Review of All The Missing Girls by Megan Miranda


Review of All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda


All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

Published on June 28, 2016 by Simon and Schuster



Synopsis from Goodreads: It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. 

Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched. 

The decade-old investigation focused on Nic, her brother Daniel, boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson. 

Since then, only Nic has left Cooley Ridge. Daniel and his wife, Laura, are expecting a baby; Jackson works at the town bar; and Tyler is dating Annaleise Carter, Nic’s younger neighbor and the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared. 

Then, within days of Nic’s return, Annaleise goes missing. Told backwards—Day 15 to Day 1—from the time Annaleise goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago.

Review of All The Missing Girls by Megan Miranda


If you're a regular blog reader, you might remember that I reviewed Megan Miranda's most recent YA thriller last week, and found it suspenseful but with too many loose ends.

I hope Miranda writes more adult books, because I enjoyed All the Missing Girls much more than the YA book. Among the slew of "Girl" thrillers (Gone Girl, Girl on a Train -- I have read them all!) I thought All the Missing Girls was a pretty solid psychological thriller.

The story is told in an interesting way. 

There's an introductory part, in which main character Nicolette  Farrell is called home to help her brother deal with their aging father. She returns to her small town, where she's still haunted by memories of her missing best friend Corinne. 

But shortly after she arrives, another girl goes missing - Annalise, the current girlfriend of her ex. 

Apropos of nothing, I think all these female characters have names with too many double consonants. And apropos of something, this "return to small town" and "girl with missing friend" are tropes that I've read in many, many thrillers.

But All the Missing Girls does something interesting (and something I was initially pretty skeptical of.) 

As soon as that introductory part of the story is set up, the narrative starts moving in reverse, starting with day fifteen and heading backwards to day one, the day that Annelise disappears. I thought this was a risky (and mostly successful) choice. 

Typically, a story like this one that's so rooted in past events would be told using flashbacks. I think the one weakness of the backwards vs. flashback choice is that Nicolette isn't a character we get to know very well. But suspense-wise, I think the backward method works well, allowing some very interesting revelations.

If you're a thriller fan looking for a solid summer read, definitely check this one out!

I've read and reviewed many of Megan Miranda's books:




Comments

  1. Glad you enjoyed this!! i really liked the backwards storytelling. I thought it was different and worked really well. I am so looking forward to more from her in the adult genre.

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  2. Sounds like a really intriguing read - will be sure to check this one out! Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Wow Jen! This sounds exciting. Thanks!

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  4. Oooh, I have an ecopy of this one. I also seem to be on a mystery/crime binge at the moment, so I'm glad you brought it to my attention! Wonderful review Jen - I'm glad this one didn't let you down!

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  5. I've had the worst luck with her YA books so I didn't even think about reading this, but now that I know it's better, especially from someone who didn't enjoy her YA either, I'll get the audio as soon as I can. Thanks for the lovely review.

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  6. Great review! I really liked this one -- the way it was told backwards was done so well!!

    my review

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  7. I'm really intrigued by this one - and didn't realize that it was adult fic and not YA. The backward timeline is interesting and I'm glad to hear it worked. Sometimes with choices like that I feel like it's a little gimmicky but when it works I love it. I think I'll be picking this one up soon.

    Tanya @ GIRL PLUS BOOKS

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  8. Great review. I have heard about the backwards flash backs and I am very intrigued and curious how well that works out in this book. In the other hand I am scared that I won't enjoy it much like everybody else does, but it never hurts too check this book out and see if I like it or not. Thank you for your awesome post.

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  9. I am glad you could enjoy this thriller a bit more than her other one and found it to do something more unique with the narrative and the telling of how everything went down. I just read another review for this one and it sounds like a good read, so I'll probably try it at some point.

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  10. I really want to read this book! I read a book that was narrated this way once (But I Love Him) and I really liked it. I hope this one is just as good, but I'm afraid about not connecting with Nicolette. Anyway, I can't wait to read it!

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  11. I'm not necessarily a thriller fan, but I am curious about the backwards progression - lol, is there even such a thing?? :) Great review, Jen

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  12. I think Megan Miranda is so good at writing thrillers. Glad to hear such good things!

    Kate @ Ex Libris

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