All the Missing Girls

Truly, a 1.5 star book.

I'm not sure why every book day these days has “girl” in the title when the book is about women. But, that's not the reason for the low rating as the publisher could have been behind such a ridiculous title (and only 2 “girls” are missing!).

An unreliable narrator can be an excellent way to sustain suspense, but, if the narrator is unreliable because the author decided to attempt a backwards chronology and ended up with a sloppy mess, then the reader doesn't know if the narrator is unreliable or not. How, for example, does Nic Farrell forget for the better part of two weeks exactly how her frenemy, Corrine, died, along with a million other things? One can only imagine what an awful counselor Nic is since she can't have a conversation with anyone without snarling at them.

There is very little likable about any of the characters, except Nic's Dad, mother, and unfortunate fiancé and they, like every single character, are cardboard. In fact, characters seem to devolve as the book progresses, even though we're theoretically having more and more unveiled. And, we're supposed to believe that all of these people are awful because everyone is a monster. Yay!

And, what about the small town? Usually, small towns are full of interesting characters, quirky customs, etc. What we have is a town where the fair comes once a year! Omg, that never happens anywhere else in the United States!!!!

The writing style reminded me of the “Twilight,” in which vocabulary is limited, conversations are choppy and generally arguments or mooning over nonsense, and is akin to very bad 9th grade books that one writes for fun.

Honestly, just don't bother. I told my Mom how awful it was and she borrowed it, likely because it's a quick read.