Thank you to the publisher and author for this ARC! As a fellow Hoosier and as someone who lives just about 90 minutes away from Indiana University, I was intrigued by this book on first glance.
It has been several years since I have read/heard any updates on this tragic missing person’s case.
I enjoyed this overview of the case from the author/journalist perspective. If you’re a true crime fan, this is definitely a book you won’t want to miss on the mysterious case of Lauren Spierer.
From an investigative standpoint, I think I would have enjoyed more of the author’s theory on what happened to Lauren; but I respect the intention to remain objective nonetheless.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook version and for access to this title. All opinions and feelings are purely on my own.

This well-researched true crime book is heartbreaking. It chronicles the story of a young woman who disappeared one night, an incident that gained national attention. However, certain people remained silent, and the police investigation was short-lived. Prior to reading this book, I was unaware of the case, despite being an avid true crime fan. My heart goes out to the parents who never learned what happened, as well as the friends who may feel racked with guilt. The inconsistencies in witness accounts are frustrating, but the most maddening aspect is that she was never found, and her fate remains a mystery. While there are many theories, no one knows for certain what occurred.

As for the audiobook narration, I had some difficulty keeping up and ended up rewinding at times to stay focused. The overall tone could have been more storytelling-oriented, rather than feeling like a news report or lecture.

Despite these minor issues, I would still recommend this book to any true crime enthusiast, in the hope that one day, justice or answers will be found for this tragic case.

I listened to the audiobook.

Review of the audiobook: 5 stars
The narrator is expressive and makes the text feel alive, which is particularly important when relating people's direct quotes and with such an emotional topic.
Everything is clear at speeds x05.-x2.

Review of the book: 4 stars
As someone who has never heard of this case before, I think the author presented the case in an easy-to-follow way, starting with a chronological retelling of the night the victim went missing, then going over the initial reactions and search efforts, and ending the book with how things are now, putting an emphasis on how obvious it is that people know things and aren't speaking.
That said, I am a bit confused by how much the author talks about their personal life, when no part of the description or summary mentioned this being a memoir or about the journalist's journey? It did make me question whether it was useful to mention it, and why the author made that choice.


Thank you NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook early.

This book is like the real-life version -- of Ruth Ware`s The IT Girl. How the wealthy are more capable of hiding the truth, working to find the truth at the same time. The book shows the discrepancies, and prejudice in the justice system- as well as how those involved are affected, whether from hiding the truth or trying to get closure by finding the truth. The investigation definitely shows that something is fishy with the witnesses and events flow of the night this girl went missing.

I enjoyed the narrator's voicing of the story and recommend this book to anyone interested in true crime and the effects it has on everyone involved.

Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio/RB media for this ALC. This is my honest review.

narration 4/5 stars
information in book 3/5 stars

This is such a sad case and my heart goes out to the family. I was familiar with this case from various podcasts that I have listened to. While I didn't learn much that was new from this audiobook, it was still an engaging listen. It is a quick listen. If you are looking for a case that has a conclusion to the story then this is not the book for you since as of this recording her case is still cold.

The narrator was engaging to listen to.
If you know a lot about this case you probably won't learn anything new, but if you are not familiar with it then you will learn the details and mystery surrounding this case.

Thank you NetGalley and RBmedia for the ALC of this audiobook. I voluntarily listened and gave an honest review.

In 2011, a college girl in Indiana went missing. The events of that night are still shrouded in mystery.
Let me begin by saying, I absolutely flew through this audiobook. My preferred way of consuming nonfiction is through audio so this was the perfect book for me! I thought that the narrator was engaging and easy to follow along with. My only gripe with this work is more of a personal pet peeve, I don’t totally love when nonfiction authors insert personal narratives while telling the story. I understand the author goes into to detail of how he came to write the book and while it does provide context as to why some involved in Lauren’s case would not speak with him, it’s just not my personal thing. However overall I had limited to no knowledge on this case (I had seen approximately one TikTok about it which prompted me to add it to my Goodreads tbr) and i walked away feeling as though I was decently knowledgeable on the subject. Thank you NetGalley for the audio arc!!

𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍, 𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟏 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲’𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐧—𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝.

𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 (𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭), 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐚𝐬. 𝐂𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞.

𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥, 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭.

**𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝑳𝒂𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒏’𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅.**

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒮𝒽𝒶𝓌𝓃 𝒞𝑜𝒽𝑒𝓃, 𝒮𝑜𝓊𝓇𝒸𝑒𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀𝓈, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.