I was a fan of Ashley Flowers’ previous novel, Only Good People Here, which I know has a controversial ending. It definitely worked for me, though. And so does THE MISSING HALF, which is an engrossing, easy to read mystery/thriller about two women searching for clues in their sisters’ eerily similar disappearances seven years before.

Nic is a bit of a wreck. She works a dead end job, lost her license because of a drunk driving charge, is in debt, and is flirting with alcoholism. Nic uses booze to mask the grief she still feels after losing her older sister Kacey. Then Nic is approached by Jenna, a woman who understands how she feels because her own sister, Jules, also went missing, just a few weeks before Kacey and in nearly the same way.

Flowers provides just enough intrigue, clever red herrings, and suspicious peripheral characters to keep her readers guessing. Yes, there are at least a couple of improbable situations, but I feel like most thrillers have these moments. It would be difficult to predict how THE MISSING HALF ends, and I flew through it in about 12 hours yesterday. It’s well written, the dialogue flows well, and the story went places I didn’t expect.

If you like thrillers, THE MISSING HALF has everything you’ll want!

A big thank you to NetGalley and publisher Random House - Ballantine | Bantam for the early digital copy of THE MISSING HALF in exchange for my honest opinion.

Two young women go missing within the same timeframe leaving no trace of what happened to them. They leave behind devastated sisters  that are still searching for answers 11 years later. In their research they find each other and feel that there is a relationship between the two disappearances and working together they uncover the real reasons their sisters disappeared. 
    Early on in the book you empathize with the characters and how their lives have been affected by their tragedies.  However, as the story unfolds, you realize there is a dark side to sisterly love. 
    An engrossing story and a twisted ending that was both sad and shocking.

Nic Monroe is our 24-year-old MC who has been, and remains, down on her luck. Everything changed for her that one night seven years ago when her sister, Kasey, went missing, her car found over a hundred miles from home. The only slight clue in her case was a similar missing girl who disappeared weeks earlier. With nothing to go on, both cases went cold. When the other missing girl’s sister shows up in Nic’s life, the two take matters in to their own hands to find out what happened to their missing halves.

I enjoyed that this book wasted no time jumping right in to the action; when I read a thriller, I want to be thrilled and The Missing Half delivered. It maintained its pace really well throughout—I greedily consumed the story—and found the characters themselves enjoyable to follow even if they made some pretty bold, unwise, or unrealistic choices at times. I’m not sure how believable a lot of the plot was BUT I liked the writing and it was a fun journey.

Thank you Random House for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. Available May 6 2025

I want to start off by saying this is not normally the type of book I'll pick up to read. But I am so glad I did! I was intrigued all the way through.  Even coming up with my own theories of what happened to both Kasey and Jules. I ended up being completely wrong and so far off from how it ended.  Ashley Flowers does a wonderful job keeping the reader on track for what she wants the reader to believe and then BAM! Delivers an ending that left me speechless.  I read the last 4 chapters 3 times and still left me in awe and thinking about it.  Ashley Flowers has gained a new loyal fan and I can not wait to read other works by her.  I highly recommend this book!  It will keep you guessing until the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this book!

This started out very promising, even though I did not like the MC. However, by the time I reached nearly the end, it went off the rails. There were also so many subplots that went absolutely NOWHERE and characters we never hear about again. This was a very disappointing follow-up to the first disappointing book the author wrote. Maybe she should just stick to her podcast.

3.75 stars - This book opens with a short prologue that instantly grabs you.

Two young women go missing in a small town two weeks apart and they are never heard or seen again. Seven years later the sister of the two missing women join forces to try and solve this unsolved disappearance. Do you really know those that closest to you?

I loved the twists in this story that I did not anticipate, but the ending fell a bit short to me - it was all cleaned up a bit too quickly for me with so many more logistical questions going through my mind. I still raced through this book because the tempo is very fast paced.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ashley Flowers and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine-Bantam for the e-ARC in exchange for my opinions.

Ashley Flowers knows how to hook you in from the beginning. What a solid auto buy author she is becoming which isn't surprising because she really knows how to tell a story, Completely well executed in the best possible ways and definitely one of those reads that sticks with you because of how shocking it felt to read.

First of all… 🤯🤯 Ashley Flowers will always be the Queen of Plot Twists. I could NOT stop reading once I got into the thick of it. This book read exactly how Ashley hosts Crime Junkie and it was such a refreshing take on a mystery/suspense story!

I am only taking off a star because the ‘women drink wine to cope with stress’ stereotype is way overdone and I’m so tired of women being perpetuated as alcoholics when facing stress or trauma.

I was so invested and then I wasn't. It took a turn near the end that I wasn't a big fan of and it lessened my enjoyment of the story as a whole.
I still really liked the writing style and the plot until the first twist is revealed.
I guess I wanted more of the investigation aspect and not what we ended with.
I feel like I'm ragging on this but I'm not I promise. It's a good story and character analysis. Just lost me at the end.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was given the opportunity to listen to the audio version of Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. This audio book included the use of several narrators to lend their voices to multiple characters and the points of view they all share in this novel.
Set on a remote island, this novel explores situations that could possibly occur, at least regarding the potential loss of important data. These elements are quite educational yet the author does a wonderful job balancing this substantial material with the more general elements of suspense and complicated relationships.
I felt empathy for most of the characters and found myself rooting for their success.
At it's base the storyline is unique. At the superficial level the main adult characters struggle with their attraction to one another in their enemies to lovers trope.
Overall, I loved the narration and the story kept my attention by providing tension and suspense from start to finish.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random house for this opportunity.

The Missing Half beautifully combines a tragic mystery with an overwhelming grief and guilt. There are a lot of twists and turns — which I won't spoil here — and while there are certainly aspects to the plot I wish were more believable, overall, I really enjoyed the story. As other reviewers mentioned, the very, very end packs a punch that I didn't expect, but that I really appreciated.

** Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC. **

I read Ashley Flowers first book and really enjoyed it, but this one I loved!!

Two young woman set out to solve the mystery of their sisters’ disappearances. Nic’s older sister disappeared without a trace and since then Nic has been spiraling, resulting in a DWI, probation and AA meetings. Jenna’s younger sister went missing and she has spent the time since trying to solve the mystery of what happened to and how it’s connected to Nic’s sister.

If you love listening to Ashley Flowers tell stories on her podcasts you will love the writing style in “The Missing Half”. The characters are well developed with just the right amount of back story to build a connection to the story. About half-way through I was convinced I had solved the story, but then the plot-twist.

I stayed up way too late finishing the book, but it was worth it. I hope to see more stories by this author.

This was such a good book!!! It is a perfect thriller with so many twists and turns. You never really know where the book is going. I think it was full of emotion and great writing! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

THE ENDING YOU NEVER SEE COMING!!
I loved this one. I read the majority on a flight and it was the perfect companion to the turbulence! A seemingly standard thriller, this one starts with two missing girls and goes OFF THE RAILS in the best way. The writing was great, the characters had enough depth to be forgettable but not so much that it was unrealistic. I liked that Nic really is all of us - a trauma just derails our whole life and sometimes we don’t recover. Nic? Never recovered from her sister’s disappearance and this book reads like a sister that just deeply needs her sibling.

Oh man. Perfect for so many people. A quick read (took a couple hours) and it’ll sink its teeth into you. Yes.

3.5 stars
This was a pleasant read. I enjoyed the mystery and found it captivating. I thought the pacing was great, and it had good flow. I thought the ending was fantastic. However, I wasn't a fan of the writing style and thought the prose could've been better.

This story was a good, fast read. The ending was surprising, which I appreciated. I would read other books written by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC!!

I read this author’s debut novel when it came out and really liked this writing. I felt this book was even better! The twists were amazing. I absolutely did not see the end coming at all. This was a novel that I could not put down and finished in one day.

Nic and Jenna have one very big thing in common: their sisters (Kasey and Jules) went missing. Their cases are presumed to be connected. In the seven years since they’ve gone missing, Nic and Jenna haven’t crossed paths. Until one day, Jenna shows up at Nic’s work and tells her she has information the police don’t. They start to work together to try to solve the mystery of what happened to their sisters.

Nic’s life has slowly been falling apart in the 7 years since Kasey disappeared, most recently landing her with a DWI, mandatory AA meetings, and community service.

I really enjoyed this! It’s super fast paced and the last 20% is twist after twist after twist. I liked the twists and didn’t guess any of them, but didn’t think they came out of left field (which I don’t like). The ending made sense with the progression of the story and it had a satisfying conclusion.

**ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ashley Flowers does it again, The Missing Half is such a fun ride! I was so excited to read this book and it did not disappoint.
This book tells the story of 2 missing girls from the same town and how far sisters will go for each other.

Nic is working a dead end job in her hometown, going to AA meetings and surviving the loss of her missing sister Kasey. Nic is approached by Jenna who happens to be the sister of another missing girl from their town. Jenna convinces Nic to look into their sister’s cold cases to try to solve them.
As the story unfolds Nic learns that she didn’t know her sister as well as she thought she did. The two follow leads into the local restaurant owner and creep of the town. They confront the detective who was on the case looking anything that could’ve been overlooked. Nic searches her own car and family for answers while Jenna seems to be withdrawing herself dealing with her sick mother.

The missing half is a quick read that had me staying up all night to finish. The last two big reveals had my jaw on the floor. However I don’t feel like everything was tied up at the end but I still enjoyed it.
Thank you so much to NetGalley for the digital ARC, I was so happy to receive this book!
Look for the missing half out May 6th, 2025!!

It takes a lot to keep me guessing as a reader of this genre. I love nothing more than not seeing events coming. This book did that and more! Tension builds throughout the book and leaves you so unprepared for the ending. You feel for these characters so much and can't help but wonder what the end game is. Highly recommend to anyone that wants to not guess what's coming in this psychological thriller.