Very interesting story about Pia's life living in Bad Munstereifel, Germany with her English mother, German father and little brother. Pia's grandmother blows up as stated in the first paragraph of the novel which results in her classmates ostracizing her. This town has a lot of history and fairy tale which she learns from her grandmother's friend Herr Schiller. The town is full of gossip too and the two worlds blend together as Pia deals with the actions of others. I didn't guess the ending and was very surprised. I wished I had of realized there was a glossary of German to English words in the back of the book...luckily I knew a bit of German because the author leaves a lot of German in this English translation. I would have ranked the novel higher but I detest children swearing which they did in this novel. 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 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.
What do You think about El Imperturbable Hans (2011)?
Lighter mystery with a very engaging narrator. I enjoyed her point of view!
—zaz
Suspenseful and chock full of German folk tales. Good red herrings, too.
—Tristan
Exiting mistery like story. I couldnt stop reading
—Ceara
