The Vanishing of Katharina Linden

After Pia's grandmother dies in a freak accident, Pia becomes the town pariah, followed by rumor and gossip. The only person willing to be seen with her is another outcast, StinkyStefan, who she begrudgingly becomes friends with. When a young girl in town disappears, Pia is convinced that there are supernatural elements behind the mysterious vanishing, and Pia and Stefan are plunged into the mystery.

Many of the reviews refer to this as a modern fairy tale, and rightfully so - but it is definitely one of the grimmer ones, the kind that never made it to Disney. The juxtaposition of fairy tale and real life danger creates a truly creepy atmosphere, and Grant's writing is impeccable. Toward the end, my heart was thumping with terrified show more anticipation and I was flying through the pages, eager to find out what happened.

Pia and Stefan are surprisingly well-written; most books do grave disservice to children by making them unbearably stupid or far more clever than they should be. Pia and Stefan are clearly children, old enough to be aware when something is not being said, but not old enough to guess what. I never cringed, thinking, "Oh, they're going to do something stupid...", which is more than I can say for a lot of books.

If I had one quibble, it's that the person behind the disappearances was fairly obvious. There was really only two people it could be and any reader even faintly genre-savvy could pinpoint who it was immediately. That said, it's a credit to Grant that in a book that is in large part a mystery, knowing the identity of the culprit did not in any way detract from my enjoyment of what was a superbly written, perfectly paced, and thoroughly creepy book. show less

Pia is a 10 year old girl in a small village in Germany whose life turns upside down when her grandmother "explodes" and girls start to go missing. The disappearances are a shock in the community, in which everyone seems to know everyone and which has been, until now, untouched by such crime.

Grant is a very good writer and she particularly excels at giving a vivid picture of life in small-town Germany. She paints a setting that is at one moment cozy and inviting, and the next ominous and threatening. Pia's character is well-developed and gutsy; she's a fun narrator. There are some supernatural elements injected in the story as fairy tales and legends, told to Pia by a neighbor, come to life in her imagination. The story builds to an show more almost unbearable level of suspense as Pia and her friend try to solve the mystery, at times suspecting people in their town and at other times, suspecting that forces from another realm might be at work.

The ending was a bit of a let-down. I can't really explain why without giving away spoilers, so I'll just say that some of the shocking twists weren't quite shocking to me, and some of the behavior of the characters toward the end was so illogical as to become frustrating and distracting.

That is really my only quibble with what overall was a fantastic, creepy and atmospheric novel. Pia's astute perspective was at times funny which was a welcome relief from the fright induced by some parts of the novel. A very enjoyable read. show less

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 show more 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. show less

This is one of the Alex winners from last year that actually stayed with me. I find myself thinking about this book far more often than I anticipated, even after first reading. I've read criticism of the author's age treatment of Pia-- namely that she felt overly naive and childish. That's actually one of the reasons I like this book. Pia isn't precocious, and Stephan is only slightly so. The tone matches that of fairy tales very well (far better than Book of Lost Things and others like it). The twist ending isn't so much the resolution of the central mystery, but rather Pia's eventual realization that the world isn't quite as she has crafted it for herself. No one has a permanent role.

Pia Kolvenbach of Bad Munstereifel has a problem. Her grandmother Kolvenbach burst into flames at the dining table the last Sunday in Advent and Pia's life will never be the same. She is now suddenly the object of gossip and speculation amongst the children who used to be her friends and she is left with no one for company but StinkStefan. Stefan, the lone pariah in the class before Katharina's grandmother so thoughtlessly set fire to herself via the medium of too much hairspray and the lighted Advent Crown, is really not so bad, but Pia really likes him no better than she ever did. However, in need of some kind of friend, Pia has no choice in the friend department but Stefan and so resigns herself to being his very reluctant buddy. show more Otherwise she will be left to endure a solitary life as the object of unwelcome attention from all the kids she used to think of as her friends. It's Stefan or nothing. Who knows where matters might have gone if Katharina Linden hadn't disappeared - the first of several little Bad Munstereifel girls to go missing - thereby taking some of the pressure off Pia. It turns out that Stefan is not completely awful - he has the same curiosity that Pia does about what's happening in their small, formerly dull home town and the two of them decide to fill their time with trying to get to the bottom of matters.
I liked this book which very skillfully (I thought) walked the line between being a book about the lives children lead and one about full-blown child murders. Pia and Stefan were just right - neither saccaharine nor smart-assed. Having elements of mystery as it does, I don't want to reveal too much about what happens, but I will say that it is one of the better ER books I've received. I wondered for a while if TVoKL is intended to be a YA book and am still not entirely sure. I know I enjoyed it. show less

This is one cool refreshing read! The exquisite narrative immediately makes you feel you are a part of the people living in the town of Bad Münstereifel in Germany. It is in this town that we meet Pia and Stefan, two 10 year olds that find themselves in the midst of some obscure happenings in town. First, Katharina Linden disappears. Out of the blue. Just like that. Everyone thinks it's an isolated incident till another girl goes missing. The kids get their imaginations fueled by the stories told to them by Herr Schiller, a friendly neighbor, and embark on an investigation all of their own. I loved the quirkiness of it all: the characters, the fairy tales, the small town mentality... and also the scary-real part of it all, that show more nightmare that us parents don't ever want to face: the disappearance of a child. Only part I can critique is the fact that some words and expressions are written in German, and although you can infer the meaning of most, you still have to look up some in the back glossary and I found that broke the rythm of the story for me a bit. I contacted the author about this and she kindly replied back saying that her other novels don't have as many German words in them. I found it lovely that she took the time to read my comment and reply back, as I plan to read all of her other books as well. Great read! show less

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 show more 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. show less