I must admit I was reluctant going into this one, given I had advance warning that some elements were based loosely on a true story. The fact I already knew how that ended did have some bearing on my reading experience. That said, I found the book to be so compelling and as with any of the authors novels, it contained plenty of twists and unexpected turns. Another one I recommend.

Nina and Simon are childhood sweethearts. The perfect couple from the outside looking in. But they are having problems, not least Simon becoming increasingly controlling. Nina keeps the peace by going away with him for a weekend at his family’s cabin in Vermont… and she goes missing. Despite the title of the book being What Happened to Nina? we soon find out exactly what happened to her with a sense of terrible inevitability. The pace then slows as the story becomes a grim one of discovering how far Simon’s parents will go to protect him and how far Nina’s parents will go to get the truth. The Irish-Australian author sets this story in America, but it doesn’t have a strong sense of place – perhaps this works because domestic violence happens every place, every day and it is still a topical and moving novel. (A small heads-up about the cover image of a young woman on a desert highway holding a balloon. It doesn’t tie in with Nina’s story. The photo of her and Simon playing around in a pool that becomes infamous during her “disappearance” or Nina trekking into the woods might’ve been a better choice.)
This is a story with a tragic ring of truth. What Happened to Nina? is mostly an exploration of how what happened to this young woman affects the two families caught in the middle. 4.0-4.5 stars.

Some authors become your favourite, and just like that their new book is your new favorite. Having read her previous books, I knew that Dervla’s latest, of course will be another thrilling read.

It branched out from her usual books, but the plot was different and yet kept the reader waiting, and wanting for more answers. Nina does not return home from her holiday with her boyfriend, Simon. According to Simon, they broke up on Friday owing to Nina being a cheater, and then he left her in his property and returned home. According to Simon she was going to call a friend for a ride but nobody got a call.

Simon comes from a wealthy family and his parents are ready to go an extra mile if their son needs it. Nina’s mom Leanne is a warrior, who grew up facing hardships and knew how to fight. She struggles to just sit and wait till investigators find the truth behind their disappearance. Adding fuel to the crisis is the internet, where trolls take sides, criticise the families and create false information about Nina’s step-dad, most of it encouraged by Simon’s parents and their wealth.

The book reveals some of the mystery halfway but still keeps the reader on toes with the intriguing narration. As Sally Hepworth’s endorsement says in the coverage, the ending truly was such anti-climax, it felt so good to read it. This will be another book that will be talked about in years to come for its unique way of story-telling.

When Lee and Andy's beloved daughter goes missing after last being with her boyfriend, their reaction is that he has killed her. The girl they know and love would not cut contact with her family. But Simon's family are very wealthy with the ability to cover tracks and spread vitriole about Lee and Andy. This novel was very enjoyable with a few twists to keep me guessing. I enjoyed this read very much.

What Happened to Nina? is an enthralling multi-perspective suspense-thriller with a thought-provoking, twisty plot and a morally ambiguous ending.

Twenty-year-old Nina Fraser fails to return home after a week in the Vermont backwoods with her boyfriend Simon at his affluent family's cabin on a large property in Stowe, VT. On the surface, Nina and Simon appear to be a happy, attractive and well-suited young couple, but via a prologue the reader is privy to a darker truth. Simon is becoming increasingly controlling and manipulative over Nina, escalating to a scary incident while climbing that Nina believes was deliberate, rather than accidental.

The remainder of the book unfolds from the shifting perspectives of Nina's increasingly desperate family and Simon's defensive parents. Both sides undertake some questionable actions in pursuing their cause. By about the halfway point, the titular question is answered for the reader, but for the characters the tension ramps up if anything, as they struggle in their own ways towards a resolution. A shocking twist near the end has us questioning concepts of justice and retribution and asking ourselves, ‘how far is too far when it comes to standing up for our child’s interests?’.

I’ve enjoyed Irish-Australian writer Dervla McTiernan’s work in the past, both her Cormac Reilly series and her stand-alone titles. What Happened to Nina? is no exception, and I’d recommend it to any reader who enjoys tightly-plotted domestic thrillers featuring three dimensional characters with whom the reader can (at least partly) identify and stunning twists that leave us thinking long after turning the final page.

My only reservation, and it’s a minor one, is that the cover seems ill-fitting to the story, which is wholly set in the mountains of Vermont in chilly November - not a dusty highway in sight!

Sadly, I did not like this one.

I was expecting an interesting mystery, yet 90% of the solution is hinted at in the prologue and confirmed around 1/3 of the way in?

None of the characters were likeable (except Nina herself, and her sister Grace, who you get one POV chapter each -- and MAYBE the detectives, Matthew and Sarah Jane, yet even though they're halfway likeable, they're terrible detectives).

I hated the structure and storytelling in this book. Not just that the mystery was never mysterious, but that it focused way more on the relationships between the various sets of parents, and that nothing was surprising or thrilling for me.

To be completely honest, this was Dervla McTiernan's final chance for me. This was the third book of hers that I've read (two standalones, and the first in her Cormac Reilly trilogy), and I haven't loved any of them. Even the series that everyone kept saying was good (even reviews saying this book was bad were recommending that series).

If I hadn't managed to read this book in one day, I have no doubt that I would have DNFed it. For those wondering if the ending is worth the journey? It's not.

I don't think Dervla McTiernan is for me, and I think I'm going to stop trying to read her books and expecting one to be better.

I love a good whodunnit, this book has all the angst and suspense of family and friends pulling out all of the stops to find answers, a must read!
The storyline follows a typical story of two people enjoying the great outdoors, but only one returning, everyone wants answers.
This heart wrenching story gives an insight into all of the characters, from different perspectives, as they work to solve the mystery of Nina. Nina’s family and Simon’s have very different ideas about Nina’s disappearance, friends are also drawn into the tragedy and the rumours add to the confusion felt by all involved.
The pace of the detective work keeps the intrigue alive as the evidence grows, I loved the depth of feeling in how differing opinions can make or break the relationships involved!
I recommend this book to anyone wanting to immerse themselves into a good mystery around a tragic event.

Thanks to the publisher, NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read this book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What Happened to Nina? is such a heartbreaking and anxiety-inducing story. Twenty-year-old Nina disappears without a trace. He boyfriend, Simon, is the last person to have seen Nina and insists that Nina dumped him before going to stay with friends. Nina’s mother, Leanne, doesn’t believe Simon’s version of events and begins to make her own enquiries into her daughter’s disappearance, which causes devastating consequences. Dervla McTiernan’s latest book is such a fantastic read.

It took me two tries to get into this, not because it's not a good, compelling, well written book but because the first chapter is from the point of view of Nina, and it's quite disturbing. I first tried to read it during the time when Sam Murphy got murdered (by a stranger) but there was an average of one woman murdered by her partner in Australia this year. They were holding marches on the streets. All very upsetting.
This book is not so much a "who-dun-it" as a what happens in a broader sense. You know who it was before the halfway point, and you guessed anyway. That's not the game this book is playing. It looks at the impact on the family, social media and communities. And just when I thought it was going to meander itself slowly to the end - pow, things moved into overdrive. It's heavy, but a well written, thoughtful and ultimately satisfying read.

This one gave me such Gabby Petito vibes, and just like that story I was gripped by this one needing to know what did happen to Nina.

I loved the thought provoking nature in this one, being a parent it did have me thinking what would I do, how far would I go in order to find the truth or to protect a love one.

As a massive fan of Dervla McTiernan’s novels I just loved her Cormac Riley series and her recent standalone novels have also captivated me.

Her stories are superbly written and I always find myself fully absorbed in them, often reading them in a single sitting.

This one was without exception, you will want to clear your schedule when you pick this one up as you will not want to put it down until the final page is turned.

This book had massive amounts of hype prior to publication, author quotes included her best ever etc. I was not similarly swayed. I love crime novels I expect a lot from them. To be fair this was well written and the plot lines were believable and sustainable but it didn’t have me staying up all night to find out what happened. The family angst of a missing daughter is palpably real , far too real really. The stress and agony of all family members is believable. So I remain a little underwhelmed. Thanks to @netgalley and the publisher for the copy to review.

I like this author’s work, so I was really excited to get the opportunity to read this new novel!

It’s totally engaging and I was finding it hard to put down, as like her family, I was desperate to know what happened to Nina.

I think it was a good and interesting concept to include multiple POVs for added depth, from Nina’s parents and sister, to Simon’s parents but never from him.

I will say I think that maybe this needed just a tad more editing (and some characters seemed to get mixed up with others) but overall a really engrossed police procedural with a focus on the trial by social media and how money or the access to it can impact an investigation.

What a disturbing crime/mystery story this is. We meet Nina in the prologue, we see things and when she disappears we know enough to be worried for her.

We see her family - distraught and out of their minds. We see Simon and his family and for a start they see money and power as the way to proceed. They are not likeable!

We see the police following up on small leads, and we see the online trolls that Rory - Simon's father has set in place to blacken Nina and her family. That part I found chilling and oh so real. We see it every day over smaller matters than possible crime.

Have You Seen Nina? was a riveting and disturbing read. Would justice be served? I didn't see what was coming and that was even more disturbing. It wasn't something I could rest with or delight in. Messy!

4★
“I packed my bag. And then I went downstairs to tell Simon that we were over and that I never wanted to see him again.”

Nina and Simon have been climbing in Vermont, and while she was sitting at the top, enjoying the view, she reminisced about their relationship.

“Simon and I met in school when we were five years old. In middle school we became friends. When we were sixteen we fell in love. It’s important to me that you know that it was really good between us… He never played games, never made me feel like some other girl was better. With him I felt pretty, which matters, way too much, when you’re sixteen.”

From everyone else’s accounts later, Nina is indeed pretty. But Simon seemed to understand what she needed. They’re now twenty, attending different universities, and enjoying a school break at Simon’s family’s holiday place in Stowe, Vermont. He’d wanted to go to Hawaii, but she’s still working for her mother in the inn the family runs.

Get the picture? He comes from money, she comes from workers. He’s annoyed he had to come home to see her. She’s just glad she got a couple of days off from work.

Chapters are headed with the name of the character whose part of the story it is. Simon and Nina, of course, but each of their parents, the detective, and others. We are sometimes privy to what has actually happened, but sometimes we are also a bit in the dark, although we certainly have our suspicions.

Nina has been worried about the unnerving changes in Simon’s behaviour as he has become a bit rough and controlling. Her life has revolved around Simon, and vice-versa, but she’s reached her limit.

“I packed my bag. And then I went downstairs to tell Simon that we were over and that I never wanted to see him again.”

That’s where we leave her. She doesn’t return home, but at twenty, she’s an adult, so it’s a while before the family gets really worried and a while longer before the police take it seriously. Everyone, absolutely everyone, says how much Simon and Nina loved each other. Old photos and videos prove it.

So, where is she? Her parents, Andy and Leanne, are stressed enough to go to Simon’s house to approach his family.

“The Jordans’ house was very large, easily four times the size of the inn. It was set well back from the road and protected by a wall and a cast-iron gate, neither of which are remotely necessary.”

Wow - four times the size of the inn, where Nina’s family lives, hosting guests.

Rory and Jamie Jordan, on the other hand, are a business couple, perfectly groomed and superficially content with a handsome, popular, intelligent son. Rory is well-connected and influential with an immaculate trophy wife.

“She looked, as she always did, very pretty. Jamie had the kind of body that no woman over forty has without obsessive focus and absolute discipline. Very thin, and toned to perfection.”

Leanne asks to speak to Simon, since they heard he’s already returned home, and they want to ask where Nina is. Simon’s parents say no, the kids broke up, Nina’s probably with her other boyfriend, and we’re having dinner, goodbye.

Other boyfriend?

Enter Detective Matthew Wright, a decent, caring detective who has a new off-sider, Officer Sarah Jane Reid, who’s new to Major Crimes. He’s careful with his questioning and seems to have a pretty good handle on the situation, but he’s very much caught between warring factions. I enjoyed the two of them working together, seeking evidence and deflecting rumours.

The public is of two minds – those who think Nina is a good-time girl about town with several boyfriends and has done Simon wrong, and those who think Simon murdered her.

There are teams of journalists and broadcasters outside both homes, making life claustrophobic for both families.

As the police case proceeds, social media erupts with theories and lies that stir up the worst in people.

McTiernan is a plotter, not a pantser, she says. She doesn’t let a story wander and get away from her, rather she carefully plots and cross-plots to ensure she’s covered all the angles. I don’t need to understand how she does it, I just need to believe in the story, and this one is satisfying.

Mind you, she’s a dab hand with characters and setting. Don’t get me wrong – it isn’t all A+B=C plot.

I enjoyed this one more than her first US-based novel, The Murder Rule, and I believe it was her publishers (and the bigger market) that insisted on another American setting.

This is a story that could be set anywhere, I think, and be just as believable. I am fond of her Dublin settings (her homeland), and would love to see some novels set in her new home in Western Australia.

Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy whatever she writes.

Thanks to #NetGalley and Harper Collins for a copy of #WhatHappenedToNina for review.

Nina and Simon are a beautiful couple. They take off for a climbing weekend together at Simon's family holiday estate. Simon returns but Nina is never seen again. Simon says they argued and she went off in a huff to visit her girlfriend. But where is she?

Nina's family are falling apart with the not knowing, especially her mother. Simon's parents will use all their money and any trick they can to take the heat off Simon. Soon social media is abuzz with people taking sides and developing horrific theories. Who can stand up under that kind of pressure? And who remembers that the real issues is where is Nina?

If it was your child missing or accused, how far would you go?

As always, Dervla McTiernan delivers an engrossing story that leaves us breathless with it's twists and turns.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins Australia for the chance to read this book.

This story is a hard but enjoyable read. From the get go you know it's not going to be a happily ever after. The families within are broken by the events that occur.

At it's heart it's a story about parents love and the lengths they'll go to to protect their children. But there is a lot going on.

The story is well written and is really gripping. Definitely a book you don't want to put down!

This book is possibly triggering due to violence against women.

This book is so true to real life, it's scary.
I found it hard to put down and will be thinking about that ending for a long time. I hope this is turned into a movie/TV series because the human emotion throughout is something else.
Picked it for my bookclub and the feedback has been extremely positive.

This book actually took me a lot longer to read than usual, not because it was a bad read but because it was so well written it felt invasive to the family. While this is fiction, it did feel very similar to the Gabby Petito case in 2021. This is a multi POV plot so we spent time with both of Nina’s parents, both of Simon’s parents, the detective on the case and Simon himself. We don’t hear from Nina after the prolog and it was deliberately obvious early on what happened to Nina. The book was more about the fall out between the families, the town and the wider community taking side and how easily misinformation is spread. I felt anxious while reading this book, it did a fantastic job of highlighting human nature at its absolute worst. I can understand the intrigue of true crime but as it plays out in real time, I think it’s easy to forget there is a real family experiencing the worst moments of their lives in front of camera. This was great book that I will never read again.

It is not very often I will review books just as they are released, normally it is either just before the date or after the date. However, What Happened to Nina? was high on my list to read so I got to it as quick as I could. Dervla's previous book The Murder Rule was a favorite for me and so I was looking forward to this book. The book starts with Nina on a hike with her boyfriend Simon, you can tell the relationship is not what it seems and Nina decides finally she can't take it and walks out. That was the last time we all saw Nina. The next few days, Nina's family gets worried and reports her as missing. The family and police check in with Simon and his family and Simon is being painted as a heartbroken boyfriend and claims Nina cheated on him and left. We know Simon did something as we readers know better, but how can they prove it and prove he is guilty when there is nobody and no sign of any crime committed? This was one book where readers do know pretty early what happened to Nina, but you still read the rest of the book as you hope that she gets justice and Simon's head is on the chopping block. Reflecting on this book, it reminded me of the Brian Laundrie and Gaby Petito case where Brian killed Gaby, came home protested his innocence, and sent the police on a goose chase. If you love true crime and missing person reads, then check out What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan.

This a perfect book for a book club. The discussions you could have with all of the themes and dynamics in this book.....

What would you do if your child was missing? How far would you go for your child? How far is too far?

Initially I was hesitant to read this one because I wondered if it was too soon after a certain very public real life situation, however I put those thoughts aside and this was definitely a compelling read.

I experienced a fly on the wall feeling and really felt like I was a part of the story, the conversations and watching everything unfold.

This story is written from multiple viewpoints and it is done, in my opinion, brilliantly.

The examples of the way media is used to build a story, to be used for 'good', but also to manipulate the narrative (something I don't think people really understand given then way they are all too happy to jump on a particular bandwagon without hesitation) gave the story a feeling of authenticity.

Brilliant.