(Review) All the Missing Girls

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

Publication Date: June 28, 2016

Pages: 384 (ebook)

Genre: Adult Fiction/Mystery

My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars

Goodreads Synopsis:
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: 

When they say that this is nothing like you've ever read before, they mean it! This book started our slow for me, but with just enough to definitely keep me interested. 

There was, to me, something off about Nic from the start. Everything she does is deliberate, but she never gives you a reason in her narrative. She is definitely a girl with a lot of secrets. Nic is summoned home by her big brother because their father's health is failing and they need to sell the house so they can continue to pay for his care. 

Things start to happen as soon as Nic gets home, but the kicker is that this story is told backwards. It takes place over the course of two weeks, but the first chapter is the last day and the chapters go on that way. Each chapter is the day before, and so on. 

I loved the way this book unfolded, but it really did keep me guessing about everything and everyone. As soon as Annaleise goes missing everything changes for Nic and her brother, but the narrative is told in such a way that you don't even know if you should believe Nic. I had so many doubts while reading this that it wasn't until I got to the very last chapter that I finally had some clarity on all of it. 

The way each of the new characters was introduced was great, also. I loved how the minute you met them, you suspected them. Whether it had to do with Corinne or Annaleise, you knew they were up to something. I know from experience that everyone in small town has secrets and it was a lot of fun to uncover the secrets of Cooley Ridge.

One of the best things was when the book came back into "real time" and Nic had a sort of epiphany. It was a theory I hadn't even considered until it was actually put into words. To compare this book to The Girl on the Train was correct. It was dark, but not like Gone Girl. They were real people, not sadistic killers. Kids who made mistakes and adults who didn't know how to move on from them.

Check this one out in June.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC.