Once in a blue moon I go through a psychological thriller/suspense/crime novel phase. You may have noticed that I do not read and review this genre often and that is because I have a very hard time finding well-written suspense novels with characters that I actually can care about. I do not like unreliable narrators – I cannot trust them (which I suppose is the point) and I often find that they are ridiculously narcissistic, bleak individuals and in fact, I wrote a blog post about this last year - you can read it here.So while I don’t typically pick these books up – I do keep an eye out for titles that may interest me and every once in a while I find a book from this genre that I really enjoy!
All the Missing Girls was not one of them.
Sorry, not sorry.
I did not like this book at all. But I’m going to review it anyway because I would like to tell you why I didn’t like it. Then you can decide for yourself whether to read it or not.
You’re welcome.
So here we go!
Megan Miranda’s psychological thriller, All the Missing Girls, was one of the buzziest books of 2016. Hailed as a twisty, creepy, Girl on the Train or Luckiest Girl Alive (which I HATED BTW) esque suspense thriller that is – wait for it – TOLD IN REVERSE. I was completely intrigued and wanted to give this a shot. I mean it’s told backwards! Something new and different!
Well, friends, I was wrong.
So wrong.
While this novel had so much potential, the backwards plot structure and shallow character development fell completely flat for me. The writing was tolerable I suppose, but not twisty enough to keep me engaged and the plot was weak, which was most disappointing of all because there truly was potential there.
Nicolette Farrell left Cooley Ridge ten years ago – and never looked back. Until now.
Ten years ago, on a night that seemed like any other, Nic’s best friend Corinne vanished. Plucked from the face of the Earth, and never seen again, Nic and her friends attempt to make sense of their friend’s disappearance. In the days following, the police investigation targets Nic, her boyfriend Tyler, her brother Daniel and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson as suspects in the disappearance – but with no evidence and their young neighbor, Annaliese Carter, as their alibi, there isn’t enough information to make a charge stick and the case remains unsolved.
Now ten years later and fifteen days ago – Annaliese Carter (who happens to now be Tyler's girlfriend) is missing. As the residents and law enforcement of Cooley Ridge begin searching for Annaliese, old ghosts reappear and old wounds reopen as Nic and those who were with her the night Corinne disappeared try to find, yet, another missing girl.
As I stated earlier, this story is narrated in reverse beginning on day fifteen and working backwards to day one. While this mechanism definitely adds an additional layer of intrigue – it actually hinders the plot construction more than helps it – and in my opinion served only to keep the reader from solving the puzzle early on. Honestly, I don’t think there would be much of this book if it wasn’t told in reverse. So while I absolutely love the concept of starting backwards – it just wasn’t executed well enough for me.
I felt that it aided in confusing me just enough that I wouldn’t catch on and nothing more. Some readers may really enjoy this set up, I didn’t.
Nicolette felt shallow and predictable to me, as did the supporting characters around her. They were utterly unmemorable - enough said.
But this is the most important thing I look for when reading these novels:
I want to know if the author can trick me.
I LOVE to try to solve the crime before everyone else. And I realize that this is probably presumptuous of me, but I want the author to be smarter than I am. Seriously, doesn’t everyone want to solve the crime before the characters do?
I will rate a crime/suspense/thriller novel by the amount of shock value it has. I am absolutely looking for the plot twist in the book – and this book did not deliver. It just felt flat and predictable to me on every level. It was tired, pointless and to be honest, I'm bored writing this review!
Maybe I’m asking too much of this genre – but if I’m going to get worked up over a suspense/thriller I want it to be well done. If you’re like me, you’ll want to pass on this book. Maybe this type of book is right up your alley – if so, that’s great – you do you.
Nicolette Farrell left Cooley Ridge ten years ago – and never looked back. Until now.
Ten years ago, on a night that seemed like any other, Nic’s best friend Corinne vanished. Plucked from the face of the Earth, and never seen again, Nic and her friends attempt to make sense of their friend’s disappearance. In the days following, the police investigation targets Nic, her boyfriend Tyler, her brother Daniel and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson as suspects in the disappearance – but with no evidence and their young neighbor, Annaliese Carter, as their alibi, there isn’t enough information to make a charge stick and the case remains unsolved.
Now ten years later and fifteen days ago – Annaliese Carter (who happens to now be Tyler's girlfriend) is missing. As the residents and law enforcement of Cooley Ridge begin searching for Annaliese, old ghosts reappear and old wounds reopen as Nic and those who were with her the night Corinne disappeared try to find, yet, another missing girl.
As I stated earlier, this story is narrated in reverse beginning on day fifteen and working backwards to day one. While this mechanism definitely adds an additional layer of intrigue – it actually hinders the plot construction more than helps it – and in my opinion served only to keep the reader from solving the puzzle early on. Honestly, I don’t think there would be much of this book if it wasn’t told in reverse. So while I absolutely love the concept of starting backwards – it just wasn’t executed well enough for me.
I felt that it aided in confusing me just enough that I wouldn’t catch on and nothing more. Some readers may really enjoy this set up, I didn’t.
Nicolette felt shallow and predictable to me, as did the supporting characters around her. They were utterly unmemorable - enough said.
But this is the most important thing I look for when reading these novels:
I want to know if the author can trick me.
I LOVE to try to solve the crime before everyone else. And I realize that this is probably presumptuous of me, but I want the author to be smarter than I am. Seriously, doesn’t everyone want to solve the crime before the characters do?
I will rate a crime/suspense/thriller novel by the amount of shock value it has. I am absolutely looking for the plot twist in the book – and this book did not deliver. It just felt flat and predictable to me on every level. It was tired, pointless and to be honest, I'm bored writing this review!
Maybe I’m asking too much of this genre – but if I’m going to get worked up over a suspense/thriller I want it to be well done. If you’re like me, you’ll want to pass on this book. Maybe this type of book is right up your alley – if so, that’s great – you do you.
Have you read this book? What did you think about the plot structure and story? Did it work for you?
Also, help a girl out – I’m looking for some really interesting/crazy/twisty suspense thrillers to read – give me your recs!
Buy All the Missing Girls
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