I read a good amount of mysteries and thrillers - but not usually young adult mystery/thriller novels so this was a fun change. Cam and Blair make a great team and play off of each other's strengths as they tiptoe into the world of podcasting and trying to solve a decades-old disappearance of a young woman in their hometown. The main characters make some very foolish decisions at times and you kind of want to scream at them - but overall Missing Clarissa was a very entertaining read. Would definitely be great for anyone who is a fan of true crime podcasts. Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the chance to read this novel.

When Cam and Blair find out they need to do a high school journalism project, they choose to do a true crime podcast. What could be more fascinating in the small town of Oreville than the disappearance of Clarissa Campbell? Did someone kill Clarissa Campbell 20 years ago or did she walk away from her life? Can and Blair are certain someone killed her, but who? They question everyone they can think of, including Clarissa’s friends and old suspects. Will they solve the case once and for all?

Ripley Jones’s writing of Blair and Cameron is stellar. They are relatable and feel like people you could know in real life. The plot was suspenseful and kept me reading more to find out what happened to Clarissa. I never saw the ending coming and never would have guessed the motive of the suspect. I read a lot of thrillers so this is rare for me. Jones provides outstanding LGBTQ+ representation, which I absolutely love and unfortunately is rare in suspense novels. I highly recommend this twist-filled book! I give it 4/5 stars.

✨ PRINCEMAN REVIEW ✨

📝 Blair and Cameron couldn't be more opposite, but their friendship has lasted since the day they met in elementary school. They decide to enroll in a journalism class for their junior year, and take on a HUGE project. 20 years ago, a beautiful cheerleader went missing in their small town. No one knows what happened to her, and her body was never found. So, Blair and Cameron hope to be the ones to learn something new by creating the podcast, "Missing Clarissa." What begins as an innocent project turns into a dangerous game of whodunit.

What I 🤍:
🧠 Cameron's Neurodivergent Brain
🌲 Small Town, Washington Setting
🔎 Cold Case Disappearance
✌️ Duel Perspective
🏔️ Plot Driven, Fast Paced Book

I read this book in pretty much one sitting! It was that addicting, and the pace moved quickly. By far, my favorite part of this book was how it talked about injustice within missing person cases. Historically, if a person is white and beautiful, media tends to nationalize the cases, as compared to those who go missing that are of color. I think the girls learned a lot about this while investigating their case.

Prince's Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Scare Factor: 😱 (I read when home alone at night! 😉)
Read if ➡️: You love podcasts about missing persons cases.
Read 📅: Anytime!
CW ⚠️: Rape, Grooming, Murder

I really enjoyed this book, and it's perfect for anyone getting into the thriller/mystery genre. I craved to know more about these girls after the case, and I do wonder if this will become a series.

Thank you Wednesday Books, Netgalley and Ripley Jones for an ARC copy of this book. Missing Clarissa comes out Tuesday, March 8!

🌟 My Review will be posted soon to my Instagram @lifewithprinceman account. 🌟

What a complete roller coaster of a ride I had reading Missing Clarissa. I went through so many emotions throughout the story.
The story is about best friends making a podcast about a 20 year old cold unsolved murder that happened in their town.
Definitely recommended reading for fans of YA Thrillers.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Clarissa Campbell vanished without a trace from a party twenty four years ago. She was never found, and if anyone knew what happened to her, they weren’t talking.

In the present, best friends Blair and Cameron decide to tackle this mystery as their junior year journalism project. They start a podcast about Clarissa, and attempt to discover the truth about what really happened to her.

I love books that incorporate true crime podcasts, so I was automatically into this book. There are a lot of twists and turns, and the characters of Blair, Cameron, and Clarissa are compelling. I did not see the ending coming, which is always exciting for me with a mystery book.

This is a quick, gripping read that I would recommend.

In 1999, Clarissa went to a high school party in the woods and was never seen again. The story was all over the news for a while but as time passed and nothing was solved, it stopped being reported on.

Twenty years later, Cam and Blair decide to do a podcast about the case for their journalism class and call it Missing Clarissa. This basic plot is one I get drawn into every time.

This was a quick and compelling read - I was definitely interested to keep flipping pages and see how it would all end. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free review copy.

A solid young adult thriller. Perfect for those true crime podcast loving fans. What I enjoyed most about the book is the characterization. Best friends Cam and Blair join together for a school project, in an attempt to break a cold case of the disappearance of Clarissa Campbell. Ripley Jones does a great job at bringing to life the two main characters. Cam is such a spicy character, she is awkward and sassy if not a bit impulsive, which drove me nuts if I am honest. But she made her way into my heart, and I am endeared to her. While there wasn't much uniqueness to the plot, a missing girl, handful of suspects, two amateur detectives uncovering the clues to solve the mystery. Jones did piece together a compelling story and was able to intertwine a perspective of race, privilege and the me too movement.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and honestly review an advanced digital copy.

Missing Clarissa is a fun YA thriller/missing person with a podcast read!

Podcasts are one of my favorite tropes for thrillers so I was excited to read this one.

This IS obviously YA and read as such. It’s a fast read and although it was fun it didn’t have too much substance for me. I’m still glad I read it and would def read this author again.

Suspend belief here for sure!
3.5 stars here!

In the vein of The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and Two Can Keep A Secret, Missing Clarissa is a YA thriller that’s fast paced with a neat, easy ending.

Blair and Cameron are high school juniors and best friends, partnered up on a journalism class project. They’re looking into a twenty-year old cold case of seventeen year old Clarissa Campbell, who went missing the summer after graduation and hasn’t been heard from since. They share their research and theories on a podcast, and instead of no one listening to it, it begins to snowball. As they interview Clarissa’s friends and family, they realize that digging up the past may be putting themselves in danger if you believe that someone got away with murder twenty years ago and would like to the keep the past in the past.

While not as nuanced and thrilling as AGGGTM, Missing Clarissa is still an exciting YA thriller because “almost everybody loves a pretty dead white girl” and reading two young, naive yet enterprising girls tease the truth from fact to solve a crime that no one else ever did will never cease to get old.

"Maybe none of us see what anybody else looks like, even the people we love. All we can know is how they look to us."

This was a YA mystery. All the elements were there alright. But they didn't do anything different. Everything that happens in this story is what you would expect—might be good for a first-time reader in the genre—so it never wowed me like its comp title A Good Girl's Guide to Murder did. This also definitely reads on the younger side of YA, which is completely fine, but that comparison to AGGTM really threw me because that series is WAY more dark and mature.

I don't really have all that much to say about this because I already know it will be so forgettable, but it was a relatively easy read once I got into it and kept me interested despite being so basic.

I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who has read their fair share of mystery, but maybe to a younger kid interested in the genre.

This was a captivating YA novel. Fast paced, with likeable characters. I'm a full grown adult who loves reading YA. This definitely felt like it was written for teens as opposed to adults who enjoy YA. Does that make sense? Of course, that's totally ok! I just wanted my fellow adults to be aware of this before reading. It reads young. But I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Ripley Jones for an advanced copy of this book. I offer my review freely.

Summary: In August of 1999, cheerleader Clarissa Campbell disappeared from a party in the woods and is never seen again. Now, over twenty years later, the case remains unsolved. High school juniors and best friends Blair and Cameron decide to start a true crime podcast as a class project, in an effort to find out what really happened to Clarissa. Small-town secrets begin to be revealed, and their investigation unearths truths that might have been better left untouched.

Thoughts: Although I had figured out had happened pretty quickly (due to an obvious clue), I tried to approach this like a YA reader. I think plenty of my students would enjoy the fast action and short length of this book. The characters were well written, and the whodunnit elements would certain keep a young adult reader's attention.

Read If you Like:
-YA thrillers/mysteries
-True crime podcasts
-LGBTQ rep
-Short, fast paced reads
-A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, One of Us is Lying

First off I want to thank @netgalley, @stmartinspress & @ripleyjones for my free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun, fast paced, thrilling read. I don't read much YA anymore but this one caught my attention and it delivered. It's a very bingeable read, you won't want to put it down.

The small town setting was great as everyone kind of mixed in together and there was so many secrets between all of them. It did feel a bit unrealistic for two teenagers to solve a cold case which the police couldn't in such a short amount of time, but for me it didn't take away from the book.

The characters were relatable, easy to get attached to. Cam was a bit harder to love but you end up loving her in the end. The story flowed perfectly and nothing felt out of place. I loved the fact that it kept me guessing all through the end.

If you're looking for a quick, easy, fast paced, YA thriller give this one a chance!

Missing Clarissa is a captivating novel that will keep readers enthralled from start to finish. The story follows Clarissa, a young woman who goes missing without a trace. As the story progresses, readers are taken on a thrilling journey as they follow the clues to uncover the truth behind Clarissa's disappearance.

The novel is filled with suspense and intrigue, as the characters grapple with the mystery of Clarissa's whereabouts. Jones' writing is vivid and engaging, drawing readers into the story and making them feel as if they are part of the investigation. The characters are well-developed and the plot is full of twists and turns that will keep readers guessing until the very end.

Missing Clarissa is a gripping and thought-provoking read that will leave readers on the edge of their seats. Jones' masterful storytelling and captivating characters make this novel a must-read for anyone looking for a thrilling mystery.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free book in exchange for my honest opinion.

With Missing Clarissa, Ripley Jones adds to the growing trend of novels that explore podcasts that explore true crime. It’s a please structure for anyone who likes murder mysteries, true or fictional, written or podcasted.

This book is a well-paced mystery with a side of female friendships, woke ideologies, and small-town angst. It’s a perfect beach read for true crime lovers. Very enjoyable.

Missing Clarissa is a well-executed thriller that excels at playing with popular crime fiction tropes (small town, missing girl, true crime podcast). This novel is centered around the disappearance of a popular high schooler in 1999 from a small town and two high school students in present day who make this subject a topic for a journalism class podcast. In trying to solve the mystery, they find more questions than answers about Clarissa and the people who orbited her before her disappearance. The book explores themes of narrative authority, racial identity in coverage of crimes (white girls missing vs girls of color who go missing), consent, etc. most of this has been done before, yes, but the author finds a way to make it compelling through her two protagonists who give a fresh voice to these topic. The mystery itself is twisty and the pacing is just right with reveals coming at a pace that makes the reader want to keep going! Would recommend for anyone who loves a good mystery or for a mystery who does have something it is trying to say about some current topics.

Arc provided by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free arc in exchange for an honest review.

Missing Clarissa is a YA thriller about two friends who decide to host a true crime podcast as their journalism class final project. The subject of their podcast is their towns most famous cold case, the disappearance of teenage cheerleader Clarissa Campbell in the 90’s. To Blair and Cam, what at first is just a story soon evolves into a mission to get Justice, and find the truth at all costs, even when it may be dangerous to themselves.

I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! While the teenage podcaster solving a mystery trope has been done quite a bit, this author managed to bring a fresh perspective to it. There was a lot of discussion about the types of true crime stories we choose to pay attention too, what it means for the people close to a victim when we consider these stories as just entertainment, and whether we have the right to tell another persons story or not. I think this is a very important discussion to have, in a climate when true crime stories are very popular. I also thought the character development was very well done, the characters of this book felt so real to me, and I loved watching them grow through the book. Overall, I really enjoyed this one.

Cam and Blair are best friends - and as opposite as can be. Which just works for them - they balance each other out. Then, they are assigned their 11th grade journalism class project, and chose to cover the disappearance of a local girl from 1999. No body was ever found, and the case is still open. Better yet? They decided to turn it into a podcast.

I want to start off with: having each character described first by their race was very distracting. I get establishing characters, but it was excessive IMO.

Secondly, this was tutted as a must-read for fans of Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder… for the whole first half, I was convinced Ripley Jones read those books while writing hers.

That said — toward the end, before the “meeting”, there are a few pages where we pop into each characters life. Like 10 lines each — short blurbs. I loved the pace! I was sucked RIGHT in.

After that, the action picked up, and I was flipping kindle pages faster than they could load.

I also had to google what a U-Haul was! For anyone wondering: it refers to the idea that lesbians tend to move in together after a short period of time. My mind was in the gutter 😅

I did think it ended rather abruptly… which I suppose means I was left wanting more. I could easily see Jones turning this into a series (which I would likely read!)

A solid

Ripley Jones starts with a great premise in Missing Clarissa . Two high school journalism students decide to try to solve a cold case from twenty years ago. Clarissa Campbell disappeared from a party in 1999. Despite an extensive search, no one knows what happened to her. She was a popular cheerleader and the mystery captured the attention of the nation for a few months. Blair Johnson and Cameron Munoz focus on archive research and interviews for their true crime podcast.

Cameron is intelligent, funny, awkward, and understanding most of the time. However, she can be impetuous and infuriating too. Additionally, she is jealous of the amount of time Blair spends with her boyfriend, James. Blair thinks of herself as boring and dull with patronizing parents who aren’t supportive, but more than anything, she wants to be a writer. However, she’s insecure and doesn’t have the courage to take a writing class.

The mystery has some twists along the way. The story builds momentum gradually and has a couple of action scenes. The last 20 percent of the novel has a brisker pace. Everyone seems to have agendas, but determining what they are and whether they are relevant to Clarissa’s case takes Cameron and Blair on some adventures. Set in fictional Oreville, Washington, readers get some feel for the community as the book progresses. One of the outstanding features of the novel is the diverse characterization. However, actions taken by one of the main characters are very immature. Would a typical seventeen-year-old act this way and not think about the consequences? Perhaps some would. Some of the items revealed in the interviews seemed unrealistic for adults to divulge to teenagers. Themes include family, friendship, cold cases, justice, grief, and much more. The author weaves several social issues into the story line. While most can’t be commented on due to spoilers, the one that starts it all is how news coverage varies based on a person’s physical characteristics or wealth.

The author did a great job in bringing together the past and present within the story. Despite plenty of conflict, I did not feel the intensity that I expected. The ending was more predictable than I wanted, but the final scene was dramatic and suspenseful.

Overall, this was intriguing, entertaining, and had an action packed ending with diverse characters. I enjoyed this novel with its fascinating story line. This is the first book I have read by this author. This novel should appeal to those who enjoy young adult mysteries or true crime podcasts.

St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books and Ripley Jones provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for March 07, 2023. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

Here I go being unpopular again. Missing Clarissa is about two young women who decide to do a podcast about a girl who disappeared a while ago from their town. Nothing new there. But these girls are in high school. I know there are a lot of reasons for making podcasts. I always hope they are at least a little bit interested in helping and educating. These two are not. They are after the most shallow people I’ve read in a long time. And rude. It is not quirky to treat your mother like this.

There are some “twists” and “reveals” that are completely obvious. No one seems to care about this girl. Instead they are looking for what she did to deserve being “disappeared”. The classic tale of finding out why the good girl was really bad and that’s why what happened to her happened.

Weirdly, this girl is supposed to be the bad girl, but the two protagonists are far worse-judgmental and mean. I just could not like them or get behind their blind and thoughtless investigation.