Catherine McKenzie does it again! The twist and turn at the end was not expected at all!

Cassie is running away from her ex-husband Kevin who has been abusive. She calls her friend Jenny for help and a job as a search and rescue team member again. She meets some interesting people at the park who become intertwined in her story.

I don’t want to give too much away but the story will keep you guessing to the end! I really enjoyed it!

This suspense filled mystery is one that alternates between then and now, interspersed with diary type entries and hashtag postings. It was a new author for me and the story was in no hurry to build the tension thrumming in the background.
Cassie left her entire way of life, her friends and routines in Manhattan. She’s starting over by going back to a familiar place and job. Cassie is keeping lots of secrets and on the run from something or somebody. She will be part of the park’s Search And Rescue (SAR) team for the summer season. She soon befriends fellow rescuer, Ben, but doesn’t share much. Petal and Sandy are staying nearby in an RV with more hidden stories. The past sometimes repeats itself and secrets are hard to keep buried. People can easily become lost, succumb to the harsh elements, sustain injuries or even die, in this massive mountain terrain. Be prepared for the unexpected to happen. I liked the plot concept and the Yosemite park setting was very interesting. The final outcome was a total stunner, not at all what I had predicted. I will watch for more books by this author.
A digital advance reader copy of “Have You Seen Her” by Catherine McKenzie, Atria Books, was provided by NetGalley. These are all my own honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily without compensation.

If you are not a fan of slow burns this is not for you, if you can handle a slow burn than this book is perfect for you. The build up is sooooo worth it in the end .

"Have You Seen Her?" is Catherine McKenzie's newest thriller. The reader gets to know Cassie Peters but what they think they know is all wrong. Cassie has a plan that will shock readers. Every character in this book plays an important part in her plan but the reader won't realize until the end.

Have You Seen Her will draw you in slowly but then quickly picks up speed that will have you hooked to the end.

Cassie has returned after many years to her job of Search and Rescue . She left under bad circumstances years ago . She is also running and in hiding from her ex husband.

Cassie quickly adapts to her new job and meets up with some interesting characters all with their own story and secrets.

When a couple does not return from a hiking trip the tension mounts.

Catherine McKenzie as she always does throws in twists and turns, red herrings and an ending that will surprise and shock you.

Highly recommend Have You Seen Her and once your start reading you wont want to put the book down

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an adventurous read.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Catherine McKenzie and Atria Publications for the opportunity to read an ARC of HAVE YOU SEEN HER, to be published 27 June 2023. WOW. A summer in Yosemite National Park with multiple POVs and timeframes (then and now) and people going missing left and right. It all boils down to one individual with a plan and commitment. Twists were often and very believable, as were the characters — if you could trust how they presented themselves to the world. 5/5 Stars for this suspenseful psychological thriller. #NetGalley. #CatherineMcKenzie. #AtriaPublications

📚Book Review 📚
Have You Seen Her?
by Catherine McKenzie
Pub Date 6/27/23

Cassie Peters leaves New York City and her abusive husband with only a burner cell phone and her backpack. She takes precautions so that he can’t easily locate her. She has a job lined up in her home town of Mammoth Lakes, California with the Yosemite Search and Rescue where she worked ten years ago.

Ten years ago Cassie and a coworker, Jenny, were involved in a search and rescue that didn’t turn out well. The media attention and trauma is what made Cassie leave the area. But she’s back to, hopefully, conquer her demons and start over with her life.

Petal, a young woman camping with her much older girlfriend, writes and documents everything in her journal. She’s been abused in the past by her father and seems like the same is happening with her girlfriend.

Jada, a college graduate, is on a cross country trip with her boyfriend. She is an avid Instagrammer, living and photographing her best life. She is showing signs of abuse and it’s starting to become apparent to the other campers and the search and rescue team.

This is one of the best mystery/thrillers I’ve read this year. The tension throughout and the twisty ending makes it so good.

Thank you @netgalley @atriabooks and @catherinemckenzieauthour for an electronic book ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) in exchange for an honest review.

#catherinemckenzie #haveyouseenher #mysteryandthrillers #mystery #thrillers #yosemite#literaryfiction #fiction #NetGalley
#reviewer #bookstagram #bookreview #bookreviewer #kindlebook #ebook #arc #books #read

Thank you NetGalley for this exciting book. A young couple is missing in Yosemite, again. This fast-paced mystery had me stumped until the very end.

Exploring relationships, nature and violence, Have You Seen Her is a fast-paced and layered thriller that will spike your anxiety before blowing your mind. Catherine McKenzie has crafted a propulsive novel that gives you no choice but to rush headfirst through every page with desperation to learn the truth.

Having left her husband and life in New York behind, Cassie Peters returns to her hometown to join the Yosemite National Park Search and Rescue team once again. Helping people in need is fulfilling and Cassie quickly connects with her team members as well as with some of the adventure seekers in the park. But try as she might, Cassie cannot outrun her past. Whether it’s events that took place 10 years ago during her first stint with Yosemite Search and Rescue or the unspoken reasons she left New York, Cassie can run but she can’t hide. And when her past does finally catch up with her, the consequences could be deadly.

This novel is all about the well-developed characters and their enigmatic, intriguing relationships. There’s Jada and Jim, a young couple on an adventure that looks perfect on Instagram but whose dynamic is different in private. Then we have Sandy and Petal, two nomadic women with a large age difference between them and seem to be running from something. And then there’s Cassie’s relationship with multiple people – her husband Kevin, the other members of the Search and Rescue team, and friends from her past – which are complicated, painful and mysterious. Which all come together to drive the story forward with unanswered questions that suddenly become crystal clear in an epic revelation that will have you muttering WTF!?!?!

Have You Seen Her is a perfect novel for outdoor enthusiasts and psychological thriller/murder mystery fans alike. Containing adventure, deep secrets and multiple twists, it will get the adrenaline flowing as if you’re free soloing Half Dome in Yosemite.

This novel is not only a thriller, but also one that exhibits domestic violence. Cassie, who is fleeing her husband, travels across the country to her hometown to join a Search and Rescue Team. Cassie is reluctant to befriend any of her colleagues or let anyone get close to her.

During her time there, Cassie runs into two women, Jada and Petal. Jada is a stubborn college student who is traveling the country in an RV with her boyfriend, and Petal is a young woman living with her much older wife.

What do these women have in common, and what happens when people start to go missing? I give this one ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cassie is running away from her life in New York to Yosemite, where she left 10 years previously after a tragic accident. Now she’s back on the search and rescue team and trying to leave her old life behind.

She reunites with a couple people she knew a decade ago, as well as a couple traveling the country in their airstream and a couple living nearby in a trailer. Both couples appear to have less than healthy relationships and often run into Cassie in the area.

The story is told through several methods; there is a then and now timeline for Cassie (“then” starting around May and “now” being about August) as well as interspersed journal entries by Petal. There are a couple references/flashbacks to the incident that occurred a decade prior that caused Cassie to leave Yosemite/search and rescue.

It’s definitely a captivating story, but it took a few for me to get into it and I thought it wrapped up a little quickly at the end. The pacing was more slow in the beginning, kind of medium paced in the middle, and pretty quick at the end. It also doesn’t not wrap up perfectly in a bow so just don’t go into it expecting that sort of ending. It’s mostly wrapped up but a few things are (intentionally) left to the imagination at the end.

I saw another review reference this, but Jada and Jim gave me Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie vibes. I think because of the traveling the country in the airstream while blogging and the media attention they receive.

3.5 Stars

While reading this book I couldn't help but compare Jim and Jada to Gabrielle Venora Petito and Brian Laundrie. I don't know why but these characters just gave off that vibe to me and I liked it because it gave the book a true-crime feel. The book is about two deaths decades apart and the story is told in two timelines fairly close together, it is never clarified but it comes across as mere months. We have Cassie in the now and Cassie a few months ago as she has quickly left her husband and has gone back to the area where she grew up. In fact, all of the main characters are running away from something and we the reader eventually find out what and why that is. The book was very diverse with characters of different ethnicities and included LGBTQ characters. We get a clear background on all of them as well.

Petal is a character in the book that I liked a lot, her journal entries were the highlight for me. I really enjoy epistolary novels and this was a good way to get into Petal's head and understand her internal thoughts. The book was quite the adventure, to say the least...I loved the location as it becomes a character itself and Yosemite National Park sounds beautiful yet dangerous. The rescues and descriptions were amazing, realistic and well-researched. This was a twisty rollercoaster ride, very fast-paced and the ending threw me for a loop. I wonder if there will be a book two? I would read it.

One thing I did not like about the story is the fact that Cassie hooked up with someone. Why does every book have sex and/or romance in it?! It is not needed in thriller books and it added nothing to the story. She is running away from her husband but hooks up with someone right away, women do not need men. Hence the half-star taken off.

Thank you thank you THANK YOU to NetGalley and Atria books for an advanced copy of this ebook because it was a wild ride!

This was my second book by Catherine McKenzie and I’m coming to learn this lady doesn’t disappoint in the twisty thriller department. From page one I was absolutely hooked. There were so many missing pieces to the mystery surrounding Cassie in the past and present that I was itching to find out what was going to happen. I love that in addition to the dual timelines, we got excerpts from articles, journal entries, and true crime blogs to add another level to the story - that kind of stuff always gets me. 😂

My thriller loving besties are going to eat this up!

okay this one started off so so strong & then ultimately fell victim to the “let’s wrap everything up in five chapters or less” syndrome 😅

I was so into the initial plot of people disappearing while hiking yosemite & the SAR (search and rescue) team has to figure out what happened to them before it’s too late!! the FMC has her own secrets that she wants to keep hidden - from what really happened last time someone went missing to why she’s running away from home 😳😳😳

however, the answer to those questions was such a let-down for me. the “secret” that she desperately wanted to keep from her last SAR mission was her own guilt the entire time (even though she didn’t do anything wrong) ….

and that ending? I loved the chase of it all the most, so when the final reveal came, it was a complete letdown for me. it seemed to have come out of left field and wasn’t hinted or led up to at all, which confused me more than anything.

I think this falls victim to “I’ve read too many thrillers in my life and now have seen it all” - which yes, is a personal problem LOL 😅 if you’re new to the thriller genre, I’d definitely recommend it!

thank you to netgalley and atria books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!!

rating: 3 stars
wine pairing: columbia valley pinot noir

Phew. In typical Catherine McKenzie style, Have You Seen Her was packed full of deeply hidden secrets, unexpected twists, and ever increasing tension. Starting with an explosive opening chapter that threw a grenade into the plot right from the get-go, I was uncertain how such a dramatic introduction could leave much hidden. But, boy, was I wrong as the storyline managed to deftly hide plenty until the altogether riveting climax.

Unfortunately, here’s where the teeny, tiny flaw came to light. After a thoroughly epic twist, the conclusion left me wanting. Not even remotely wrapped up, my only hope is that McKenzie is planning to follow up this book with a sequel as there is THAT much that was left hanging unresolved. Then again, the lack of a decisive bow on a storyline is my own personal pet peeve, so I’ll leave it up to you to decide how irritating this ending may be.

Now back to what I loved! Complete with truly outstanding female characters, I easily became wrapped up in their lives. From the fearful Cassie who starts to rediscover her confidence to the innocent and wide-eyed Petal, they were craftily created. Genuine and well-developed, I felt like I could picture them in real life. Even the setting felt fully-fleshed out, giving the ultimate environment for a psychological thriller.

Then there was the format. Told in dual timelines of then and now, I was kept on the back foot trying to work out how the two were going to meet. Even better, however, McKenzie worked in a smattering of journal entries, Instagram posts, and news articles. Taken as a whole, this one took me on quite the ride, with suspense gradually rising throughout.

Full of hairpin turns that revealed one surprise after another, I just could not get enough of this one. I know I should expect this from anything McKenzie writes, but, for some reason, I’m always surprised by how truly special they are. And this one was no different. Ultimately, I cannot rave about it enough and strongly recommend pre-ordering this puppy now! Rating of 4.5 stars.

Trigger warning: spousal abuse, being lost in the wilderness, controlling relationship, infidelity

Cassie Peters abandons her life in New York with just a bag of belongings and a burner phone as she sets off for her hometown of Mammoth Lakes, CA. Just as she had a decade ago, she takes a position with the Yosemite Search and Rescue that doesn’t carry the best of memories for her. Throughout the summer she meets Petal, a beautiful young woman who journals life in the park and Jade, an Instagram obsessed college grad on a cross-country road trip with her boyfriend.

Have You Seen Her is a fast paced yet, slow burn, eerie thriller set in a national park. The national park setting was perfect and played into the suspense; always waiting for something to happen in the wilderness. The story is told via Cassie and entries from Petal’s notebook which was an interesting concept and well executed; both characters I found were unreliable which kept things pretty exciting. The final twist and its big reveal? Brilliant, I didn’t see it coming and loved it.


Huge thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for this ARC.

Release date: 6/27/2023

Have You Seen Her follows Cassie Peters as she leaves her life behind and returns to her past, as a search and rescue worker in Yosemite National Park. Over the summer, she becomes familiar with campers and hikers staying in the park, and their paths continue to cross as Cassie tries to forget about what she's running from. When two hikers go missing, it brings up questions and suspicions about other people staying in the park, as well as similarities to a rescue mission Cassie was part of years prior.

This book took me quite a while to really get into, but the second half really picked up as more action started happening. It was definitely a slow burn of a story for me, which is not my favorite, but I'm glad I stuck with it, as I really got hooked by the end. I definitely did not predict how the story would play out, and I think it's a pretty unique story. I liked how it all came together in the end.

3 / 5 stars.

This was my second book from Catherine and I think I preferred Please Join Us over this one. It took me a bit to get through Have You Seen Her and I just found myself bored through about 80% of it. It picked up in the last 20% when the twist was uncovered, but by that time I just wasn't super invested anymore in it.

If you enjoy hiking and being in the woods you may enjoy this, but I felt it needed a little more excitement than just describing Cassie's time on the SAR team and the trails she hiked.

Thank you Atria Books and author Catherine McKenzie for the granted ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cassie, who grew up in Mammoth Lake, CA, rejoins her SAR team in Yosemite after being gone for so long. Ten years ago, she left the team and CA altogether after a friend of hers passed away tragically after missing for quite some time in the national park. Now Cassie returns to escape her marriage in NY, but it seems like no matter how she tries to forget her past, those horrific stories keep reminding her that there is no getting away from it. Not only that, the new circle that she is becoming a part of is creating a story that gets connected to her haunting past.

For the most part, I went in blindly when I requested for this ARC. What caught my attention? My two favorite things: suspense/mystery genre, with its setting being in Yosemite, one of my favorite national parks. This book is a slow burn with its pacing, where it kept me wondering how this is all going to come together and find out what is really going on. I was not expecting at all the twist and I like how the author kept the mystery, as each character's nature show its obscurity. Just when I thought the character is reliable, it isn't...and then some! I definitely enjoyed reading what the SAR teams do, I love hiking and used to backpack a lot, even dreamed of becoming a ranger (wishful thinking!); and it makes me appreciate those teams that day in and day out they help out and rescue people who get injured, lost, or have gone missing on the trail. The ending was very interesting, glad it was left it the way it was.

Have You Seen Her will be out on June 27th!

This seems like the type of book that would be right up my alley - hiking, thriller, nature, it hits all my favourite things. But something just didn’t feel right about this one the whole way through. It was hard to keep my interest, which is never a good thing for a thriller. It seems like I’m in the minority on that opinion, though!