COLLEGE GIRL, MISSING review

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

🏫As someone who has lived in southern Indiana my whole life, I distinctly remember hearing about the Lauren Spierer case all over the news. I only remembered vague details so when I saw this nonfiction book about this case was coming out I added it to my tbr immediately.

🏫The book covers the missing persons case of Lauren Spierer who went missing from Indiana University in 2011. She had been out with friends and dozens of eyewitnesses reported seeing her that night. Despite national media coverage and widespread police searches, Lauren has never been found.

🏫This book was definitely an interesting read and I didn’t remember a lot of details from the case. At just under 5 hours on audio, it was a quick read! In the backhalf the author went on a random tangent about his own personal life. While he did explain how this personal story was relevant to the story, it just felt really disconnected from the rest of the book. Overall, I’d recommend this one especially if you’re interested in true crime! Also highly recommend the audiobook and personally think audio is the way to go for any nonfiction book!

🏫Thanks to @highbridgeaudio for my digital copy!

Thank you Netgalley and HighBridge Audio for this audiobook. This book follows the story of Lauren Spierer, a college student who disappeared after a night of partying.

I enjoyed the audiobook and found it easy to follow. The narrator fit so much that I thought he was the author. The narrator helped to get me into the story quickly.

As far as the story goes, it was set up as many 20/20 episodes are. It moves between what happens in the past to what is happening in current times. You get a feel for what Lauren's life was like especially since the author was so close to the story. This is a heartbreaking to hear about Lauren's disappearance. I find it hard to review books like this since it is someone's life and I never want to come through as being insensitive.

I was enraptured by this story. Shawn Cohen pulled the curtain back on missing persons investigations, providing a comprehensive look at what happened, what didn’t happen, and how things have changed when it comes to solving these types of cases. I binged this book in basically one day and know I won’t soon forget about Lauren and her family.

I also appreciated how Shawn Cohen didn’t omit his dirty deeds. He was upfront with mistakes of his past whereas he could have easily swept it all under the rug as the author of the story and made himself look like the unequivocal hero.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for a chance to listen to this book.

3 stars.

As a big True Crime fan and podcast fan I was excited to see a deep dive title into a cold case by a journalist. I really thought this one would grip me. I'm not sure if my issue was the writing, the narrator, or the way this story just felt amateur.

College Girl Missing revisits the disappearance of 19-year-old Lauren Spirer from Indiana University in 2012.

Absolutely nothing new is gleaned. So...meh. A podcast would have probably pushed this further.

*with thanks to NetGalley for the audio ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Shorter than I expected and I wish there would have been some more breadth. Feels like it was written too soon to be of any consequence.

Kudos to Shawn Cohen and Kate Snyder for bringing Lauren's story back into the present. This case was covered heavily by the media when it happened so I was interested to see what Shawn could bring to the table that hadn't already been reported on. I was engrossed. The facts and new interviews had me captivated. Stories like these run the risk of feeling like another newscast but Shawn C and Lauren made this audio feel real, immersive and somehow new, even though the facts of this case have been discussed at length since its occurrence. I'm glad Lauren S.'s case is being seen and heard again. Highly recommend for fans of true crime or documentaries.

The 2011 disappearance of college student Lauren Spierer continues to baffle investigators and true crime aficionados to this day. Was she abducted? Was it death by misadventure, especially considering her heart condition and substance use, and someone covered it up? It's a case that's a study in victim blaming and, personally, the way her friends clammed up in the wake of her disappearance is troubling to me.

Although I was seeking more information and a new perspective on this case, I might have skipped this book if I had done a bit of research about the author. Cohen presents himself as a "friend" of the Spierers, which I suppose I don't know is true without knowing the family myself and knowing their true feelings about Cohen. He seems like a bit of a seedy character to me, having been fired from a tabloid after it came out that he dated a former sex worker who was a key witness in a bribery case. He defends himself fervently in this book, which seems like a weird place for it, but I suppose it's an elephant in the room that needed to be addressed since everyone brings it up. For me, his personal drama detracts from his reporting on the case, however. And that's unfortunate.

Cohen does his best to seem impartial, but it's clear that he believes Corey Rossman was responsible. He also craps all over the idea of serial killer Israel Keyes being a suspect in the case. "Oh, he's been dead since 2012, so I guess that theory is out the window." (I'm paraphrasing here.) Lazy.

I recommend this book if, like me, you are curious. But be prepared to get the ick from Shawn Cohen and his smug attitude. I listened to the audiobook, but the physical book might have been better for this title because I sometimes had trouble keeping up with all of the "key players."

2.5 stars.

This was a wonderful book. The story is sad and heartbreaking. Every parents nightmare of sending a child to college. I do love the way the author presented the facts and his investigation of the whole incident,

This is a horrifying true story and I believe the author stated that he partially wrote it to put pressure on the various suspects surrounding this case as the investigation is still open. This book gave me more questions than answers. Someone knows something about this case and hasn't come forward. While as a rule I enjoy the true crime genre, I would have enjoyed this book more I think if it was shorter, or maybe a podcast.

I really hadn't heard of this case before the book, and it reminded me very much in certain aspects of the podcast Serial. That being said, it is horrible and awful for the families and the people involved, especially as it seems there is so much information missing or that no one will share.

I felt the author said a lot of the same things over and over, just in a slightly different way, and it could have been a lot shorter. I think that was my main complaint, I sometimes felt like there wasn't that much to say about the case so it had a lot of paragraphs that weren't necessary. I had never heard of this case before so I can't comment on accuracy or details.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for audioarc.

This was a very interesting story that I had never heard about until this book popped up here on NetGalley. The only thing I didn't love here was the narrator. I think I would have enjoyed this one more if I read the physical book rather than listening, so maybe I'll try that one day. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4!

I know this case from the podcasts listed at the end of the book so it was nice to have an extended version of the story. This case is frustrating as there aren't a lot of answers and I feel for Lauren's family.

3.5

This was definitely an interesting audio. I wasn’t aware of this true crime case prior to listening to the book. It was obvious the author has done. A lot of research and work to lay out the abundant amount of details that went into this book. It’s a sad story and one that likely could have been avoided if her “friends” would have been more aware and helpful in her drunken state. The only part I really didn’t care for was the ending. I feel like the book ended very suddenly without any build up or preparation for the end. Other than that, I enjoyed listening to this true crime story.

***Thank you Netgalley and High ridge audio for an ARC copy***

I really enjoyed this listen! I had never heard of this case and thought the author did a really good job of making it easy to follow along. I think he also did a good job of making you really care about the victim. What made it really enjoyable was it read a lot like a story and not like fact which made me want to keep going.

✨️💚✨️Audio Book Review✨️💚✨️

Book: College Girl, Missing
Author: Shawn Cohen
Rating: 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

I actually really enjoy true crime stories, but I struggle a bit when it's unsolved in the end.

With that being said, I really enjoyed this story.

This was my first true crime audiobook and it definitely won't be my last.

I feel for all the families involved and I hope one day everyone will get the answers they deserved. Hopefully bringing more light to the situation will give her family the answers they deserve.

You get:
• True Crime
• Unsolved Case
• College Students
• Unanswered Questions
• Drug Abuse
• Partying
• Disappeared In Plain Sight

If you like unsolved true crime stories, pick this one up. Available on ebook, paperback, and audiobook!

I feel like this book jumped around a lot but also didn’t give me much information. I hadn’t heard of this case before seeing this on netgalley, so I was hoping for more information that I couldn’t just google. I was hoping her poor parents would have been given more answers. Sad story about a young college girl.

It’s kind of hard to rate audiobook on true crime but I’m rating it 3 just because it was hard to get into.

Thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC of this book. Really well researched and clearly laid out. It feels weird to rate a true story or an unsolved disappearance.

Although a very interesting crime, I felt like this was very slow moving and jumped around a lot. I lost interest at some points, but did continue listening. The narrator was not anything special.

I was hoping that this book would provide some answers to this unsolved case, but unfortunately it really didn't. If you have followed this case, there's not a lot of new information here. This book was evidently written to put pressure on those that may know what really did happen to Lauren Spierer and I hope for the family that more information does eventually come out.

Note: I received a copy of this to read, for a review. It was an exciting read. Though the title kind of gave away the investigation that the author and journalist, Shawn Cohen, wrote. I give him props for continuing the search as long as he did. Some of the characters in this book made me mad. There were the unhelpful college students, and so-called friends of the College Girl, Missing. And then there was the police department. Agencies were not working together. The people from the university were not very helpful at all. And sadly, it appears that everyone forgot that the missing girl had parents and a sister that loved and missed her. The fact that it’s been over a decade and the parents have no idea what happened to their daughter, or where she’s at, is heartbreaking. You have to give Shawn Cohen credit for going back through all the information, for re-interviewing people, etc. This book for nicely written. We learn about the initial investigation. Then we find out more about a decade later when Mr. Cohen goes back, hoping to find more. I do hope the parents receive an answer one day. But sadly, in this case, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Please read it.

It read like a podcast episode which I really enjoyed. It’s a solid 3.5 ⭐️ for me.

I do feel terrible for Lauren’s family, and I do hope/wish the crime will be solved. I feel like at times in the book some paragraphs felt a little repetitive.

I admire the author and all his hard work in trying to piece it together and bring peace to the family.