This novel by Julia Dahl has some of the markings of a typical freshman year at college at least the “fun” aspects-the parties, the drinking, the after party parties with more drinking and the hooking up. It happens at universities across the country as first year students get their first taste of freedom away from home. Enter Claudia Castro, a trust fund baby from an extremely wealthy but equally dysfunctional family who leaves one such party with two guys with no memory of what happened next until she awakens four hours later-her face badly bruised, a black eye and bleeding from having been raped. The results of this encounter are quickly put on Instagram with extremely lurid pictures causing her to decide not to return to school but instead to go into hiding. With the exception of one friend who she trusts no one knows her whereabouts and everyone is searching for her. The conclusion of this story is a question-should she have gone to her family for support?Should she have called the police to report the rape? Or should she have sought retribution on her two attackers her own way? Read it and find out and form your own opinion. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me this advance. My only suggestion is that this book could use some careful proofreading prior to publication.

3.5/5

Wow talk about an addictive read! I started this one a whim and before I knew it I had read half of it in one sitting. I’m hesitant to say too much about the plot but here’s some of the synopsis 👇🏻

Claudia starts the school year resolved to find a path toward something positive, maybe even meaningful – and then one drunken night everything changes. Reeling, her memory hazy, Claudia cuts herself off from her family, seeking solace in a new friendship. But when the rest of school comes back from spring break, Claudia is missing.

Suddenly, the whole city is trying to piece together the hours of that terrible night.

This is told via several different viewpoints allowing you to get to know Claudia and her friends and family. This one had a lot to say about social status, power and how those with money can get away with basically anything. As much as I was super invested the whole way through I did feel like the ending was weak and I expected more but overall this was entertaining and pretty decent. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thanks @minotaur_books for my copy!

The Missing Hours by Julia Dahl, seemed like a YA (Young Adult) story. It's mostly about rich college kids, under age drinking, and revenge. I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an early copy to review.

I enjoyed this suspenseful story. This is a new author for me which I look forward to reading more from her int he future. This is a well written story that has twists and turns that I didnt see coming. The characters are relateable and made the story engaging. This is a fast paced story that is full of action and was hard to put down. I enjoyed being pulled into the story from the start. This is a story about obsession and one violent situation that changed things forever. This is a great story that I truly enjoyed. I highly recommend this book.

A digital copy of this book was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

WARNING:
This book is about acquaintance rape and revenge. There is strong language.

This book revolves around the "rich" and "elite" in New York. When Claudia decides to stay on campus her freshman year during spring break, she'd never imagine how her life would spiral out of control. After literally running in to Trevor the day she wakes up from a night where she's had too much to drink and blacked out, she latches onto him as her anchor. She cuts ties with her family and disappears. Her family tries to find her and discovers what happened that night. The story itself was ok. , and it definitely showed how the rich and powerful think they are untouchable. For me this wasn't my type of book. There was a lot of strong language that didn't seem necessary at times. Thanks NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Minotaur books.

This one wasn't for me. I really struggled with the story, and I found myself unable to connect with the characters.

There were moments that it was heart wrenching. I went into this just thinking it was 'rich people drama' and it is. But its also an important topic. This is a dramatization of a 'slutty' rich girl and her rape can be horribly handled. People often don't believe its rape when she's drunk or if she willingly hung out with the guy cause she knew what it was going to lead to, right? It was disgusting how the rapist saw it, but unfortunately it was also accurate. Not a bad book.

Claudia Castro is beautiful, wealthy and attends NYU. Most would say she appears to have it all. One morning she wakes up bruised, sore and with a very bad hangover. What happened to her and who did it? While most kids have gone home for break, Claudia meets Tyler in her dorm and forms a close bond with him. Soon after, Claudia seems to disappear from her dorm and from social media. Is she really gone or waiting to get her revenge?

This book has major triggers like sexual assault and revenge porn so be warned but this was a fantastic read. The multiple POV’s makes this book enjoyable and hard to put down.

The Missing Hours revolves around the sexual assault of Claudia Castro, a girl that seems to have it all - a famous and wealthy family, a large social media following, and good looks. However, once you look beyond the surface, things are much different. The first part of this book is Claudia dealing with the aftermath of her assault and trying to cope with the emotional and physical trauma. The second part is all about the revenge.

The book is a fast paced psychological thriller with multiple POV's. I felt like it took an in depth look at the have and have-nots, showing how people that have money can get away with a lot of stuff. There are a lot of stereotypical characters in this book. Parts of the book were good, but other parts of it were hard to read - power and privilege provide an easy way to get away with crimes.

The opening chapter of this book is really hard to read. We the reader can tell right away that Claudia Castro has been raped, even if she can't. It's not that she's in denial, but rather that she feels she's gotten herself into another drunken mishap. She knows she drinks a lot, kisses other girls partners, leads guys on, wears skimpy clothes, is beautiful and rich, is a slut... and she seems to accept these as reasons for her waking up as she does. But then comes the video.

I loved the first half of this book. It's realistic and horrific and uncomfortable. But then around the middle chapters, it gets a little sloppy. There are far too many characters POVs and so it gets kind of hard to understand and moves from being real and gritty to over the top and unrealistic. There are a lot of cliches from the seedy lawyer trying to pay everyone off to delete the video, to the rich kid/poor kid behaviour of the characters.

Towards the last few chapters, it ends up getting back on track again with a revenge move that made me want to scream with joy.

A young woman wakes up bruised, assaulted and confused. What happened the past few hours?

The first chapter grabbed my attention immediately. Claudia wants to find out who didn’t this to her and make them pay. The kids involved are rich kids with powerful parents. Many times the parents would step in to save their kids and essentially excuse their kids behavior. I love Claudia’s strength and her ability to keep fighting for justice.

Books like this are hard to read and harder to review.

Claudia wakes up with a pounding head, missing her phone and her underwear. She smells like urine and can't remember anything. At the same time, her sister is going into labor. Her father is a famous musician and her mother is a famous musician/model. They are recently separated.

Claudia soon meets Trevor, a shy boy from Ohio, who lives on her dorm floor and is hooking up with her suite mate.

Soon, they will embark on a journey that involves revenge, Times Square hotels, baseball bats, Martha's Vineyard, box cutters, the Subway Slasher and high powered attorneys.

This isn't an easy story. This is tough to read. It's about revenge. It's about rape. Let's be upfront about it. There's no avoiding that subject. This is more about the subject of what happens after.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Beautiful, wealthy, glamorous NYU student Claudia Castro wakes up one morning bruised and bleeding, with no memory of the night before -- until she is sent a video showing exactly what was done to her while she was blackout drunk.

Even with the video evidence and the fact that she was from a wealthy family with infinite resources, Claudia knew she was going to face the same obstacles as any assault survivor - being called names, saying she asked for it, not wanting to "ruin a young man's future" - all of the fun, misogynistic BULLS*** that makes so many people afraid to report assaults.

So, Claudia decides to get revenge, and it is glorious. She doesn't back down. She doesn't have.a crisis of conscience. She goes after the people in the video and doesn't stop until she's exacted some measure of vengeance. It was deeply satisfying, and I loved it -- especially her plan at the very end of the story. Genius!

The story was well written and easy to read, but I found it hard to relate to the characters. The story concept wasn't groundbreaking but the story flowed and kept my interested.

Wow. This book was an incredibly written, powerful read that immediately sunk its teeth into me and didn’t loosen its grip until the very last word. It’s a powerful, moving story about power, privilege, money, the bonds of sisterhood, and most importantly, sexual assault and the messy aftermath that it leaves in its wake. It showcases the aftermath for not just the sexual assault survivor, but also the impact of those around her. It also sheds light on male privilege, especially when money and power are involved. I went into this book thinking that it was going to be a thriller, and while it was in a way, it was so much more than that. It’s a story of a survivor, but also of revenge. It’s more a cautionary tale than thriller, and I found it to be very eye opening and impactful.

The missing Hours is a sad tale revolving around a girl named Claudia, who has it all, or at least seems to, according to what it shown on her social media. She’s Instagram famous, comes from a wealthy privileged family, and is a freshmen at the prestigious college in New York City, NYU. On closer inspection, unbeknownst to her friends and many followers, Claudia’s life is far from perfect. Her parents are separating, her mother has always been distant, and her sister is pregnant and the baby’s father is a guy she barely knows.

One morning, Claudia wakes up hungover, sore, bruised, and battered with a hazy memory, and once the hazy cloud begins to dissipate, she quickly comes to the realization that she has been sexually assaulted.

Enter Trevor, another student at NYU, who befriends and helps Claudia. He has feelings for her, but above all else, He becomes her protector and follows her along her path of getting revenge on those who wronged and hurt her.

Soon after it is revealed that Claudia was assaulted, she disappears, and the city (due to her large following) begins searching for her, and tries to piece together what led to her disappearance and the events that took place on the horrible night that Claudia was assaulted.

The book is also told from the view point of Claudia’s pregnant sister, who is angry at Claudia for missing the birth of her child, until she learns that Claudia has vanished. As the story progresses, it becomes apparent that her sister has unknowingly played a part in her sister’s disappearance.

As the story progresses, and events begin to unfold, a tangled web is revealed, shedding new light on Claudia’s family.

I found myself rooting for Claudia throughout the story, due to what happened to her. I didn’t necessarily always agree with her actions, but I understood why she did the things that she did, and found myself saying, “go Claudia!” more than once.

This is a dark, intriguing story that had me frantically flipping the pages the entire way through.

While hard to read at times, due to the content matter, I found this book to be well written and excellently executed.

Strong trigger warning for sexual assault

4/5 stars

tw: sexual assault
Wow, where to start with this book! It was an incredibly powerful read. The main character, Claudia, is a rich college girl who grows up with distant parents. She wakes up after a night on the town with a black eye, bruises, and sounds of sexual assault although she has no memory. Here comes Trevor the boy across the hall who is captivated by Claudia and drops everything to help her heal and seek revenge against her assailants. The novel also explores the power of sisterhood. I flew through this book and it’s such an important read as many women grapple with reporting or not reporting because they’ll be deemed a sl*t or too drunk.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I enjoyed this book that started with quite a heavy topic (sexual assault) and then veered off in a different direction about halfway through. The Missing Hours deals with sexual assault and it's aftermath for both the victim and those around her, as well as male privilege, money and power. Then it veers towards revenge. And while other reviews didn't like that aspect, and while of course I don't condone certain actions, I also thought, "you go Claudia."

Claudia Castro wakes up hungover, bruised and sore. She cannot remember the previous evening, but quickly realizes she has been sexually assaulted. It's the beginning of spring break, so very few people are left on the NYU campus. She befriends Trevor, and he quickly becomes her protector, especially after they both receive a video of the night in question.

"From a distance, Claudia Castro has it all: a famous family, a trust fund, thousands of Instagram followers, and a spot in NYU’s freshman class. But look closer, and things are messier: her parents are separating, she’s just been humiliated by a sleazy documentary, and her sister is about to have a baby with a man she barely knows.

Claudia starts the school year resolved to find a path toward something positive, maybe even meaningful – and then one drunken night everything changes. Reeling, her memory hazy, Claudia cuts herself off from her family, seeking solace in a new friendship. But when the rest of school comes back from spring break, Claudia is missing.

Suddenly, the whole city is trying to piece together the hours of that terrible night."

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Page turner alert! I couldn’t put this one down. This had so many facets to it that kept me intrigued.
When we meet Claudia Castro, she’s coming back to her dorm after a night of partying. She’s definitely worse for the wear with a black eye, a split lip, & disheveled clothing. She knows something devastating has occurred, but she can’t connect the dots of her evening. It’s one blank reel.
She elicits the help of a another student in her dorm to aid her in piecing together the mystery of her evening. & to exact revenge.
And it has my favorite! Multiple perspectives! We get to see different vantage points throughout, which keeps the tempo going. Four stars!
Thanks to NetGalley & Minotaur Books for the advanced digital copy!

2.5, rounded up. Excellent premise, but the execution missed the mark for me.

Claudia Castro can't remember the night before. She's sore with a black eye and a busted lip, her phone is missing, and she suspects that something very wrong happened to her. Then, as she starts to put the pieces back together, someone sends her a video of what actually happened and Claudia disappears.

The story started strong. I felt for Claudia. Based on the blurb and the first few chapters, I thought this was going to be a timely piece on sexual assault, social media, slut-shaming, and the politics that can occur, especially when money is involved or the victim/rapist is wealthy and well-known. However, the story quickly became kind of a mess. Disjointed. There's still some of that necessary social commentary, but it also tries to be other things at the same time which just ends up confusing the point of the story. It stays that way until the end, which I thought was decent. So I am glad I stuck it out.

The chapters are short, choppy, and told by multiple POVs. I usually don't have a problem with this style, but in this particular story, it ended up muddling everything. There is also a lot of random backstory to these different characters but at the same time, the character development was very minimal, except for Claudia of course. Makes me question if the multiple character POVs and backstories were really necessary. The short chapters do push the story, making it a fast read. I just wish those chapters focused more on Claudia rather than all the secondary characters. More substance, less random character fluff.

I also take issue with the marketing blurb saying that Claudia was humiliated by a sleazy documentary. "Sleazy documentary" is an inappropriate description and nothing is going to change, if we don't address the issues for what they really are. It was a video of her own rape, posted on social media. Even in a fictional story synopsis, it still irked me that it was referred as a "sleazy documentary".

*Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Dahl does not hold back in The Missing Hours, opening with a sexual assault. Claudia is on the run as she tries to piece together the night she cannot remember. As her family tries to find her, the story unfolds, exploring toxicity and bias, slut-shaming, rape, and more.

I think because Claudia is such a strong young woman, even in the face of what has happened to her, it helped to make this less of a heavy read than it could have been. She’s focused on making the men pay for what they did to her. But she carries a lot of guilt because of her behavior, which is fairly common. I didn’t want to put this book down because the storyline is addicting. Even when I thought Claudia was making poor decisions, I still cheered her on. Nicely done. Thank you, St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books, for sending this along.