Tuesday, July 04, 2017

Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner


First Line: She can feel hope ebbing, like the Christmas lights on fade in Pound Saver.

Manon Bradshaw may love her job, and she may be a highly respected member of the Cambridgeshire police force, but she's thirty-nine and what she wants most is a personal life. She wants a husband and children and goes out on internet dates trying to find Mr. Right. Then-- once again-- her search for love takes a backseat to her job when she finds herself involved in a very puzzling crime.

Edith Hind is a graduate student at Cambridge University and the daughter of very well-connected parents. She's also been missing for almost twenty-four hours. Few clues have been left behind in her home: drops of blood, her keys and phone left behind, the front door ajar with no signs of forced entry. Manon knows this case is going to be huge-- and that every second is crucial to finding Edith alive.

Missing, Presumed is told in the voices of principal characters in alternating chapters: Manon; her partner in the police force, Davy; Edith's friend Helena; Edith's mother Miriam; and one or two chapters from Edith herself. It's a good way to get inside the minds of each character in order to get a clearer picture of what's going on. This is especially true once the investigation gathers steam and the lives of the people closest to Edith are put under the microscope (and often shredded). 

The one character I had the most difficult time coming to grips with is Manon Bradshaw herself. This is because, for most of the book, she is ruled by jealousy. She's not close to her family because her sibling got more attention. She looks at every other female and sees what they have that she doesn't. It's never dawned on her that maybe, just maybe, what everyone else has isn't what she needs. Seeing her finally begin to change her way of thinking was refreshing to say the least.

Although the pace of the book is dramatically slowed by what I refer to as TMM (too much middle), and it has an ending that I didn't find very surprising, I still enjoyed the book. Those alternating voices really pulled me into the story. My next encounter with Manon will be an interesting one.
 

Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner
eISBN: 9780812998337
Random House © 2016
eBook, 369 pages

Police Procedural, #1 Manon Bradshaw mystery
Rating: B
Source: Purchased from Amazon.


 

13 comments:

  1. I liked this book, even though I found Manon's self-defeating behavior and bad dates to be a bit annoying.

    A friend disliked her entirely because she kept doing
    silly things and acting in a very immature way.

    However, she turns into a better person and finds herself and a life by the end of the book. So, she is redeemed, and I will read book two.

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    1. I will, too, but I'm going to wait a while. I'm still not a huge fan of Manon, so I need some space before I visit her again.

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  2. I'm glad you found things to like about this one, Cathy. I think it can be very hard to get the pacing just right in a story like this, 'though I know what you mean about TMI. It'll be interesting to see what Steiner does next.

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  3. Did you feel Manon had redeemed herself by the end of the book with what she did with building a family and reaching out to her sister?
    I think she grew up. So book two will be interesting.

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    1. Yes, I did, but not everyone who's reading this review (and comments) have read the book, so I don't really want to say much about it. :-)

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  4. Of course not. But the ending made me want to read the next book.

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  5. I'ver been trying to figure out if there is a well adjusted, happy homicide detective in modern crime fiction. If there is, I haven't met them yet. I just finished a reread of Red Hook by Gabriel Cohen, so the idea has been on my mind for a few dyas.

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    1. They are few and far between, Ryan. I can think of three off the top of my head-- all in England as luck would have it. There's DCI Fran Harman in Judith Cutler's series, and the married DCI Duncan Kincaid and DI Gemma James in Deborah Crombie's series. I know there are others, but my brain has had a hard day. :-)

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  6. Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice Questura is a happy married middle-aged man with a brilliant spouse and two teenage children.
    He dreams of growing old with Paola Falier, his spouse, and his house full of books on Greek and Roman history in his beloved Venice which is being besieged with tourists.

    Police detective Irene Huss of Gotberg, Sweden, is also a well-adjusted person, happily married with twin daughters. Her spouse is a chef so she always comes home after a hard day detecting to a fantastic dinner. And she knows martial arts.

    Then there's the male detective in Eva Dolan's books. I can't think of his name. He's also happily married, with children. And he's always well-balanced in investigations.

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    1. How could I forget Irene Huss?!? Three excellent examples, Kathy.

      One thing I've noticed-- all of our examples are of police officers in other countries. None live in the United States.

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  7. Yes. I thought of that, too. What is it that drives detectives to drink here or be miserable?

    I think of V.I. Warshawski, who is a bit quirky, but she is brave, smart, feisty and more. But she is not an unhappy person nor an alcoholic. A bit unconventional, but she's a great character and comfortable with herself.

    Kinsey Milhone does OK for herself, also has no bad habits.

    And Sharon McCone is OK, happily in her relationship, has friends, doesn't drink. She gets into dangerous situations but comes out of them feisty as ever.

    I cant' think of a U.S. analogy to Irene Huss or Guido Brunetti or Eva Dolan's male character. Does a character have to be married with children to be well-adjusted, even happy?

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    1. Someone seems to be trying to force us to think so.

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