When She Disappeared by Steph Mullin had a premise that seemed promising—a small-town mystery with secrets waiting to unravel. Unfortunately, I found myself unable to connect with either the characters or the writing style, leading me to not finish the book (DNF).

3⭐
Genre ~ crime fiction
Setting ~ North Carolina
Publication date ~ March 3, 2022
Publisher ~ Avon, Harper Collins
Est Page Count ~ 388 (p+ 25 chapters)
Audio length ~ 12 hours 28 minutes
Narrator ~ Laurence Bouvard
POV ~ single 3rd
Featuring ~ documentary, 15 year old cold case, slow moving

Margo is back in her hometown to help her father recover from knee surgery when news breaks that the body of Jessie Germaine has been found in a lake. Jessie was the most popular girl in high school and has been missing for 15 years without any leads. Margo's old friend, Austin, is in town filming a documentary about the case and she helps him with interviews.

With some long chapters (over 20 pages/30-40 mins is long to me), flashbacks with diary entries and an abundance of unlikable suspects this felt like a long winded mystery. The culprit wasn't overly surprising, but there was a little twist I hadn't guessed.

Overall, the pace is steadily slow. The ending was quite interesting and I'm not sure really what it means. It's sort of cliffhanger-ish, but this book is over 2 1/2 years old now, so that does seem like a long time without a sequel. Also, I love the eerie vibes of the cover.

On the day she returns to her hometown, news breaks of a body found in a cooler at the bottom of a swimming hole—the body of Margo’s best friend, Jessie, who went missing in 2004. Everyone assumed Jessie ran away, but Margo was never satisfied with that notion. Now theories circulate that Jessie may have been pregnant by Charlie Abbott, and in fear of having a fall-out with his rich parents, he killed her to keep them from finding out.

Wanting a chance of knowing the truth, Margo joins forces with an old high school friend investigating Jessie’s death. But it soon becomes clear that whoever killed Jessie doesn’t want Margo learning who they are, what with the threatening messages and the stalking. But Margo refuses to give up and wants to see it through to the end—even if it could mean the end of her.
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This was a pretty good book. I love small town mysteries where the popular girl is murdered and everyone’s a suspect. Jessie’s disappearance/murder was really intriguing and had a lot of potential suspects, but I was satisfied with who the killer was at the end. Though I will admit the book was slow at times and it has a few plot holes, I was a bit more annoyed that it ended as a cliffhanger. That’s just my picky preference. Through it all, this was a really good book and I’d recommend it.

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I liked When She Disappeared because it was a pretty straightforward mystery. I'm a fan of books about small towns and main characters who return back home after years away because of a past trauma. The tension was good and I was invested in finding out what happened to Jessie. The pacing was slow at times but towards the end picks up. I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style, but I got used to it. I'd read more from the authors.

Great thriller that will capture your attention from the start and not let go till the end. Perfect if you like a really well told story that has some mystery and intriguing to it.

I truly had NO IDEA what this ending was going to be and when I got to it I felt mind blown. What a great, suspenseful book! I was consumed from the first page and never let down, loved it!

This one was a DNF for me. I will not be posting a review of it but thank you for sending I think people would like this one it just wasn't for me. Thank you again for the copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 rounded up to 3 stars.

Spoilers ahead. I will not reveal anything big - most of the review vaguely alludes to plot, structure, and characters.

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The premise of this book had so much potential - a missing girl's body found years later, her friend returns home to work with a TV show to investigate, flashbacks in the form of journal entries. But this was predictable snd trite at every turn. I had a hunch from the first journal entry, and I called it. The TV investigation angle is barely explored outside of a vehicle to serve the main character. The twist was cliche and not fleshed out. Not my cup of tea, but maybe an okay read for a true crime fan looking for a beach read or something.

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Again, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this book from Harper 360/ Avon via NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback. This was yet another book that I have mixed feelings about.

It was very wordy - I absolutely do not care about Margo's red lipstick, for instance. Also the author threw in some side plots that were totally irrelevant - Margo's dad's girlfriend? All of the prologue other than finding Jessie's body?

I did enjoy the diary flashbacks, and I liked that the ending was a surprise to me (though others have said they easily figured it out). I did guess one character who was involved in the mystery of what actually was going on with Jessie, but I thought that character was going to be the guilty one in her death, which turned out not to be true.

3 stars from me due to the surprise ending and the fact that it did keep me reading.

This was a treat. A gift within a gift. While it weaves the past and the present to bring together a mystery of what happened then and now, you are drawn in and drawn to the main character. You can feel her feelings and the tense and twisty dress echoes throughout the book. Well worth a read.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy of When She Disappeared by Steph Mullin, and Nicole Mabry. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and Harper 360 for providing an ARC to review.

I found Margo to be such an annoying character, but I could not stop reading the book. Even though I was pretty sure I knew some of the twists from the first couple of chapters. So while I didn't necessarily enjoy When She Disappeared, I was invested in reading it. So there is that. I give this book 3/5 stars.

When She Disappeared
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Genre: Thriller
Format: Physical Book
Date Published: 9/20/22
Author: Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 400
GR: 3.61

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and HarperCollins and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: ‘On May 26, 2004, Jessie Germaine went to school as normal and cheered at the end of year rally. That evening, she rode her bike into the forest and disappeared…into thin air.’ Margo hasn’t been back to Lake Moss since her school friend went missing. But as she returns, running from a failed marriage, the news breaks. Her hometown’s swimming hole has been Jessie’s grave for fifteen years. Margo sets out to help a documentary crew as they investigate the infamous case the police bungled. In a town where everyone knows everyone – but they all have secrets – the killer is certain to be close to home…

My Thoughts: I do not want to divulge a lot to not spoil it for other readers. I will tell you that while there are some twists, this book is suspenseful and captivating. The ending was unexpected and leaning towards a cliff hanger, which tells me that hopefully this will turn into a series. The story is told in a documentary type of way, almost like you would see in a true crime novel. There are some red herrings for some of the twists. It was a slower burn novel, but still kept my interests. The characters are well developed with depth, mystery, tension, and creatively done. The author’s writing style is complex, suspenseful, twisty, and gripping. This book releases tomorrow and I would recommend picking up.

What a wild ride this book is. When you think that you have things figured out you end up going in a totally different direction.. Good book. Edge of your seat murder mystery.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of When She Disappeared by Steph Mullin that I read and reviewed.
I will start with I despised the end of this book and I wanted to throw my Kindle across the room when I read them end of it because I felt there was no satisfying closure to this story I feel like I wasted time reading this book. I don’t even want to go further with a review I am so flustered with how this was more or less a cliff hanger about what happens with how the case is solved and what happens to them murder and I feel like even though we know who committed the crime we are still left with way too many questions and it takes away all the enjoyment from this book.
Unfortunately, I have to give this book two out of five stars because I feel like I wasted my life reading because the author left way to many questions unanswered at the end of the book.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper 360 Publishing for an ARC of When She Disappeared!

I enjoyed this slow burn read, but found the twist, and who killed Jesse and why, to be a little bit obvious. I did like the telling of the story in two different timelines very interesting, and that's what really kept me reading. I think the author really nailed the atmospheric feeling of the town as well.

When She Disappeared by Steph Mullin & Nicole Mabry 🎀

In 2004, Jessie went to school, cheered at the school rally, left on her bike, and then disappeared… into thin air. Fifteen years later, Jessie’s old best friend Margo returns back to their home town. At the same time, Jessie’s body is found. Margo decides to help a documentary TV crew discover what truly happened that night.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ; a twisty small town thriller that was definitely captivating! The story had a true crime feel to it as the documentary played a huge role in the plot. 4 stars for me because I was able to guess the killer pretty early on (always bummed when I do!). But it does end with a cliff hanger, letting the reader decide how it will end.

Thank you @netgalley & @harpercollins360 for the eARC! When She Disappeared comes out soon on September 20! 😯

This was an enjoyable book to read i found the main character Margo was very likable and it was fun following the clues and mystery along with her i also liked the whole aspect of the documentary show trying to solve her disappearance too!!!! I did not like the extremely long chapters it felt like it took me forever to get through one

Much thanks to #netgalley and #harper360 for allowing me to read and review this ARC All thoughts and opinions are my own

I will also post a review to the Facebook group I created @DOMESTIC THRILLER READERS BOOK CLUB close to publication day

This was pretty disappointing overall. I gave it 3 stars because while I wasn’t surprised by the ending, I did think the last chapter was the most well-written in the whole book.

But other than that, flow of the prose in this book was just so juvenile and frustrating that I could not fully enjoy anything. There was so much unnecessary detail in almost every scene. Very tell, not a lot of show.

I thought about DNF’ing but I really wanted to see how they pulled of the twist.

Thrilling read! I was able to connect with all of the characters and throughly enjoyed the story the author painted.

a missing girl’s body is found at the bottom of a popular swimming hole 15 years later… ✨

*thank you to NetGalley and Avon for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was hooked into this book right from the beginning - it’s full of unlikable and unreliable characters & I truly had no idea where the story was going to go. I started to pieces things together along the way, but the final reveal was mind blowing 🤯👏🏼

I enjoyed how fast paced the story was and liked how it was told in the present day with some journal entries from the past and in-chapter flashbacks. Also, even though there were A LOT of characters, they all seemed well development and added a little something to the plot.

Slightly disappointed with the end of the story bc I’m not a big fan of “leaving the ending up for interpretation”, but nonetheless this was such an interesting take on a whodunnit mystery thriller.

Read if you like:
- unreliable MC 👤
- missing person investigation 🔍
- suspense 😯
- ending up for interpretation
- trying to detective your way through the plot line 🕵🏼‍♀️
- in-chapter flashbacks 📸

Rating: ☀️☀️☀️☀️💫/5