The Vanishing of Katharina Linden - Helen Grant

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden
By Helen Grant


You know those books you read that totally surprise you, the ones that are just like SHABLAM in your face! Well, this was one of those. It started as a book about a girl named Pia and her life in Germany. It was about her growing up and dealing with school kid drama (the drama that every kid deals with but exaggerated to an entertaining degree). When a girl goes missing the story shifts to focus on how it affects Pia and those close to her. Through all this, tales are woven into the story about the town she lives in. As the focus turns more to the mystery of the missing girl it happened in a very natural way and was therefore much more real.

I have to tell you I started reading this on a warm day sitting out in the sun and it felt very cheery and light, then I was in my house later after the sun had gone down and the story got a bit dark. I was all alone and started totally freaking myself out because the book got creepy in a wonderfully delightful way and at the end I even caught myself reading with my eyes frozen in wide “holy crap” Os (and this was happening while I was in the bath…not the most relaxing bath I ever took but I literally couldn’t put the book down). This is where I tell you that I did something I have never done before in a book…I jumped ahead! I was on my lunch break and I had no idea I was getting to the apex of the story because (like I said) I had no idea it was going to be such a mysterious story and I just had to know…

I glanced at each page for the next couple of chapters until I found the answer I was looking for. I’m so ashamed! But I don’t regret it. I think it was more intense when I went back and actually read those pages knowing what I knew…

This book was not what I was expecting…it was better.

**Source: ARC via LibraryThing