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Review: All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda



Blurb from Goodreads:
Like the spellbinding psychological suspense in The Girl on the Train and Luckiest Girl Alive, Megan Miranda’s novel is a nail-biting, breathtaking story about the disappearances of two young women—a decade apart—told in reverse.

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.

Like nothing you’ve ever read before, All the Missing Girls delivers in all the right ways. With twists and turns that lead down dark alleys and dead ends, you may think you’re walking a familiar path, but then Megan Miranda turns it all upside down and inside out and leaves us wondering just how far we would be willing to go to protect those we love. 
My Review:
It's a familiar story in thrillers lately, especially those with unreliable female narrators: girl leaves home after something terrible happens, she builds a new life (usually with a new love) but doesn't reveal anything about her hometown and what happened, girl comes back to her hometown (and usually an old boyfriend is still there) and the past can't help but make itself known to her new life . . . things get complicated and maybe scary.  This story is told backwards, which seems like a fun trick, but it was actually done so well in this book that I gasped out loud more than a few times.  You think you already know what's happened in the past two weeks by starting from that point but you don't, at all.  While I didn't love the ending of this, I loved the writing, the pacing, the reveal -- I didn't figure things out until the book was in the middle of it and, even then, I was left guessing several times over.  I can't wait to read more from this author!

All the Missing Girls comes out today, June 28, 2016, you can purchase HERE, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this one to fans of thrillers and fans of unreliable narrators; this one is a great exemplar of what an author can do with this genre!  
THESE WOODS ARE MINE.   
These were the woods I grew up with.  They stretched from my home and wove through all of town, connecting everything, all the way down to the river and out to the caverns.  It had been years, but if I stopped thinking so much and moved by heart, I could follow countless paths through them, day or night.  They were mine, and I was theirs, and I shouldn't have to remind myself of it.  But now there were too many unknowns.  The scurrying of animals in the night, something so unsettling about the nocturnal, about things that needed the dark to survive.  Things breathing and growing and dying.  Everything in perpetual motion. 
These woods are mine.   

Comments

  1. Ohhhh, another thriller to add to the TBR! I am impressed it made you gasp out loud bc you normally get twists way early :) Unlike me lol

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  2. I don't really care for the missing person's trope but maybe. I'll think on it, it sounds fairly well done. Thanks for this review!

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  3. I just finished this one yesterday and loved it. I thought it was clever with being told backwards. I was ok with the ending but didn't love it. I really can't wait to see more from this author!

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  4. A story told backwards? Now THAT may be interesting. Glad you enjoyed this one although the ending was a bit underwhelming
    Good review as always dear :)
    xoxo

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  5. Even with the familiar tropes it sounds like you still had a good time with this. Wonderful review!

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  6. This book was really unique, and although it wasn't perfect, I really enjoyed it too. Glad you liked it, and great review!

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  7. Great review, Eva! Not sure I'd tackle it because of the ending, but sometimes with thrillers I can live with an ending I didn't want.

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  8. I rarely pick up mystery/thrillers - just not my genre of choice. And I really avoid unreliable narrators. But this one sounds So. Good! I think I'll be checking the library for this one because you've sold me on it. :)

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  9. Hi Eva!
    Wow! I love your review, and I AM surprised it was easy to follow along! I 'almost' requested this from NetGalley to review, with my LOVE of thrillers! The thing that held me back on this one was the fact that it was written backwards! I was afraid if I had to put it down, for instance to finish reading another book that I was in a blog tour for, that when I picked it back up I might be lost being it was written backwards! So, I passed. I'm glad to know, though, it was not that difficult to follow along according to your review! Thanks for telling us that! I WILL be getting this book for sure! As a matter of fact, I did enter a giveaway for it, and I am keeping my fingers crossed!!! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
    Again, great review!
    Laurie

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  10. I'm glad you liked this one!! I sure did and I agree about the story being backwards. The author could have easily used it as a trick, but it added to the suspense. Excellent review Eva! :)

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  11. I really do like the idea of how this book is told. I also really liked one of this author's other books, so I'm probably going to try it. Glad you liked it and that the story worked for you!

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  12. Completely agree that the whole "returning to hometown and facing the past" and also the "missing best friend" are big tropes in thrillers. Like you, I went in a bit skeptical. But I also found that the backwards thing worked surprisingly well (and put a bit of a new spin on the is-she-or-isnt-she-an unreliable-narrator).
    I liked this quite a bit!
    Jen @ YA Romantics

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