This crime thriller felt historic, atmospheric, and engrossing. The characters had interesting relationships which didn’t need a ton of explanation to feel real and be understood quickly. The ending was something I did not see coming and I usually figure these things out.

Maggie D'Arcy's cousin Erin disappeared in Ireland twenty three years ago and a piece of evidence was just recovered that belonged to her. Maggie is a Long Island Homicide detective, who travels to Dublin and hopes to to assists the Irish Gardai with solving this cold case. Erin learns that other young women have vanished in the same location where Erin was last seen. Solving this mystery would bring closure for herself and Erin's father.
The plot has many twists and turns. However, the ending was a total surprise.

I requested and received an e-ARC of this book from Sarah Stewart Taylor and St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this book, I love that the story flips between 1993 and 2016, and that it mainly takes place in Ireland. Quite often the author leaves one time frame with a mini cliff hanger which of course makes you want to keep reading so you can get back to that time frame and find out what happened.

I was pleasantly surprised when the killer was revealed, I did not see that coming and that is my favorite way to end a mystery novel. I cannot wait to read more books from Sarah Stewart Taylor.

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This moving, mysterious story mostly takes place in Ireland. I felt like I was there because the author did an excellent job describing it to me. It’s about two cousins that have a complicated, confusing relationship. One of them goes missing and that’s when you’ll to put on your seatbelt. It’s suspenseful, creatively written. A mystery that took to many turns to count.
What happened to these girls? What’s the connection? If love mystery, suspense and you’re looking for something unpredictable that will keep you guessing, then I highly recommend this.
This was my first book by this author and I’m definitely going to read another. I thought she did a brilliant job.
This was a NETGALLEY gift from the publisher and all opinions are my own.
I’ve given an honest review.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3407091302
And Instagram/ Bookstagram: @dreamsofmanderley on 6-27-20

Title: The Mountains Wild
Author: Sarah Stewart Taylor
Pub. Date: June 23, 2020
Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Mystery
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this atmospheric mystery! It was an interesting intersection of cultures when Jersey girl heads to Dublin to help solve the mystery of her missing cousin, and hopefully find her alive. There’s also a healthy dose of Irish and Irish-American history. Being Irish myself, I really enjoyed this aspect as I was not very familiar with some of this history. The mystery was really compelling, and this was an easy compulsive read.

This book was well-written and the prose was more sophisticated than most thrillers. I really loved the descriptions of characters’ personalities. The imagery in this book is so colorful and you will be transported to Ireland, traveling down the city streets to coffee shops and into the mountains. It is also a novel that explores love, loss, and relationships. I’ll also admit that I alternated between reading and listening to this one on Audible. The narration really added quite a lot with the accents. I loved listening to the Jersey and Irish accents mixed in together. The narrators did a fantastic job so I would recommend this as an Audible listen! It was beautiful.

Thank you so much to the folks at Minotaur for my Netgalley copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved this one!

This is an excellent police procedural set in Ireland that involves both a cold case and an active one--concerning the disappearances of young women last seen walking in the Irish hills 23 years apart.

Maggie D'Arcy is the narrator of the story and the uniting factor between both cases. It was her cousin Erin who disappeared in 1993 and at that time Maggie flew over from Long Island, NY to represent her family during the search. Erin was never found but now, in 2016, Erin's scarf has turned up while the Gardai are searching for another missing young woman. Are the two cases related?

So Maggie returns to Ireland--but now she is a lieutenant working in the Homocide Division of the LIPD and is rather famous for having solved a similar case in that area. Of course, she's In Ireland unofficially, just to answer questions about Erin and perhaps help the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Dublin find any links between these two cases, maybe help find the man the press is calling the Southeast Killer. So the situation is rather tricky and complicated --what information they can reveal to her and what they cannot.

This story is told in two timelines but also with flashbacks to Maggie's memories of her cousin Erin as they grew up together. They were close early on but many incidents drove wedges between them so that by the time Erin disappears, Maggie really has no clue why she moved to Ireland and what she might have been up to there.

These are very interesting characters in a beautiful setting with lots of knotty twists and turns to the plot. A bit of thwarted romance too. But the ending? Wow! I guarantee you will not see that coming! Can't wait for more in this series.

I received an arc of this new mystery from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I also enjoyed watching an interview with Sarah Stewart Taylor that Minotaur Books invited me to take part. Many thanks for these opportunities!

The Mountains Wild by Sarah Stewart Taylor is a slow burn mystery while also being incredibly atmospheric.

I really like that this book is set mostly in Ireland, and even though I've never been there Taylor's writing made me feel like I was seeing it for myself. This also made it a very atmospheric read which I loved. The Mountains Wild is a mix of different genres and there's a mystery, while also having elements of a police procedural and detective fiction as well. There is a really stunning conclusion, and I didn't see it coming at all. The suspense was really well done, and it kept me turning pages even though I would definitely consider this a slow burn the entire time.

I also enjoyed Maggie as a character, she was a strong female lead (my favorite!) and I loved that she was a hotshot detective from Long Island. I could feel her frustration when Erin first disappeared, and her frustration when they won't tell her anything after another girl has gone missing, and I love the fact she did some sleuthing on her own. The book jumps back and forth from 2016 to 1993 (when Erin first goes missing) and is also interspersed with memories of Maggie and Erin growing up. I loved this setup and it also helped keep me interested in what was going on.

It seems that The Mountains Wild may be the first book of a series and I would love if it were. I definitely didn't get enough of Maggie and I would love more books based on her cases as a detective whether based in Ireland or Long Island. This book has a lot about family and relationships and is quite dark, but it also made me laugh at times which was a plus. If you are in the mood for an atmospheric mystery with hints of other elements and lots of family dynamics, then I definitely recommend checking this one out.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy of this book, all opinions and thoughts are my own.

This is the first in a new mystery series from this American author. Set mostly in Ireland, the case involves Maggie, a detective who travels to Ireland when there is a development in the case of her cousin Erin that went missing there 23 years ago. She had also visited when Erin first went missing and we follow along those events in alternate chapters. The story includes information about Irish politics, lots of beautiful locations and of course pubs. The story also includes a little romance. While the sheer number of characters is slightly daunting, it is a good mystery and I look forward to more in the series.

This is a richly layered, complex mystery. It alternates between 1993 and 2016 and between Long Island NY and Ireland.

In 1993, Maggie's cousin, Erin, is living in Ireland. When she disappears, Maggie goes to Ireland to try and locate her. She doesn't. However, 23 years later she receives a call that has her racing to Ireland for information about Erin.

The author gradually acquaints the reader to the characters and plot slowly. Details are given organically rather than laid out in a neat package. This serves to tantalize and further invest the reader in the story.

The depiction of Ireland and it's people are lovingly detailed. It's clear that the author has more than a superficial understanding of Ireland's history and politics.

Well written and plotted, I highly recommend the book to all mystery and thriller lovers as well as anyone who enjoys a good book.

I was given an ARC and am leaving my honest review.

The Mountains Wild is so much more than your typical cross-cultural police procedural. Told in alternating timelines, the story of Erin, a young American woman who disappears in Ireland in 1993 is seen through the eyes of her cousin, Maggie.

Author Sarah Stewart Taylor handles the time shifts skillfully. In 2016, Erin's family gets a call from a Dublin detective: they've found some evidence in Erin's disappearance. Maggie goes back to Ireland, as she did 23 years ago, to represent her Irish-American family.

Youthful Maggie's observations from 1993 are in past tense, while the mature, professional mother of 2016 narrates in present tense. A third timeline, from Erin and Maggie's childhood, shows how closely they were bonded.

I appreciated the solid, intelligent writing; I liked the way Maggie's narration showed us the other characters' perspectives; and I loved the deep dive into Irish culture. What set the book apart, though, is that the pacing seemed designed to reveal motivation and to flesh out the characters, rather than to build artifical suspense.

Oh, and, yes -- the ending was satisfyingly unexpected.

Thanks to NetGalley and to St. Martins Press for an advance readers copy.

I did not finish this book. I had to end up just putting it down. This one unfortunately did not donit for me. There was too much unnecessary information. Basically information overload. This is based in Ireland so the language is a bit different at times. But the author kept placing pronunciation in the text about how it really sounded. It left nothing to my imagination. It got to the point that it became frustrating. I absolutely hate not being able to finish a book, but this just wasn't the one for me unfortunately.

Wonderful suspenseful thriller. The descriptions of life in Dublin are divine. The twists keep coming and the ultimate twist will keep you guessing until the end.

The Mountains Wild is a police procedural novel featuring Maggie D’arcy. Erin Flaherty, Maggie’s cousin, disappeared from Ireland twenty-three years ago in 1993. The only thing that was found was her silver claddagh necklace where Erin had been walking that day. Maggie’s uncle, Daniel Flaherty gets a call that the scarf Erin had been wearing was found with blood on it. Maggie heads to Dublin determined to get the answers they have been seeking. The Mountains Wild turned out to be different from what I expected after reading the blurb. It turns out that several women have gone missing over the years with the latest being Niamh Horrigan. While the police were searching for Niamh, they found Erin’s bloody scarf. I can tell from the author’s writing and descriptions that she loves Ireland. Her word imagery brings Dublin and the surrounding to life. She weaves in Ireland’s history, literature, language, and politics into the story. Maggie D’arcy is a good detective and she has solved several high-profile cases. Looking into Erin’s disappearance in 1993 led Maggie to become a police officer. Maggie is now a lieutenant leading a team in the homicide division. The story is told from Maggie’s point-of-view. We are taken back to 1993 to see how the initial case played out. As Maggie investigates in 2016, we get a glimpse of Erin and Maggie’s growing up years. I found the pacing to be slow with just a slight uptick near the end. The mystery was convoluted with a “twist” near the end. I found the investigation to be tedious. It was long and drawn out. It lacked excitement and suspense. Whether you find the twist surprising, depends on how many mysteries you have read. I felt that over a hundred pages could have easily been edited from this book. I did like DI Roland Byrne and Griz. They were great characters. There is repetition of information and too many characters. A pronunciation guide would have come in handy for the Irish names. Maggie’s romance felt out of place considering what was happening. I also did not feel there was chemistry between Maggie and her love interest. The Mountains Wild was just not a good fit for me. I suggest you obtain a sample to see if it is your type of mystery. The Mountains Wild is a whodunit with a curious cousin, exiguous evidence, a distraught dad, and a rare romance.

Thank goodness for this book!! It totally brought me out of my reading slump. I feel lately a lot of things are just distracting me from reading but this one really brought back my enjoyment for reading and I was able to emerge myself completely into the story line.

In the beginning, I wasn't really a fan of the flash back sequences. I felt like it wasn't really adding to the store, it was just fluff. However, as I got deeper and deeper into the book and Erin & Maggie's history, it all started to make sense.

I feel like this could be a slow burn for some people but they definitely need to give it a chance.

I loved the characters in this story. Some were the ones you love to hate and others you could definitely relate to. I felt deep down the emotions Maggie was going through with the loss of her cousin, loss of people close to her and so many other feelings.

This book really gave me FOMO for travelling. Every time the description of Ireland's roads, hillsides, food, shopping etc. came up, it was like my heart was aching for Ireland. I have never been, but it is definitely at the top of my list. Hopefully once all this COVID 19 stuff dies down, we will be able to travel again.

The end was a bit... confusing to me. I felt like it happened really suddenly and we found out a lot about multiple people all at once. I wish the build up to the ending would have been a little longer. Things did wrap up pretty well in the end, which is definitely my favorite. I feel like each character resolved some issues in the end.

In 1993, Maggie D’Arcy’s cousin Erin vanished while living in Ireland. Maggie went over for a couple of months trying to figure out what happened, but the mystery was never solved. It did have a profound impact on her life since after returning home, Maggie become a cop herself on Long Island. Now, another young woman has vanished. In the search for her, a skeleton has been found, and buried with the skeleton is Erin’s scarf. Has Erin been found after all these years? Where is the new woman who has vanished? Are the cases connected?

It’s been years since Sarah Stewart Taylor released a book, but I was thrilled to pick up something from her again. I’d forgotten just how atmospheric her writing is, but I was soon back under her spell. The pacing was off near the beginning since Maggie doesn’t have any jurisdiction in Ireland, but eventually she found a way into the case and we started getting the twists that lead us to the climax. The book takes place in 1993, the present, and even further in the past as Maggie and Erin are growing up. All of these time periods are easy to follow. They also allow us to see how characters have matured over the years, which I enjoyed. This is Maggie’s story, and I couldn’t help but feel for her as the book progressed and the story unfolded. The story also switches from past to present tense depending on which time period we are reading about. It took my brain a bit of time to adjust to this, but I did rather quickly. This is more serious than the cozies I often read, but if you keep that in mind, you’ll enjoy this book as well.

Maggie D'Arcy and her family have been haunted by the unsolved disappearance of her cousin Erin who disappeared in 1993 in a remote part of Ireland. Now 23 years later, Maggie is a homicide detective and divorcee in Long Island, NY. Then Maggie's uncle Danny gets a phone call from the Dublin police (Gardai) who tells him that Erin's scarf has been found. Then buried skeletal remains are found. Is this Erin? There is an added urgency to the investigation as Niamh, another young woman, has gone missing in the same area. The Gardai fear Niamh is the latest victim of a serial abductor and killer of several women over the past 2 decades. Maggie goes back to Ireland and is reunited with the original investigator, Garda Roly Byrne, and his task force team. She wonders what happened to Conor, Erin's former cafe co-worker who is now a history professor and for whom Maggie had some unfulfilled feelings for.

The book works so well since the writing is atmospheric and lyrical, with the beautiful Irish setting being almost a character. The story is told in two timeframes: 1993 and the present (2016). As Maggie scours through the case files of Erin and the other missing women, she realizes that in order to find what happened to Erin, she will have to uncover some secrets about Erin, her family and even herself.

This is a promising start of a new mystery series with a tough but tormented protagonist.

I received an eARC from Netgalley and St. Martin's Press with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book and provided this review.

Twenty three years ago, Maggie’s cousin Erin went missing without a trace. Maggie a Long Island detective has been called and told that her cousin’s scarf has been found bloodied at a scene where another woman has gone missing. The Mountain Wild is told in alternating timelines when Maggie was young and present time. Due to the unresolved case, Maggie continues to wonder what could have happened to her cousin.
This story was a good police procedural that kept my interest with a good ending. This is my first read by this author and hope to look read her other works.
Thank you for the eARC.

The Mountains Wild by Sarah Stewart Taylor is a murder mystery that takes place in alternating times: 1993, the time of the "murder," and 2016, the time when new evidence was uncovered. Maggie's cousin, Erin, went missing in Ireland 23 years earlier. Life had become too much for her here on Long Island and so she had escaped. It seemed to be going well. Then she was missing. Maggie traveled to Ireland to be on hand for the investigation, which had never turned up a murderer, or in fact, could never prove there had been a murder. Sadly, Erin was known for running so had she? Was she alive and happy somewhere? Maggie had been called home when her father had a fatal heart attack. She was now an orphan, her mother having died only months before. Now Uncle Danny, Erin's father, was getting a call from the Garda Inspector who had been in charge of the investigation. Yet another young woman had gone missing and in searching for her they had come upon some of Erin's belongings so Maggie was off to Ireland again, leaving her daughter in the care of her ex-husband, Brian. There is so much more to the story.

This was in many ways a police procedural. Maggie had matured into a police detective on Long Island, and despite the fact she should not have been investigating in Ireland, she could not help herself. She was a good detective. So were the detectives in Ireland. Everyone involved was 23 years older. She, Uncle Danny, Erin's roommates, The Garda detectives, the witnesses and possible murderers, and Conor. Conor, with whom she had fallen in love all those years ago. That love had colored her entire life. This was a book full of human feelings, of many kinds. Maggie was a terrific character, as were many of the others who made appearances in the story. The mystery was a good one, and so heart-breaking. These were "real" people and the reader feels all of their various emotions, until there are almost too many to feel. I recommend it.

I was invited to read an ARC of The Mountains Wild by Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #themountainswild

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

I don't read a lot of mysteries, but I am so happy I took a chance on The Mountains Wild. I never wanted to put it down! Once I reached a certain point, I wasn't capable of stopping. I stayed up until nearly 4 AM, BECAUSE I HAD TO KNOW. It was crazy! I was second-guessing myself, the characters, and trying to read between the lines. My brain felt overworked, like I was actually there and someone's life depended on me personally (sooo stressful, but also weirdly invigorating). I wasn't able to figure it out, but I really enjoyed the journey! Regardless, the story was fantastic, the characters relatable and authentic, and the Ireland setting was lovely. I could clearly picture the breathtaking views.

I've always wanted to go to Ireland, and this book only solidified those feelings. The pubs! The accents! The views! I have no idea if it's all in my head or not (books tend to impact expectations), but I still want to go one day. I thought the author did a wonderful job of describing where the characters were within the story (what streets they were on, which buildings they passed). I felt like I was there with Maggie, walking down an alley, turning corners, feeling the wind in my hair and on my face. It was so vivid and detailed, but without feeling overdone. Amazing.

I also thought the characters were remarkably well-written. Everyone was interesting and fleshed out, and I loved learning new things about them. I had a mental list going throughout the book, and I would add new facts and details as they presented themselves. I honestly had no idea what was relevant and what wasn't, but I was constantly looking for clues and crumbs. Maggie is a Detective in her own right, but she's a civilian when she's in Ireland. It limits what she can and cannot do regarding her cousin's disappearance, but she never stops trying. Even before she became a detective, she used her gut and intuition to help the actual authorities track down leads and gather information (much to their chagrin).

Roly was one of those people she kept working around and with during both of her visits, and they kept in touch during the 23 years in-between. Roly never stopped investigating her cousin's disappearance, and was quick to phone them when something of interest popped up. He didn't betray anyone's confidence, or do anything that would cost him his job, but he did bend the rules a bit where Maggie was concerned. They were good friends that cared for one another, and it never went beyond that, not even for a second. I loved their relationship, and enjoyed seeing them work together.

Connor wasn't necessarily my type, but I could see why Maggie was interested in him. I was cheering for them the entire time, and really liked how the author handled their story. They fell in like pretty quickly, but their reactions were believable, if a little foolhardy. They were both reasonable people, but the timing wasn't exactly right. I disliked his forwardness after learning something about his personal life, but it was still something I could see two people doing and dealing with IRL. It's always interesting to see how a relationship develops and changes over time (this one just happened to be over two decades).

I really liked reading about someone that was similar to me in age as well. I could relate to her life and what she was dealing with personally, while also losing myself in the mystery surrounding her cousin. There were a few times when the information felt like it was too much, but it was mostly when Maggie and Griz were pouring over the old cases and reviewing files. We're given A LOT of information in a very short amount of time, and I had trouble keeping up with everything being shared.

I definitely didn't see this one coming, and I was thrilled to experience this mystery right along with Maggie and the others. How if unfolds? Genius! Everyone is a potential suspect, and the flashbacks were also a wonderful addition to the story. It gave us a chance to really understand Maggie's relationship with Erin, and how it changed over time. They were like sisters once, but then their relationship became strained and distant. I really loved how the author tied everything together, and how the past and present overlapped to make one big picture.

The Mountains Wild is easily one of my favorite reads this year! I had been in a bit of a slump with mostly three-star books, but this one totally blew me away! The writing, characters, story, setting, mystery𑁋all of it was fucking fantastic. I highly recommend it, even if mystery isn't something you normally go for. (★★★★⋆)

A book that drew me right in. Kept me turning the pages late into the night.Maggie is a strong character the story had its twist & turns highly recommend the book and this new to me author,#netgaley#st.martinspress