I enjoyed this a lot! The stakes are SO high and I really got invested in the characters.

This has:
- (possibly) false convictions
- child abductions
- threats
- secret identities
- media frenzies
- terrible families

Highly recommend for thriller fans and I would definitely read more from this author!

Series or Standalone: standalone
Genre: thriller
Target Age Group: adults
Cliffhanger: no

 Will I Reread: maybe
 Recommended For: fans of thrillers, justice/injustice stories

 Characters: 4/5
 Writing: 4/5
 Plot: 4/5
 Pacing: 4/5
 Unputdownability: 5/5
 Enjoyment: 5/5
 Book Cover: 5/5

Thanks, NetGalley and Bookouture, for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Once again, Goodreads, I am asking you for half stars. The audiobook of The Girl on the News was good. A solid book. Somewhere between a 3 and a 4, so the rounding goes up for the author. I am unfamiliar with Elisabeth Carpenter, but will be looking at her other titles. The tag line was the reason I requested on Netgalley -

"My heart pounds as I take in the headline: ‘Missing girl believed kidnapped’. Underneath is a photo of my beautiful daughter Mia, her gap-toothed grin unmistakable. But Mia is safe beside me, snuggled up on the sofa. Who has taken a photo of her, and put it on the news? And what message are they trying to send me…?"

and it did not disappoint. Carpenter kept me listening, and it was refreshing to not guess the ending in advance.

My one comment is a personal opinion on narration - I HATE breathy narrators. I didn't love the listening experience because of the pitch and (honestly don't know how to describe it) sultry breathing of the female reader. It grated.

A missing child that is not yet missing? Intriguing. A mother sees a picture of a missing girl on Facebook, but the girl is not missing, she is right with her, her daughter.

So what is this, a threat? A warning? Has someone dug up her past, when her name was in the headlines? Rose was twelve when she went to prison for the alleged murder of her best friend. Now free again, Rose changed her identity, to give her daughter Mia a better future, one she did not have.
But then Mia gets taken. Who has her, will they get her back?

The premise of the story sounds utterly fascinating and I don't think that I have read a similar story, at least not recently. The story was good, but I have several issues with it.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS
I am very unsure, would any court convict a twelve years old without any hard evidence, other than that she has been seen with the body? I find that very unbelievable, especially as she is a minor. I did a bit of investigating and the British Law says, that children can be convicted for murder (over the age of 10 to 17), the life sentence being 12 years, unless in this case, Rose got discharged earlier. Ok, with that established, I am fine with that storyline, expect for the lack of evidence. We are still talking about a very young child, and I really can not believe that the Crown would give such a harsh sentence without any kind of hard evidence, especially that now years later citizen rogues find the truth quite easily.

I can be quite lenient with accuracy in books, if it suits the storyline, but this was a bit too unbelievable even for me.

The other issue was the narration. In the beginning I liked it quite a lot. It was narrated with the right kind of emotion. But later on I found myself confused as the voices started to blend together. Who was talking? Also, the writing style was maybe not a good fit for the narration as parts were written as a report. So yeah, I am not sure if listening was the right choice here?!

In the end, this was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I liked parts, others I did not.