Now this is a real mystery you can sink your teeth into…

Oh wow… This is one of those stories you finish and then need to think about. I found it ended suddenly and was trying to turn the page even though it was the end! Ooops. A story that has such an unexpected outcome I was left like… WHATTT!!! I really wanted more.

Charlie and Anders are sent to help solve the case/mystery of missing Annabelle but they are also having to deal with their own personal problems at the same time which can become tricky.

The story flicks from the present day to the day of Annabelles disappearance. It also includes a lot of flashbacks for Charlies character as she has returned to her hometown after so long… Makes you question her character even if she is a police officer does she have a hidden past? Alcohol problem? She’s a bit of a dark, secretive character at times. Infact it seems every character in this story has secrets and whole other side to them.

Brilliantly written, it will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat until the end. Fast paced. Thrilling. Can easily be devoured. Highly recommend. A well deserved four stars from me.

For the Missing is a gripping, tense, mystery of a novel and a solid debut by an author I am unfamiliar with.

For the Missing is a very atmospheric novel with a breathtaking conclusion.

Highly recommended - full review to follow on blog asap.

For The Missing introduces us to DI Charlie Lager, a detective in the Stockholm police force, who along with her colleague Anders Bratt is given the task of trying to find out what has happened to teenager Annabelle Roos. To do this however she has to return to her childhood town of Gullspång, a place she has not been to for nineteen years.
I will admit that this is a different style of book to the ones I would usually pick up. Although you would expect it to be quite fast paced with the police trying to find Annabelle before it is too late, the writing style gives it a more sedate feel. This may be partly due to the book going between events of the past and the days leading up to Annabelle’s disappearance. At the start I was a little confused as to how the story of Rosa and Alice fitted in with the present but as you get further into the book it all becomes a lot clearer. The focus of the book is also more on the Charlie and Annabelle than the actual investigation in to the disappearance itself. That being said I found that I couldn’t put the book down as I raced to find out the ending.
Charlie doesn’t like to share her personal life with her colleagues so it comes as a surprise to Anders when she finally admits that she grew up in the town that they are heading to. The choices she makes in her present life certainly seem tied to her childhood and the actions of her mother but she always make sure that they don’t affect her work. Despite her best efforts to keep her past to herself she finds that she is linked to the current events in a way even she didn’t expect. Annabelle seemed like your typical teenager rebelling against an overprotective mother, having lied about her whereabouts on the night she disappeared and maybe not being quite the innocent girl her parents believed her to be. The story of Rosa and Alice was the biggest surprise to me as what seemed like an innocent friendship actually had a more sinister conclusion and went some way to explain the actions of some of the characters throughout the book
This is only the second translated book that I have read and I have to say that for a debut novel the author has certainly managed to create characters that draw you in, making you want to understand them and how they ended up in the situations that they did. The close knit community of Gullspång could relate to any small town so I think that also adds to its appeal. I will definitely look out for further books in translation by this author in the future.

It’s been a while since the start of a book grabbed me quite so hard by the short and curlies. This is Scandi crime in pretty explosive, highly atmospheric style.

A young woman, Annabelle Roos, goes missing from the small and somewhat claustrophobic Swedish town of Gullspang. Local police have investigated but their progress is slow to going nowhere and they ask the Stockholm National Operations Department for help. Charlie’s boss decided to send his best two detectives, Charlie and Anders.

Charlie is something of a stereotypical Scandinavian detective. Hard drinking, indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners this is a detective with hallmarks you recognise well. But Charlie is a woman and a damn fine detective; one who has suffered her fair share of sexism in and out of the force and who, as we will soon find out, has secrets of her own that she has left behind in Gullspang.

It’s been 19 years since Charlie left and she really had hoped never to have to return. She doesn’t talk much about her childhood and with good reason. Charlie doesn’t want to go back but will go where the job takes her. Gullspang is full of memories for her and some secrets she’d hoped to leave behind for ever.

Lina Bengtsdotter tells her story from different perspectives. Weaving together different timelines and story strands, we find out about a friendship between two girls, Alice and Rosa which takes a sinister turn; Annabelle’s childhood and the time leading up to her disappearance and Charlie’s own upbringing with an alcoholic mother which unleashes all the memories and events Charlie has spent years working to suppress . Each of these stories has something to contribute to the tale of what happened to Annabelle and why.

Bengtsdotter has an original voice that benefits from well-formed characters that stand out as believable and the story arc is certainly compelling. Her prose is strong and well-paced and there’s no messing around as the story powers to its denouement.

The sense of location is really good, helped by the fact that the author comes from Gullsprang, but the atmosphere and the claustrophobia of the town where it is everyone’s business to know who’s ruling the roost, adds a strong dose of authenticity. This is certainly not the liberated, contemporary Sweden we read about in our papers and the book is the better for exposing the flaws.

Well written and quite transfixing, this is a book I was glued to until I got to the surprising and unpredictable end. I’m keen to read more by Bengtsdotter, although I did feel slightly beaten up by the end of the book which came so quickly and felt just a bit unfinished; certainly it’s as rushed an ending as I have come across in a while.

Verdict: A strong and propulsive crime thriller that chills the blood and stirs the emotions.

For The Missing is a dark, enthralling crime novel that I thoroughly enjoyed! Although based on the classic detective story about a cop who is struggling to escape her demons the author manages to make the story seem fresh with the atmospheric narrative and attention to detail.

The author does a great job of setting the scene for this novel so that it seems very real. The claustrophobia of a small, tight knit town is almost palpable with everyone seeming to know everyone else’s business. This also adds an edge to the story as you realise that Annabelle might have known her attacker and I started to suspect everyone!

There are some fabulous characters in this book which range from quirky and fun to very scary. The story is told from both Charlie and Annabel’s point of view, with the author taking the reader through all aspects of their lives and their past so I felt that I got to really know them both personally. I had some opinions about both of these characters at the beginning which were proved wrong as I discovered more about them.

As other reviewers are saying this isn’t a particularly fast paced, action packed novel. Instead the author focuses on the lives of the two characters, Annabel & Charlie, delving deep into their history to discover why they act like they do which I thought was very gripping. I wanted to keep on reading to find out what happens next.

This unbelievably is the author’s debut novel as I thought her writing was brilliant. It has a great flow to it which helps to draw the reader in and helps keep their attention. I’ll definitely be looking forward to reading more from her in the future.

Huge thanks to Tracy for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orion for my copy of this book via Netgalley. If you like dark, enthralling crime books with a hint of Swedish noir than you’ll love this book!

A gripping thriller set in a small town . A teenage girl goes missing but what happened to her . Many twists and turns to keep you hooked till the end

I really enjoyed this book. The main character is just flawed enough to keep me on side, but clever enough to keep the whole plot moving on. An interesting look at the missing child trope, with plenty of threads to keep the reader turning the pages!

Two detectives from Stockholm are sent to a Swedish rural village to investigate the disappearance of a 17 year old girl Annabelle when she didn't come home after a party. If you're looking for an interesting police procedural with focus on two very talented detectives with great deduction skills then I'm not sure you'll be satisfied. Much of their progress actually comes from one or two witnesses who eventually tell them something useful. If, on the other hand, you're looking to get invested in a character-driven story which relies heavily on an interesting backstory, all of which happens to be a police detective, then this is worth your while.

DI Charlie (Charlene) Lager fled from this same village 20 years earlier and she's not looking forward to revisiting her past. The story's focus is predominantly on Charlie and I got to know her first as someone who drinks, who's on some sort of medication and who leads a promiscuous lifestyle; getting it on with a married colleague doesn't even stop her. Not the most admirable person I believe but she is very intelligent and no detail escapes her so she has her good qualities too.

Throughout the story there are many flashbacks to her past which show a very unconventional upbringing by her mother Betty. She keeps calling her Betty all the time which felt a little weird but maybe it was just another sign of how different a family they were too. There was never a label on her mother's mental illness but I believe she did have one, probably a manic depression of sorts. In any case her mother didn't really raise her how she should have, although I do believe she loved her daughter in her own way. At the end of the story it made me understand better how Charlie became so messed up with the childhood she had. It took me a long time to understand why she never returned, I couldn't really define her exact emotion, but in the end I think she was consumed by guilt. It might have been better if the author had made this more clear right at the start, it would have heigthened the intrigue even more from the beginning.

Besides the succint investigation and Charlie's youth with Betty, there were also two little girls Rosa and Alice in other alternating chapters. These chapters didn't seem to be related to the rest at all so I was all the more curious how they fit in. I didn't like the way their friendship was evolving at all and I had that imminent feeling that something was wrong early on in the story but I was still surprised how important their role comes into play.

I enjoyed reading the past sequences most of all because they held most of the mystery. The ongoing investigation was a bit slow and as soon as a key character came into the story I knew it was a likely suspect. Even though the ending was still surprising, I would have been more satisfied with a big climax revealing her murderer, now it fizzled out a little bit for me.

Overall a commendable debut where I especially enjoyed reading about Charlie. You'll definitely have a feel for this detective in this new series and it's great to know where she came from.

The debut novel by Bengtsdotter, is one of those novels that takes a while to get its claws into you, and once it does, it refuses to let go.

Nordic noir follows a template of a structure familiar to crime readers old and new; a young detective fighting her own demons must go back to her hometown following a long absence as a new case opens up old wounds for not just our protagonist but the family and friends she left behind for the bright lights of a big city.

This familiar tale of redemption to overcome a failing is well handled. DI Charlie Lager, is a detective with an affliction for alcohol, but the type of drinking where she drinks to an oblivion yet she wakes up for work with no problem; her peers know of her vices and dance around the issue as she is good at her job.

A missing child in her hometown leads Charlie to head north away from Stockholm, at odds with her partner and at odds with the town she returns to; nevertheless Charlie must find the missing Annabelle before it is too late.

For The Missing by Lina Bengtsdotter is a dense, layered novel. The story picks up with Charlie, a skilled detective in Stockholm, Sweden. Charlie is asked to return to her childhood home of Gallspang to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Annabelle Roos. Annabelle is a smart 17 year old, with maturity beyond her years. Prior to her disappearance she balanced a complex school life with a personal life she seemed to keep secret from all who knew her. Annabelle has a loving father and a neurotic, high strung mother who seems to make it her personal mission to suffocate Annabelle’s independence. For Charlie, returning to her childhood home, brings all her hidden demons out of the closet.

The story is multidimensional, and is told from multiple storylines including that of the missing girl, Annabelle. Annabelle is a complex girl, who has many secrets and potentially many people in her life that would have motive to dispose of her, including an unknown older boyfriend, who's Identity Annabelle has hidden from even her best friend. Charlie must follow a complex web of history and secrets to uncover what happened to Annabelle.
The story is both riveting and heartbreaking. For The Missing is a story with many people who know a great deal of suffering. It is a page turner, as we are brought along on a journey to discover what happened to Annabelle Roos. A thrilling read that I will remember for many years to come.

Thank you Orion and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book - all opinions are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - there is something about Nordic Noir as a sub-genre that I find so intriguing and captivating to read, and this did not disappoint.

Lina Bengtsdotter does amazing work creating deeply atmospheric tension right from the get go - everything about the town where the story takes place was wildly vivid in my mind as a flew through the pages. I love that Lina created complex characters who all have their own issues, especially as I love a good flawed lead character and Charlie was perfect in this sense.

I also loved the pace of this book - the plot flew along, moving back and forth between the present investigation, the night of the disappearance and to a previous perspective of characters who you don't quite know, but instinctively understand are crucial to the fabric of the story. The twists and turns in this one were perfectly executed - it took until they were right in front of me to realize just how crazy everything was and tied together.

Which is all I will say, as no one likes a spoiler for a mystery! But mystery readers out there should definitely take this one out for a spin, it will keep you guessing to the very end.

The book was easy to read, based in a little Village called Gullspang. Its a report of a missing teenage girl who has gone missing from a night out and her parents are worried. The mother seems quite strict and sets curfews but Annabelle does not seem the sort of girl to run away.

DI Charlie Lager from Stockholm is assigned to the case but does not let on to her bosses that she lived there as a child. Perhaps that was a mistake.

Its well written and the more experienced officers from Stockholm help the local police to look for Annabelle including questioning her friends and trying to find out more about her life. There is a dark undercurrent and there is a hint of a murder many years ago, could that be linked?

A few twists and turns, very intriguing and Charlie learns more of her past.......

For The Missing combines the trusted recipe of a main detective struggling with demons from the past with the setting of a. village in rural Sweden, populated by a cast of characters ranging from quirky to sinister.
I read and enjoy a lot of crime thrillers/ police procedurals and they can get a little samey. What makes it different from other series of this kind is that the whole setting, the characters, the story feel very raw and real, right from the start - and very relatable to anyone who grew up in any small rural place anywhere. It is dark and bleak, there’s under age drug abuse, child neglect, alcoholism, deprivation... just as in real life. But there’s also a small measure of hope. After all, Charlie made it out, right?
I really really enjoyed this one and found it extremely well written for a debut novel. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next to DI Charlie Lager and her faithful sidekick Anders (not forgetting his paranoid wife, Charlie’s Ex and her almost sibling!).

Nora's daughter Annabelle has disappeared, last seen on her way home from a party.

THE LOST
Gullspång's inexperienced police are wilting under the national media spotlight - and its residents desperate for answers.

THE CLOCK IS TICKING . . .
Stockholm DI Charlie Lager must return home to find Annabelle, and then get out of town as soon as she can. Before everyone discovers the truth about her . . .

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. Parts of it were really good … but other parts not so good. Even though everything was explained, I felt that the book ended quite abruptly, which surprised me. I give this book 3.5*

D.I. Charlie Lager was a unique and interesting protagonist whom I will follow throughout this quality series. Though translated, the narrative flowed seamlessly at a good pace. The descriptions of the Swedish towns and landscape immersed me in the story.

Though the premise of a missing child is not a new one, Bengstdotter breathes fresh life and more than a little suspense into her series debut. I enjoy a 'damaged' protagonist and Charlie surely fills that bill. All of the characters in this novel were written with understanding and empathy. Charlie's partner, Anders, was a good foil for her.

Though I've read some reviews by readers who found the ending a tad disappointing, I heartily disagree. I found the end realistic, therefore apt.

The backstory of the girls Rosa and Alice was at once mesmerizing and appalling. The author neatly joined the various stories together to form a cohesive and believable whole.

"For the Missing" is an excellent start to a quality Swedish police procedural series. Like all Scandinavian noir, it exposed the dark, secretive underbelly of the picturesque landscape. I am very much looking forward to the second novel in the series. Highly recommended.

For the Missing, the first novel to feature DI Charlie Lager set in the Swedish town of Gullspång, Västergötland, is the epitome of Scandi Noir and a very promising start to a new series. It has all the claustrophobia and atmosphere that good noir fiction can evoke, but the author adds refreshing originality by making it more of a character study. The analysis focuses on DI Lager and the missing girl Annabelle and shows the unravelling of both of their lives over the course of the novel. Despite the lack of action, the book held my interest for the duration. That's the mark of an excellent writer, one who can make even the most mundane situations exciting and interesting.

Charlie is the typical, slightly cliched investigator with issues in her personal life, however, she does not allow her afflictions and addictions to affect her at work. She's a very troubled protagonist and you learn more about her as the novel progresses and by the conclusion, I was right behind her. The writing is incredible and flows effortlessly from one page to the next, it's hard to believe that's this is a debut. The translator also deserves a mention as I had completely forgotten that I was reading a work that has been translated until I read about it again after finishing it. If you enjoy character-driven novels then this may be a good fit for you, but I don't feel this is a thriller per se, it's more of a suspense or domestic noir than anything else, but that doesn't make it any less engrossing.

Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.

Oh My Gosh! This is epic! It's starts off as a great little page turner with a good amount of mystery and suspense. The characters are brilliant and you find the plot creeps up on you like a stranger in the night. Before I knew it I was devouring the pages desperate to find out what happens and simultaneously hiding behind my fingers from the tension. A thoroughly addictive read!

great book, I enjoyed it. Read right to the end loved the way it flowed the characters were great setting great to .
Enjoyed it and I would recommend it to friends

This is a gripping crime thriller set in a small village outside Stockholm.
Charlie and Anders are asked to help with the investigation of a missing teenage girl. Charlie is happy to go until she finds out where it is.
She’s being asked to go back where she grew up and she is dreading going back there.
As the story unfolds we find out more about Charlie’s past and the troubled childhood she had.
The hunt for missing Annabelle leads them down different paths, each becoming more twisted than the last. Lots of people have secrets they’d prefer to keep hidden but with Charlie back, she’s determined to find out what happened.
I really felt for Charlie at times as she’s clearly struggling to cope, but won’t accept any help.
This is a great crime mystery.
Thanks to Orion and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

An interesting and fascinating read. Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is my first time reading a Scandinavian novel, but it won't be my last. Full of intrigue and suspense, the story starts out slow then gathers pace.. This story would make a fantastic crime series.

Recommended.