Claudia Castro endures the one most tragic thing any female experiences. Rape is one of the most heinous crimes against women, and Julia Dahl gives her readers a first hand experience of the tragedy, the heart break, confusion, guilt and betrayal that Claudia goes through. This book speaks volumes on how rape victims get treated, looked down on, or just plain unbelieved just because of their lifestyles. Claudia was not going to be a victim. What she does some people may call her actions crazy. Others will call it justifiable. Some will say she is a lunatic. Others will call her brave. I absolutely lost myself in this story. I wish all the Claudia Castro's of the world gets the peace and justice they deserve .

There were some good ideas and moments here, but I felt like this book was all over the place.

Two major issues:

1) This book couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Is it an emotional story of an assault victim and those around her? A thrilling tale of revenge? An exploration of class, wealth, and privilege? A family drama?

2) This book was too short, with too many characters. There are three characters that we spend the majority of our time with Claudia, Trevor, and Edie, and they were all underdeveloped. The characters in this book had more backstory than they did personality. And this also applies to several minor characters that would randomly take over the narration for a time, only to be largely never heard from again.

Altogether, it didn't read like a cohesive story and I had very little connection with any of the characters. I think this could have been something special, but it got lost somewhere.

**eARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wish I could have read this book, however no matter what I did, I could not get this book to download and open properly.

I am looking forward to reading it and have already pre ordered it!

The premise of this book sounded so intriguing, I was excited to get a chance to read it! However, the execution wasn't quite what i had hoped for. It never really hooked me, even though the writing is good. Maybe a case of wrong timing? In any case, I would be interested in seeing what the author writes next.

I was super excited to read this book as the synopsis sounded great and like a book I would love. However, I had to stop reading at 54%. The first few chapters were great, but then there were so many different characters introduced that it was hard to keep track of everyone. I also felt like there was no real flow of the book, it kept jumping from character to character and then went back in time and was all over the place. Therefore, I did not finish the book.

My Review:⭐️⭐️.5/ 5 stars

Claudia Castro, an NYU student, wakes up feeling hungover and covered in bruises after a night out. She knows something happened to her, but doesn’t recall what. She finds comfort in Trevor, a fellow student on her floor near her dorm room. Soon what happened that night comes back to haunt her as she and Trevor are both sent videos of the terribly violent act done to her while she was clearly too inebriated to consent. They both try to piece things together about who was involved and how to find justice.

The book starts out immediately making you feel so horrified about what happened to Claudia. However the tone quickly pivots from a violated woman to a thriller about revenge. Also the multiple POVs shift the perspective but it makes you like Claudia a little bit less, because she is supposed to be the poor little rich girl who is a bit selfish. Trevor is selfless and the one that gets hurt by being associated with her - and overall, the story felt like two different books and I didn’t like any of the characters to care at the end. Overall, not my cup of tea, but had a lot of promise.

Thank you Minotaur Books and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

A story about a girl who parties until she blacks out. Claudia wakes up bruised and aware that she had sexual intercourse but doesn’t know with whom. That question is answered when a video of the incident surfaces. Claudia is appalled and wants revenge. Trevor is trying to be a friend with hopes of more. Ridley wants to handle things.

This is a difficult subject for some but one that occurs with more frequency that most realize. It is well written and suspenseful. The ending was a bit abrupt though.


I received an ARC from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

Julia Dahl is a great author and her writing skill makes The Missing Hours difficult to put down. The plot revolves around NYU freshman Claudia Castro. Due to her wealthy and famous parents Claudia has grown up living a luxurious lifestyle. Claudia is assaulted by two male students and the act is recorded and distributed. Claudia's life implodes and she decides to hide out from her family and take revenge on her two assailants. At times the plot is too intense, but the story is one that needs to be told.

Wow really intense read!
While I don't exactly agree with the main protagonist Claudia's methods, I can certainly understand why she felt the need to do what she did.
A fast paced read that could very well be an episode of Law and Order SVU.
Thank you to St. Martins Press, Minotaur books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you enjoy suspense, twists and turns and not knowing what is going to happen till the end, you will definitely need to read this book. This is a new to me author and I will be looking for more of her stories.

The Missing Hours is a cautionary tale of college drinking and partying. Julia Dahl tackles many relevant issues including rape, white boy privileges, people with money feeling they are above the law to name a few. While this is a work of fiction, parts of the story felt like they could be pulled out of a newspaper headline. Quick read for me and loved the story.

I could not relate to most of the characters and didn't like the rest of them. Claudia wakes up bruised and raped with no memory of what happened the night before. her phone is missing, which may have helped her remember.

Her reputation at school is that she is rich, a minor celebrity and a slut so she doesn't want anyone to see her to add to the already bad stories about her. Trevor is different; he helps and doesn't judge. Claudia's mother and sister have issues and are not really into sympathy so she can't turn to them, in addition to the fact that her sister is due to give birth any minute. Boyfriends? Well, there are issues with them, too.

The actions she takes to handle the mess are not well thought out and not nice. I would not like to know people like Claudia and skimmed most of the book.

Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

I watched an author interview with Julia Dahl, so I had an idea where she was coming from with her story. But that didn't make The Missing Hours easier to read.

The story of a young college woman from a privileged background who wakes up realizing she was sexually assaulted is a quick, but not easy, read. I think the author accomplished the outrage she wants us to feel, but the topic and characters are so morally repugnant it's hard to feel sorry for any of them other than Claudia. And even Claudia takes things a step too far, engaging other people she meets to help with her plan for revenge. There wasn't a lot of suspense, because you could see where the book was going. I liked the ending, and if the whole book was written in the tone of the last chapter, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

I'm not going to lie, my heart broke for Claudia right from the start. Trigger warning for sexual assult.
Although on the outside, she seems to have it all. Famous parents, cushy trust fund, known socialite. But all of that comes crashing down when she wakes up sexually assulted and has no idea what happened.

Claudia is trying to find the "Missing Hours" so to speak to see what took place. Its a fast paced, gripping read that I could not put down.

Thank you so much to Minotaur and #NetGalley for the ARC

The vibe of this book is very Gossip Girl meets SVU—a grim car wreck of a storyline where you have to know what happens next. Not a mystery so much as an edgy page-turner about a rape survivor who goes down a dark path, buffered by socioeconomic privilege even as she suffers from acute emotional distress.

Sounds weird, right? But certainly interesting, with some thoughtful commentary about family, toxic masculinity, privilege, the justice system, revenge, and healing. 4.5 ⭐️s. #TheMissingHours

Caution: do not read this book if you want to have a lot of morally redeemable characters, an unambiguous narrative about right and wrong, etc.

CW: Rape, alcoholism, revenge porn, vigilante justice, suicide, cancer, victim-blaming, slut-shaming, abortion, unplanned pregnancies, borderline statutory rape, drugs, divorce, general violence.

ID: A picture of the Scribd cover for The Missing Hours by Julia Dahl on the left, and a periwinkle Michael Kors wallet with some cash and a nail salon gift card on the right.

An uncomfortable but good read. This book exposes some of the flaws in the legal system, along with how society views women differently than man.

Wow! The Missing Hours is a page out of the #metoo movement that everyone needs to read. Claudia is a character you won’t forget. This story has a Dark subject matter and makes you feel the pain of the characters. Fast paced and hard to put down.

The Missing Hours is a fast read, despite the heavy subject matter. It opens with a college student waking up, with no memory of the night before -- just the knowledge that she's in pain, she can feel a UTI coming on, and her face has been beat up.

My heart ached for Claudia throughout: I felt both her pain in the moment and her pain imagining how that one night may influence her life for decades to come. Other characters took a backseat to her; while perspective shifts, I felt the clear focus was on Claudia and their orbit around her.

I'm grateful to the author for taking on what she did, but I think the novel could have used... more. It just didn't pack a punch or build suspense to the extent I'd hoped. Still, this seems like it might be a good pick for book clubs; there's certainly much to discuss.

The sad part of this story is that it's something that happens often. Even more sad is the fact that in most cases, the victim doesn't have the money Claudia Castro had to fight back. The first half of the book was compelling and though I can't say I really liked any of the characters, of course I felt sorry for Claudia. Nobody should have to go through that whether they're a likeable person or not. Trevor was puzzling - was he really that besotted by Claudia to do things so out of character? Chad, of course, was despicable and he seemed to come by it honestly since his father was as bad or worse. I admit to being distracted by the frequent use of the names Chad and Jeremy. I wish the author had used different names - or at least reversed the order - so I wouldn't have a 60's soundtrack running in my head that didn't go with the story at all.

The first half of the book kept me engrossed but for me, the last half fizzled out and the ending was rather anticlimactic.

4 1/2 Stars

Wow! This book starts out with a bang and doesn't let up until the last page.. It's a nerve shattering ride of "what happened," "what ifs" and "who did its." There wasn't a dull moment anywhere in the book.

The main character, Claudia Castro is a wealthy freshman at NYU. She wakes up and can't remember the events from the night before. What she does remember is vague. When the events of that night are revealed, they are every bit as horrific as she was afraid of.

This book tackles these topics sensitively. However, there is some pretty intense violence and unrepentant vengeance as a result of the events. It's interesting to see how the different characters are all connected and impact the storyline.

The Missing Hours takes a serious topic that happens to young women more than it should and then spins a "what if" tale around it. It's very inventive. At times it was also heartbreaking. It demonstrated several social inequities between women and men and also between the wealthy and not wealthy. It definitely was a timely book. In addition, I was hooked from the first page and read it obsessively.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.