I’m always up for a debut thriller, and this one was all right. It has an interesting premise and started off strongly. The writing was good and kept me entertained, so I’ll definitely be looking for books by this author in the future.
The Night She Went Missing is a February 2022 release from MIRA Publishers
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links, see disclosures for more detail.
About the Book:
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 Thoughts:
I gave this book 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 stars
Started off strongly, I was quite invested. And then it got more and more unbelievable until I was shaking my head.
We know from the beginning that Emily is found, so that takes the suspense off the table. I went back and forth about whether I thought that was a wise choice, but it does work with the scope of the tale. It is told from the points of view of multiple people: Emily, reflecting back on what happened in her past that led her to the present, as she is rescued but lying in a hospital comatose. Other points of view: Catherine, Emily’s mother, and Leslie and Morgan, mothers of students Emily goes to school with. As the story unfolds, there are secrets, lies, people covering up those secrets, and people in denial about the secrets.
As I said, the story starts off well. It deliberately lays out the story of a family who has moved from Oregon to Galveston as a result of a scandal. Emily is in her senior year of high school and is now attending a prestigious private school owned by her grandmother. She goes to a party one night and disappears. She disappears about midway through the book, and that’s when things just start to go sideways.
People start to do bizarre (and I do mean bizarre, straight out of a really bad movie) things. The rationale for these things makes very little sense. When I think more about it, the more outlandish it seems. I was compelled to keep reading because I absolutely needed to know how things were going to wrap up.
If you like domestic drama with lots of people doing bad things and other people covering it up, then you might enjoy this one. It’s a kind of soapy train wreck where you just can’t look away even though you know you probably should.
About the Author:
Kristen Bird lives outside of Houston, Texas with her husband and three daughters. She earned her bachelor’s degree in music and mass media before completing a master’s in literature. She teaches high school English and writes with a cup of coffee in hand. In her free time, she likes to visit parks with her three daughters, watch quirky films with her husband and attempt to keep pace with her rescue lab-mixes. THE NIGHT SHE WENT MISSING is her debut novel.
Social Links:
Twitter: @kbirdwrites
Facebook: @kristen.bird.writes
Instagram: @kristenbirdwrites
