All The Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

Happy Friday Eve, friends! I am super excited to be writing this post and talking about this recent read of mine; I seriously have been talking up a storm about it and have been trying to get everyone I know to read it.

I feel like I need to start by admitting that yes, it might seem like the psychological/thriller/mystery genre featuring a complicated and often dark female protagonist has become a somewhat overdone trope… I’ve read a few of the really popular bestsellers that fit this mold and see how the plot lines and characters can all sort of blur together after you’ve read 3 or 4 of them. I think in order for a writer to successfully tackle this genre, their writing needs to be fresh and original, their characters have to be complex, but likable, the “twists” need to be actual twists. For reference, I am a huge Gillian Flynn fan (I actually haven’t read Gone Girl, but Dark Places, & Sharp Objects are some dark and twisted little faves of mine) and I thought Girl on the Train was a garbage novel. I would describe myself as constantly trying to find something that will satisfy my quench for a good thriller and actually leave me on my toes…

I picked up All The Missing Girls at a Hudson News in the airport, not having heard of it, judging it solely based off the cover and the description on the back cover. I picked it up for a four hour flight at 7 am, thinking I would mostly sleep…

I kid you not, I don’t think I put it down for a second throughout my flight, and once my sister picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at her place before heading to class, I finished it there. Now if that’s not an indication of how juicy this read was..

Miranda’s novel tells the story of two disappearances that take place in a small southern rural town; two women who go missing a decade apart. At the center of it all is Nicolette Farrell, the only one from her group of friends or family to ever leave Cooley Ridge, packing up and heading North just after her high school graduation. Right at the same time her best friend Corinne mysteriously vanished without a trace. Nic, now newly engaged to a hot shot lawyer, has returned home to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, his mind deteriorating quickly from dementia.

Within days of her return home, a young woman goes missing. Annaleise, the disappeared girl, had been seeing Nic’s high school sweetheart Tyler before her disappearance, catapulting him into the midst of the investigation as a prime suspect. “It’s always the boyfriend,” is a continuous sentiment thrown around amongst the characters, shifting blame from Tyler, to Corinne’s old high school boyfriend Jackson, the lines and suspicions of the two cases blurring together, rumors spreading amongst the small town only adding fuel to the fire… And yet, despite the constant rhetoric, it becomes clear that perhaps in both these investigations, blaming the boyfriend would be to majorly oversimplify these cases. Another complicating factor? The fact that Annaleise was the only alibi Nic, Tyler, and Jackson had the night Corinne disappeared.

We also soon learn as readers that these characters cannot fully be trusted, and even the narrative Nic provides to us is faulty and unreliable. Wanting more for herself, she left her small hometown and put herself through both undergrad and her masters program, settling into life with a wealthy lawyer from an upperclass family, a man who knows virtually nothing about her upbringing. She has done everything in her power to reinvent herself and push away her past, losing her accent and making herself out to be something and someone better than she was before. What we eventually learn is that this is a very flawed character with an inner darkness she cannot break free from, no matter how far North she goes.

The fact that Nic’s return to her hometown is told in reverse also complicates things; the novel begins on her 15th day home, the 15th day after Annaleise goes missing, slowly turning back layer after layer as the plot works backwards in time, flashing back to scenes of a young Nic and Corinne. The stories weave together, the two cases weave together, and I can promise you that every twist and shocking reveal is utterly satisfying and unexpected. This novel is also a really strong piece of written work; despite the characters being inherently f*cked up and constantly misleading you as a reader, they remain likable, and you find yourself rooting for them. The ending is totally jarring; there is a huge discrepancy between the characters who get what they deserve, and the ones that miraculously escape the chaos unharmed, despite their secrets, despite what they’ve done to protect the ones they love.