This book was SO confusing. Don't bother reading the premise, because it isn't a good synopsis of this book.

For most of this novel, we actually read about Ellie and how she falls in love with Josh and this ends up with her locked in a basement. The reason for my confusion is that this book is supposed to be about her daughter disappearing, but we barely get as much of that story as we do of Ellie's. At one point I even reread the synopsis, thinking I'd chosen a different book.

I also found the characters in this novel disgustingly sweet. It was like reading a Babysitter's Club book trapped in adult suspense. I found myself thinking that Ellie and Josh were just not believable characters, although when they're adults I was able to take them a little more seriously.

For such a short book, this novel took me forever to finish. I just didn't want to pick it up. I did finish it, and I guess the end was okay. But I can't really recommend it.

The Girl in the Basement was a quick read with some intense moments. I enjoyed following Ellie’s character arc from frivolous teenager to a determined adult who would stop at nothing to find and save her daughter.

I definitely wasn’t expecting the ending at all, and it was a refreshing turn of events to not be able to predict who the “bad guy” is!

Highly recommend.

This read as a YA novel and not a thriller at all. I found myself skipping ahead through the book because despite the title and synopsis the girl doesn't end up in the basement until 53% in, and she's out in two short chapters. The time jump was mundane and ending pretty predictable. This one just didn't do it for me.

Thank you netgalley and publishers for this arc.

⭐️Book Review⭐️
The Girl in The Basement by @eoindempsey
I saw the title of this book and read the summary and knew I had to read it!
This book was full of secrets, family drama, high school love, an unsolved murder, AND kidnapping!
Slide to read my full review!
4⭐️’s from me! I would definitely recommend!
Check out my bookstagram for full review!
@katie.is.booked

I liked the idea of the two timelines but unfortunately it left me feeling disconnected from the story and characters. It was however, written well, and I wouldn’t rule out reading more from the author in the future.

The Girl In The Basement follows Ellie, a high school student that ends up dating a star quarterback (Josh) of the football team when he transfers to her school. He transfers there after his girlfriend was murdered following a party at a friend’s house. There was a ton of speculation that Josh’s dad was seeing Rachel (the previous gf) behind Josh’s back. Ellie ends up being kidnapped after a party at the same house and escaped, but years later her daughter goes missing while Ellie is out on a date with Josh after they reconnected. The story is Ellie and Josh racing against time to find Ellie’s missing daughter.

I spent the whole book thinking it was one person, only to be completely shocked by the twist. This book kept me engaged the entire time and really made my mind work. I would recommend this to anyone that loves to try to play detective.

The title and blurb really gripped me with this book but it wasn’t as gripping as i expected unfortunately. First half is a slow burn about the teens in school and then second half it started to get a bit interesting and slight twist at the end but it could have been so much more! Probably only 10% if that of this book is about the girl in the basement!!!!
It’s the kind of book I can see as a channel 5 (uk tv channel) movie.

The Girl In The Basement is a good suspense mystery book. It has a slow build in the first few chapters but it is a fast paced quick read story that keeps you guessing until the end. It has some shocking surprising twist in it too. Thank you to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read and review a ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I only read about 20% of this. It seemed more like a YA novel than anything, and the characters didn't seem very realistic. DNF.

Great thriller mystery. It kept drawing me in. I had a hard time putting it down. I highly recommend this one!

Thank you Netgalley, Storm Publishing and Eoin Dempsey for the eArc of The Girl in the Basement.

I did enjoy this book once I got into it. I found it didn't flow as well as I had hoped and mainly concentrated on the past storyline rather than the present. Normally I don't mind duel timelines but it just didn't meld very well.

3 stars

Shocking story about the abduction of the high school quarterback’s girlfriend just after he was cleared of his previous girlfriend’s murder.
Now it’s twenty years later and it’s happened again. The original suspect has been in custody. Or is this a copycat abduction? The ending did surprise me. I’m glad that I was able to follow the story back in time and in present day. Great book.

I was kept engaged throughout the book and wanted to know how it ended, but feel that the synopsis is really misleading and my expectations based on the synopsis made the actual reading experience not as enjoyable. Only a very small portion of the book is about Ellie or her daughter being kidnapped/going missing, and the majority of the book is dedicated to Ellie’s high school relationship and the events leading up to her being kidnapped. I think a more accurate synopsis and description would give the reader better expectations and give a better reading experience. Like another review said, I think this is an excellent read for YA level.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

As always, thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I wanted to love this book so badly haha. It had all the elements of an excellent thriller, but the writing style was just not my favorite. I felt that the characters were rushed and not executed well, and the writing itself was a tad rough to get through.

Two stars though because I did think the whole time I had it figured out but there was a twist at the end I didn’t see coming

There was so much going on in this book that it was hard to understand at times. At times I found it to be unrealistic. It also felt a bit of a YA novel and Im not a huge fan of these.

This was a very easy read, a book you will finish quickly. It’s separated into Ellie as a teen and current day. I didn’t see the end coming. Whoever is responsible will surprise you for sure!

I really enjoyed this book! The characters were well described and I felt it kept you gripped throughout!

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. A few decoys throughout where you think you may have solved things but you havent.
Well written with great charachters.

Seventeen-year-old Ellie is living the dream with a loving family, great friends, and a star quarterback boyfriend, Josh. But when Ellie goes missing, suspicion falls on Josh, especially since his previous girlfriend was murdered and he remains a person of interest despite being cleared. Thankfully, Ellie’s story has a happier ending.
Twenty years later, Ellie has rebuilt her life and the man who nearly destroyed it is in prison. But her peace is shattered when her seventeen-year-old daughter, Jess, disappears. Is history repeating itself?
Thoughts:
The Girl in the Basement by Eoin Dempsey has its share of issues. The novel alternates between Ellie’s high school years and the present, but the characters and plot suffer from a lack of depth and believability.
High school Ellie is portrayed as smart yet consistently makes stupid decisions. Her rapid shift from being uninterested in a serious relationship to falling for Josh, a new kid who’s trying to escape rumors about his murdered ex-girlfriend, feels unconvincing. Josh, described as handsome but bland, never evolves beyond a two-dimensional character. Ellie, too, remains a clichéd figure with little growth even after a twenty-year time jump.
In the present, Ellie and Josh rekindle their romance without showing any real personal growth. When Jess is kidnapped, Ellie and Josh work together to find her. As more evidence links Jess’s kidnapping to Ellie’s past and suggests that all clues point back to Josh, Ellie repeatedly tells him, "None of this is your fault." She means both their past and the current situation just in case it wasn’t clear from the two hundred plus times she’s said it throughout the book.


Recommendation:
1 star
The Girl in the Basement fails to deliver excitement or mystery. The resolution is predictable, and despite some red herrings, the storytelling and writing fall short of engaging the reader.
#TheGirlintheBasement #NetGalley Pub Date Jul 30 2024 | Archive Date Jul 31 2024

3 stars!

I found the start to be a bit slow but it definitely picked up in the second half. Like others mentioned, it was a bit too YA for me, but I did have a good time reading it.

Thank you Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC!