Four friends have stolen aboard the Titanic. They're after the Rubaiyat - a book inlaid with priceless jewels. Josefa is a charismatic thief, Hinnah a daring acrobat, Violet an outstanding actress and Emilie a talented artist.

It is Josefa's plan, but she needs all of their skills. Despite their very different backgrounds, in a world of first-class passengers and suspicious crew members, the girls must work together to pull off the heist of their lives.

This book markets itself as a thriller, but it's more of a book about friendship with thriller elements thrown in at the end. The relationships in the book are not the healthiest, nor do they grow and mature over the course of the novel -- so it's not really a book about friendship, either. It's difficult to place this in a genre, and makes it difficult for me to know who to recommend this book to.

disturbing but well written. I feel a movie and a possible sequel coming on. There's more to tell with these two

No spoilers
I didn’t really like this book honestly. I found the plot not that detailed and rich. It was just so *easy* to read but it was extremely slow paced! And there was a lot of unanswered questions, even in the end of the book. It was overally an okay read, but maybe it wasn’t for me since it’s a YA book. I cannot place myself in the place of a young adult, so maybe someone who generally reads a lot of YA would appreciate this book more than me! I generally think that there could have been more to add to the story so that it could be more complex and better.

⭐️: 3/5

After some bad things happened to Tillie her junior year of high school, her mother moves them outside of Philly to a new town in order to get a fresh start. There, she meets Madison Frank, the queen bee who inspires adoration and obsession from everyone. As Tillie gets sucked more and more into her orbit, she starts forgetting the mistakes she made that led to the move from Philly. When Madison goes missing and Tillie is implicated, the secrets Tillie has been keeping about what really happened in Philly threaten to destroy her.

Missing Dead Girls started off pretty strong, with a prologue that draws the reader in and makes them want to figure out what happened, and how the story gets to that point. The writing style propelled the story really quickly, and didn’t have too many extraneous details or scenes that may have caused the book to drag. Because of this, it was a really quick, entertaining, kind of dark read. Through the book, I couldn’t quite get a read on any of the characters or their motivations, other than fitting and not being alone, which I guess is a pretty typical propulsive force in YA books. Tillie and Madison’s relationship was interesting, but the characters themselves lacked any real, distinguishing features other than the stereotypical “not like the other girls” girls. I’d classify this book as a YA thriller with dark theme, but also a romance book with major insta love trope vibes. I enjoyed the read, but it felt like a lot of build up for a relatively underwhelming and out of nowhere conclusion.

Thank you to @netgalley and @sourcebooksfire for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

3/5 stars. I enjoyed this story and felt so sorry for everything Tillie got wrapped up in. I feel like this book had some similarities to "One of Us is Lying" and fans of that would likely enjoy this story. I also think readers that liked "Good Girl's Guide to Murder" or Jess Sutano's "The Obsession," would find a lot to love in this story. The problem for me with this story was the pacing. There were large chucks where the pace dragged extremely slow.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

DNF @ 30%- I simply could NOT get into this book. The writing was fine, but I found myself super frustrated with how flowery quotes were used in Tillie's thought process. It gave the book a super cheesy feeling had me holding the book at arm's length. I just don't think the writing style and I pair well- the plot was super interesting though!

For NetGalley purposes- I'm giving this a one star due to DNFing.

I feel like this book lied to me. When i picked it up, i was expecting an interesting thriller mystery about a missing girl and a photo of her body being sent to the whole school. I was expecting something intriguing with maybe a good twist or two. Sadly, that’s not what i got. the event sold to me in the description happened at the 85% mark. 85%!!! and when it does hit, it’s really disappointing. It felt rushed and anticlimactic. Everything before that wasn’t really bad, maybe i’d like it more if i wasn’t expecting something completely different. Characters were okay, no one that really stood out. The romance elements gets some points for being queer, but loses some for being “instant-love”, i rolled my eyes alot. Tillie was addicted to Madison after the first meeting and i didn’t find any of it believable. Best part of this book was definitely the writing, her style was fantastic and i found myself underlining alot of quotes. Overall, it just didn’t hit the mark for me. It was a quick read, but nothing really happens. I would be curious to read more by Sara Walters, i really did love her prose

This was an easy, short, fast and fun read with sapphic main characters and lots of murder. The end of this left me wanting more immediately. I do wish it was longer and more fast-paced but other than that I am convinced no one else has read a thriller before. Of course the last 15% is where most of the action is! The entire novel is supposed to entice you into wanting more with a continuous fear while you wait for everything to go wrong. I will be looking forward to see what Sara Walters puts out in the future.

Easy read however, quite slow paced and a tad underwhelming at times. I think there could’ve been more added to the story. I do love the lesbian rep between the MC and love interest.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel. I encourage you to check this one out!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcefire Books for allowing me to read this ARC!

This was such a fun read! This is exactly the kind of YA Thriller that I’ve been looking for! This is a fast read with great plot twists and characters. I love that is also references some more recent pop culture moments that gives it a fresh feel. I can’t wait to see what else Sara Walters writes!

This was OK, starts with a bang, then you get the whole backstory before finally getting back to the action towards the end. Wouldn't class it as a thriller.

Tillie moves from philly after something happens with her ex gf & a friend. You don't find out what for a long time. But she meets Madison in her new town. Who is the queen bee type, and she quickly becomes obsessed.

Interesting concept, I just wanted more.

I wanted to love this one so badly, but sadly it fell short to me. I did not feel a connection to the characters, and didn’t necessarily care too much about their story. I felt like the relationship was inauthentic which prevented me from really feeling their love.

I Kissed Shara Wheeling meets Do Revenge meets Pretty Little Liars in this sapphic YA thriller.

I liked the concept and plot, but the pacing was off to me — most of the “thriller” action took place in the last 15% of the book.

Missing Dead Girls is an absolute page turner. The reader easily falls into the story and itches to finish, needing to know what happens next. This murder mystery is filled twists and turns, but manages to come full circle as the story unfolds. The storyline's progression feels natural even though it alternates between the past and present. There is also an overwhelming sense of tension that permeates from the book's pages to the reader. Specifically, the intensity of Tillie and Madison's relationship mirrors the intensity of the mysteries that are attached to each girl. The reader follows the spiral of their obsessive and possessive infatuation all the way down the rabbit hole to reveal a cliffhanger at the end. The only downfalls were that there were times when the writing felt like it was not realistically portraying the way that teenagers speak, which can take the reader out of the story. Despite this small setback, I highly look forward to the next chapter of Tillie and Madison's story.

Ginger Nuts of Horror reviewed The Violent Season, the exceptionally bleak YA debut of Sara Walters back in 2021 and it also featured in our ‘best of 2021’ annual YA roundup. Walters returns with a dark friendship based high school drama and although Missing Dead Girls is not as bleak as her debut it does not pull any punches and is aimed at older teens. The novel has an outstanding opening and then backtracks into how the plot arrived at a digital photograph being sent to everybody in school of the dead body of Madison Frank, with the tag claiming she was killed by Tillie Frank. Tillie narrates the story and arrives at the quiet suburb of Willow Creek due to an unnamed event at her previous school in Philadelphia. Missing Dead Girls explores some very dark areas and the narrator has trauma in her past, which is slowly revealed via the current narrative.

Missing Dead Girls has a very convincing LGBTQIA+ at the centre of its coming-of-age story which focusses on the developing friendship of new girl Tillie and Madison, after they meet at the swimming pool where Tillie works. The developing relationship is intense, full of secrets and expands into a more complex web which involves broken relationships, abuse and the code of silence which often protects popular high school pupils (this part of the story was pretty obvious). Overall Missing Dead Girls tackles very serious subjects via convincing blend of emotional drama, the dynamics of toxic relationships, and thriller where many of the characters are psychologically damaged. The story shows trauma is clearly very hard to leave behind and older teens will find this to be a tough but ultimately rewarding read. AGE RANGE 14+

Thank you to the publisher and author for the ARC copy of this book. This has not influenced my review.

Summary: After a traumatic incident her junior year of high school, Tillie Gray and her mom move from Philadelphia to the smaller town of Willow Creek. There, she meets Madison. Madison is just a distraction from the trauma still haunting Tillie. A new face with new, better memories to be made. Or is she? Because now, Madison is missing and a photo of her body is sent to everyone at Tillie's new school....from an account with her name on it.

Review: This book left me...a bit confused. I think the premise of the story was a brilliant idea, its the execution of it that falls flat for me. Based on the provided description of the book, I expected the majority of the book to happen AFTER the text is sent to the entire school. In fact, that doesn't happen until around 80/85%. I felt as though there was a lot of build up, for not a lot of anything else. I will say that the ending has me hoping for a sequel. Overall, I enjoyed the reading experience. I loved that it was a sapphic thriller. I just feel as though the provided summary promotes a book that only exists in 10/15% of the actual book.

I just don’t think this book was for me. The storyline was good, the writing was good, the characters were good. But I just didn’t feel my own connection with the story.

If it sounds interesting to you, most definitely pick it up because again, still a good book

4.5 stars.

I am shook. Like speechless. I love this book. So much. There was a few points where I had predicted what was going to happen, but after 65% or so through the book I didn't see any of it coming. Watching Madison and Tille's relationship bloom was so fun, I really thought there was going to be a bad twist with them but it never came and I am so grateful for that. They are perfect for each other! I loved the whole beach house setting as well as them cleaning up an old playhouse (and the reason behind why they were cleaning it), I loved that whole plot. I will say, they were absolutely ruthless. (view spoiler)

Overall I loved reading this book, I loved seeing all the secrets get uncovered (especially the one at the end that shocked me) highly recommend reading if you love high school murder mysteries! (search up TWs!)