消失的你 was a really surprising novel, it’s a mystery novel, a psychological thriller and a love story mixed together. In many mystery novels, the question is often “who is the murderer”, but here there were a lot of questions coming one after the other, and as we get to know the narrator better, I became obsessed with finding out the truth.
There’s tension all along, and the novel really makes you care for the characters.
The only thing that I maybe didn’t like all that much is the Koo family background, I found it felt a bit too extraordinary.
Overall, an excellent novel to me, I’m glad I decided to read the winners of the Soji Shimada Mystery Award!
消失的你
Siu Sat Dik Nei
Details
Author
牧羊少年T · Shepherd Boy T
Language
Traditional Chinese · Hong Kong
Format
Novel
Published
2023
Pages
272
Read
2026-07-15 → 2026-07-17
Finished
★★★★★
Awards
- 島田莊司推理小說獎 · 2023 · 首獎
Review
★★★★★
Updates
100%
Ended up spending the whole holiday reading this. Loved it very much, I’m glad it won the prize, otherwise I might never have found it.
80%
I finished chapter 4. It’s crazy how this book manages to be different things at the same time while staying so coherent.
73%
Finished chapter 3, somehow this book now reminds me of Huang Shan-liao‘s 好好再見 不負遇見, rather than a mystery, though it’s also kind of a mystery novel.
I’ll probably have time to read chapter 4 today as well.
50%
Halfway through! I wanted to read chapter 3 today too, but it’s very long, and I’m very tired.
The story is really surprising, every time I think I know in which direction it’s going to go, it ends up being completely different.
I love it very much, could easily be my favourite read of July.
41%
The second chapter was so engrossing! Now positions and motives are clear, I’m really looking forward to see how the plot will unfold!
22%
Wow, this novel is so great! I really enjoy reading it 
15%
I finished the first chapter, and I loved it!
I don’t know in which direction it will go, but it’s very good so far.
Post
喜歡妳
Beyond
作曲 黃家駒作词 黃家駒
喜歡你 那雙眼動人
笑聲更迷人 願再可
輕撫你 那可愛面容
挽手說夢話像昨天 你共我
細雨帶風濕透黃昏的街道抹去雨水雙眼無故地仰望望向孤單的晚燈 是那傷感的記憶再次泛起心裡無數的思念已往片刻歡笑仍掛在臉上願你此刻可會知 是我衷心的說聲喜歡你 那雙眼動人笑聲更迷人 願再可輕撫你 那可愛面容挽手說夢話像昨天 你共我滿帶理想的我曾經多衝動屢怨與她相愛難有自由願你此刻可會知 是我衷心的說聲喜歡你 那雙眼動人笑聲更迷人 願再可輕撫你 那可愛面容挽手說夢話像昨天 你共我每晚夜裡自我獨行 隨處蕩 多冰冷已往為了自我掙扎 從不知 她的痛苦喜歡你 那雙眼動人笑聲更迷人 願再可輕撫你 那可愛面容挽手說夢話像昨天 你共我
追蹤手帶
追蹤手帶: Electronic Tracking Wristbands
Used in Hong Kong during covid to enforce mandatory home quarantine for person who tested positive, close contacts to covid patients and people arriving from overseas. It’s connected to an app and can detect when the person is living their quarantine place, alerting the authorities.
People arriving to Hong Kong had to wear it.
There’s a newspaper excerpt right at the beginning that looks like it’s a picture pasted in the text, it’s hardly readable on e-reader. I had to take a picture of the page, so that I could zoom in on the picture to read the text.
It’s so annoying when this kind of things are not optimised for digital reading…
Characters
第四章 父親
阿花
Other
ā huāAh Fa
Ku Fan’s neighbour
古賢亮
Other
gǔ xián liàngKu Yin-leung / Ethan Koo
Person who disappeared 15 years ago
汪小姐
Other
wāng xiǎo jiěMiss Wong
Person to contact (Ku Fan’s friend, worked with him)
汪芷茵
Other
wāng zhǐ yīnWong Tsz-yan
Narrator’s daughter
阿黛
Other
ā dàiAh Tai
Narrator’s ex-wife
錢
Other
qiánChin
Name of the narrator
美姐
Other
měi jiěSister Mei
hourly maid, working for M. Koo
阿財
Other
ā cáiAh Choi
Man who regrets buying at 潮騷山莊
古勳
Other
gǔ xūnKu Fan
Ethan’s father, popular author of horror fiction.
愛倫坡
Other
ài lún pōEdgar Allan Poe
The black cat’s name
錢文魁
Other
qián wén kuíChin Man-fai
Narrator’s name
麥高芬
Other
MacGuffin
The labrador’s name
汪黛莉
Other
wāng dài lìWong Tai-lee
Narrator’s ex wife and miss Wong, Ku Fan’s friend
Vocabulary
| Word | Reading | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 閉路電視 | bì lù diàn shì | closed-circuit television |
I rarely see the word 閉路電視, I don’t know if it’s widely used. I feel like I see 監視器 more often.
As someone who doesn’t speak or understand Cantonese at all, 喜歡你 and 輕撫你 sounds very similar. Anyway, it’s funny to understand the lyrics but now what is sung.