Book Report: Missing, Presumed

27. Susie Steiner, Missing, Presumed (2016) (12/21/19)

A police procedural set in Cambridgeshire, this book is also more than that (or perhaps less, if you were expecting a page-turner): for in the end, it is a character study, or a study of a set of characters, told in chapters narrated from various points of view. Because once the initial disappearance of Cambridge University student Edith Hind occurs, with some telltale evidence that suggests possible foul play, very little actually happens. Manon Bradshaw, the 39-year-old (and painfully single) main detective, and her colleagues follow various clues and surmises, but these mostly seem to lead to dead ends. Meanwhile, we learn about the yearnings and vulnerabilities of, especially, Edith's mother, Miriam, and of DS Bradshaw herself—both of them unhappy in their personal lives, for quite different reasons. We experience the relative tedium of simply not knowing, of grasping at straws, of not giving up on hope. There are two further deaths, one definitely connected to Edith's disappearance, the other not so clearly so. People end up being not quite who they seem. Ultimately, the case is solved—and the main characters have changed, seemingly for the better. Or at least they seem better able to stumble in the direction of fulfillment.

The writing is excellent, with some smashing metaphors: "her heartbeat thudding like a bee against glass," for example. And speaking of a new, still-tentative relationship:

"Don't cry," he says, his hand on her cheek, and she wonders if he means it as solace or whether he is actually asking her not to emote in his presence. She is descending and he is floating up, like the birds beyond his window. The landing and the flying off.

I didn't flag any passages in particular. But I enjoyed the writing, the characterizations, the descriptions—and finally, the story—quite well.