Thank you to Dreamscape Select | Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with a free Audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This really is your bread and butter police mystery novel and it works well for what it is.

The twists are unexpected and the pace keeps you hooked from the start, without being constant action and no depth.

Nikki isn't the most likeable character which is a large factor as to why this rating isn't higher, She's not a particularly unlikeable character, but she offers very little to root for. I will most likely continue with the series, but it really is just very typical of the genre.

I found that I didn’t really enjoy the detective and so did not like this book as much as I would have liked. I liked the narrator though but unfortunately that in itself didn’t save the book for me.

I love the setup of this book. Nikki, a badass, headstrong FBI agent goes into the law enforcement field after her own sister was murdered (15 years ago). She tries for many years to find out why the man convicted of murder killed her sister, but for once he asked her to speak with him (instead of her going to him for answers, year after year). Finally, right? Perry made me feel very invested in Nikki's little sister. It was fast-paced from start to finish. I had a guess in the early chapters, but I was wrong. I love when that happens.

The romance element was kind of "off" for me. It may have been better left out or presented in a different way.

Thanks to NetGally and Dreamscape Select, I was able to listen to the audiobook early. Unfortunately, the book narorator was very difficult for me to listen to.

At this point, I am invested in the series and look forward to reading the next few books. 3.5 stars-rounded up.

This is your normal mystery/crime thriller type book about a girl who got killed in the past and her sister is FBI and a case comes up 15 years later and another girl goes missing, then another one and it’s pretty basic but it’s good. It’s nothing amazing but it’s not boring either. It took me a while to finish it cause life got in the way so that’s why it’s probably 50/50 for me but I’m giving it a 3.5

The Nowhere Girls is a new novel highlighting FBI Detective Nikki Cassidy. This is the first in a series. Overall the plot of the story was well-paced; I was interested in what was unfolding and wanted to see where it ended up. The “whodunnit” actually was unexpected to me and was a plausible ending to the story. The downfall for me was some of the dialogue and that the style leaned more to YA. I also didn’t completely root for Nikki, but that’s just a personal preference of mine...I must like at least one character. I may pick up the second in the series to see if the characters are more developed in the future.

This was a basic FBI agent mystery that I could see being a TV movie. The plot was fun but I didn’t connect with the characters or the mystery. I will have a full review up on my blog.

Returning home is not always easy. The Nowhere Girls is the twist filled first book in the intriguing new series by Dana Perry. The plot drew me in right away and did not let go. FBI agent Nikki Cassidy meets with the man who is imprisoned for kidnapping and murdering her sister fifteen years ago. They sit in silence until this year, when he requests to meet with her and informs her, that he did not kill her sister.

Then she learns that another young girl has been taken and days later her body has been found. Nikki is determined to catch the killer no matter what it takes. Questions swirl through her mind. If the man imprisoned for killing her sister didn't do it, then who is responsible. Is the current missing girls case related to her sister Caitlin's murder case?

Nikki is a great character. She is determined, intelligent, and driven. Her father was a police officer who passed away shortly after her sister's death. Nikki has lived with guilt over inviting her sister out the night she was taken, and this guilt has motivated her to not only become an agent but to bring her sister's killer to justice. This case is personal for Nikki, and she is not willing to stop even if it affects her personal life.

I found this book to be captivating, twist filled, secret filled, and hard to put down! I enjoyed the mounting tension and danger that kicked into high gear the later part of the book. I had both the book and the audiobook version of this book and thought the narrator did a fantastic job of bringing this book to life!

I look forward to reading the next book in the series!

Thank you so much NetGalley, Dreamscape Select, & Dana Perry for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! 🖤⁠

4.5 rounded up!
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Publication Date: April 2, 2024⁠
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This book was so heartbreaking, suspenseful, & shocking. I loved it. It gave me Flicker in The Dark Vibes. Nikki Cassidy is the real deal & I can't wait to find out how her journey continues but let's go back to the beginning--⁠
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When Nikki was 18 years old her younger sister was murdered. Nikki, without permission from her parents, took her 12 year old sister to a local carnival & while she was on a ride with her friends, her sister was taken & killed.⁠
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Her mom never forgave her, & her dad, the chief of police, died s⁠oon after of a heart attack.⁠
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Nikki but all of this guilt & anger into her job as an FBI agent & when the man that killed her sister requests to meet with her in prison & tell her the truth for the first time-- she can't pass up the opportunity.⁠
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While in her hometown another girl is taken the same way her sister & Nikki will stop at nothing to find the girl & figure out how it's tied to her sister murder.⁠
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This book was SO good! The TWISTS were perfection but I still have some questions that I assume will be answered in the next book. I did feel satisfied at the ending theres just a question I do have-- but it was written to leave us hanging on until book 2!⁠
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I just have to say that I freaking LOVE YOU NETGALLEY! Without I would be missing out on so many amazing books.

The mystery aspect of this one is great! I felt like I needed to know what happened and flew through this audio. There were a few things that I didn’t like, with some of the text seeming formal and repetitive. There were also a few grammar mistakes I noticed while listening. Overall, I would recommend! I enjoyed the twists and turns and when I thought I had it figured out, I was wrong.

The Nowhere Girls by Dana Perry and narrated by Madeline Pell is the first book in the new Detective Nikki Cassidy series. However the narrator Madeline Pell wasn't the best and I ended up turning the audiobook off and reading the book which was excellent!
So glad I did. It was an absolutely addictive and a gripping crime thriller that had me gripped from the beginning till the end, this book was a page turner.
I loved the main character Detective Nikki Cassidy is an FBI agent who is on the hunt to figure out who kidnapped and killed her sister younger Caitlin. This book was a full of twists and turns and the last chapter was WoW.......which leads to the next case and book in this brilliant new series.

Highly recommend this book and looking forward reading the next book in this series.

Big Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture audio for both of my arc.

This was a compelling story but like other reviewers have mentioned both the romance element and the narrator’s internal monologue took away from the plot for me. That being said, it was very suspenseful, well-developed, and I would love to see more from this author in the future.

The Nowhere Girls by Dana Perry
Narrated by Madeline Pell
Publisher: Dreamscape Select, Bookouture
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Expected Publication Date: April 2, 2024

The Nowhere Girls is the first book in the new Detective Nikki Cassidy series by Dana Perry. This is the first book I've read by the author and it certainly won't be the last!

I absolutely loved the characters in this! I love a strong, female detective and Nikki certainly is one!

I thought the story was wonderfully written and I loved trying to unravel the murders.

I thought the narration by Madeline Pell was great!

I recommend reading The Nowhere Girls!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I already like this narrator, so I was expecting good things. While she did a great job, I did not love the parts of the story with the romance. Although I love books where people have to go home to solve a mystery this one did not do tis for me. This woman is also an FBI agent and she has to deal with red tape and cop things. There is a bit of a slow start.
David Monroe's lawyer was pretty cringe.
I was not expecting the bad guy to be who it is. So that is something.

'The Nowhere Girls' by Dana Perry is a pretty strong FBI agent looking for a serial killer procedural. I liked the characters and there were a few curveballs in there as well. I hated her boyfriend. That relationship is going nowhere, obviously. I thought the story line was interesting and different. I liked the book and I am hoping to listen to the other 2 books in the series. Thank you Dreamscape Select | Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this audiobook.

“The Nowhere Girls” is the first of an FBI agent trilogy being released in the US at the start of April 2024. Nikki Cassidy is still haunted by her sister’s murder and father’s death 15 years ago. Each year on July 19, she meets with the man convicted of Caitlin’s murder and each year, he refuses to talk. But not this year… Nikki returns to her hometown in Ohio with the assurance that he will share information this year. Unfortunately, this visit coincides with another abduction eerily similar to Caitlin’s. Nikki races against the clock to attempt to save another girl’s life.

I liked Nikki’s self-awareness and unapologetic career focus. I detested the romance. From the get go, her fiancé seems like a mismatch. He may be “the perfect guy” but his attitude and personality are grating at best. Nikki’s life has enough complications without a misguided love affair.

I was completely surprised by the murderer, which is unusual. I’d want to read another to determine if this was inventive or due to an inadequate foundation.

I found the writing, especially the dialogue, to be a bit clunky and expositional, but it was not egregious. Provided you know what you’re getting (beach lit vs. literary fiction), it is not a reason to avoid Dana Perry’s FBI agent Nikki Cassidy series.

TW: violence, prison, mental health, child abduction

“The Nowhere Girls” will be released in the US on April 2, 2024. Many thanks to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for this audio ARC given in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

"The Nowhere Girls" immerses readers into a gripping crime thriller, following FBI agent Nikki's relentless pursuit to uncover the truth behind her sister's abduction and murder. Initially, the narrative unfolds at a leisurely pace, delving into Nikki's familial ties and the dynamics of her small-town upbringing. However, as the story progresses beyond the first 30-40%, the plot gains momentum, weaving a tapestry of suspense and intrigue. With each twist and turn, readers are kept on the edge of their seats, compelled to unravel the mystery alongside Nikki. Despite forming suspicions about the culprit's identity and anticipating plot twists, the story deftly subverts expectations. Furthermore, unexpected elements such as romance add depth to the narrative, eliciting emotional investment from readers. "The Nowhere Girls" masterfully combines elements of crime, romance, and familial drama, delivering a multifaceted reading experience. As the first installment in Nikki's journey, it sets the stage for further exploration, leaving readers eager for the next chapter.

I describe this as Criminal Minds meets Veronica Mars. I really enjoyed the Nikki detective character but didn't like the relationship with her fiancé - I felt the mystery was well done. I received the advanced audiobook for this in exchange for my honest review from Net Galley and the publisher. I enjoyed this and will look forward to other ones by Dana Perry.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Select for gifting me this ALC of the audiobook to review.

The Nowhere Girls is a well-meaning attempt at an FBI mystery that did not have enough character depth for me.

While the suspense was definitely there and I wanted to find out what happened to the missing girls, the narration from the MC's point of view felt very clinical at times, especially considering that one of the dead girls is the MC's baby sister and this is the case that is the reason for the MC's career. She also does not seem to have any deep feelings towards the people in her life apart from what she thinks she ought to feel. For example, she thinks the following about her own father's death, a father that she describes being very close to, I might add *spoiler alert* : when it is revealed that he was in fact killed and did not have a heart attack: "he had a heart condition that would have killed him anyway". That seems incredibly detached from the situation. She doesn't even bother to think about her own father's emotional state of mind. Even if he had died soon after his murder, he was incredibly close to solving the case and could have died knowing he solved the case and most probably saved a lot of girls' lives. Moreover, having heart problems does not necessarily mean immediate death. He might have had a few more nice years and the MC's mother would also not have been secluded from the world for all these years, thinking the case killed her husband.

The readers get to know a few more characters, but just like the MC, the descriptions of the characters are very surface-level. The MC has a relationship in the beginning of the book and we get to read a bit about their interactions, but ultimately we don't really get to know the MC's boyfriend, nor is there any real point to this relationship. It seems that the author thought she had to add something additional to the MC, so she came up with the boyfriend, when in fact this relationship just highlights how one-dimensional all the characters are. This book is definitely story-driven and not at all character-driven.

In the same vein, the dialogue did not seem natural to me. I read like the author decided I want the reader to know information A and B, so during the dialogue one of the characters says "A" and the next says "B". The natural flow of conversation was missing, no jokes were made or things were said that were not at least somewhat important to the story, there was also no familiarity between characters that should know each other. When the MC talks to her partner from the FBI for example, the partner mentions her child like the two of them had never talked about her child before.

Descriptions like "Medical people" and "crime people" also made it a bit harder to believe we are receiving a narration of a true "crime professional".

Spoilers:
I appreciated that the resolution of the case had some intricacies, but at the same time, it was noticeable here as well that the author's strengths do not include character building.

So supposedly Tommy Thompson was driven to murder innocent (only) children because his daughter was killed at a young age. This motivation does not make any sense and the author hides behind this fact by leaving ambiguity as to whether Thompson might have killed her himself. But what was his motivation for killing her then? And if he killed her how does it explain a motivation to kill other children like her?

This, and the fact that we don't actually know what happened to his daughter makes the ending very unsatisfying for the reader and I also felt like the book ended rather abruptly.

It seems that this is meant to be the first book in a series and these questions might be resolved later, but for me, this is not a strong enough pull for me to continue a series. The unanswered questions don't seem fundamental enough and don't create enough mystery and I don't believe the base of the story is strong enough to carry another book, let alone a whole series.
This was a 2,5 star read for me.

3.5 rounded up

The Nowhere Girls follows Nikki Cassidy, whose little sister was taken and murdered when they were both kids, which influences her to become an FBI agent.

This is a return to hometown, FBI, procedural, serial killer thriller. Nikki convinces her boss in DC to send her back to Ohio to investigate a missing girl because she is convinced it’s related to her sister’s disappearance and murder.

I liked the tension between Nikki and the local police department (especially since her dad used to be the police chief), as well as between Nikki and her fiancé who wants her home in DC.

The end of this book both resolves the conflict introduced in the book, but also provides a clear path ahead for more stories featuring Nikki in the future. I would definitely read them!

Something new I am trying is rating the title separately in relation to how well it reflects the book.
Title rating: B
Rationale: it makes sense with the plot line, and is a solid choice. Didn’t wow me but didn’t confuse me.

Wow. This book kept me guessing till the end. I loved having a female FBI agent as the lead. Nikki is an FBI investigator who specialized in crimes against children. When her own sister’s death from 15 years ago come back in to play and connect to a new death this haunts Nikki.
This is not as simple of a story as one thinks. There are so many twist, turns and surprises. The end of the book was such a surprise to me.
I am looking forward to more from this FBI agent.