4.5 stars.

"Neighborhood gossip + drama galore will have old school Desperate Housewives fans thrilled!" Full review to come on FreshFiction.com.

I will update with the link when the review goes live.

This book is one that will stick with you for a long time. Mary Kubica did such a good job writing this. Edge of your seat thrills and a mystery. A love story too. It has it all. Happy, sad, murder, birth, love, kidnapping, family, friends, neighbors, all kinds of excitement to keep you on the edge. A page turner for sure.

Who could have taken these women. Was it the same person and what about the child. Was it someone they knew or a complete stranger. In a small town when someone goes missing everyone is on high alert. Wondering if it could happen to them. Wondering if it is someone they know. Is the person a friend or neighbor. Sometimes these things happen and we never find out why. Or who. We never know what happened to the people. If they are dead or alive. Being loved or tormented. Would it be better for the person you love to be dead and you get closure or continue to wonder for the rest of your life.

All things are answered in this story. When Delilah escapes and finds her way home, with the help of a stranger and the police, her family are extremely happy. Beyond belief that she is truly there with them after eleven long years. What this young girl went trough was beyond belief. Beyond comprehension. More than most would be able to deal with. Yet even though Delilah is terrified she feels like she is home. In many ways she feels a kind of safety. But for how long. What really happened to Delilah.

Who killed two women. One a new mother, the other the mother of two children. Was both women murdered or was it only one. Did one take her own life. Was the wrong man convicted and sentenced for killing his wife. So much is going on in this story that you will have lots of thoughts about who did what and why. But when all is said and done you will be blown away. You will find your mouth hanging open with surprise at what happened and why. At what really happened to Delilah and her mother. To what happened to Shelby, a young mother out for a jog. I was certainly surprised with this one. I never saw it coming. I was truly floored, in a good way.

This book has lots of twists and turns. Lots of things going on and a lot of suspects. It's not hard to keep up with though so hang on and enjoy. Told from several POVs it's the best I've read of this type of book. I loved the characters in this book. I really don't think there was one that I disliked other than the ones who had Delilah. Them I despised beyond words.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #MaryKubica, #Harlequin, for this ARC. This is my own true feelings about this book.

5/5 HUGE stars.

Thank you so much @ParkRowBooks & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 18 May 2021)

SYNOPSIS | Eleven years ago, a woman goes missing leaving her infant & husband behind. Shortly after that a mother & her 6 year old daughter also goes missing. No one knows if these disappearances are connected. The daughter eventually escapes her captors & returns & her father is beyond happy to have her home, however her younger brother isn't sure whether he trusts this feral girl.

WHAT I LIKED:
- it was a lot darker than I thought it was going to be (TW for descriptive child abuse)
- the multiple POV and timelines worked perfectly as we try to piece together what happened
- the ending (although you have to suspend your disbelief & I know a few people who found it just outright ridiculous)

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- how the police handled the evidence (this isn't a detective based thriller but the plausibility was weak)
- there wasn't any red herrings or little hints along the way leading up to the shocking ending

Life in a small midwest town is fairly stable and predictable for two friendly couples: Josh, his wife Meredith, and their young children Delilah and Leo; and their next door neighbors Kate and Bea. That is, until a local woman named Shelby vanishes, and subsequently Meredith and Delilah disappear.

Told in alternating chapters between the present day and eleven years before, when the two women and girl went missing, Kubica weaves a suspenseful tale of secrets and deception. The plot is rich with details that lead readers to conclusions that are then disproven by unexpected twists and turns.

Local Woman Missing is another thrilling, nail-biting page-turner--the type of story that readers have come to expect from Mary Kubica.

Wow. I DID NOT see any of that coming. In this way, I thought this was an absolutely fabulous thriller. However, the alternating timeline took me a second to get a grasp of. In the beginning, I found myself flipping back to remember if I was 11 years back or in the present and which character’s perspective I was reading. Once I got all this characters straight, this was no longer a problem. Also, this book was HEAVY. There were a lot of tragic events. Everyone in this story suffered, in some way or another.

A thank you to Netgalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I should probably admit that I'm in the 'like Kubica's earlier books better camp,' and unlike many readers have become less wowed over time. So, perhaps it shouldn't come as a shock to me that I'm in the serious minority here (and that's okay - glad people have go-to author they love) because this did absolutely nothing for me. In struggling to figure out why, I think it all pretty much boils down to the characters. I don't mind a lot, no do I mind dual timelines, but when none of it really gels that well, and more importantly, the characters remain wooden and aloof - as the case here - I get bored (and, yes, even a little annoyed that I have to try to engage myself rather than be engaged as a reader.)

Mary Kubica knows how to craft a thriller. One that you truly can't put down and are second guessing yourself the whole way through.
Thank you to Netgalley and Haeper Collins Canada for my eARC of Local Woman Missing for review!
The book opens with scenes of youths held captive in a basement by a man and woman, and their escape attempt. Then accounts of two local women who have gone missing.
Chapters from there alternate from present-day to 11 years earlier, with a host of character POVs relaying their version of events.
We have Meredith the doula with husband Josh and their two children Leo and Delilah, expectant mother Shelby and husband Jason, their neighbours Kate and Bea. And the children held captive, Delilah and Gus.
How their stories intertwine is dizzying, and you absolutely cannot look away. This is fast-paced, dark, twisty and impossible to predict. I have read a few Mary Kubica books in the past and this might be my favorite of hers to date.
Recommended!
For release on May 18.

This is the newest release from Kubica, who is a very successful American thriller writer. Her previous releases include "The Other Mrs.", "Pretty Baby" and "The Good Girl". This release is another thriller and is about the disappearance of a new mother, followed shortly afterwards by the disappearance of a mother and her 6 year old daughter. Eleven years later the daughter shows up and her appearance eventually reveals what actually happened during that time. This is a great release for fans of the genre and I think it is her best book to date.

Local Woman Missing is another cracking thriller by Mary Kubica. This is my second novel by this bestseller author though I have had a few of her other books on my e-reader for quite some time, specifically, When the Lights Go Out, and Every Last Lie.

Local Woman Missing sees Shelby Tebow vanish, shortly followed by Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter Delilah. When Delilah returns to the quiet Chicago neighbourhood eleven years later her family and the local community start to ask searching questions.

This thriller, with its mesmerising readability, is told from different perspectives; those of Delilah, Meredith, Kate, who is a neighbour of Meredith, and Leo, who is Meredith's son. Some viewpoints are from the past and others are in the present. Meredith is a doula and yoga teacher and when she disappears Kate is hit hard by her absence and decides to look into Meredith and Delilah's vanishing. Leo is struggling to believe that is his sister has returned as she is nothing like she was eleven years ago, and Leo is slow to trust that Delilah is his sister.

Mary Kubica's novel follows a very intriguing, multi-layered story. Dark and chilling it is creative, inspired and the writing is flawless. Gripped by the perfect plotting and pacing, I found the suspense riveting. The author's writing style is impressive and noteworthy and she is a gifted storyteller who can provide readers with thrills, sophistication and a story packed with substance. I like the way the story evolved, and for me, Local Woman Missing is a very highly recommended read that will be of interest to many readers.

A special thank you to Park Row Books and the author for a complimentary copy of this novel at my request received via NetGalley. This review is my unbiased opinion.

Holy Mary Kubica has done it again,  her fast paced psychological thrillers always suck me right in.  Local woman missing did not disappoint I completely devoured this amazing book that left me thinking what did I just read,  completely mind bending twists.

Local woman missing is told in two parts,  the first part follows a girl exscaping captivaty where she was held by two people for 11 years in a basement. She finally escapes in a crazy chase in the middle of the night,  to be found by a woman and her child in a corn field the next morning.

Part two is told in three points of view in dual timeline. 11 years ago we follow Meredith, a doula and mother and Kate, Meredith's neighbor.  And Now we follow Leo, Meredith's son.

Meredith  we follow her story about her motherhood and how she juggles her job and home life and how one decision  changed the course of her life.

Kate we follow her relationship with Bea and how when Meredith and her daughter went missing impacted her life.

Leo we get the view of  how his life changed when his mother and sister went missing,  how the loss of them impacted and shaped his life.  Only to be turned upside down again when A child is found 11 years after his sister is missing.

“You passed on a soft, warm bed to come sleep on the cold, hard basement floor in the dark. Because for eleven years, it’s all you’ve known. In some effed up way, you find comfort in it, being down here in our dark, dingy basement. It doesn’t get much more fucked up than that.”

Shelby Tebow, a new mother, has gone missing while out on a run. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her daughter Delilah vanish just blocks from where Shelbey was last seen. The evidence is scarce and the case goes cold. But then, 11 years later, Delilah is found abused and starving, wandering in the street. Will she be able to shed some light on what happened all those years before?

This thriller is told from multiple POV and in a dual timeline, now and 11 years ago. It did take me a few chapters to get the hang of the different characters in their different timelines, but once I got that down the story flew. The last 20% of the book had me furiously flipping the pages!

The twists are crazy and I did not see them coming. Although, to be fair, I usually don’t. This would have been a five star for me if the ending wasn’t a teeensy bit of a stretch. This book gave me some serious Verity vibes so if you liked that one or wtf’d that one or have heard anything about that one, read this. You are going to love it!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sweet Mary Tyler Moore, this was a wow, wow, WOW, 'I'm-not-going-to-do-anything-until-I-finish-this-book' kind of read. I now have a delicious book nerd hangover.

Local Woman Missing grips the reader from page one and pulls them into an immersive, intense story that is told using two timelines and multiple POVs, including Delilah, an abducted child, her brother Leo, their mother Meredith, and a neighbour. These narrators have varying degrees of reliability and flaws which give them and their story lines great depth. And with the addition of several plausible culprits, an awesome sense of foreboding and the wonderful way seemingly unconnected tidbits about different characters come together, this story about abduction, secrets and lies is impossible to put down.

The story has a darker feel due to the topics of abduction (warning for some readers) but I appreciated how Kubica also includes scenes that mimic real-life struggles facing women - specifically, the focus on women's rights and knowledge of those rights in regards to health and childbirth. I found the ending to be a bit unlikely and perhaps not quite as powerful as I was anticipating based on the tension to that point, but it was still a satisfying conclusion that, once again, confirms Mary Kubica as a must-read author for me.

There's a lot going on in this thriller, but the story is easy to follow as Kubica lays out her clever story that weaves chilling elements with characters readers will connect with quickly. Thriller lovers will want to keep their eyes out for this book when it hits stores May 18, 2021!

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Park Row Books for my complimentary digital copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

LOVED this book. I was starting to think I was burned out on mystery/thrillers. They're all the same. They're predictable and follow the same mind-numbing formula. This felt different because there's so much focus on the inner lives of the characters. What made me keep reading wasn't necessarily the core mystery but the characters who are fully fleshed out and so fascinating to read about.

Mary Kubica is not an author whose work I am familiar with, but having heard great things about her, I was happy for the chance to read Local Woman Missing.

What the Story is About
Eleven years ago Shelby Tebow, Meredith Dicky and her six-year-old Delilah went missing. The disappearances rattled the community, and everyone wondered at the connection between the two incidents. Searches conducted resulted in more questions, leaving the families of the victims devastated. Eleven years later, Delilah returned after escaping her captors. Due to the horrors she experienced at the hands of her captors, she had difficulty adjusting to her new environment. Everyone’s happy to see her return. However, her brother Leo has difficulty reconciling this Delilah with the one he knew eleven years ago. The questions on everyone’s mind were,
1. What happened to Delilah the day she went missing?
2. What happened to Shelby and Meredith?

The story featured an array of relatable characters. Discovering their personality traits from the positive to the negative proved to be an interesting experience. The emotions they each displayed aptly fit the situation in which they are in at the time.

Told from multiple POVs and alternate timelines, Local Woman Missing took me on a thrilling and mysterious journey. I did not know where the story would take me, but it made me eager to see where the journey would end. T

A few persons appeared to have a connection to disappearances, however it turned out to be someone least expected. I never would have pinpointed that person as a suspect.

I loved how the story developed, however the ending came out of left field. With all that had happened throughout the story, I found the ending weak and questionable. Even as I am writing my review I am wondering how is that even possible. Despite this, I enjoyed the story and would definitely read more from this author.

Mary Kubica did it again! A twisted story that took me on a journey I didn't see coming! Absolutely loved this story! It's one of my top 10 for 2021! You think you understand what is happening, that you know the outcome but you don't and you won't. Highly recommend!

Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica is a thriller that will be perfect for those that enjoy and twisty but layered story. This novel is one that is told from multiple points of view along multiple timelines interchanging all of it to build the layers of this complex story.

Eleven years earlier a young mother, Shelby Tebow, went out one night but never returned home leaving her husband and infant behind. Much to another family’s dismay Meredith Dickey and her young daughter went missing a short while after Shelby’s disappearance had hit the news.

Now a young girls has escaped captivity after years of abuse in a darkened basement in the home of her tormentors. The girl is the right age and seems to match Meredith’s daughter Delilah’s description so the family is contacted and Delilah is returned home to them with everyone trying to piece together just what happened eleven years before.

As I mentioned there are a lot of layers to Local Woman Missing that take time to build and unfold. You have the voices of Delilah, Delilah’s brother Leo, Meredith and a neighbor flashing from a then and now sort of story. It was a bit tougher of a read to keep up with overall with the many parts moving around so it was a bit of a slow burner to me. In the end there was one bit that didn’t quite work for me but overall the story came together well and was quite surprising how it all worked out so I did enjoy reading.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This book gets all the stars! Kubica kept ratcheting up the tension. So much so that I was getting paranoid for the characters. I was that crazy ole book lady screaming at the book "Get out! Get away! No, don't do it! Don't trust her." It was like running through a maze and hitting wall after wall. Kubica would leads you down one avenue having you think you know what's going on and then Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope! Wrong again. Then she gives you a perfectly rational reason for what happened and sends you in an entirely different direction. I was twisting and turning throughout and I loved it.

I must say that I really enjoyed this novel. It was full of twists and turns that kept me engaged throughout. As with all books in this genre, the reader must employ a suspension of disbelief. While that was also true with this book, it was not ridiculously so. Good character development, well developed plot line, and a edge-of-your seat ending. I definitely recommend this author and title for fans of the genre. I look forward to reading other works from Kubica in the future.

Delilah is back! Or is she? Her brother Leo isn't so sure but it's been 11 years since Delilah, then six, disappeared along with their mother Meredith. Those missing years were dim for Leo because their dad was so focused on Delilah. What happened before she escaped from her captors? And what happened, really, to Shelby, who went running one night and didn't come home? And to Meredith? That's the question that the neighbors Kate and Bea are interested in as well. This is told from a variety of perspectives and time lines, which could be confusing in a less facile writer's hands. Kubica strings out the secrets and lies, as well as the twists. Yes, parts of this might be a bit implausible but geez, it's a thriller with good characters and storytelling. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A page turner!

I really wanted to love this one — Mary Kubica has taken me on some wild rides before! But this one just didn't hit for me. I struggled to connect with the characters and felt pretty bored in the middle of the book (it starts SO strong!). There were a few plot holes that bothered me and one character's perspective is a teenage boy and he was not very believable. The ending kind of won back some points but the entire time I felt like the book had too many unnecessary things and it felt, like, rushed? I also felt like the action of the book was just being told to me, rather than me as a reader witnessing it. It's actually hard to put a finger on what all about this book made it not work for me, and I'll probably think about it for the next few days, haha.