Seated in the dining room Stockholm's Grand Hotel, Sibylla blends in with the other patrons, at least if you don’t look closely enough. She wears a designer suit bought at Oxfam and carries an almost empty briefcase. Anyone would think she was there on business and she is actually, but her business is trying to entice a male customer into buying her a drink and hopefully getting a room for the evening.
Sibylla’s plans go accordingly and she manages to get a middle-aged businessman to pay for her hotel room after sharing dinner with him. He hopes she’ll find her way to his room later in the evening but someone else does and murders him. Unfortunately for Sibylla, the staff remembers her and the police want to talk to her but she’s not about to be caught up in a police investigation and she goes on the run.
For the past 15 years Sibylla has been living on the fringe of society. She’s one of the homeless that everyone would prefer not to notice. Life wasn’t always like this. She is the daughter of a prominent businessman but growing up all she knew were the taunts of other children and the abuse of an overbearing and controlling mother.
As Sibylla tries to make sense of what happened back at the hotel another victim is found and now Sibylla has become the most wanted woman in Sweden. Pretty soon she teams up with a young man who will help her prove her innocence.
The author doesn’t spend as much time with other characters as I would have liked but the reader does get a very good sense of who Sibylla is. In alternating chapters using flashbacks the reader finds out all the bits that led Sibylla to prefer a life on the streets than a life of privilege.
I had several ideas of who the real killer might be but I was still surprised. This was a good page-turner, and I’ve added another Scandinavian author to put on my must watch for list.
Added 02/08