Review: The Night She Went Missing by Kristen Bird #ATBR2022
The Night She Went Missing
by Kristen Bird
Thanks to MIRA for these gifted books!
Publisher: MIRA
Publish Date: February 8, 2022
Paperback
352 Pages
Standalone
Genres: Thriller, Domestic Suspense
An intriguing and twisty domestic suspense about loyalty and deceit in a tight-knit Texas community where parents are known to behave badly and people are not always who they appear to be.
Emily, a popular but bookish prep school senior, goes missing after a night out with friends. She was last seen leaving a party with Alex, a football player with a dubious reputation. But no one is talking.
Now three mothers, Catherine, Leslie and Morgan, friends turned frenemies, have their lives turned upside down as they are forced to look to their own children—and each other’s—for answers to questions they don’t want to ask.
Each mother is sure she knows who is responsible, but they all have their own secrets to keep and reputations to protect. And the lies they tell themselves and each other may just have the potential to be lethal in this riveting debut.
My Review:
Unfortunately this is a no from me. As a debut, I give it some leeway and I'm ALL about suspending reality because fiction is fiction and implausibility is expected... but wow. This book starts off really strong and I found myself instantly hooked and then I lost momentum with it about halfway in.
Ok, if these characters didn't make the decisions that they did, then it would probably have been less entertaining. As things went sideways and wonky I just laughed along with it all. I don't mind this most of the time but sometimes you need to pull the reins just a *teensy* bit.
I really do like Bird's writing style and I most definitely will pick up her sophomore novel and watch her talent grow. While this one may not have worked for me, I think she's an author to keep an eye on. I mean, I do love me some domestic suspense!
★★
Jessica's Review:
I wanted to love this more than I did in the end. I think as a debut in the domestic suspense genre this was a solid read! I enjoyed the multiple POVs and the pacing of the book. The mystery was great and I liked the journey we went on to figure out what happened to Emily. Why did she disappear? How did she end up in the water? Who did this to her?
I’ll always love the setting in a small and supposedly close-knit community – because everyone shows their true colors when everyone is pointing fingers at each other. I’m all for the domestic thrillers being a little bit of a stretch when it comes to reality but parts were just a little too out there for my liking. Still a solid debut and I’ll be curious to see what Bird comes out with next
3 stars
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