This story is a straight-forward mystery of a couple of missing girls. It's not a detective or investigation type story but a survival story.

The story was okay-ish. Some of the characters are given importance just for confusion. And the climax is still confusing to me. Like who did that between those sisters? Who's alive? Or Who's dead?

I only liked the missing girl's character. Writing's fine too. It's an average read for me.

What a great read that was. Written in multiples POVs, largely in the present, which can be a little confusing early on in the book but you soon get to know who is who. There are also flashbacks to the lives of a family who died in a fire, that is all but one of the twin daughters. The premise of this story is great and it’s so well written that it’s difficult to guess who the perpetrator is despite the clues that are dropped for the reader to catch and solve - I changed my mind repeatedly.

Briefly, when Deborah goes missing her work colleagues soon appear to have all but forgotten her. Did she run off? Is she dead? Meanwhile we meet Deborah who is trapped in a locked room with a person who hides their face, but Deborah knows who it is…

It was good to find out about the various characters who worked in the office but what a mixed up bunch they are - made me wonder how any work got done. This is a dark and at times disturbing psychological thriller with red herrings abounding and a shocker of an ending. A good read.
4.5⭐️

I found it hard to enjoy this book, I didn’t feel anything towards the characters and not much happened. I thought the author tried too hard to make you think there could be multiple suspects and it didn’t really work.

This book was good but I didn’t love it. There were too many people that I suspected could be the bad guy and that confused me. I’d still read other books by this author.

"𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆, 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒐𝒓. 𝑨𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒎𝒂. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆."

This book was really hard to get into as it jumps between scenes a lot. In my opinion there is also way too many POV's which makes it really hard to keep up with the story, because the more you go into the book you start to forget what happened to who - so you need to page back to the previous chapter on that character in order to link the current chapter to the story. I also feel like some of the characters POV's didn't really have anything to do with the story, so if these were left out then the book would have been a little less confusing for me.

The jumping between timelines whilst still not knowing who the book is actually about (well you know, but it just hasn't been confirmed yet) gives the reader a sense of mystery. This is what ultimately made me turn the page and keep on reading everytime, because I had that little voice fighting with me about who the bad guy is.

"𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒅, 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕."
In mysteries, I love the moments where I think I have it all figured out and then find out that I was way off, Local Girl Missing did not give me those moments. Even though they never actually tell you who the captor is, you know in the back of your mind from early on who it is.

"𝑰 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒔𝒚𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒃𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒌𝒚, 𝒖𝒏𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒓."
I felt a bit overwhelmed by the fact that each and every single character in this book has underlying issues, and all of them work together without really knowing each other outside of the office. It's basically a disaster waiting to happen...

"𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅, 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉, 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓."
Once you get to the reveal it ends up not being such a spectacular reveal in itself, it was almost as if it was just another event that happened and everyone can move on from it...
.
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I will definitely still recommend this book to mystery and psychological thriller lovers, everyone has different experiences with books!

Thank you Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Sorry not really for me, the story seemed to drone on and on and it didn't hold my interest, When I got to 70% I almost gave up but thought I may as well finish it.

3.5/5 stars (rounded up to 4 on here)

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
*
So this book started off with a bang and really drew the readers into it. However, the further the book went along the slower the burn became. You follow different POV and I feel like that play a huge role in the slow burn of the book. At times it almost felt like there were too many perspectives that it became difficult keeping up with all the characters and becoming really invested in them. I did like learning about the different characters though and trying to figure out who the kidnapper was. The author does such a great job at keeping the reader interested and making you feel like you can’t trust anyone, even the people that you thought you could trust. Overall, I think that if you enjoy slow burns in thrillers then this is definitely one that you would enjoy.
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This review will be posted to my Instagram blog (read_betweenthecovers) in the near future!

I wanted to like this story as it had good premise.. However it was a slow burner and there were way too many characters each sharing their perspective and I struggled to keep up with them all. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

This was an okay read. So many characters all shouting their own opinions. There was some tension but very slow in places. Not one of her best books. Still one of my favourite authors. I am sure other readers will enjoy it more just not for me.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

Local Girl Missing
by J A Baker
Earc: NetGalley
Publisher:Boldwood Books
Publication Date: 07 Dec 2022
Genre :General Fiction, Mystery and Thriller

We get to know coworkers Yvonne, Merriel, and Adrian. Deborah, another coworker, has recently vanished. They are trying to figure out if she was abducted, killed, fled the city, etc. We gain a little more knowledge about each character's life in each chapter, which is written from their point of view. Deborah is joined by another captive when we find out what has happened to her and how she is being held mercilessly against her will.

Deborah has other captured join her. Izzie has also been abducted.
riveting tale of kidnapping, imprisonment, peculiar circumstances, and the backgrounds of individuals involved.
A woman is gone from a busy office, and while her coworkers are worried about her safety and the uncertainty surrounding her absence, it's possible that they each have secrets and pasts of their own. When you spend so much time with someone—sometimes more time than you do with your genuine friends and family—does it actually make you wonder how well you know them?
The backstories and motivations of the characters are highly developed and well-built. Both the tension and the helplessness of the circumstances are palpable. A solid mystery that is well-rounded and well worth reading.
You suspect eveyone in this book.
#LocalGirlMissing #NetGalley #mysteryandthriller #generalfiction @bookandtonic

I’m not a big news person, but my husband is, so its typically on each day at my house. Now if one of my co-workers went missing, I would probably be scouring the news for updates…

Deborah works with Adrian, Yvonne, and Merriel. One day, Deborah goes missing and her co-workers are left in shock. Gossip is non-stop but the team must go on. As they deliberate if Deborah is dead or alive they are also scared that they could be next. Unfortunately, one of them seems to know more than they’ve let on. Deborah is alive, and being held captive by a psychopath, who turns out not to be a stranger. Will Deborah’s co-workers figure out what is going on, or will Deborah be able to escape before it’s too late?

This one was interesting. It was told from each prospective of the co-workers, including Deborah herself. Something about this one was just blah for me, and I really couldn’t get into it. It was also pretty obvious to me who the culprit was, so that wasn’t really shocking either. Overall, this is a decent book, but didn’t wow me. This one is out December 7th.

Special thanks to @netgalley and the publisher Boldwood Books, for gifting me this advanced e-arc in exchange for this honest review. This one is perfect for fans of Sue Watson, Valerie Keogh, and K.L. Slater.

Very twisty and creepy. Loved the alternative povs. Not always historically a fan of this writer but this one is the strongest yet.

This is my first book by this author. It was a surprising ending but I had some trouble getting into the book.

A local woman named Deborah is missing. She’s being held captive by a psychopath-even worse it’s someone she knows.

Everyone at the office is speculating about what happened to Deborah. Now they live in fear that they could be the next victim. Will she make it out alive?

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is not your typical office, although they want you to believe it is. Debroah has gone missing one evening after leaving work, her colleagues are curious about it, maybe even concerned, but the strange thing for me in this dysfunction junction atmosphere, well several strange things, the co -workers don't see anyone to visit her Mother, her family, her boyfriend? No, not self - absorbed Adrian, not Ruth, who was trying to move the office along, not Merriel who seems to have a load of problems of her own. Not Yvonne who had no time for nonsense, or yucky things like feelings, not Allison, who seems to like the gossip of the diappearence. Did you notice who's missing? A policeman would have lent the book some gravitas that was sorely needed. The people in this office were whinners, moaners, complainers, and whackos. I have had to beg for at least one person to care about, to root for, and this one is the missing person. I almost gave up after the second chapter, due to the use of the f word, I despise it, I think good writing can overcome that word, and this author did. I think this book could be a trigger for some people, please publishers, start putting a trigger warning on books that deal with traumatic issues. If a policeman had been searching, I would have given this book a solid five, if you like Thrillers, you will like this, if you suspend your belief that two women should have gotten free when they had a weapon, and didn't take advantage, or if you believe someone can have fingers push through their eyeballs, and not have horrendous pain, or walk away with bruising, then enjoy. I give it a 3.5
Thank you, #Netgalley #Boldwood

A tense and gripping story or kidnap, imprisonment and the unusual circumstances and pasts of those involved.
A woman is missing from a busy office and her colleagues are concerned about her well-being and the mystery surrounding her disappearance but the colleagues in themselves may have hidden depths and pasts. This really makes you question how well you know the people that you spend so much time with, sometimes more time than you spend with your actual friends and family.
The characters are well constructed and with good depth as are their backstories and motivations. The tension can really be felt and the hopelessness of the situations. A good well rounded mystery and definitely worth a read.

This was an ok read. I felt that it moved too slowly and that there were too many characters' perspectives. The premise was great so I would give this author another chance.

This was an enjoyable read thats started off slow burning and increased slightly in pace as the tension in the plot It was well written with an engaging story and well developed characters.

Local Girl Missing, by J. A. Baker (Review)

Local Girl Missing is a twisty novel. There is a slow burn that leads to a shocking end to the plot.

Synopsis:
Deborah's colleagues Adrian, Yvonne, and Merriel are all left in shock after she is declared missing without a trace. In the office, her co-workers talk about what could have happened to Deborah. Where is she? What is her fate? Does she have a chance of survival? What could have led to her disappearance? There is only one person who has the answers. The person who isn't afraid of being next. The person people least suspect...

The book begins with a bang, but then it slows down. There is a bit of dryness in the middle of the story, but the ending is excellent. It is my first time reading Baker's work. Hopefully, I'll be able to read more soon. There is a fair amount of violence in it. Be sure to check the trigger warnings before proceeding.

I am grateful to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Boldwood Bloggers for allowing me to review this interesting novel.

Local Girl Missing is available on December 7th.

#LocalGirlMissing #booklover #bookmail #Boldwoodbloggers #Blogtour

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The basic plot of "Local Girl Missing" by JA Baker is great, what isn't so good is the execution. There are quite a few characters and each has their turn to tell part of the story from their perspective. Deborah's chapters are perhaps the best written and the clearest. It wasn't really until I was about 40% into the book that I started linking the chapters and characters together. However, it then loses its way again later in the book.

I wanted to like this story; it had great potential. However there were way too many characters each sharing their perspective and I struggled to keep it all straight.