Thank you to @bookmarked for sending me DON’T FORGET THE GIRL by: @rebeccamckanna .

The story opens in 2015 with Bree and Chelsea still coping with the disappearance of their friend Abby twelve years earlier. Serial killer John Allan Blue is set to be executed for a string of murders but has never been conclusively linked to Abby. Bree and Chelsea are sure he is the reason for Abby’s disappearance and both have different motivations for getting the truth.
They are both disgusted by a miniseries about Blu that’s getting so much buzz because they feel like it’s glamorizing a killer and marginalizing his victims.

The timeline goes back to 2003 using Abby’s POV which I really enjoyed, it was illuminating and heartbreaking.
There is a podcast element which some people might be tired of, I’m not, but also though it’s a catalyst in propelling certain elements I didn’t find it a central theme.

This isn’t a groundbreaking thriller by any means but I personally couldn’t put it down. It vaguely hearkened WHAT LIES IN THE WOODS for me. This publishes on 6.20.23
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you like:
🌾Serial killer thrillers
🌾True Crime
🌾Alternating timelines
🌾Complicated friendships
🌾Podcasts in books

💭Thoughts:
I was immediately drawn into this story. The story is told through multiple timelines and POVs. The writing style is interesting, because the story transitions between second and third person. I did have trouble at times keeping the timelines straight, as the dates bounced around a lot.

I enjoyed getting to know Bree, Chelsea, and Abby. They are three very damaged, but engaging characters. It was interesting seeing how their secrets were unraveled and how each of their lives progressed.

The author did a great job making me question multiple times who the killer was. I thought I knew and then after each secret was revealed, I wasn’t as sure. The ending was a bit of a let down. I was hoping for something more climactic.

Grief has no timeline, no universal pattern—five stages be damned—and it can bring people together just as easily as it can tear them apart. In Rebecca McKanna's debut novel Don't Forget the Girl, two friends learn this the hard way when their long-lost bestie's suspected murderer is back in the spotlight, courtesy of his execution date. Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC copy to review.

Twelve years have passed since Abby Hartmann's disappearance and presumed murder at the hands of Jon Allan Blue. In that time, secrets, grudges, and the trauma of her loss have left her best friends, Bree and Chelsea, estranged and vulnerable to the media blitz surrounding Blue's better-known crimes. In regards to the character-to-character relationships, Don't Forget the Girl reads less like the thriller I expected and more like a multi-layered, introspective study in human psychology during and in the wake of a tragedy. McKanna uses flashbacks (the two main characters' as well as those from the victim herself), podcast scripts, and interviews to build the narrative and give the characters a kind of depth that isn't always achieved over the course of a few hundred pages. Fans of thorough background exposition and loaded dialogue will particularly enjoy the attention to detail and emotional depth.

One thing for potential readers to note is that this book deals with a wide range of negative emotion and dark thoughts. It's a necessity given the subject matter and the grim trials each of the characters are put through because of an abduction and murder, but if that sounds like something that will trigger you, you might consider putting this book back on the shelf.

If that doesn't scare you off, though, then prepare yourself for not only an emotional ride, but a deep dive on the modern media strategies that dominate the airwaves and cyberspace. While the perpetrator of an impressive roster of heinous acts is being analyzed and discussed on a massive scale, the victims like Abby become side notes, mere details supporting his story rather than their own separate narratives. It's just the type of portrayal of real-life tactics that brings a home a kind of helplessness: a common theme throughout the novel, only represented in a multitude of ways and on varying levels.

For those who enjoy the emotional delving done in books like Speak or the personal trauma coupled with a greater narrative about justice such as one finds in Atonement, Don't Forget the Girl is a highly impactful, consuming read that will stick with them long after the final page.

Everyone knows the name of at least one serial killer - but can you name any of the victims?

The story revolves around three different POVs: Abby, Bree, & Chelsea. We see parts of all three of their lives in the year 2003 when they’re attending the University of Iowa together - and then we see Bree & Chelsea in 2015, because Abby went missing in 2003.

In 2015 Bree & Chelsea are still struggling with the loss of their friend, and even though they haven’t spoken in years they reunite as the man who is believed to be responsible for Abby’s disappearance is scheduled to be executed for his crimes soon.

This book dealt with so many complicated & multilayered topics: faith & religion, the current popularity of true crime as a form of entertainment, female friendship, discovering one’s sexuality, taking responsibility for how your actions impact others. It was thought-provoking, and with short chapters interspersed with social media threads, podcast transcripts, & news articles, this was definitely a page-turner. As an Iowa native I also enjoyed all of the references to my home state!

Thank you to NetGalley & Sourcebooks for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC. It was an interesting and different read. I wouldn't quite say it was a thriller but kept me engaged. The characters were very well written. The storyline of flashbacks and present day really helped move the story along.

Don’t Forget the Girl
By Rebecca McKanna
Pub Date: June 20, 2023
Sourcebooks
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Excellent book for this Debut!
Loved the tagline: we never remember the dead girls. We never forget the killers.
Fast moving thriller! Dual timelines give us insight on what happened throughout. Popular podcast is going to cover Jon Allan Blue’s execution. Friends get together to tell Abby’s story so she is not forgotten again.
* character driven tragedy
I didn’t love how Abby’s sections were told in second person,
4 stars

More of a character study then a psychological women thriller. You sympathize with the two main characters, and their flashbacks, and that of the victim grab you. If you're expecting a shocking reveal at the end, you may be disappointed, but the writing and story kept my interest.

Good story! Enjoyed the characters in the book. Looking forward to reading more books by this author. Highly recommend

Wow, did this book take me by surprise! I was in the mood for a quick thriller and didn't expect much from it. (I'm a pretty harsh judge of thrillers.) However, I was immediately captivated by the mystery of this story. The serial killer on death row gave me Notes on an Execution vibes. (One of my faves of 2022.) The multiple POVs kept me second guessing what I thought I already knew. Did Jon Allen Blue kill Abby? I just couldn't decide and I really liked how the ending all came together. This is a great pick for a thriller reader. It definitely felt a bit different than others I've read and I had a ton of fun with it.

Though this wasn't the most thrilling of thrillers, I found the character development and writing to both be quite strong and engaging. I enjoyed the mixture of flashbacks and present-day narration.


Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the chance to read this book!

Great 4 star book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The author masterfully wove together a tale of mystery and intrigue that kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. One of the things I appreciated most about this book was the depth of the characters. The friendships were not simple, surface-level relationships but rather complex, multi-layered connections that had been built over years. As the story unfolded, we learned more about the characters' pasts, their motivations, and the secrets they kept hidden from one another.

The pacing of the novel was spot on, with the tension building gradually as the story progressed. I found myself eagerly turning the pages, desperate to know what would happen next. The twists and turns were unpredictable, keeping me guessing until the very end. Overall, I highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a good thriller that also delves into the complexities of human relationships. It is a well-written, engaging, and thought-provoking book that will leave you thinking long after you've finished the last page. I give it four stars!

Bree and Chelsea are two struggling thirty-somethings: when they were in college, their best friend Abby was murdered and her body has never been found. The killer is apparently John Alan Blue, a serial killer notorious for a murder spree across the midwest, but he refuses to admit guilt or tell anyone what happened in Abby's last moments.

Blue's crimes, constant nosepicking, and glamorization onscreen are modeled on Ted Bundy. The book is sprinkled with faux news articles, true crime podcast transcripts, and reddit threads, and these are well done--the author really captures the flavor of these different forms of media. She clearly has some Thoughts on the true crime industry and our tendency to focus on killers while we forget their victims' names. If we talk about the victims at all it's to recount their final moments, not to learn more about them or find out what they were really like.

The novel is told in alternating chapters: Bree and Chelsea in 2015 (leading up to Blue's scheduled execution), and Abby in 2003 (leading up to her disappearance). It took me awhile to warm up to the 2015 chapters because Bree and Chelsea start out as the stereotypical Sad Characters who Make Bad Choices Because They're Sad that you tend to see in this type of novel. Abby's chapters (which, full disclosure, are in 2nd person) drew me in more quickly. Abby and Chelsea are secretly in love. Their relationship creates more tension than the mystery of what happened in Abby's final moments. Did Abby tell anyone about it before she died? Will the still-closeted Chelsea tell anyone about it now?

This is marketed as a thriller, but to me it's more like...morbid women's fiction. It's similar to The Comfort of Monsters but with a more satisfying ending and plot.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was really feeling this book until it switched to second person perspective. That just feels off in a novel and also my old self doesn't like it.
I skimmed through those parts. The parts written in third person are amazing.
I love the part about the Golden Retriever of sons. I took would have liked that kind of son. However, as the mom of an 18 year old boy I was horrified when Bree was with Zach. That is a little baby!
I loved Chelsea and her relationship with her chosen deity

This novel is deep and lovely. I oved the perspectives of our surviving gals.
.

Fantastic read! Dual timelines, three different POV's, true crime vibes, and a podcast. I loved this book! Don't Forget the Girls tells the story of estranged friends who come together at a podcast event to piece together what happened to their missing friend. It will tug at your emotions with the feelings of guilt, grief and longing for what could've been. While there are not a lot of plot twists and turns, the emotions you feel are intoxicating. 5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley for eARC.

It took me so long to decide how I should rate this one. It is a thriller, but in my opinion, not a very intense one at all. The pace is slow, and to compensate for that I wanted a big reveal or a jaw-dropping twist, but that never happened.

In saying that, I genuinely enjoyed reading this book. I was invested with the characters and loved reading about all the drama that had happened between them. The flashbacks with Abby’s chapters were especially interesting (but they were written in the second person and that was definitely an adjustment).

I don’t have a ton of thoughts about this one. Although it wasn’t my most favourite thriller ever, it was a solid story and I had a lot of fun reading it!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for my gifted copy. This one comes out in June!

Deeply nuanced character study of female friendships paired with a thrilling and captivating mystery. Throw in a podcast element and you've got yourself an up all night reading party 4.5 stars. Thank you Sourcebooks and NetGalley for my Arc of this excellent book

A fascinating flashback thriller about three lifelong friends who make complicated life choices. The two remaining women team up with a Podcaster to find out what happened to their third friend ten years ago.

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark for the wonderful digital review copy.

I really enjoyed this unique thriller! I love that this book was fast paced and gripping but it still had a lot of depth and emotion, which is often lacking in thrillers. The dynamics of the female friendships were so interesting. I’m a sucker for true crime podcasts and books with true crime podcasts, so of course I loved that aspect. I think this will be big hit for thriller lovers

Thank you to the publishers and NerGalley for an eARC in exchange of an honest review!

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of Don't forget the Girl by Rebecca McKanna, published by Sourcebooks Landmark
Fabulous first novel by this author, I'll be waiting for the next novel. This was fiction, suspense, mystery, awesome! It's written from three of the characters perspectives, 2 present tense and one past tense. Straight forward and easy to follow the story line. Three main characters are Bree, college professor, Chelsea, a priest, and Abby. All three friends who started their college lives together.
It's 12 yrs later and Bree and Chelsea haven't talked since, they now reconnect as Abby's killer, or suspected killer, faces the death penalty
Characters well developed, I felt really connected to them, like I was right there watching along. I like how the story was presented and told by the three main characters, how parts of the past are revealed through Abby's voice.
This was a book I couldn't put down, devoured in 2 days. I'll be watching for more books by Rebecca McKanna

Honestly, it took awhile to get into the flow of this book, which goes back and forth between when three teenaged friends were in college together and present day, where a killer is being executed for one of their murders a decade earlier. Two of them are in love, and keep it a secret. One fateful Halloween night, the 3 of them are in the cemetery together, get into an argument and never see Abby again. As adults. the remaining two have not talked for all these years, and realize they do need each other. I liked the drama, it tugged at your heartstrings, and the suspense as several other girls become the victim of this serial killer. The ending was just okay, but not surprising as I usually like these types to be. Overall, a good book though. I received a free sample from Netgalley for an honest review.