Something similar to Miss Smilla’s feeling for the snow novel, the quiet girl tells of a special person, a famous Danish clown Kasper with a remarkable gift, a keen ear that allows him to make a sound map of an entire city, determine from a phone call where the person he was talking to is, and determine it by the surrounding sounds from the speaker alone.

For Kasper, each person has a particular sound; a quiet person is as close to divine as you can get, and he meets one such girl, young KlaraMaria, his student in physical comedy who he uses as therapy for troubled children. KlaraMaria, bruised, passes him a note saying that she was kidnapped and asks for his help.

Kasper has problems of his own, having been avoiding paying taxes for quite some time. This means that he needs to escape from the authorities while looking for KlaraMaria, and soon he stops looking for just her, it seems that there are several children with special abilities, several children from all over the world who are like KlaraMaria, and they are all missing. (a girl is killed and mutilated). Time is running out, how long can these wonderful children survive?

Although in the form of a thriller, the quiet girl it occasionally becomes surreal, resembling magical realism, making it somewhat difficult to follow. Episodes from Kasper’s past jump around in such a way that it can be difficult to determine what happened, when, how, or why. The mystery is more or less solved by the end of the book, but reading it is not an easy path, although it is rewarding.

It is unusual for a thriller to have such a mystical atmosphere, and yet in the quiet girl it works, probably because of Kasper and his unique perception of the world. While there is nothing wrong with his eyes or other senses, he mainly uses his hearing. He hears in shadows and sees in tones, or at least that’s how he thinks about it. That is the way he thinks of people, which sometimes makes it difficult for him to communicate with others.

the children in the quiet girl they are adorable. They are gifted and very special, but at the same time they are very childish, with very good-natured desires, and also with desires that remind readers of spoiled brats. Although they have such special gifts that they are inevitably different, their actions and desires are easy to understand, because they are first and foremost children.

All the characters grow up by the end of the book. Everyone learns something. Kasper is perhaps the one who learns the most, from his dying father who continues to help him, from the woman he loves who left him because she believed he was so special that he should dedicate his life to serving her, and from the children at the same time. In the end he discovers that there is a child that he needs to reconcile very much.

the quiet girl It may not be an easy read, due to its mysticism and meandering narrative and the protagonist’s unique perspective, but the mysterious world and compelling characters are well worth the effort: the book grabs your attention and refuses to let go.