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A controlled and sustained read
Book Review
By Derryll White
Steiner, Susie (2016). Missing, Presumed.
“Love is not love, which alters when it alteration finds.” – William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116.
I have never read Susie Steiner before, and ‘Missing, Presumed” brings a new character to literature for her – Manon Bradshaw. Manon is a 39-year-old Detective Sergeant, single and plagued by the fact that life may be passing her by. Steiner starts the novel off with a very frank and pithy discussion of marriage. I enjoyed the questions she asks, as I wrestle with those same doubts about this institution.
Steiner presumes to ask if we really know our children, know the networks of people they are involved with, the kinks, perversions or desires. When I think about this, she leads me on to consider if we really know anyone. Probably not, as I am still actively figuring out who I am, never mind my kids or lovers.
There is a large quotient of reality in ‘Missing, Presumed.’ With her quick and ready wit, the very sharp observations of class and economic circumstance, Susie Steiner invades my life with perceptive insights that will personalize the story for every reader. I like the way each chapter speaks from a different character’s viewpoint. The author seamlessly weaves these separate dialogues into a whole, captivating story. Although Manon Bradshaw comes to the fore she does not dominate.
There is a phrase, favoured among reviewers of European mysteries – “police procedurals.” This is definitely not a police procedural. There is little hierarchy or top brass. ‘Missing, Presumed’ makes British police officers real. DS Manon Bradshaw asks herself what is wrong with herself – 39 and no relationship, just a consuming commitment to the job. In the end she answers that and you will have to read the book to find out how.
I liked Susie Steiner’s work here – controlled and sustained. She develops and manages a large number of characters and succeeds in keeping them all very real. I look forward to reading more of this author’s work.
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Excerpts from the novel:
THE QUESTION? – Wasn’t every marriage a negotiation about proximity?
ENGLISH SOCIETY – Sheila Berridge warns of unprecedented numbers of children entering the care system as more and more families bump and skid below the poverty line. There are currently sixty-seven thousand children in care in England, she says.
VIOLENT DEATH – And then it happened, ‘Sudden Death Syndrome’, the coroner had said, and everything after it was another life, a new territory, one about to be discovered by the Hinds now that Edith was floating face down in the use.
PRIVATE SCHOOL – Dropped off at seven years old, no one to cuddle when they fell and scraped their knees, and homesickness considered a disobedience. The school churned out leaders and princes, but they were men forged in the furnace of repression. God help you if you were less than robust; if you missed your mother desperately.
– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them. When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.
