them. And Pia isn’t really any different. She wasn’t a bad character by any means; it’s just that she never felt like a ten year old. I had to constantly remind myself that she’s just a kid, because she sounded older. I don’t mean that she was mature. She wasn’t. She did act like a kid and have kid qualities, especially her dislike at being paired with Stefan for everything.

It’s just that, when I was reading the book I kept picturing someone who was eighteen+ instead of someone who is just ten.

Considering the novel is told in first person from Pia’s point of view, it was hard trying to get over this and I don’t think I ever did. Despite this, I still really enjoyed this novel and can’t wait to read more from Grant in the future!

Would I recommend this? Absolutely!

You can also find this at my blog: Booking Rehab

[Susan (aka Just My Op) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. I love the first sentence of this book: “My life might have been so different, had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother exploded.”

This mystery is told from the perspective of Pia, a 10-year old who lives in a small German town with her German father and English mother in the late 1990s. Children, specifically Katharina Linden, seem to go missing with no explanation. Suspicion falls on a creepy old guy but no one can prove anything.

Pia is ostracized because of her “exploding” grandmother, but it is mentioned so often that it becomes a bit annoying. Her only friends are StinkStefan, also ostracized for general nerdiness, and a kindly old widower who tells her the legends and fairytales of the area, some quite horrible.

Despite its gruesome subject, this was an entertaining read. Some of it was predictable but there were still a few surprises in store. I enjoyed reading about the area and seeing some of the adults from the child's point of view, but I thought that occasionally was not completely accurate. Not many average 10-year old kids that I know use words like “prevaricate,” but maybe I just know the wrong kids that age. Also, it seemed odd to me that life went on pretty much as usual when children in a small town were disappearing. Aside from telling their kids to be in by dark and not go places alone, both parents and police seemed fairly restrained in their reactions. Except, of course, when they tried to storm the creepy old guy's house. I thought this to be a good, solid read.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel started out with a great premise and a lively narrator, a young girl who is ostracized for having the bad luck to have had her Grandmother blown up. Long story, and it was told with sympathy and wit. I really was enjoying the story, especially the naive and spunky voice of the protaganist, Pia.
The mystery begins with the disappearance of a young girl, Katherina, and then the story loses steam. It's almost as if too much is going on, and none of it terribly significant.
That said, my understanding is now that it's a young adult title, rather than an adult one, which makes sense as the story was simplistic. One slightly petty note was that "until another child disappeared" was said in foreboding so many times that it became anticlimactic when one actually did. She builds up drama but doesn't back it up with dramatic action.
However, I think much needs to take into account the younger audience that is intended, to whom it may be just a perfect little mystery.

[Mizuki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had seen what Ms. Grant can do so I can only give this book 3 stars, her small town setting is well described, most of the characters vividly written and the sense of humor is great. But the main character is a bratty, unlikable 10 years old and I really don't enjoy her attitude. Plus the ending is a bit weak.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

1998, Pia Kolvenbach and her family suffer a tragedy. Her German Grandmother, Oma Kristal, burns to death while lighting the advent candcles. She had just used her usual huge amount of hair spray on her hair, when she struck a match, then dropped it onto her hair-spray drenched mohair sweater. She "exploded" in front of her family.

Pia lives in Bad Munstereifil, a very small German village, where everyone loves to gossip. When she returns to school after Xmas, she is shunned by all her ex-friends, and bullied, as the girl has "explosions" in her house. She soon finds that the only person who will talk to her or sit next to her is StinkStephan, a boy who is even lower in status than she is. Throughout this story, Pia reluctantly allows Stephan to accompany her. He is an outcast because his motherand father are drunks. He has an older brother, Boris, who appears to be following in his family's footsteps.

The narrator of this story is the adult Pia, looking back on this year in her life. For the most part she stays with the perceptions and understandings of a 10-year-old girl, only occasionally implying that later in her life she has understood things differently.

Even before the family has the funeral, "friends" are stopping by to see if they can get information out of Pia.

We then meet the only redeeming adult in this village, Herr Schiller, who has befriended Pia, and accepts Stephan. The children visit him to hear his horror stories of ghosts and witches and worst from the village's past. He is kind, coureous, and treats them with respect. He feeds them coffee and sweets.

Herr Schiller has a brother, Herr Duster. It is obvious to the village that they hate each other. No one will tell Pia why.

The story turns into a thriller when Katharina Linden disappears at the St Martens parade in February. Even though all the adults hunt for her for several days, she is not found. It soon becomes obvious that many in the towon think that Herr Duster is the villian.

As several more little girls disappear over several months, the town becomes paranoid. Pia's parents (her British mother and German father) begin to break up over the mother's fears for her daughter. The mother wants to send Pia to her mother for the summer. She begins to ask that the family move to Britain where children are safe.

The story moves to a crises and resolution at the next Xmas. Pia's mother has decided to move back to England after Xmas. Stephan has decded that Herr Duster isthekiller, and nothing has been done to stop his attacks. Herr Schiller has hinted that the kids need to take stops.

They go into Herr Duster's house one night when they think he is out of town. They discover a secret room with an uncovered well in the floor. Pia falls into the well and discovers floating body parts in the water with her. Stephan gets Herr Duster tohelp them. AS they get Pia out of the well, someone else starts to come into the room. They chase him through a tunnel and come up in Herr Schiller's house!

Many other thrills help to end the story and wind up all the loose plot strings.

I thoroughly enjoyable plot,and great character development. Pia and Stephan are believable. Pia sees the events of the village through the eyes of a 10-year-old -- sometimes the scarey stories Herr Schiller has told them weave their way into her understanding ofthe story and her narration. The reader then has to untangle these cobwebs of fantasy to follow the plot.

[Juushika · Rating 3 out of 5]

The freak accident that kills her grandmother makes Pia a social pariah, but it isn't the only strange thing that happens in the German town of Bad Münstereifel. When a fellow student disappears without a trace, Pia and her only friend investigate local legends and figures to discover what may have become of her. The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is good but never quite good enough—promising as it is, it's missing something. Despite initial appearances (and cover flap), this isn't so much a fairy tale retelling as it is a murder mystery with fairy tale trappings; those fantastic influences often create wonderful atmosphere and depth of setting, but (and this may be a SPOILER, so be warned) the final reveal is wholly mundane. Yet that mundane explanation lacks the substance and depth that the fairy tale aspects give the rest of the book, and so it dissipates their magic and replaces it with nothing much at all. The problem isn't either aspect outright, but rather the balance between them: would that the mundane aspects had more substance, or the fairy tale aspects lingered longer; without either, this promising book ends on a low note.

For it is a promising book. The setting is unusual and brilliantly realized, foreign and fantastic without becoming a caricature. Pia is a believable child narrator for better and worse, irritating sometimes but largely convincing, rooting the fantasy of her story within reality. The fairy tale influences are often brilliant, filtering Pia's view of Bad Münstereifel so that its residents become more vibrant, its shadows darker, its shapes stylized, its events echoed by legend, myth, and archetype. It's the best of a fairy tale retelling, recast atop a real-world mystery—and that could be a fantastic combination, one I don't see often and which this book fosters high hopes for. But it fosters hopes only: Grant never takes her story, style, or depth quite far enough, and the underwhelming conclusion is the book's greatest betrayal. I tried to love The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, and I want to read more books like it—but as it stands, while I admire what it tries to do, I don't recommend it. It's a little too much of a disappointment. Perhaps, with some experience under her belt, Grant will have the guts to take her next book a little further.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was more than I expected, and less than I hoped. I most likely would not have picked this book up based on the cover - somehow it isn't attractive to me. However, the book was recommended so I jumped in. It started well, dragged in the middle and grabbed my interest again at the end.

A few dislikes:

1. Even as a teenager recalling what happened 7 years ago, Pia did not ring true to me as a 10/11 year old. My immediate circle includes several children in that age bracket and Pia is just not quite "there".

2. The time-frame felt ambiguous to me. The book didn't fit 1999, but rather a much earlier era.

3. Even though it seems to me that this book was meant to be a straightforward mystery solving story, I would have liked Pia's parents and their dissolving marriage to have been a little better explained. Their characters were meant to be important in Pia's life, yet were not fully developed enough for their impact to be logical, or their actions to make sense. A divorce is a huge thing in anyone's life. Pia seems more involved in the solving of the disappearances than she is in the dissolution of her family and that is a disconnect for me.

A few likes:

1. I did like Pia's relationship with Stefan. He was nearly a much more interesting character than Pia, more dimensional.

2. The atmosphere of the book was fun - a little bit of a lot of things all mixed together as I would expect of a 10/11 years old's world and the new experiences they have.

3. I do like Ms. Grant's writing - I've read others' reviews who think it's pretty ordinary. I enjoyed it, enough to keep plugging along through that slow section in the middle.

A couple memorable passages:

"He set out to thrill us, to take us with him into a world of darkness and spirits, a realm of ghosts, witches, and monsters, where danger lurks but a stout heart and a strong faith will always conquer, where Good wins and Evil can be vanquished with a flourish of a rosary."

"Frau Kessel gave her a look that should by rights have curdled cream in the milk jug. She hated her nuggets of gossip to be questioned."

"I put a hand gently to my lips as though feeling the words as they came out, checking them for truth."

"More and more I had the impression that Stefan lived his life in some sort of imaginative action movie."

[Jmm · Rating 5 out of 5]

While Pia Kolvenbach did not wake up on December 20, 1998 as a giant cockroach, she begins her tale of social metamorphosis with the lament, “My life might have been so different, had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother exploded.” With her Oma Kristel’s fiery exit at the family Christmas dinner, Pia’s existence as a normal 10-year-old in Bad Munstereifel, the quiet German town where she has spent her entire life, changes overnight. Returning to school after the Christmas break, Pia finds herself ostracized by all her classmates except one, StinkStefan, the “most unpopular boy in the class.” Her isolation is sudden and absolute. Even when Katharina Linden vanishes without a trace from the Karneval celebration that February, Pia gets no relief from the constant taunting and snide laughter of her former friends. There’s no refuge at home either as her English mother becomes more vocal about her desire to return to England while her father angrily resists any such thought. Reluctantly, Pia introduces Stefan to her elderly friend, Herr Schiller, who entertains the two with various local tales of the supernatural. Eventually, curiosity and boredom drive the two outcasts to begin their own clumsy investigation into Katharina’s disappearance, which leads them into dark and cold places full of unknown dangers.

With a slyly subtle and humorous wink at Kafka, Helen Grant’s The Vanishing of Katharina Linden gives us a delightful mixture of mystery, family drama, German fairytale, and childhood woe. Pia is a determined heroine who struggles to adapt to and survive the explosive changes that rock her world and catapult her out of the innocence of childhood.

This review is based on a prepublication copy supplied by the publisher through the Early Reviewer's program at http://www.LibaryThing.com.

[Rusty's Ghost Engine (also known as.......... Jinky Spring) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started off with loads of promise and I'd previously received many good recommendations for this book from many critics. But like with The Glass Demon, I thought this story was going to involve the supernatural. Again I was sorely disappointed, because while there were mentions of ghost stories and mythical beings the general story wasn't about them. That really disappointed me.
And what was with that one section where Pia and these other two kids in England (Charles and Chloe I think) had this argument with many "fucking's"? That was like so random having just one section where the F bomb was frequently used. What was the author trying to achieve there?

The storyline was about another hate-fueled murderer (with nothing paranormal). But I've got to admit I did find the whole mystery and hunting for clues quite intriguing. The way Pia and Stefan took matters into their own hands to crack the case. I liked that much but it was the conclusion that was a blow when everything "paranormal" turned out to have a logical explanation. It's strange I felt this way because I'm a fan of Scooby-Doo and (nearly) all their mysteries had logical explanations.

I think my mistake here was I read this expecting a supernatural thriller. And when I didn't get one I felt let down. I've always hated books (TV programmes movies and anything for that matter) that are advertised to be one thing when they turn out to be something different.

So I don't know whether to say "Not fucking worth it" or not cause the mystery and suspense was very well written.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had I known that this novel was originally released in the U.K. as YA level rather than adult, I would probably have passed on it. That would have been a mistake! I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of a curious and intelligent 10-year-old girl living in the Eifel region of Germany, who gets caught up in the investigation of several other young girls who have gone missing. Her first person narrative voice is witty (sometimes hilarious) and endearing enough to hold the interest of a more mature reader, but also awkward and unsure enough to be age-convincing.

Part of the appeal for me was the generous inclusion of local myths and fables incorporated into the storyline as tales told to the protagonist by an elderly neighbor. Interesting in themselves, I was impressed with how skillfully the author wove subtle parallels between these fairy stories and the progression of the overall plot.

Laced with moments of true suspense, this novel managed to keep me up reading way past my bedtime on a work night, just as the best of my own youthful favorites were able to do many years ago. Warmly recommended.

[Práxedes Rivera · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was initially drawn to this book by its marvelous cover! It wasn't until a friend recommended it that actually reading it became a possibility. This is a painfully slow detective story that really comes to life at the end. Taking place in a small German town, with two incredibly precocious ten-year-olds as lead characters, the book plods through the plot like molasses. Towards the finale it really picks up, and I took to the last forty pages like a Visigoth. I wish that tempo had carried on from the beginning.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl · Rating 3 out of 5]

"My life might have been so different, had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother exploded."
- Opening Line in The Vanishing of Katharina Linden

The first sentence in the book is the best part - much of the following story is rather dull.

I first put this book on my to-read list back in 2010. I bought a copy in 2011. I first attemepted to read the book in 2012 and finally successfully completed the book with the assistance of an audiobook in 2016.

[Hazel · Rating 5 out of 5]

PERFECT. PERFECT ENDING. I AM LOST FOR WORDS.

I LOVED this book.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can recognize a little bit of German language when spoken and read. Has a handy glossary in the back with translations. Young Pia is a small town girl. Her grandmother's unnatural death by hairspray is in hindsight a bad omen for the town. Disappearance of title character follows shortly after.

[Jacco · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kwam er halverwege achter dat dit boek oorspronkelijk als kinderboek werd verkocht in de UK. Waarom het in Nederland in de markt is gezet voor een volwassen publiek gaat aan me voorbij. Ik heb nog verder gelezen met de mindset dat het een kinderboek is, maar zelfs dan is het geen hoogvlieger.

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of the book has some unnecessary details in my opinion and I found it hard to get through it but after that, the other half felt like I was watching one of those shows about crimes .

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Line
'My life might have been so different had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother exploded.'

The Plot
Pia, now a young adult, recounts the events that unfolded during a period in her childhood when female children started disappearing from her hometown in Germany. Running alongside the story of the vanishing girls is a turbulent year or so in Pia's childhood, dealing with the fallout from her grandmother's death, adjusting to big school, and not to mention her warring parents. I like that Pia's everyday life runs alongside the story of the missing girls as we get to know Pia as a person a lot better.

The Characters
Our main character, Pia, is one that we can all relate to at a younger age, and I think that combined with her wonderful storytelling makes Pia a likeable protagonist - I want to know what happened to Pia after the incident of the vanishing girls and see how her life progressed.

Herr Schiller is another character I was gripped by. Not only does he tell fascinating stories of a dark nature but his younger life (Herr Schiller is an elderly gentlemen) really interests me too.

The characters created by Helen Grant all feel very real - the elderly neighbour who is far too nosey and enjoys a good gossip, Pia's mother Kate who is a foreigner in Germany and often resents such things when angry or thinking of home, Stefan, who much like Pia, is having difficulties at home (although his are of a more serious nature than Pia's) but still possesses a childish curiosity leading him in to situations that would be unthinkable for many ten year olds. When you have believable characters it really shows in the storytelling process, it helps the story come to life.

The Writing
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is a novel aimed at young adults, but one you can still easily enjoy as an adult. For the most part, the book is of the dark variety what with the mystery of the disappearances, Herr Schiller's storytelling and even some folklore from Pia's hometown, but there is this unexpected contrast at times with Pia's narrative being light, witty almost. It is a contrast that works however.

Another thing to note about the writing in this book is the use of German words - naturally so given that the book is set there. If, like me, you have next to no knowledge of German, don't be put off by that. There really isn't that much usage, and also the more you read the easier they come to understand. Also, you can find a glossary at the back of the book translating the German words in to English - handy dandy.

This is the first book I have read by Helen Grant (it was also her debut novel, she has since published more that I'd like to read at some point) and I really enjoyed her writing style - it's mysterious, leading, takes you in one direction and then throws a whooper of a curveball. She also ties everything up nicely at the end; you aren't left with unanswered questions.

I think The Vanishing of Katharina Linden would be best enjoyed on a winter's night tucked up in bed with your favourite hot beverage. The content of this book is spine tingling at times, but I don't think it's likely to give you nightmares.

Final Thoughts
Expect the unexpected.

More reviews can be found on my blog, http://www.lifesopenpages.blogspot.co.uk

[Kristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The two-star rating, according to Goodreads, means, "it was ok," which is exactly how I felt about this book.

There were some wonderful ideas here; the reason I wanted to read it was because of the story's connection to German folk tales, and I liked the fact that many of the stories invoked were unfamiliar to me. There were also several very memorable scenes and images -- not the least of which is announced in the highly compelling first sentence: "My life might have been so different, had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother exploded." With a first sentence like that, how can you go wrong? Well, by banking way too much on that first sentence (which is pretty much repeated in various ways multiple times) and by being inaccurate (her grandmother didn't explode, nor did she, as the protagonist tries to correct the story, spontaneously combust. She just regular-combusted. In fact, now that I think of it, the sentence could have been both more accurate and just as compelling if it was, ""My life might have been so different, had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother went up in flames.")

For me, the story did not dwell nearly enough on the dark fairy tales that occasionally appear. This is where the novel could have really been lovely. Just think if someone like A.S. Byatt had gotten hold of the basic conceit and run with it. Instead, it read more like a Nancy Drew mystery, with two pre-teens solving a horrific mystery that has been plaguing their town for more than half a century -- REALLY? Well, the police in that town must have been idiots, because I almost immediately solved the mystery, which was simultaneously obvious and illogical. Moreover, the main character, Pia, is basically an observer throughout most of the novel; her unpopular (male) friend is infinitely smarter, stronger, braver, and more active than she is, which is extremely annoying.

I read in one of these goodreads reviews that this was marketed as a young adult novel overseas, and that makes sense; I remarked to my mother before finding this out that it read like a teen novel. There's nothing wrong with that, but if it had been marketed as YA it would have saved me the hassle, since I would never have picked it up -- despite its beautiful cover.

[Blake Fraina · Rating 4 out of 5]

From Germany, home of Grimm's Fairy Tales and the creepy morality poems of Shockheaded Peter (Der Struwwelpeter), comes this eccentric novel that is equal parts Nancy Drew and Stephen King - with a little David Sedaris thrown in for good measure.

While Pia and Stink Stefan, the protagonists of this mystery, are a plucky tween investigator and her trusty sidekick/schoolmate, it is by no means a YA book. As a matter of fact, despite its breezy, and often humorous, style, the story has some seriously sinister underpinnings and offers some truly terrifying moments. The opening scene sets the stage for the tone of the rest of the book as young Pia's grandmother accidentally incinerates herself at Advent dinner. Proving that matches, mohair and a liberal dose of Aqua Net shouldn't be mixed. Horrific, yet, as presented by Pia's dry narration, somehow hilarious.

After the incident, Pia is ever after the town outcast and curiosity ("the girl whose grandmother exploded") and somehow ends up being implicated in the disappearances of several of her classmates. Pia and Stefan decide to solve the crimes on their own, enlisting only the help of Herr Schiller, a kindly old friend of the family, who arms them with local folklore and ghost stories. But despite their certitude, the monster responsible for kidnapping and killing the girls is no otherworldly hobgoblin or ogre. And the kids are in more danger than they know.

I found this book to be uniquely entertaining on so many levels. With Pia, author Helen Grant has created a complex and interesting character, while still making her seem like an authentic teenager, as opposed to a miniature adult. She's funny, precocious and a bit cynical, but still maintains that spark of idealism and virtue that adulthood tends to crush. Plus, there is a genuinely frightening climax which ranks alongside anything you might find in the best suspense fiction. However, I must admit, I saw the solution coming a mile away. But that did not detract from this books many pleasures.

This genre-busting novel is definitely worth a look. Recommended.

[Rebecca Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a haunting, engrossing mystery set in Germany somewhere around the mid 1900s. The rich cultural details, German words and setting development really enhanced the atmosphere in the story. I especially liked the folk-tales included, like the burning man and unshakable Hans. While I'm normally not a fan of mystery stories, having the story told from a ten year-old's perspective with her belief in magical realism made it much more interesting.

I did find the ending a little unsatisfactory. It made sense, but I'm not sure I really buy the motive. If a man is willing to spend so much time telling stories to small neighborhood children, it doesn't really follow that he'd also "not be the type of man to raise a child that wasn't his own", at least not to the extent that he would kill her. I suppose his brother does say he was ill, and thus was probably not logical.

The characters were realistic and lifelike, though most of them were just really well sketched without getting into detail. I really liked Stefan, and oddly enough, the killer. I suppose that's kind of the point. Not going to lie, I thought it was going to be Boris or the evil old gossip-spreader.

Paceengrossing, measured
Characterization realistic, lifelike, familiar
POV first person
Frame small-town, Germany, post WWII
Story Line plot centered
Tone foreboding, dark
Writing Style thoughtful, polished, elaborate

Red Flags murder, language
Read Alikes The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo andThe Girl With Glass Feet