Il tema dell'abuso maschile nei confronti delle donne è molto attuale nella letteratura svedese contemporanea, basti pensare a Camilla Läckberg e la sua Gabbia Dorata, filone che avrà un seguito nel 2020, come preannunciato circa una settimana fa dalla stessa autrice.
Il tema dell'omicidio compiuto dalla madre e trasferito sulla figlia, con tutti i danni psicologici che ne conseguono, è chiaramente ripreso dal film 'Marnie' di Alfred Hitchcock.
Ma Greta, la protagonosta del libro della Eriksson, non è una bamboletta anni '50. Nonostante tutte le manipolazioni e le violenze che subisce riesce a mantenere una lucida volontà di chiarezza e di sopravvivenza, nonchè a far prevalere l'istinto materno e il desiderio di protezione nei confronti del figlio che attende dall'amante violento.
La narrazione in corsivo da parte della psicologa/moglie tradita è un altro filo conduttore spesso utilizzato dalla Läckberg per i suoi libri, generalmente per i personaggi passati più per quelli presenti come fa invece Eriksson.
La soluzione violenta e la preferenza per essa costituiscono l'unica nota stonata di questo romanzo che tiene incollato il lettore dalla prima all'ultima pagina, tra suspence e colpi di scena. ( )

Greta, her husband Alex and their daughter Smilla are all together in a boat, rowing across a lake to a small island. They are staying at a nearby cabin and taking an outing together. Once they reach the shore, Alex and Smilla decide to go investigate the island and walk away. Greta stays behind in the boat. Her husband and daughter never return. She waits....looks for them....then rows back to the cabin looking for her cell phone. They're gone. No trace. Greta isn't sure what to do. She feels ill....tries to eat...to sleep a little....thinks about calling the police. Where are Alex and Smilla? As she tries to piece her thoughts together, the chilling truth about Greta and her life begin to take form.

I listened to the audio book version of this novel. At nearly 7 hours long, the audio is excellent quality. Tanya Eby narrates. Her voice is easily understood and she reads at a perfect pace. I listened to the entire book, even though at times I really wanted to DNF and move on to something else. I think if I had been reading the print book I wouldn't have made it to the end. For me, the story is just too disjointed. The strangeness and non-linear story is central to the plot -- it's just how this tale works for its effect. But, I didn't like it. The plot develops too slowly. It took so long for hints about reality to really start coming that I lost interest. The main character comes off as annoying rather than someone I might sympathize with or care about. Her behavior and actions are just too odd. The constant whining, throwing up and strangeness is off-putting. I really struggled to get through this story. Does that mean it's a bad book? No. It just means it isn't for me. And it could also mean that the story lost something in translation to English. I do understand that the story is about a woman's loss of reality and her rambling, disjointed memories and understanding of her life and actions. It just didn't work for me. Too much rambling, confusion and just bizarre weirdness from the main character, not enough coherent story.
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The Missing by Caroline Eriksson was billed as a psychological thriller. There is potentially something interesting in the narrative, but it is so convoluted that whatever could be interesting is lost. The story becomes more unbelievable as it progresses. I listened to the Audible version in which the narration was superb; too bad the story was so disjointed ( )

Das Buch hat definitiv etwas Spannendes, v.a. zum Ende hin, als sich das Meiste klärt. Dann tut sich alles logisch zusammen und passt.
Dennoch kann ich dem Buch keine hohe Bewertung geben. Denn der Anfang ist so wirr, damit kann ich nicht viel anfangen. Lauter seltsame Irreführungen - warum? Um eine eigentlich recht stringente, sogar fast durchschaubare Geschichte künstlich aufzupeppen?
Mir gefielen schon einige Aspekte, ich fands auch spannend und unheimlich- aber das Umheimliche war mir eigentlich zu konstruiert. Man kann die Geschichte in drei Sätzen zusammenfassen (was ich jetzt nicht tue um nicht zu spoilern), der Rest ist künstliche Verwirrung. ( )

3.5 stars - this was a quick and easy read. It pulled me in with the twists and turns - every time I thought I had something figured out, I was wrong. The characters aren't particularly likable or well developed but the suspense of the book makes up for it. If you like thrillers and want a quick read, this is an ideal book. I received an ARC of this book from Goodreads. ( )