Troubled teens become amateur sleuths as girls disappear

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden By Helen Grant Published by Penguin ISBN 9780141325736

Katharina Linden vanished on the day of the February Karneval. The last time anyone actually saw her, she was standing near the fountain, waiting to join the procession. The Karneval is always an exciting day in the small town of Bad Munstereifel, and the last thing anyone expects is for a young girl to disappear.

The happy atmosphere turns to suspicion as word spreads of her disappearance. During the following days neither local search parties nor the police find any clues about Katharina's whereabouts.

Helen Grant's impressive debut novel The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is one of those rare books that refuses to downsize style or content just because it's written for teenage readers. This is just an excellently written and totally absorbing book that grabs both youth and adult readers.

Although the story of Katharina's disappearance is told from the point of view of a young central character, this novel is more sophisticated than many adult bestsellers. Grant is a classy storyteller and her first novel is a splendid read.

Set in a small, self-absorbed German town in 1998, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden focuses on young Pia, the daughter of a German father and English mother, who is ostracised at school and saddled with an oddball friend called Stink Stefan. Pia is fed up with her schoolmates and hates her snobby English cousins.