I thought the premise of this story was super interesting, surrounding websleuths trying to solve missing persons cases. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a slam dunk for me. There are a lot of characters to keep track of and I had a hard time keeping everyone straight. Because there are so many, they’re not completely flushed out and the minimal character development left me wanting more. The end of the book was so rushed and felt incomplete. This book either needed to be shorter, or more work needed to be done on the ending. It was a good story. I just wanted more from the book itself..

For me, this book needed an edit for readability - it was slow, plodding, and kind of boring . There was no spark for me..

Long-time fan of Sarah Lotz's novels, ever since 2014's DAY THREE.
MISSING PERSON is another fantastic suspense novel, in which a group of amateur detectives is infiltrated by a killer. Populated by well-drawn characters, a well-paced and well-constructed plot, I really enjoyed this. If you like your suspense/thriller fiction with a bit of a twist, then I'd highly recommend this novel (and also anything else by Lotz).

I was drawn to the plot of this one as it sounded like it had the potential to be a strong suspenseful read. Unfortunately, it was just so slow and at times really hard to keep straight all the different character narratives.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2020 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2020/01/2020-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

I really enjoy this slow burn of a book. Though has elements of a thriller, it takes its time to develop a vivid cast of characters ranging from a young gay Irish bookseller to a prickly disabled owner of a missing persons identification forum living in the desert southwest to a bubbly but insecure Midwestern housewife who is so drawn to the forum she's addicted. The Irishman learns his family lied to him when they said his flamboyant uncle was dead. He'd actually gone to America, but he's thrown when the forum finds out there's a possibility an unidentified murder victim was the uncle. But is it really a match? What really happened to the uncle? I came for the storyline - I'm a sucker for stories about online communities - but stayed for the well-drawn and evolving relationships as much as for the well-plotted story.

A mix of procedural/investigation suspense and "one of the POVs is a sociopath leading the other POVs on a wild goose chase." Not super high stakes, but has compelling characters and fairly engrossing "websleuthing" true crime angle.

The best way for me to describe this is it felt like a Novel. Not to make novels some hoity-toity thing; all books are novels, but you know the way some people think of a book as a Novel with a capital N? This book didn't feel like a straightforward commercial thriller, which to my mind means it has "crossover" potential with readers who may be less attracted to high-stakes commercial thrillers. This has some meaty character studies and current social statements--the use of a websleuthing forum + Reddit + Twitter was fun. Internet mob mentality is fascinating.

I was glad for the multi-POV, which is in third person, as just when one POV was getting stale, we'd jump to another one. You follow four POVs as they investigate the identification of a John Doe body/one of the characters' missing uncles. Shaun is in Ireland, Chris is in Nevada, Ellie is in Minnesota, and Pete is in Washington. The latter three are all regulars on a websleuthing forum called Missing-Linc.

It's really clear in the set-up that the last person, Pete, whose online moniker is bobbiecowell is not who he says he is--and it gets more and more interesting from there. He's a shady character on a missing persons/unidentified bodies website for a reason (he gets his rocks off on messing with people), and so the contrasts between his chapters and KNOWING he's lying/purposely messing with the others and the very earnest, trusting POVs of the others... it's a very particular kind of emotional suspense.

Now the ONE THING that bothered me consistently and may bug other American readers: three out of four characters in this book are, allegedly, American, and live in the United States... but the book is full of Britishisms. I get it; the author is British and this is a UK imprint. Still. There are a lot of anachronisms for the three "American" POVs that will likely similarly throw American readers. Even though I'm familiar with most of the Briticisms it's still REALLY STRANGE to have a POV American say things like going to the til or put on the tea or people mover. I was like "WTF is a people mover?" Apparently it's a mini-van. It's a quibble I wanted to mention as it might bother others.

There was one teeny tiny subplot where a prostitute was mentioned to be trans and it felt a bit unnecessary. A trope I don't love.

Overall a solid suspense novel with interesting character profiles I was keen to follow. I enjoyed the meta true crime aspect.

This is a past mystery that centers on a whydunnit and will they get caught but what I loved about this book was the dysfunctional found family element that centers around an online group of sleuths in the U.S. who work to solve cases with unidentified missing people. There’s the moderator and creator of the site who prefers to be a recluse. The cheery stay-at-home mom that only finds satisfaction in life when working on a case. The Irish young man who learns a family secret and sets out to find out what really happened to his uncle. And the professed killer who is pretending to be an ex-cop on the website “solving” the case he knows the answers to. While this deals with dark subject matter, the novel itself never felt like it sunk into darkness and really focused on the lives of these websleuths–and why they were obsessed with solving these cases. I really wanted to keep reading more about them!

A family secret. A group of amateur sleuths who spend their spare time looking for missing people. And a killer who inserts himself in the middle in hopes of controlling everything. These are the basic building blocks of Missing Person, which focuses on the murder of Teddy Ryan.

It was an unusual decision for the author to clue us into the killer’s identity so early. While this made it possible to see things from the killer’s perspective, it also drained a lot of the tension out of the story.

I liked most of the characters, but I was also happy to get to the end. Unfortunately, the ending came up short for me and the so-called explanation for the killer’s motive felt like a bit of a cop out.

Overall, this was an okay book that read much more like a light mystery than an actual thriller.

I was really intrigued by the premise of this book. Shaun, an Irish bookseller, learns that his Uncle Teddy didn't die in a car crash after all, but instead went to New York to escape his homophobic family and hometown. Shaun's search for his uncle leads him to an American missing persons cold case website, where one of the users posits the possibility that Teddy is dead after all, and that he's actually the true identity of the cold case labelled 'Boy in a Dress.' The website's users -- founder Chris (Ratking1), moderator Ellie (RainbowBrite), Chris' sometime-lover Scott (Aqualung), and former cop Pete (BobbieCowell) -- all team up to restart the investigation into the case, and possibly get Shaun the answers he seeks. What they don't realize is that the person who actually killed the Boy in the Dress is among them, posting on the site, working the cold cases, and keeping tabs on their investigation.

It's a chilling premise. I like how Lotz explores the relationships built online, and how she acknowledges the characters' obsessive tendencies and often sad life circumstances while still maintaining a level of respect for them. She delves into their motivations (e.g. Chris' missing mother) and their dreams (e.g. Ellie's unsupportive husband and somewhat-but-not-really crush on BobbieCowell). We are also told who the real murderer is fairly early on, and it was fascinating to read the chapters from that character's perspective, and to see how they're manipulating the investigation to protect themselves. I also liked learning about Shaun's family and their backstory, and how circumstances led to Teddy leaving for New York in the first place.

But overall the book just moved too slowly for me. Things unfolded at a very slow pace, and while the book was only 480 pages long, it felt a lot longer. Because we know the identity of the murderer early on, and can pretty much figure out how Teddy fits into the whole situation, the thrill is a lot more about whether or not the other users of the site can figure it out and bring the murderer to justice. Despite some scenes where characters are legit in danger, the overall feel of the book is just sad and a bit sordid.

Missing Person is a very character-driven thriller, but while the characters all had their own interesting tidbits, I just wasn't invested enough in any of them to stay interested despite the slow pace.

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Thank you to the publisher for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

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The review will go live on my blog on Oct 7, 8 am ET.

This was an intriguing and well thought out mystery!
I enjoyed the various characters and their family dynamics and the plot tugged at my heartstrings.

The different formatting in the web forum sleuth parts helped break up the monotony of "so and so did this and then ____ happened and they felt ____" chapters that made the book a little slow.

Overall this was a good read with a compelling mystery that will appeal to fans of true crime.

I was highly entertained by this work of suspense from Sarah Lotz. The premise fascinated me and she certainly kept the promise of the premise. The plot revolves around a cyber connected group of amateur detectives that use crowd sourcing and other tactics to match missing people with unidentified bodies. Enter a man from Ireland searching for his lost Uncle in America. Be aware that this is one of those rare suspense novels that identifies the killer early on. It concentrates more on the process and the pitfalls of cyber connection. How do you know who is at the other end of the connection? The chapters alternate among the searchers, but each is identified well, so it's easy to follow. Talk about the myriad possibilities for unreliable narrators!?!?! Ms Lotz kept my interest throughout and I highly recommend Missing Person. My only disappointment was the abruptness of the ending.
4.5
I received my copy through NetGalley under no obligation.

This book was not what I expected... but in a positive way of course. I was thinking this was going to be a poo your pants kind of thriller but it was more of a good general fiction. I was waiting for stuff to get crazy but it all stayed pretty low key yet interesting. I feel like I learned a lot about Ireland which was great because I love Ireland! This book took me back to a place I visited so many years go. I really enjoyed that trip back!

Missing Person is an interesting character driven book about a group of amateur sleuths whose "hobby" is matching missing persons with unidentified bodies via a website. They are investigating a case dubbed "The boy in the dress" and have found a potential match. It just happens that the killer is actively "investigating" with them as well. The book was not particularly exciting and there were no big bombshells but I did enjoy the story overall. I have not read a Sarah Lotz book before and I would most definitely check out her other books. I think i would give this one 3 1/2 stars rounded up to 4 stars.

This book was an interesting read, I found it a bit of a slow burn but overall enjoyed the book.
It's written in a very interesting format of group chat messages, online forum talks and texts brought forth through a multiple point of view prespective in 4 different parts. The story is filled with dysfunctional family, secrets, lies and some shocking surprises.
Missing Persons by @lorzwriting follows a bunch of websleuhers trying to solve missing person cases on an online forum called missing-linc.

Shaun a young gay man in Ireland who works at a bookshop and lives with his dog is grieving the loss of his mother. He discovers information from a stranger that his uncle Teddy, who he thought to have died in a car crash may actually still be alive. Shaun desperate to find his mothers favorite brother decides to look into it further and puts up a picture online and contacting missing-linc.

Missing-linc thinks that the picture resembles one of their missing person cases profiled on the site. The case of an unidentified Male body found in a pink dress. From here there is a bunch of investing and trying to discover what actually happened to the man in the pink dress and who committed such a crime.

I won't go into a lot of detail because I don't want to give anything away but if you want to know if it a serial killer or a sex crime? Or whether they ultimately find the murderer? You sound definitely read this book.

3.5 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2019/09/03/missing-person-by-sarah-lotz/
Missing Person was my third book by Sarah Lotz and I can’t deny that it was a book that I couldn’t wait to pick up. This is an author who can really break out the goosebumps with her creepy horror. That being said, this is a slight step away from that style. I would suggest if you’re picking this one up having read the previous books maybe just adjust your expectations a little. This is a much more subtle form of horror, the type that leaves you thinking – it could just happen.

This is a story of, no surprise, missing people. The sort of story that is scary simply by the fact that these are people who have gone off, moved somewhere else, away from family or friends, for whatever reason and have been murdered – but nobody is aware of their disappearance, They’ve simply gone, lying abandoned somewhere whilst life ticks on without their presence and if their bodies are found it’s unlikely that they will be ever be identified. Just another John or Jane Doe.

Strangely enough Shaun Ryan has lived his life believing his uncle Teddy died in a car accident until he finds out that this was not true. Families and secrets – Shaun’s family, following one of those arguments that feels difficult to come back from, sent Teddy away. He went to America to make a fresh start and everyone was led to believe he’d passed away. So Shaun goes in search of clues, dreaming of maybe visiting his uncle and even thinking it could be the start of something new for himself. He posts the only picture he has of his uncle and starts asking questions that lead in an unexpected direction.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, or back over the pond in the US, Christina Guzman runs a site called Missinglinc – this started as a hobby after her own mother went missing and she was desperate for information, any information, as to her whereabouts. Her mom’s details are still posted on the site but to date no new information has been found. The site however has gained support with new people joining in in the amaterur sleuthing and one of them has spotted Teddy’s picture and connected the dots to one of the cases on the Missinglinc forum. Not good news for Shaun if this suspicion turns out to be correct, Teddy’s only just come back from the dead but it seems it was only a temporary respite.

Now, as the story goes along we meet a few more people, primarily Chris who runs the site and a couple of others who make active contributions. Ellie who has a bit of a history with Chris already and stopped taking part on the site when things went wrong, and a couple of other users – of most note – the murderer! People are always claiming that the murderer returns to the scene of the crime but here he actively takes part in the chats about missing people to keep his finger on the pulse, see if he’s in any danger of being found out.

I love the way Sarah Lotz writes, she has a very appealing style and makes great characterisation and scene setting appear to be all too easy. Add to that the epistolary format this is used quite a bit for parts of the story with text messages, newspaper articles and group chats – well, I make no mistake that this is a format that I really enjoy, sifting through the different bits and pieces to find out the underlying messages, and it’s used to excellent effect here.

The characters are what really make this story though, Shaun, Chris and Ellie are all given really good back stories and feel like every day, regular characters who make mistakes but keep on plugging away. The inclusion of chapters from the murderer’s pov adds a sinister element to the story, particularly because you’re not 100% certain which online character he might be.

In terms of criticisms. Well, this takes quite a while to lay the groundwork necessary, which isn’t to say it’s a slow read at all because it succeeded in hooking me in almost immediately, but it does take it’s time to get to know everybody – which, when all is said and done is something that I appreciate. However, given the time that is taken in setting the scene and luring us into this spidery web of deceit the ending felt a little anti climatic and over all too soon. The other thing that I would say, and this is more about personal taste than actual criticism, is that this doesn’t quite work as well for me as The White Road. It’s a good read, it’s compelling, gripping in some parts and it certainly succeeds as a lifelike mystery story – but it didn’t give me the heebie jeebies or have that slight supernatural element that I was hoping for – which again is my bad really because I made my own assumptions going into the read.

However, if you want to read a compelling, character driven mystery that does kind of make you view the internet with a bit of trepidation and is a story that feels very ‘real’ then I would recommend this. It’s not quite the horror that I was expecting but nonetheless it’s a very good read.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. the above is my own opinion.

‘Looking for my uncle Edward Shaun Ryan. Goes by Teddy. He left Wicklow County in Ireland in 1995 and might be in NYC. To my knowledge he hasn’t contacted the family since then. His current age would be 42. Irish, slender, five foot five (approximately), gay. If you have any information please contact...”

Irish bookseller Shaun Ryan is stunned when he learns that his late mother’s favourite brother, Teddy may still be alive and well. While Shaun had been told his Uncle was killed in a car accident before he was born, it seems Teddy had instead been banished to the United States in part because, like Shaun, he was gay. Despite the vehement objections of his remaining family members, Shaun decides to search for him, posting messages online, hoping to reconnect with Teddy.
Shaun is shaken when he is contacted by a woman who runs a forum called MissingLinc.com for amateur websleuths that specialises in identifying the remains of missing people, suggesting that Teddy could be a match for an unidentified murder victim, known as ‘The Boy in the Dress’. The possibility galvanises the members of the site and with this new information the group redoubles their efforts to unravel the mystery. However among the eager websleuths lurks Teddy’s killer, and he is is determined that this is one case that will remain unsolved.

Missing Person offers an original, modern premise that is utterly believable. I was engrossed in this story, which explores the world of websleuthing, the online investigation of crime by individuals. It is an intriguing hobby that attracts a wide spectrum of people from bored housewives, to retired law enforcement officers, to IT specialists, and everything in between. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to one day learn that a killer has infiltrated a websleuth forum, of which there are many, in order to keep tabs on, or even derail, an inquiry that threatens to expose him/her. Murderer’s are known for attempting to get close to law enforcement investigations, for example, often participating in community searches for their victims, or volunteering false information to canvassing detectives. It would be relatively simple for a killer to anonymously involve themselves in this arena, something Lotz’s story acknowledges, along with the other possible pitfalls associated with online sleuthing, especially when social media is utilised.

Divided into four parts, and told from multiple perspectives, using a combination of a third person narrative and exchanged messages, texts, and forum posts, Missing Person is not just about the mystery surrounding Teddy’s murder, it examines the interesting characters that involve themselves in the case; Shaun (aka WicklowBoy22), Teddy’s nephew; forum owner, Chris (RatKing1), whose own mother has been missing since she was a teen; ‘Rainbowbrite’ (aka Ellie) a stay at home wife and mother; and the man who uses the online handle ‘BobbieCowell’, whose fascination with the case isn’t at all benign. I really enjoyed the author’s approach to telling this story, with its focus on the motives of her main characters, rather than on the crime itself.

Clever, engaging, and suspenseful, with the recent uptick of interest in true crime, evidenced by popular podcasts such as My Favorite Murder, and various Netflix specials, the publication of Sarah Lotz’s novel, Missing Person, is a timely and entertaining novel.

*** 3 and a half stars ***

Missing Person by Sarah Lotz was suspenseful and entertaining, but the ending just fell a bit short for me. Now, where do I start?

What I most enjoyed of Missing Person is the array of characters and their personal stories. Missing Person is set both in Ireland and in the United States, and the narration is divided between the four main characters: Shaun, who’s uncle Teddy has been missing for years and who left his hometown in Ireland to never been heard from again; Ellie, who researched and published (as an amateur) the case of the boy in the dress from the very beginning on the website Missing-Linc; Chris, who owns Missing-Linc, a forum dedicated to matching unidentified remains to missing persons; and finally, Peter, who appears helpful to the case at first but is later revealed to be a danger to the other characters…

These characters all come together beautifully. Their personalities and back story made them quite likable and relatable. I also quite enjoyed the use of modern technology, such as forum chats and instant messaging, in the narration. This is very typical of a Sarah Lotz novel.

The story was quite suspenseful, albeit a bit slow-paced. The reader learns the identity of the murderer very early on, whilst the characters are in the dark. As I just mentioned, the story was a bit slow-paced, but towards the end, you feel stressed as the murderer is closing in on the other characters.

However, I was disappointed of the ending. I found it a bit anti-climatic, and I guess I wish there was more of a confrontation between the killer and the main characters.

All in all though, I do recommend this book and give it 3 and a half stars. I look forward to reading more novels by Mrs. Lotz.

3.5 of 5 stars

A mystery-thriller that’s more mystery than thrills, Missing Person by Sarah Lotz blends solving cold cases with social media, centering on a group of amateur sleuths who try to match names to murder victims who were never identified. But for Christina Guzman, founder of the website Missin-linc.com, shining light on these missing persons cases is more than just a macabre hobby. Still haunted by the loss of her mother whose photo and information can be found listed in the website’s database alongside dozens of other unsolved cases, Chris has never given up her search. Running Missing-linc under her handle “Ratking1”, she joins other regular users around the United States like “Rainbowbrite” and “Mommydearest” in sharing information they find on the site’s online forum.

Meanwhile, across the ocean in Ireland, Shaun Ryan has learned a shocking truth about his family. There is a possibility that his uncle Teddy, whom their mother had always said died in a car accident, might be still alive and living in New York, where he had run away to thirty years prior in the hopes of finding a better life. Instead, all he found was death. After many failed attempts to locate Teddy, Shaun ends up at Missing-linc.com where Chris and her network have determined that an unidentified murder victim from the early nineties, known only as “The Boy in the Dress”, might be his missing uncle. Together, they decide to team up to find out what really happened to Teddy Ryan, and who might have killed him.

But the thing about the internet, where anyone can hide behind a pseudonym, is that you can never be sure someone is who they claim to be. As Missing-linc’s investigation into Teddy’s case begins to gain traction and more attention, little does the team know the killer himself has been in their midst, following their every move.

I’m a huge fan of Sarah Lotz, but as my last three novels by her were in the horror genre, Missing Person was a change of pace, to say the least. And for the most part, it’s a good change, though I did miss some of the chilling, edge-of-your-seat energy that permeated her books like The Three or The White Road. In contrast, Missing Person was more of a slow burn, lacking in a lot of the delicious atmosphere that Lotz is usually so good at writing. These changes were to be expected though, as the story is just so different, reading more like a steadily unfolding crime drama.

Interspersed throughout the narrative are also transcripts of forum posts, private messages, and other forms of internet chat—a nod, perhaps, to the author’s penchant for the epistolary style. I have to say, I really enjoyed these brief glimpses into the characters’ lives, offering insight into their online dynamics. After all, you can’t write about internet forums and communities without addressing the drama. It also gave characters like Chris AKA Ratking1 and Rainbowbrite, whose real name is Ellie, more layers to their personalities, because we were able to see how they projected themselves both online and offline.

But as I alluded to in my intro, I wouldn’t say Missing Person felt particularly thrilling. You had everything laid out early on, and there was also a fair bit of repetition. It’s the kind of book where several chapters can elapse without much progress in the story overall. However, neither would I say the plot did nothing but spin its wheels. Like I said, it’s simply a different style I’m used to from the author. I still enjoyed the idea and the main driving forces behind this novel, and Lotz’s writing is as good as ever (if not better), creating vivid and engaging characters in suspenseful situations. That said, don’t expect the kind of pacing and dreadful atmosphere that is a hallmark of her horror novels, as this one is relatively tame and languid in comparison. Twist-free and limited in conflict and stakes, the ending also felt somewhat anti-climactic and incomplete.

Anyway, as you can probably tell from my review, Missing Person wasn’t my favorite book by Sarah Lotz, but it wasn’t bad by any measure. Ultimately, I simply prefer the author’s horror. Nevertheless, fans should still definitely check it out. Who knows, you might even come away with a deeper appreciation for the author’s versatility and skill at tackling something a little different—I know I did. As always, I look forward to her next book.

A unique and entertaining character-driven thriller, that has the vibe of a true-crime story.

480 pages! This is the first thing that came to mind when I started reading it. Not sure how I ended up requesting a book this lengthy, because I hate reading long books! But a large portion of the book is written in group chats and other communication that make the book read faster than expected and I really enjoyed it.

Missing-Linc is a website based in the US. It’s made up of ordinary people that try to match missing people to unidentified bodies. This made me curious, so I did an internet search. Web sleuthing seems to be a popular hobby, that sounds pretty addicting. I found a lot of sites and even found discussions pertaining to a missing woman from the small town I live in. I guess you really can find anything on the internet!

The web sleuths in the story are contacted by a young man in Ireland. Shaun sends them a picture of his Uncle Teddy. He grew up believing his uncle was killed in a car accident before he was born, but discovered Teddy went to NYC after a falling out with the family. There is a chance Teddy is still alive, but the subject is taboo with the family, and he hasn’t been heard from since he left. The whole backstory of this situation is crazy!

The story is filled with complex and interesting characters...the dysfunctional Irish family and the web sleuths, who are like a dysfunctional family in their own way. Lots of secrets, lies, and some shocking surprises.

I really admired the website members that invested so much time playing amateur detectives. The characters were so impressive and serious. At the same time, since everyone is anonymous, it’s easy to blend in. It makes you think about the people that interact on these sites in real life. They can present themselves anyway they want, which is pretty scary.

We find out early in the story that the killer is a member of the Missing-Linc website. Killing isn’t enough for him 😡, he secretly taunts the other members about their personal issues. He takes advantage of and deceives people that care about him. He’s just a completely disgusting, horrible and unlikable creep!

The ending was a little anticlimactic, but the story was very intriguing and thought provoking. This is my first book by Sarah Lotz and I’m fascinated enough to try another.

Thank you to NetGalley, Mulholland Books and Sarah Lotz for this ARC, in exchange for my honest review.

<b>My Rating: </b> 4 ⭐️’s
<b>Published:</b> September 3rd 2019 by Mulholland Books
<b>Pages:</b> 480

<b>Recommended:</b> Yes