Δείτε επίσης και στο Chill and read

Τον Οκτώβριο του 2009, τρεις έφηβοι, σε μια βόλτα τους στις παρυφές του όρους Όρμπεργ θα ανακαλύψουν ένα κρανίο που ανήκει σε ένα μικρό κορίτσι. Το σοκαριστικό αυτό γεγονός θα επηρεάσει τις ζωές τους γενικότερα αλλά και ειδικότερα της Μάλιν, του κοριτσιού της παρέας που στην ουσία ήταν αυτή που το βρήκε.

Οχτώ χρόνια μετά, στην Όρμπεργ, ο δεκαπεντάχρονος Τζέικ τριγυρίζει στο δάσος στις παρυφές του όρους. Εκεί συναντά μια γυναίκα, τη Χάνε, η οποία φαίνεται τουλάχιστον αποπροσανατολισμένη και αντιδρά σαν κάποιος να την κυνηγά. Η Χάνε, που έχει πατήσει τα σαράντα, είναι τραυματισμένη και δεν θυμάται πως βρέθηκε εκεί. Η γενική ιδέα είναι ότι η Χάνε και ο Πέτερ παίρνουν μέρος σε μια έρευνα μιας ανεπίλυτης υπόθεσης, αυτής του κοριτσιού που είχε βρεθεί από τη Μάλιν. Στην ίδια έρευνα παίρνει μέρος και η Μάλιν που είναι πλέον αστυνομικός. Δυστυχώς όμως ο Πέτερ έχει εξαφανιστεί και με τη Χάνε να μη θυμάται τι συνέβη, τα πράγματα δυσκολεύουν.

Το βιβλίο κινείται στα πλαίσια του αστυνομικού μυθιστορήματος με κοινωνικές προεκτάσεις. Βασικό του στοιχείο είναι ο ρατσισμός σε διάφορες μορφές του, το μεταναστευτικό και το πόσο πιο έντονα γίνονται κάποια προβλήματα στις μικρές κοινωνίες. Η Όρμπεργ είναι μια πολύ μικρή κοινότητα όπου όλοι οι κάτοικοι γνωρίζονται μεταξύ τους και φυσικά, έτσι απομονωμένοι όπως είναι, βοηθούν ο ένας τον άλλον όταν παραστεί ανάγκη. Σε μια τέτοια κοινότητα, αν δημιουργηθεί μια δομή μεταναστών, θα υπάρχουν αντιδράσεις. Και δεν μιλάμε μόνο για τα σημερινά δεδομένα με τον πόλεμο στη Συρία και τα κύματα μεταναστών που έχουν γεμίσει την Ευρώπη. Η αναφορά πάει πίσω στη δεκαετία του ’90. Το πρόβλημα τη Όρμπεργ, είναι πρόβλημα και άλλων μικρών πόλεων σε όλη την Ευρώπη. Όταν οι κάτοικοι δεν χρηματοδοτούνται για να μπορέσουν να ζήσουν στον τόπο τους ενώ οι δουλειές εξαφανίζονται και τα εργοστάσια κλείνουν, θα αντιδράσουν με τον ένα ή με τον άλλο τρόπο στη φιλοξενία μεταναστών και στα χρήματα που δίνονται εκεί.

Την ιστορία μας αφηγούνται τρία πρόσωπα, η Μάλιν, ο Τζέικ και η Χάνε. Έτσι, έχουμε τρεις διαφορετικές οπτικές γωνίες που μας τροφοδοτούν με γεγονότα. Η κάθε πλευρά δίνει τα δικά της στοιχεία και στο τέλος σχηματίζουμε μια ολοκληρωμένη άποψη. Οι τρεις αφηγητές είναι πολύ διαφορετικοί μεταξύ τους, όσον αφορά το φύλο, την ηλικία και τις εμπειρίες γύρω από την ιστορία αλλά και την πρότερη ζωή τους. Στην πορεία όμως όλα παίρνουν το δρόμο τους και κάποιοι θα έρθουν πιο κοντά μέσα από όλη αυτή την ιστορία.

Ο ρυθμός της αφήγησης είναι σχετικά αργός. Όλα τα στοιχεία της έρευνας δίνονται από τον ένα ή τον άλλο αφηγητή καθώς και κάποια στοιχεία που δεν φαίνονται έτσι στην αρχή, οδηγούν στη λύση του μυστηρίου σχετικά νωρίς. Αυτό που δεν περιμένει κανείς είναι η ανατροπή στο τέλος του βιβλίου. Πρόκειται για ένα πολύ δυνατό κομμάτι του που ξαφνιάζει τον αναγνώστη. ( )

I really couldn't get into this book. The beginning is very slow. There were many things I didn't understand as the book is set in Sweden(?) and has many local terms and I haven't read the earlier book in the series. I kept getting distracted by things like, why is Jake's name amusing? It really felt like i was missing half the book.

However, I kept reading and by the end of the book, decided it wasn't terrible. It just wasn't for me. ( )

After a horrifying experience in her teens Malin has become a police officer, determined to help people and use it as a way to leave her small town behind for good. When a task force is set up to clear old cases she is called back to Ormberg and the case that changed her life forever. Just a few days into revisiting the case of the dead child never claimed, Peter, an investigator, goes missing, and Hanne, a psychological profile and his partner, is found wandering, her diary missing and her memory gone. Malin must pair up with the lead detective and the obnoxious local to find find Peter and solve an old crime that never should have gone cold. The only clue they have is a young woman in a sparkling dress, but Ormberg is a classic small town and the person in that dress is terrified to come forward and admit who they really are. As they read Hanne's diary though, the one left on the ground when she was picked up, they find they must help even if they must risk everything.

Told from the perspective of three protagonists, After She's Gone follows Malin, Hanne, and young Jake as a cold case comes roaring back to life. While the old murder and active crimes make up the majority of the novel, I truly believe this is a story about identity. I ached for Jake as he fought for what he believed to be normalcy among his broken family and against a town filled with hate. He holds the key to the answers, but in his youth fails to see the importance of the diary he found. Risking the truth is too much for him and I think it was a powerful exploration into self worth and how the things we are taught can influence someone even when they know what is right. Malin is desperate to leave her hometown behind once again, regardless of her mothers deteriorating condition and the knowledge of the area only she can offer to the others on the task force. The novel explores the past that has shaped her, the future she imagines, and her innermost thoughts as she faces the difficult task of finding her missing teammates and recognizing the biases she still holds about the town. Finally, we have Hanne, an incredibly famous psychological profile with a well-kept secret, dementia is taking her memory away one day at a time. Her diary holds all the answers and it was so incredible that Hanne's chapters were really the diary and that as readers, we, along with Jake, knew the answers but were unable to help Malin with them.

The three are faced with a horrifying crime, one they thought was long forgotten, but is now seeping into the town and their lives once again. After She's Gone is the kind of book you read with a notebook beside you, ready to write down any hint or thread of truth. There's so much going on in the novel, but Camilla Grebe ties it all together quite nicely. Not only is there traditional crime, murder and kidnapping, the novel also touches on crimes of life, such as prejudices, refugees, and the hate one experiences for their sexuality, their beliefs, for their mental state. I found the chilling tale, set in the dark woods of fictional Ormberg, Sweden, fascinating and I could not put it down.

While I did not read the first novel in the Flickorna och mörkret #2 series, I do think After She's Gone read perfectly well as a standalone. Camilla Grebe provides plenty of information for you to know the characters and I never felt as though a story from the previous novels carried over. The novel, while fictional, reads quite like a true crime novel and the town is very much like any small town today. I could picture the characters and the setting and I could feel the emotions that rolled from the characters like waves. Camilla Grebe has given us a novel with a strong narrative that is relatable and terrifying all at once.

ARC provided. ( )

Malin was 15 when she came across the skeleton of a young girl in the woods. She's 23 now and a police woman on the task force looking into the cold case murder. Simultaneously, Hanne and Peter, two older police disappear one weekend. Hanne is found stumblijng through the woods and can't remember anything.

Jake, a boy who likes dressing in women's clothes, finds her in the woods but when a car passes by and stops, he realizes he can't be seen dressed as he is. He runs away, but not before taking Hanne's notebook, where she writes everything so she can remember.

After She's Gone alternates between Mailn and crew trying to solve the murder and Jake, reading through Hanne's diary and ultimately realizing what happened. This books is interesting and certainly touches upon current affairs as there is a large refugee population in the little Swedish town of Ormberg where the story takes place. There is a small hint of the ending somewhere in the middle of the book , but I totally missed it. Mailn is a little whiny for my tastes but overall she's good character, as are the others in the task force. Not a bad read. ( )

Great read

‘After she’s gone’ was a great read, I thoroughly enjoyed this book from the first page to the last. The way that author has set the scene and created the characters within gripped me, and the way all the characters were connected to the plot and to each other was done very well. I liked the characters within, and they all felt very real, I also liked the way the author has delved in to the issues the characters are facing such as hannes dementia and Jakes cross dressing/ being transgender, as well as the case and malin, Ormburg, and the asylum seekers, this novel felt real, the characters felt real, and are facing the real world. I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to other readers.