All the Missing Girls

by Megan Miranda

It's been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared without trace. Then a letter from her father arrives - 'I need to talk to you. That girl. I saw that girl.' Has her father's dementia worsened, or has he really seen Corinne? Returning home, Nicolette must finally face what happened on that terrible night all those years ago.

Then, another young woman goes missing, almost to the day of the anniversary of when Corinne vanished. And like ten years ago, the whole town is a suspect.

Told backwards - Day 15 to Day 1 - Nicolette works to unravel the truth, revealing shocking secrets about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne.

Like nothing you've ever read before, All the Missing Girls is a brilliantly plotted debut thriller that will leave you breathless.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Book Club, Audiobook, Suspense

371 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 28, 2016

About the author

Megan Miranda is the New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls; The Perfect Stranger; The Last House Guest, which was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick; The Girl from Widow Hills; Such a Quiet Place; The Last to Vanish; The Only Survivors; and Daughter of Mine. She has also written several books for young adults. She grew up in New Jersey, graduated from MIT, and lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children.

Her next thriller, You Belong Here, will be published on July 29, 2025.

Follow @MeganLMiranda on Instagram, @AuthorMeganMiranda on Facebook, or visit www.meganmiranda.com

Reviews

[Miranda Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Here’s the thing I’ve learned about leaving—you can’t really go back."

Ever read a story backwards?

(Yeah...me either....and it turns out there's a reason for that...)

Nicolette Farrell returns to her hometown following a ten-year absence to sort through her father's house.

All the terrible memories are flooding back. The last time Nicolette was in town, her best friend, Corinne, disappeared.

"Missing girls had a way of working their way into someone's head. You couldn't help but see them in everyone - how temporary and fragile we might be."

Now a new girl (Annaleise) has gone missing. Nicolette can't help but think that the two are connected.

"One moment here, and the next, nothing more than a photo staring from a storefront window."

But, after all these years how can she even begin to find the truth?

This was an interesting concept - we start at the end and work our way to the beginning.

As we read the book we actually delve deeper into the past - so working our way from about two weeks ahead back to the first day Nicolette returns to her house...but there's a problem with the flow of information.

There were too many key elements that becomes obvious that she knew right away but since we work backwards the audience is kept in the dark.

i.e. Facts that Nic learned on Day 2 would certainly affect how she reacted on Day 10...but since we (as the audience) read Day 10 first, the author couldn't reveal Day 2's Big Event (otherwise it would spoil the mystery of the book).

And while I understand that reasoning for keeping the audience in the dark... it doesn't make sense from a character standpoint.

This is really info that should be at the forefront of the main character's mind. So, there is no reason for her not to think about what was revealed on Day 2 on Day 10.

Ergo, this was a frustrating, confusing mess.

P.s. anyone else marginally disappointed that the title (All the Missing Girls only referred to two? I suppose that's technically a plural, but I expected far more girls to be physically missing)

Audiobook Comments
Read by Rebekkah Ross and she did a pretty good job. I enjoyed the tone and pacing.

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[Yun · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a little hard for me to pinpoint exactly how I feel about All the Missing Girls. I both enjoyed this book and found it immensely annoying while I was reading it.

The mystery itself kept me turning the pages, wanting to find out what happened. First one girl disappears and then 10 years later another girl disappears. In case you're counting, "all the girls" is just two girls.

My problem with this book is that it felt like a giant carrot was being waved in my face the entire time. The narrative devotes a lot of effort to talking about the passage of time, secrets, so many mysteries, finding monsters everywhere, eyes that are constantly watching, and everyone disappearing even though only two people did. You can see how all that dramatic writing gets old after a while. And I don't think all that carrot-waving really paid off in the end. The twists were ok, but I guessed some of them ahead of time.

Another issue is that the main character isn't likable. She's angsty, emotional, illogical, and paranoid. In fact, all the characters are like that, going through most of the book doing stupid things and acting incredibly guilty. Often, characters mention having unspoken agreements to never talk about this or that. It seems to me these mysteries exist solely due to the gross lack of communication between everyone.

One interesting thing about this book is that it's written in reverse chronological order. While I applaud the author for trying this technique, in the end it feels like it just contributed to the confusion of why everyone is acting the way they are.

Should you read this book? Sure, it's an interesting enough story. But just be prepared to be annoyed and exasperated like I was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
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[Canadian Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually had my review almost fully formed when I was 3/4 done. I was promised a jaw dropping read per the book flap but, at best, this was a mouth twitch, brow rise. I know I'm going against the current on this one- many adored this story.
Personally, I hated the structure. It's told backwards- 2 weeks. 10 days, 4 days, one day...all the day before. Wtf? Too confusing and when I have to work at timelines, I check out.
However, as I continued on - I was curious- there were some triumphant twists.
I'm not going to summarize the story - you can get that from the title. Although not sure when 2 girls can be defined as "all". Semantics?
So although this didn't take me to the thrilling white knuckled world, it does get points for the element of surprise. 3*

[Chelsea Humphrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Super twisty and held my attention from the first to last page. I wasn't expecting the ending and was extremely impressed with the way the story was told in reverse; a difficult feat that was pulled off nicely. Very satisfying and suspense filled read!

Nicolette "Nic" Farrell has returned home to help fix up her and brother Daniel's family home. Their father has dementia and they need the money to pay for his care at the Grand Pines assisted living home. Nic has made a life for herself in Pennsylvania after leaving her hometown of Cooley Ridge 10 years earlier following the disappearance of best friend Corinne Prescott. Shortly after returning home, another girl from childhood named Annaleise Carter disappears and the town is whipped into a frenzy again while searching for answers in the present and past.

As I said above, I think what pushed this into 5 star territory for me was the structure of this story. After the initial chapter is set up, we jump ahead 15 days and go backwards from there to find out what has happened in these missing two weeks. This was executed flawlessly IMO and made this a truly unique read as I've not had this reading experience before.

The characters were fairly well developed but for a good half of the book most are kept at arms length as to not give too much away early on. Everyone has something to hide in this story; I had fun trying to determine who was a part of what part (present and past).

The flow of the story was continuous and I truly did not want to put this down as it was an addicting read. I honestly am confused as to why this book is marketed as "the next Gone Girl" when the storyline was completely different. Please don't let that stop you from reading this if you are as tired of the "Gone Girl comparison mania" as I am! I enjoyed this one far more.

This book is being marketed as Simon and Schuster's top adult debut of the year and I can see why. I highly recommend to anyone who is a lover of mystery and suspense novels. This will definitely be one of my top books of the year.

[Emily (Books with Emily Fox on Youtube) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read 6 books by the author at this point so I wanted to come back and update my review.

This is still my favorite by her. Small town murder mystery, story told backward, just an overall good time. I'm still recommending it often 5 years later!

Old review:

I ended up liking this a lot more than I expected!

If you like mysteries in little town where people have secrets you definitely should give this book a shot! I loved how the story was told backward!

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

congratulations! semifinalist in goodreads' best mystery/thriller category 2016!

"There you are."

okay, i have now officially read this book twice - once the way it was intended, with its reverse-countdown of days and events, and once backwards, following the plot chronologically.

which begs the question: which one is better?

my friend connor is very critical of nonlinear chronologies (in movies, anyway - he's no booknerd). his complaint about them, and it's absolutely a valid one, is that many times this device is just a candy-coated distraction adding the illusion of interest to what would be an unremarkable story if it were told chronologically. if the gimmick is the only appeal, there's no reason to watch it a second time, when you know where all the puzzle pieces go.*

so, i can feel you wondering - what about this one? get to the point already jeeeez.

honestly, i think in this case, the gimmick is almost an obstacle.

it's a great hook, don't get me wrong, and 87% of the people who read this book are going to be reading it for that reason alone - to see if she can pull it off, and it certainly distinguishes itself from the 9 million other "girl" psych suspense books being published on a weekly basis these days.

and it's fun, it really is - you get your bookends of 'before' and 'after' sandwiched around this fifteen-day reverse-chronology where conclusions are reached that have no significance to the reader until their import is made apparent further down the road. and that imbalance is alluring, it keeps you turning those pages, digging deeper until you reach the foundation.

and maybe i'm evaluating this with the boost of second-read clarity, and had i read it only chronologically, i would have dismissed it as just another 'missing girl' book, forgetting it immediately, but i definitely liked it better the second time. i think the gimmick made me squint too hard, thinking i should be scrutinizing every detail looking for clues which only served to complicate the straightforward and made me see some contradictions that i did not see reading it the second time. the structure is definitely funusual and forces the reader to engage in stimulating mental gymnastics, but some details get lost in the shuffle - unanswered questions that she was maybe hoping no one would notice? they're mostly minor: who was in the woods that night nic smelled the cigarette? who was in the apartment across from tyler's? why does daniel hit nic? why was so much made of the caverns when there was no real payoff in that direction? how is annaliese their "alibi" on the night corrine goes missing when everything she witnessed occurred when corrine was alive and well and standing right in front of her? do the police really need to be called every time a patient with dementia says something vaguely incriminating? how does corrine get from point a to point b and why on earth does…? who the hell would sleep all alone in a house with a broken lock in a town where girls keep going missing and everyone knows everything, including whose locks are broken? and small town or not, broken lock or not, how do you just leave the house without even closing the door? would someone really "reek" of alcohol after holding a sip in their mouth for a moment hours earlier and do breathalyzers not exist? how is nic alluding to something on "day one," that she has not yet experienced? it's a little sloppy, but considering how much of it does work, it's no fun spending time poking holes in it.

even without the novelty of unconventional structure, there's enough here to grab my attention: a tale of three small-town mean girls and the boys who circle them, until their charismatic queen bee corrine goes missing after (before?) a night in which many small things chain-react into one huge consequence, supplying the town with limitless gossip. ten years later, and nic, one of those girls (the medium-mean in the mean-girl spectrum), returns home to help her brother daniel prepare their childhood home for sale to afford their dementia-addled father's care in an assisted living facility.

she's engaged to a successful lawyer named everett, and is a school counselor at schmancy prep school in philly, where young damaged girls consider her a valuable confidante:

Maybe they knew I had seen darker things. That I would understand. Or perhaps they would sense that I am an excellent keeper of secrets..

I am.

however, once nic is back in cooley ridge, n.c., another girl (woman) goes missing - annaliese carter, the current girlfriend of nic's former flame tyler, and then everything starts going sideways (or more precisely, backwards). nic's father begins to talk about seeing the "missing girl," the police get involved, and all the secrets kept for ten years are compromised as history repeats itself in a particularly rumor-fueled town.

When Corrine disappeared and we ran out of places to search, people to question, leads to track down, the only thing left for people was the talk.

About Corrine and Bailey and me. Reckless and drunk on life, never thinking of the consequences. How we passed around a bottle in the clearing outside the caverns and invited boys inside. How we lifted candy bars from the convenience store (on a dare, always on a dare) and didn't respect property or authority. How we had no boundaries with each other, a tangle of limbs and hair and sun-kissed skin.

ah, corrine… such a deliciously twisted mean girl. she's the kind of mean girl who will help you deal with your mother's death through the healing power of arson:

"Want to watch something burn?"

and nic, full of grief and adolescent helplessness, absolutely wants to watch something burn. something like an abandoned barn:

She let me strike the match, and she held my hand as we watched it burn to the ground. We stood too close to it, so close we could feel each time a piece of wood caught, sparked, ignited.

corrine is a ferocious bundle of manipulation and cruelty - always testing the limits of people's devotion to her, subjecting them to impromptu truth-or-dares, in which the other girls quickly learn to always choose "dare."

Nobody would ever love you so fiercely, so meanly, so thoroughly. And the parts of you that you wanted to keep hidden - she loved these most of all.

everett is horrified by nic's stories of her relationship with corrine, which he quite rightly sees as unhealthy.

Everett had never been a teenage girl - maybe there was some equivalent in the adolescent male, something that simmers under the surface of a friendship like that. But the simple truth was that when a girl like Corrine loves you, you don't ask why. You just hope it doesn't change.

but then everett is an outsider; not only has he never been a teenage girl, but he's not "from here," living a life of privilege and protection, too refined to relate to nic's experiences, too sensitive to look into the darkness:

"I don't know if i have the stomach for my job…I do my job well, don't get me wrong. But sometimes there's a moment. A moment when you realize the person you're defending is guilty. And you can never go back…I'm a better lawyer when I don't know."

which does not bode well for the future of their relationship. enter love triangle! as a reader, i'm usually bored by the romantic bits of books, but this one was particularly irritating. it did not read like the behavior of mature adults, it was like a child playing with dolls in some blue blood v blue collar showdown: this one is rich but this one is infatuated, this one's your past and this one's your future, this one knows everything about you and this one knows only the good stuff and now is kissytime!

but apart from that - it's a good thriller. the reverse-timeline keeps you on your toes, and the inclusion of so many scenes detailing the events surrounding corrine's disappearance ten years previous adds another layer of unfolding-mystery to the mix, as well as nic's sleep and food-deprivation contributing potentially hallucinatory unreliability to her perspective. the pacing is tight and breathless, helped along by all the imagery of things spinning and being blurry and always in motion, mirroring the frenetic whirlwinds characterizing the adolescent experience:

Boys and their uncontrollable passion, impulsive and coiled to snap. Girls, with the uncontrollable yearning for something intangible. Something else.

but that "coiled to snap" brings up another problem i had - the depiction of (mostly male) violence here is a little disturbing, particularly in light of this statement from our heroine:

It happens like this - men losing themselves in moments of passion. We drive them to it. It's not their fault.

pretty much every man in the book, even milquetoast everett, is shown to be overwhelmed by their anger at a woman at some point, demonstrating their rage by punching, bruising, slamming cupboards, throwing plates, pushing people down stairs, slamming fists into tables… it's off-putting, this caveman bullshit, especially in light of nic's bullshit statement absolving them from blame. it reminded me of how horrible some of those old vintage harlequins were, like this one where you read it and you can't even imagine how a character could forgive this behavior in a love interest, but this "every boy is violent and it's all our fault" attitude is much ickier to encounter in a contemporary novel written by a woman.

so, despite my irritants, this is a 3.5 i have rounded up to 4.


* paraphrased like crazy

come to my blog!

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read of this book through audio 2017. The narrator did a great job 😊

I have to say the cover of this book is beautiful, at least to me! I also think it makes a great background for a thriller book!



HOLY CRAP ON A CRACKER! THIS BOOK ROCKED!

Okay at one point I forgot the blurb and thought I was losing what is left of my mind. The book is going along from the beginning and then all of the sudden (BAM) we are at a part that I don't remember getting to.... Then my little brain catches up that this book is written backwards. You get a little bit in the beginning so you know what's going on and then it starts backtracking. This would seem confusing but it's not! Every little piece starts clicking right into place..click..click...click..

On with the story!

EXCERPT

Missing girls had a way of working their way into someone's head. You couldn't help but see them in everyone--how temporary and fragile we might be. One moment here, and the next, nothing more than a photo staring from a storefront.



I can not say enough how much this book is fan-freaking-tastic! I haven't read a thriller this good in a long time. I had some ideas who the killer was but nooooooooooooo.. just no.. I can't even.

Nicolette (Nic) moved away from home in the Smokey Mtns. of North Carolina years ago. She came back once but it's really just been 10 years, her best friend Corinne went missing and some other stuff went down and she had to go. She went to college and was working as a counselor and met a nice man through her neighbor and they ending up being engaged at one point. His name was Everett and he was a very nice lawyer. If he only knew what he stepped into with this town.

So Nic gets a call from her brother Daniel saying he wants her to come home because their dad is getting worse and he wants to sell the house. The one other time she went back they had put him in a home because of Dementia. He's in and out of it and he's starting to say things. Things that make so sense. He keeps saying he saw the girl and Nic is in danger. ?????

So Nic is back and cleaning up the house. She talks to her old high school flame, Tyler and has a weird sort of relationship with her brother Daniel and his wife Laura. And Nic still has some feelings for Tyler and I would say the feeling is mutual but he's dating Annaleise Carter. And guess what? She goes missing. What? So now there are two girls from this town that are missing and the town is stumped.

Meanwhile, Nic's fiance comes to town and helps out by getting the cops to leave Nic's dad alone. He's spouting out things about the missing girl from 10 years ago and other crazy talk. It's not really crazy though is it? There is something locked in that brain of his and people think he was just a drunk that fell into drinking and craziness after his wife died and he only got worse. There are reasons for so many things.

I do not want to say any more because I am afraid of giving out a spoiler. Let me just say this book is not what you think it's going to be! It threw me for a loop. I'm buying it when I can and reading it again. It's so out there that I want to read it over and over. If you see any of the stuff coming in this book before it's laid out for you then you are a genius and kudos to you =)

The characters are complex and wonderful. The whole atmosphere of the book is great. I loved every little thing about the book, with the exception of their being a few heart breaks included. But that's life.

I also know who killed these girls but I'm not telling you!

*I would like to thank Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for inviting me to read this wonderful book in exchange for my honest review.*

MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List

[Kristin (KC) · Rating 3 out of 5]

...Just about *3 stars*

All the Missing girls?

Because I’m always down for a healthy dose of originality, I was pretty intrigued when I learned this story was told in a reverse format: starting in the present then moving backwards in time, pretty much a single day each chapter. As cool as this sounds in theory, it unfortunately ended up being more of a distraction than anything else. I often found myself backpedalling, convinced I’d somehow missed vital details of the plot.

I gave this book 3 stars because I wanted to know more at every turn of the page; I craved it. When I wasn't reading, I was thinking about reading…wondering who did it and why…if another disappearance would strike…when the scattered pieces would all come together.

There were moments in this story that came alive and gave me chills, and the tone was steady: eery and suspenseful—exactly what I long for in thrillers.

But, while the premise of this story was strong and contagious, its execution felt half-hearted and seemed to lack some follow-through. In fact, certain *details* felt as though they were forgotten altogether, leaving me to question their presence entirely. The author does a lot of “telling” and although it’s necessary in some cases, there’s much more power in showing readers how ideas unfold.

The characters: young, unhinged, bold, deceitful—good framework, but never exactly felt three-dimensional.

And finally, the highly anticipated outcome…what all this intense buildup was for. Not only did it not surprise, but I was ultimately left feeling unmoved. I felt the story had so much potential to “wow”, but didn't fully commit to its direction. It still feels slightly “unfinished” and yet the story is in fact complete.

All of that said, many readers seemed to have LOVED this, which is understandable; The plot certainly keeps you on your toes, wanting to learn more.

[Obsidian · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was terrible. Besides a gimmick of telling the main story backwards (which I swear I have seen before in books like "The Secret History") there was nothing appealing about this book. The main character was terrible, her family was terrible, and there was no development at all with secondary characters. I didn't get a sense of anyone at all and when I got to the letdown of an ending I was really ticked I had wasted any time at all with this.

Nicolette (or Nic) is reluctant to return to her hometown. We know that she is still haunted by her best friend Corrine that disappeared years ago. Nic left town and ended up going to school and settling in Philadelphia. She met a great guy named Everett and is finally engaged. However she feels stunted by her past and when her brother Daniel calls her to help with selling their family home she goes. Deciding to take two months off to help her brother Daniel, Nic is quickly confronted with an old boyfriend (Tyler) who is now dating Annaleise. Things go sideways for Nic again though when Annaleise goes missing just like Corrine did years ago.

Nic sucks. Sorry, when you eventually go from day 15 back to day 1 you have all of these things revealed which just makes her a small and just messed up person. I don't see any "Gone Girl" comparisons here since with Amazing Amy you get a really cool reveal about her. Telling the book backwards like she did, Miranda hid things until they were revealed earlier on which doesn't work. There were so many plot holes that I skipped counting them after a while.

I had so many questions about Nic's family, but everything dealing with her father and brother Daniel was vague. There is barely any dialogue by the way by anyone in this story. So you are fully immersed in Nic's head at all times. People's motivations for doing anything was murky and downright stupid at times.

Tyler is pathetic from beginning to end. I still don't get what drew him to Nic or her to him. Once again I am going to blame this on the writing though. Maybe if Miranda had told the story with the setup of everyone involved and then jumped to the present it would have worked better. But instead we just glimpses of Tyler and everyone else in this book through the count back day gimmick. And Tyler acting like a spurned lover though he has been dating and having sex with other women and Nic acting like they had this bond was ridiculous. Once again I am going to blame that on the narrative structure.

The writing I found to be so-so. Honestly, there was way too much tell going on here. And I had a hard time with even understanding why thing on day 15 would be vague since by then Nic obviously knows what happens and who did what. You can't do it that way and then have readers go the whole way to day 1 and all of a sudden things suddenly make sense. Frankly Miranda should have said on day 15 what went on and who did what and then you can work forward that way. This makes me think a little bit of "The Secret History". "The Secret History" worked better for me even though you have the reveal of who did what and who was murdered upfront. You get to work forward (or backwards in a way) and get to see what was the final incident that caused the murder.

The setting of this small town does not come alive at all. Probably because of the structure of the book. Besides Nic and Daniel's childhood home no place felt "real" to me while reading.

The ending was a joke and a half.

[Lala BooksandLala]

No star rating. I gave it 100 pages and nothing interested me enough to continue. The characters so far are boring af and I don't like the writing.

[Belle · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book follows the story of Nicolette ‘Nic’ who is in her late 20s and has to go back home to a small town in the middle of fucking nowhere to sort out her father’s home now that his health is declining. This book is told in a backwards to front format for the period of 14 days. So you start out with her going to this small down and arriving to her childhood home and then we go to the future and tell the story backwards.

There are a slew of problems with this novel and I will attempt to delineate because I don't like to slap a one star on a book without cause or explaining. These are things that for me destroyed what could've been a really awesome story. From now there will be SPOILERS!

1. Format: while I appreciate the concept of backwards to forward it doesn't work in this story because the fact is that Day 14 Nic details the events as if she didn't know what happened in Day 1. Does this make sense? So though we're telling the story backwards it's as if Nic didn't know what happened in the past. Information is withheld from days until the end which defeats the purpose of the backwards storytelling. This made the story extremely confusing.

2. The Unreliable Narrator Trope from Hell: It's not that I do not like an unreliable narrator, I very much enjoy it but the problem here is that there are 2 types of unreliable narrators: the ones you don't know they're unreliable until the end and it blows you away because it was so well crafted that you almost want to read the story again to see what you missed, those are the awesome ones. Then there's this one. The ones you KNOW the entire time that they're holding shit back, that you can't trust anything they say, etc. There's a serious lack of elegance to this narration, Nic is a complete mess and you know it and it's frustrating because she's so sloppy in her narration. She's repetitive, unlikable, selfish, lying, weak, jumbled - she's everything that I dislike. She believes in the justification of her actions but at the same time condemns them. Also, the entire world view presented is that everyone is like her, deep inside, we're all just nasty people.

3. The Lack of Likable Characters: When I tell you that not one of these motherfuckers are likable, I don't think I've ever experienced this before. In all books/movies there's always that one sympathetic character which you need, you need it to contrast the rest. In this narration not ONE is likable and mostly it's because you don't know anything about them. The characters in this story are just dimensions, they're interchangeable, they lack deep quirks and roots and things that make them come alive. Because our story is told by the hateful and bland Nic we see everyone through her eyes and thus they are reflective of her blandness.

4. So Predictable: About 10% into this book I knew that A: all the chicks were dead and 2 that it was one of the 5 main characters. Now, this format has been done well before - for example Clue, the movie. If you've watched it you know one of the characters killed Mr. Body, maybe even more than one of them but it's done so flawlessly that by the end you love them all, even the killer(s). This book was the opposite. You wish they were all the killers and you wish they would all die.

5. The Reader is an Idiot Trope: Oh, you know that book - the book that decides that you as a reader are a moron and you need to repeatedly be told plot points. This book is incredibly repetitive, you can literally skip from Day 10 to Day 4 and you'll be fine.

6. The Nothing Happens Trope: Oh yes. Nothing actually happens except the last 50 pages and by then you would like to join in on the murder spree.

Needless to say, I don't recommend this book.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I’ve read this year—without a doubt. I was pretty intrigued when I first heard the story was told in the reverse - who tells a story backward? Was it just a ploy to make it seem different from other suspense novels or would it really work? I was kind of skeptical, not entirely sure the author could pull it off, but she did. The result was a twisted and very addictive story, one that took me completely by surprise.

What I loved most about this story was Nicolette. Strong and independent, she settled down in Philadelphia and started a new life. One very different from the small town she left behind 10 years earlier when her best friend, Corinne disappeared. It’s a strange letter from her ailing father and a promise to help her brother that gets her to return home.

“I need to talk to you. That girl. I saw that girl.”

A few days after her return another girl goes missing. Is it just a coincidence the missing girl happens to be the alibi witness for Nic and her friends the night Corinne went missing? Nic’s father isn’t any help, he has memory problems and gets agitated easily and her brother—where to start with him. They have somewhat of an awkward relationship and it’s obvious he has something to hide. But what?

One of my other favorites was Tyler. He's always loved Nic and their relationship was pretty intense back in the day. He can’t be responsible for the disappearances though, right? And how could Nic leave him behind?

The author was so darn successful in making me doubt each and every one of these characters. I had no clue who was really guilty. My list of suspects changed constantly and in the end, I was wrong. I love when that happens!

You would think that by reading a story told in reverse, you would have some sense of how it’s going to end. That the author would give something away, but she didn't. Believe me when I say, the execution of this story was nothing short of clever. Going back and piecing everything together, to make sure every little detail truly fit, became part of the intrigue.

I loved, loved, loved the ending—I can't say it enough. It all boiled down to family and the notion that maybe, just maybe, we all have a monster inside of us. Some of us just know how to hide it better than others.

"The woods have eyes and monsters and stories. We are them as much as they are us.”

*ARC kindly provided by Simon & Schuster and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

[Meredith (Trying to catch up!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book to over my life! I could not put it down!

Nic Farrell reluctantly returns home to small town Cooley Ridge, North Carolina to help care for her ailing father. Having fled 10 years ago after the disappearance of her best friend Corinne, Nic has done all that she can to put the past behind her and move on. But Nic has a secret about Corinne, and as we all know, secrets come to the surface. When Annaleise, a girl who served as Nic’s alibi the night Corinne went missing, also goes missing, Nic’s new life begins to unravel.

All the Missing Girls is told in the reverse--starting from day 15 and moving towards day 1. The structure kept me riveted, as little clues were revealed with each passing day.
Telling the events in reverse form vs. past to present added an interesting twist and enhanced the unreliability of Nic as a narrator. This psychological thriller is packed with tension and intrigue. I recommend for an entertaining read.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review

[chantalsbookstuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicolette comes back home to help sell her Father's house. Suddenly, another girl goes missing, and it's eerily similar to a pattern from years ago. Everyone starts suspecting the men in Nicolette's life, but the plot bats the ball right out the park! The story is captivating from start to finish, and the premise is well-executed.

It's worth noting that the way this story is told is from back to front and might take a while to get fully into it

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

But here’s the thing I’ve learned about leaving - you can’t really go back. I don’t know what to do with Cooley Ridge anymore and Cooley Ridge doesn’t know what to do with me, either. The distance only increases with the years.

Anyone who has left that small town behind knows what it’s like going back those rare times you’re still obligated. That out of place feeling. I understood what Nic was going through and where her mind was at. I guess the difference here is I didn’t leave behind a mystery of a missing best friend in a town covered in secrets.

A polaroid fading from the edges in, the colors bled out; the outline of a ghost town full of ghosts.

Nic Farrell (short for Nicolette) is heading home to small town Cooley Ridge, North Carolina located in the middle of nowhere ten years after Corinne Prescott went missing. Little does she know another girl, Annaleise Carter, is about to go missing - one with a peculiar connection to Nic and her former group of friends. Annaleise was the one who corroborated the group’s alibi the night Corinne went missing.

It’s ten years later and Nic’s former group of friends including her older brother Daniel, former boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson are all still living in town. Nic’s first night back in town Annaleise goes missing after a date with Tyler. The book then jumps forward two weeks and proceeds to tell the story backwards day by day. It is pretty unique (and daring) to tell a story in reverse and Megan Miranda pulls it off flawlessly. What could have gone miserably wrong helped to build the narrative in an unputdownable way. The suspense continued to build up making for an addicting read.

There are even flashbacks to the group ten years ago that also consist of a dangerously intense teenage female friendship.

I really enjoyed the characters and the way their stories slowly unraveled within the reverse narrative. Excellent characterization. These characters may fall a bit more on the unlikable side for some people, but I enjoy my thrillers with flawed individuals. I like having reasons to question every character’s motives and the possibility that they might not be so reliable. In a way it adds to the mystery helping to create additional red herrings. Though Megan Miranda didn’t need that help because there are several set up within the story.

This may have been my first from the author, it won’t be my last. The writing was very good. I love that there are two mysteries playing out and I was guessing all the way through. It was filled with twists and tension while maintaining that haunted small town feel. I highly recommend if you are a lover of mysteries or thrillers.

[Deanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars!!


After reading the description for this book I was really intrigued. Then I read the "Dear Reader" at the start of the book which stated that I would be spellbound and unable to stop reading until I found out what happened to the missing girls. That the twist makes it unlike any reading experience I've ever had. Phew!!

"The book is told backward. After the setup, the story jumps ahead fifteen days and then counts down, day by day, until we reach the beginning again"

This is a story about the disappearances of two young women - a decade apart - told in reverse.

Now I was more than intrigued...I was psyched! But to be honest I was also a little concerned as to how this was going to turn out. But I couldn't wait to read it.

The way this book is written, makes it hard to read anything else at the same time. I sometimes like to read two or three books at a time. With this one that would be difficult. And once I was into it I didn't want to read anything else. I wanted to know what happened! Definitely not a book that I could speed read.

Nicolette (Nic) Farrell left home ten years ago after her best friend Corinne went missing. Nic has and returned only a few times to visit. Corinne has never been found, her case never solved.

Nic receives a call from her brother Daniel stating that their father is not doing well and some decisions have to be made. Two days before her brother's call she received a letter in the mail. The letter says "I need to talk to you" and "That girl, I saw that girl."

The letter is from her father.

"Corinne was larger than life here. Had become even larger because she disappeared."

Nic decides that she needs to go home.

"Tick-tock, Nic"

Now just like Corinne went missing all those years ago, another woman, Annaleise is missing. Annaleise just happens to be Nic's neighbor and was recently dating Nic's ex-boyfriend, Tyler.

Are the two cases connected?

What really happened to Corinne all those years ago? And where is Annaleise? Nic is determined to find out. To do so she has to look closely at all of her friends and family. She needs to look at everyone's relationship with Corinne....including her own.

"The facts. The facts were fluid, and changed, depending on the point of view. The facts were easily distorted. The facts were not always right"

I thought All the Missing Girls was a good psychological suspense. Well written and gripping. There were times I did get confused and had to read back a few pages. But the story is very interesting and it was hard to put down. I look forward to more from Megan Miranda.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda is a thrilling, gripping read from the very start. The story is told in a unique way - working backwards in time, starting with the present day, which serves to keep the reader off balance for the entirety of the book. Initially, I was concerned at how well this would work but this was unnecessary as it worked absolutely perfectly. It's a story that really can only be told in reverse.

The story begins with Nicolette (Nic) reluctantly returning to her hometown of Cooley Ridge to help her brother fix up her father's home in order to sell it, they need the money to pay for their father's care since he was placed in an assisted living facility due to dementia. Nicolette has not been home since she was eighteen and her friend, Corinne Prescott disappeared. Corinne was never found and no one knows what happened to her. Nicolette is not home long when another girl, Annaleise Carter, disappears. Are the two cases connected in some way? Join Nicolette, Daniel, and Tyler (Nicolette’s boyfriend) as they set out to get answers.

This seems to be a novel you either love or hate and the main sticking point for many is the way is is told in reverse. If you are not great at a book keeping your attention then this might not be for you as you really need to be geared in to get the benefit from this book otherwise you'll just end up confused! If you put the time and effort in though, this is a very satisfying read.

Megan Miranda is a powerhouse of a writer who managed to keep the plot twists coming thick and fast right until the end. There are certainly many surprises! One thing I would say is that this is an adult book and not Miranda's normal genre of YA, so it may appeal to a different audience as well as those who already love Megan Miranda's writing.
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[Lindsay L · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars! This was a gripping page turner for me! This book kept my full attention from the very first to last page. The author did a fantastic job of telling the story in reverse (Day 15 to Day 1) - such a unique reading experience! I felt completely drawn into the main character, Nic's, story. She seemed to have a dark, secretive side to her and I wanted to know more about her past which was slowly revealed throughout the novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books by Megan Miranda!

[Crumb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really know what to think of this book..at first. It started out rocky, to be honest. However, I found that I couldn't stop reading..I couldn't put it down. It started to gradually build momentum and I am happy I stuck with it.

This was a perfect book to read in October. Very creepy on so many levels. The title is completely on point. This story is about missing girls, two of them. I also just have to mention how much I adored the cover.
I wasn't crazy about how this story was told backwards. I'm sure some loved that because it is what made this book unique, but I had a hard time getting used to it. I had to back track sometimes and think, "wait, what?"

In the beginning we find out that Nic is returning to Cooley Ridge to obtain guardianship of her aging father and to fix up his house in order to sell it. We also learn that Nic did everything in her power to distance herself from Cooley Ridge and Tyler, a boy she can't stop herself from running to. Because, In Cooley Ridge, The woods have eyes and monsters and stories..
And, this is that story..

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. I did NOT enjoy this. "All the Missing Girls" by Megan Miranda was confusing, aggravating, and so very bland. I seem to be losing interest in the genre of psychological thrillers lately. If I'm going to read a book like this I expect a mind-blowing twist, or compelling characters, or a plot that is fast-moving, or something that will keep me on the edge of my seat. This book isn't it.

First off, the protagonist, Nicolette Farrell really got on my damn nerves! She's just so stupid, creepy, and a fucking liar. I wanted to bitch-slap her so bad. Actually, I don't like any of the characters, especially her brother and ex-boyfriend. I did feel a little bit sorry for Nicolette's clueless fiancée, Everett, but even with that, he wasn't an interesting character either.

I didn't like how the novel travels backwards. I initially thought I would enjoy reading a book like that, but I ended up loathing it halfway though. I was confused more than anything. I really don't understand what the author was thinking? It didn't help move the story along at all. That so-called "twist" was laughable. The writing was cringe-worthy and repetitive. I thought I was going to puke if I had to read the line, "Tick-tock, Nic." one more time. Enough already!

There's A LOT of people who enjoyed "All the Missing Girls" and that's perfectly fine, but for me, I think my favorite part was the cover. Gorgeous. That alone deserves a 5 star-rating. I think the only reason I'm giving it a 2 star-rating instead of 1 is because I did like the first 50 pages, after that, it became too predictable and pointless. You can't win them all, folks! Oh well.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE MISSING GIRLS by Megan Miranda is her first novel for adults, and will be published by Simon & Schuster on June 28th, 2016. This is a powerful psychological suspense novel, about the disappearance of two young women and like nothing I have ever read …because the story is told in REVERSE. How brilliant! One of the best novels I have read in 2016!

At first, I really didn’t know if this structure would work being told BACKWORDS…but she made it work and I loved it! I had to keep on reading to see what happened!

The story starts with the day Nicolette Farrell (Nic) returns 10 years later to her hometown, the small town of Cooley Ridge, that she left at the age of 18 after her friend Corinne disappeared. She was never found.

The original investigation had centered around:
• Nic
• Daniel-Nic’s brother
• Tyler Ellison-Nic’s boyfriend at the time
• Jackson Porter-Corinne’s boyfriend

Daniel and wife Laura are expecting a baby.
Jackson works at the town bar.
Tyler is dating Annaleise Carter, a younger neighbour, the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared.

When Nic returns…Annaleise goes missing!

Only Nic left this small rural town and has a new life in Philadelphia, being engaged to a lawyer, Everett. Back again to get her father’s house ready to be sold as he suffers from dementia and is in a nursing home. Nic is soon lurched into a scandalous drama that revives Corinne’s case and open old wounds and memories.

Is the disappearance of these two missing girls-Corinne and Annaleise-linked together somehow?
The story then jumps forward 15 days and then is told in reverse. I was totally engrossed in the story. I had to find out what happened to the girls and why.

The entire story is in Nic's first person perspective, and it worked well. This was an in-depth character-driven suspense novel that covered teenage friendships, relationships where everyone had a secret and the truth was revealed slowly like a pot simmering on the stove. So many twists and turns with an ending that I didn’t see coming. But most of all this novel explores the length that a person is willing to go to protect their loved ones.

“Life must be understood backwards… but it must be lived forward.”
-Soren Kierkegaard

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster via NetGalley for my copy.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Simon and Schuster and to Megan Miranda for the opportunity.

The ferris wheel.

You know the uncertainty of the ride. The tilting and the swaying of the individual cars as you cast your fate to the backwards pitch. Slowly, gaining speed and not really knowing what the view is behind you. Trusting that you will reach the top. Then the shocking thrust of the forward plunge. And it all begins again.....

Megan Miranda presents her mystery/thriller just like that ferris wheel ride. You begin this story on Day 15 and proceed to visit each preceding day until you can't bear the tension anymore. You are determined to find out what really happened on that fateful Day 1. You must know. You must.

Nicolette Farrell receives a phone call from her brother, Daniel. Their father suffers from dementia and is in an assisted living facility in Cooley Ridge on the edge of the Smoky Mountains. There is much to handle and to organize for the sale of their father's house.

Nic headed as far away from her home town as possible years ago. She now lives in Philadelphia, is engaged to Everett who is a lawyer, and has worked hard on her degree. After a ten year absence, Cooley Ridge is the last place that she wants to step back into. Family matters are one thing, but an intensely shadowed past is another.

And that past involves her missing best friend, Corinne Prescott. And how is it that Corinne ends up missing in the midst of the throng of her teenage friends? No one has answers. No one seems to know a thing about that night when their numbers dwindled by one. Not even a carelessly thrown ticket to a well-lit carnival ride. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

And now another girl goes missing. And why ten years later does this all seem familiar?

Nic will lead you through this winding maze of events.....a maze that doesn't exist in a normal time frame. Crazy, you say. And crazy are the flashes of the past that you will be privy to.....one day at a time. One interaction of characters at a time.

Megan Miranda has attempted to keep your mind at a half kilter here. She's quite successful at it. I doubt that you will be putting this book to the side. It will haunt you. That is the direct intention. This book will be coming out on June 28th. Don't need a crystal ball to tell me that this one has your name on it.

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is 24 hours since I finished All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda. I have thought about it constantly since I finished it, and I still don't really know what to think of it.

'I have to tell it this way, in pieces. I have to work my way up to it. Work my way back to it. I have to show you the beautiful things before I get to the ugly.'

I found All the Missing girls a difficult read. That is not necessarily a bad thing. I have really enjoyed many other books that were difficult reads. It took some getting my head around that we were working backwards a day at a time. I found it confusing in parts and I would be thinking 'What?'. Reading this book is kind of like playing Jeopardy - you have the answers before you know what the question is, although the answers you have may not necessarily be the correct ones.

'There is nothing more dangerous, nothing more powerful, nothing more necessary and essential for survival than the lies we tell ourselves.' But we don't just lie to ourselves; we lie to others as well. And where do those lies end? Or do they end? If they are told enough times and for long enough, do they become mistaken for the truth?

I can see that this book had to be written this way and, strangely enough, it works. But did I like it? I still don't know. It intrigued me. It had me thinking 'clever!' and at times 'very clever!'. But I was quite happy to put it down and walk away. It did not take over my life, as some books do. I was not riveted by it. Will I read more by this author? Yes.

And so after much thought, I award this book 3.5 stars, upgraded to 4.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing a digital ARC of All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

[megs_bookrack · Rating 4 out of 5]

**4.5-stars**

All the Missing Girls is Megan Miranda's most reviewed work and also one of her earlier novels. I feel like I have had it on my TBR forever.

Published in 2016, I have had countless people recommend this novel to me. It's about time I got around to it.



I decided to listen to the audiobook and am so glad that I did. The narration by Rebekkah Ross is fantastic and made this story come alive for me.

The standout feature of this is the unconventional format. I loved how Miranda chose to tell this story. People had mentioned this to me before, so I am not exposing anything new here, but this story is sort of told in reverse.

Let's see if I can paint an accurate picture. You get some info at the beginning that sets the stage. Mainly, our MC, Nic, returning to her hometown after a decade.



The the next thing you know, you're at day 14, a lot has happened, but what happened in the interim??

Then you get day 13, day 12, day 11 and so on, until all is revealed in a beautifully-paced fashion.



I thought the mystery elements were well done. You have the past disappearance of Nic's best friend, Corrine, but you also have a current disappearance of a woman named, Annaleise. Nic has always been haunted by Corrine's disappearance, so that is at the forefront of her mind throughout the book.

The relationship work was well done too, particularly the relationship between Nic and her brother, as well as Nic and her ex-boyfriend, Tyler.

I also enjoy how Miranda gave us info surrounding the time that Corrine disappeared when they were teens.



It was challenging to sort of train the brain to think through the events in the sequence they were being revealed. It definitely kept me on my toes, which was fun. I actually wouldn't mind reading it again to see if I can find even more of the connections on the second go.

Some of the choices seemed odd, like how Nic's brother treated her. I am still sort of confused about their relationship. It's complex and offered me a lot of layers to think through, but at times his choices as far as interacting with her seemed really strange to me.

The same thing goes for her fiance, Everett. Maybe he was just a jerk, I don't know. Although, honestly, Nic is no angel either...



Overall, I had a great time reading this. I love Miranda's creativity and the level of drama she brings to her stories. There are always a ton of secrets just waiting to be revealed.

I'm here for it!

[Dorie - Cats&Books :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story was told in a unique manner. We are first introduced to our main character, Nicolette, Nic, Farrell as she is asked by her brother, Daniel, to return home to Cooley Ridge, NC. Their father is in an assisted living center and is not doing well. The funds to pay for his care are running out and Daniel wants Nic to help get the family home ready to sell. Nic had also received a very strange letter from her father that stated “I need to talk to you”, “That girl, I saw that girl”.
Nic realizes that she has to return home.

Nic had left home 10 years earlier after her best friend Corinne disappeared and was never found. After the setup of the story the reader is thrust forward 15 days and the story is then told in reverse, back to day 1. At first it is more than a little confusing, this is not a beach read, you have to pay attention to what is happening! Once I got used to the style it was interesting.

We are introduced to all of the main “players”, Nic’s old high school boyfriend, Tyler, and his present girlfriend Annaleise, her brother Daniel, her father and various other people from town. Only a short time passes before Annaleise goes missing. The town is once again immersed in the search for Annaleise and there are many thoughts about whether the two missing girls are connected in some way, whether they were taken by the same person and who are the most possible suspects.

This is a very impressive debut novel with a very unique form of unraveling the mystery. I certainly didn’t see the end coming and it was very detailed and gripping. It’s definitely a book that will keep you up all night reading to the end!

I would highly recommend this thriller as it is well written and exciting with a well thought out and well described plot with well developed characters and a “wow” ending!

[Debra - can't post any comments on site today grrr · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

One really needs to pay attention while reading this book. This book is told in reverse chronological order ranging from day 15 to day 1. This is a very unique way of telling the story and it took some time for me to get used to this technique. Initially I did not like this about the book. I found it to be annoying and then I began to warm up to it.

Nicolette (Nic) returns to her rural hometown after being gone for 10 years. She has returned to help her brother care for their ailing father and to help sell the family home and tie up loose ends. Ten years earlier her best friend, Corinne disappeared without a trace. At the time Nic, her brother Daniel, her boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne's boyfriend Jackson were considered suspects. Tyler's current girlfriend Annaleise provided them with an alibi at the time.

Then Annaleise goes missing (in the present day). Nic begins to look at the past and tries to tie it together with the present day. The story has mystery, family secrets, relationship issues, and some twists and turns along the way.

Overall, I thought this book was good. It was one that I initially gave less stars to, but then I found myself sitting and thinking about it. Then I realized I enjoyed the book more than I thought I would. I think I was initially thrown by the reverse storytelling. I don't think this technique is for everyone. Some may even find it to be confusing.

See more of my reviews at www.openbookpost.com

[Larry H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes. This is what a thriller should be.

Ten years ago Nicolette Farrell's best friend Corinne disappeared from their North Carolina hometown one night. No one could figure out what happened to Corinne, although the investigation brought a lot of people's secrets to light, and made everyone a suspect—Nic, her then-boyfriend Tyler, her brother, and Corinne's boyfriend, Jackson. It wasn't long before Nic left Cooley Ridge, getting rid of her accent and putting her old life—and those in it—behind her.

You can never truly escape your hometown. Ten years after Corinne's disappearance, Nic returns to Cooley Ridge to help tie up some loose ends related to her ailing father, and get her childhood home into saleable condition. Since everyone else from her past still lives in Cooley Ridge, it's not long before she finds herself falling into familiar behavior patterns, revisiting old resentments, and picking at old wounds that she thought had healed.

One night shortly after Nic's return, another young woman, Annaleise Carter, disappears. Annaleise was one of Nic's neighbors, and was dating her ex-boyfriend Tyler, and although she was younger than Nic and her friends, she was there the night that events occurred leading up to Corinne's disappearance. And apparently, Annaleise had recently shown a keen interest into that night 10 years ago.

After the initial set-up, All the Missing Girls is told backwards, from Day 15 to Day 1 following Nic's return home. She tries to unravel what happened to Annaleise, and also attempts to understand what happened to Corinne all those years ago, and the hold she had on those around her. Nic also must come to terms with things she and her family have kept hidden, and try to figure out what the next chapter of her life holds, while everything seems to be unraveling quickly.

This book kept me hooked from start to finish. It reminded me of one of my favorite movies, Memento , which is also told backwards, and it's fascinating to see something referred to or see the aftermath of an event, and then read about what actually happened in the next (or technically, previous) chapter. Megan Miranda doesn't ease up on the tension, and I really wasn't sure what to expect. The plot is utterly fascinating even if it wasn't totally surprising to me, but all I wanted to do was keep reading.

I mentioned a few reviews ago that it's difficult for me to read mysteries and thrillers because I've become so used to not trusting any characters. In the introduction to the book, it is mentioned that none of the characters are reliable narrators, so that lack of trust actually works here and doesn't distract. It's just really well done.

For some reason the media marketing minds have decided to compare this to The Girl on the Train , but I don't think they're similar, and I think this one is better. I look forward to seeing what comes next for Megan Miranda, because her talent makes her totally worthy of being another famous Miranda (along with Hamilton genius Lin-Manuel Miranda).

NetGalley and Simon & Schuster provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a decent thriller. 😉 I’ve read a couple of mystery/thriller books that are told backwards… starting with the last day, ending with the first day…. It was entertaining. 😏 I have some unanswered questions, but that seems to be the case with most mysteries. 🤪

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda is a 2016 Simon & Schuster publication.

“It is quite true what philosophy says; that life must be understood backward. But then one forgets the other principle: that it must be lived forwards. – Soren Kierkegaard

‘All the Missing Girls’, is a crafty, twisty/bending mystery told in a very innovative way, backwards, like a countdown, leading up to the big climax.

When Nicolette Farrell gets a phone call from her brother, Daniel, regarding the health of their father and the need to sell the family home, Nic, reluctantly agrees to come home to Cooley Ridge.

A decade ago, Nic’s best friend disappeared, upending everyone’s lives forever. Nic is the only one of her friends to leave home, and forge a new life. But, now that she has returned, her past comes to roost in the present, when another young girl disappears, opening up old wounds, revealing stunning secrets, and churning up old memories, lost loves, jealousies, and hidden crimes.

Before Nic can move forward with her life, she must discover the truth about what happened ten years ago, and find out what happened to her young neighbor, Annaleise. In the meantime, she floats between the past and present, struggling with memory, nostalgia, angst, but most of all she’s afraid of how the past may affect her future, as her father, ex-boyfriend, Tyler, and her brother, are all under suspicion and every step she takes is being watched closely…

I loved the stylish presentation the author employed, which really challenged me and certainly staved off any hint of boredom. The story is told from Nicolette’s POV, who takes us on a moody, atmospheric journey into her past, which will throw turn her carefully planned future into complete disarray.

Nic was deeply affected by her friend’s disappearance for many reasons, stirring up feelings of guilt and remorse, while her feelings for Tyler remains unsettled. To top things off, she must cope with the drain of her father’s dementia, getting the house ready to sell, and the complicated relationship she has with her brother.

The new missing persons case, puts them all back on the old rumor mill, creating a renewed interest in the cold case.

All of this creates an aura of edgy suspense, and produces a creepy, heavy feeling of foreboding, that had me sitting on pins and needles. The characters are all secretive, complex, and even a little dangerous, which made me wonder what they knew, what lies they had told, and why. No one is above suspicion!
I can’t say I felt a ginormous sense of peace once all was said and done, nor do I know exactly how to feel about how everything turned out in the end, but I did find the story absorbing, and immensely satisfying in a dark and twisty sort of way.

I definitely get why this book is so popular and am thankful I finally got a copy, after months of waiting. However, it was definitely worth the long wait.
4 stars

[Frances · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cooley Ridge is one of those places that will either hold you forever, or let you go. Nicolette Farrell left a decade ago to start a new life in Philadelphia and has returned for the summer to help her older brother Daniel sell the family home. Realizing their father will never return from the care facility, Nic is anxious to visit him with the hopes he will be more lucid and can explain the note he sent; ‘I need to talk to you. I saw that girl’. Feeling uneasy of what may have triggered the lost memories, Nic is worried he will stir up the countless rumors about the girl who disappeared all those years ago. The author, Megan Miranda, has a unique style in this psychological thriller, by starting the plot and then going backwards each day (Day 15 to Day 1) before arriving at the conclusion. Repetitive in some chapters, the story eventually takes hold as the final chapters begin to tell the secrets, lies, and mysteries that took place in the small town of Cooley Ridge.

** Thank you to Nicole McArdle Marketing Manager of Publisher Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review. **