Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC of this this book!

Vanishing Daughters is a psychological thriller with a old school gothic writing vibe. Briar Rose, the main character, is living in her childhood home and completely overwhelmed with grief from losing her mother. She starts having nightmares and unsettling feelings in the home. Meanwhile, a dangerous serial killer is on the loose nearby and has set his sights on Briar Rose. How these are related, well that's for you to find out in this gripping and suspense filled thriller!

The book in theory sounds incredibly intriguing and I wish I could have continued reading this book as the plot had a lot of promise. I believe many others would enjoy this book, however I did have to dnf the book only a short while in due to not being gripped or interested in the actual writing style. I personally could click with this book but I would still recommend giving it a shot as the plot is very interesting and could definitely turn around past my reading point.

Fairy tales, urban myths and serial killers all rolled up in neat little book. Bri has just lost her mom and is living in her childhood home. She can't sleep, hears music...the house is trying to tell her something. Set in Chicago, Archer Avenue...interesting tidbits about cemeteries along the avenue...Alsip, Tinley Park, Lemont are mentioned, which I know well having lived near this area. A well weaved story incorporating Sleeping Beauty, the Vanishing Hitchhiker and Resurrection Mary. A perfect book to read in fall and around Halloween. The author writes so vividly and transports you.
Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read and give honest feedback.

“Vanishing Daughters” is a psychological thriller that intertwines the haunting experiences of journalist Briar Thorne with the grim realities of a serial killer targeting women in Chicago. The narrative begins on a fateful night when Briar’s mother passes away in their old mansion, setting off a series of unsettling events that blur the lines between grief and supernatural occurrences.

As Briar grapples with her mother’s death, she is plagued by nightmares featuring a mysterious woman in white who pleads for help. These dreams are compounded by eerie happenings in her home, such as music playing from locked rooms and an overwhelming fear of darkness. Initially, Briar attributes these disturbances to her emotional turmoil rather than any ghostly presence, reflecting her struggle to reconcile her grief with the supernatural beliefs instilled by her mother.

“Vanishing Daughters” masterfully combines elements of suspense, horror, and psychological depth, exploring themes of loss, memory, and the intersection between reality and the supernatural.

vanishing girls
♡ Dark and Suspenseful
♡ Mystery/Horror

CW: death of a parent, murder, stalking, night terrors

When Briar Thornes's mother passes away, she inherits the family home as her mother did before her. While she navigates her grief, she begins to experience strange dreams and unsettling encounters in the house—while a serial killer is on the loose in Chicago. Women are being picked off the street and disposed of in areas. Both her boyfriend and her friend are EMTS and witness to the horrific remains of the missing girls. The dreams and the murders seem to be intertwined, prompting Briar to uncover the truth. Overall, it was an engaging read with a solid storyline, though I found the ending felt almost too neatly wrapped up with a bow. I appreciated the premise, the author skillfully weaves together themes of Sleeping Beauty and true crime cases famous in Chicago.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for this ARC!

I loved the prose in this book. It felt like a fairytale and I enjoyed the plot as well. Briar is such a great character and I loved her relationship with her friends and her dog. 3.75 rounded up - full review on TikTok

Picked this up because it had an interesting premise; then while reading it felt a bit like a fever dream — but not one that I was on the wavelength for. By the time I'd gotten almost a third of the way through, the most I still really knew about the protagonist is that she's grief stricken and not sleeping well (because it's often repeated), and the most that had really been shared about the plot is that there's a killer of women who might be interested in the protagonist and that the 1893 world's fair could maybe mean something.

There was too much description and detail to parse through when reading that was telling instead of showing —for example, the main character says her mom liked to sow and then the next paragraph is a whole list of things the mother had once sown— and I just personally was not grabbed by it to the point of wanting to know more about where the plot would eventually get to.

I do appreciate the author trying to build some suspense with a POV shift and by peppering in references to the sleeping beauty myth. I just did not vibe with it enough to keep going. 2/5 because I DNF

This one sounded very promising with the premise, but unfortunately it fell really flat for me and never held my attention. I never found myself wanting to continue it so I stopped reading it.

DNF 80% . Going into this book I had really high hopes . The first few pages were really great then it began to feel repetitive after that . So many things were said but so little was done . I found myself being confused so many times reading this book

All things have their time.

Cynthia Pelayo once again enriches horror fiction with her signature genre-fusing approach. Spinning together grief, the underlying anguish of a beloved fairytale, dark Chicago history, and the unchecked peril of a serial killer, she draws us into the waking nightmare of a young woman marked for death and eternal captivity.

In fairytales and urban legends, beautiful victims become specters of enduring cautionary tales. These figures spark fear in us that rightfully belongs to their tormentors, and this misplaced focus perpetuates misogynistic archetypes. There’s no shortage of beauties sleeping in eternal thrall to opportunistic forces. In Pelayo’s taut tale featuring Archer Avenue, a Chicago road renowned for its paranormal energy, a ghostly female forever seeks her way home. She—not her killer—becomes the omen for other women who dare to let down their guard.

Emotionally and physically drained by her mother’s death, Briar Rose Thorne exists in her own thin space between the mortal realm and whatever follows death; between sanity and sleep deprivation psychosis; between living her life and losing her agency as a smart, strong, fully functioning human being. Acutely aware of energy and plagued by snippets of visions she must decipher, Bri fights becoming part of a deadly mystery’s recurring pattern.

In the charged atmosphere of the old house she inherited, she grapples with clues her mother left her about a family curse. Home should be a sanctuary, the ultimate destination, the anchor of happiness and belonging. Bri’s home is a keening entity that reflects what’s inside it, playing back its memories and mourning the soul who longs to return to it. As the house and the killer both close in, Bri in her broken state nears peak vulnerability as the fated prize.

Traversing literary realms with informed grace, Pelayo pulls together threads of horror, fairytale, and crime, intensely attentive to the psychological impacts of each. Her love affair with Chicago is steeped in experience, research, and a passion for reaching into this beautiful, brawny city’s shiver-inducing recesses. Don’t miss this well crafted, stirringly written chiller.

Thanks to Cynthia Pelayo and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. This review was voluntary.

I just could not get into this book. I feel like I was going back and forth between reality and her dreams. This one was not for me.

Pelayo is an award-winning author, but this is the book that made her a must-read for me from now on. People are disappearing in Chicago, and the city has so much personality that it's like another character. I also really loved how there was tension throughout the story and I didn't know what was real until the end. Bri is the main character, and she lives with her sister in a house in Chicago but they don't seem to interact a lot with other people, except that Bri does her own online show talking about Chicago urban legends, which was interesting in itself. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

3 stars

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

I appreciated how this novel blended the macabre of a serial killer haunting a young woman in the grips of grief with fairy tales, particularly the different versions of Sleeping Beauty..The name Briar Rose was definitely a bit on the nose.

While the descriptions were often atmospheric and evocative, the story dragged in many places and could have benefited from a bit more action and suspense.

This book kind of felt like a fever dream. Far more philosophical than thriller -- it took me awhile to get used to this writing style and it never really connected with me.

Briar Rose is seemingly drowning under the weight of her mother's death. She has inherited her home, which she thinks is haunted. There is also a serial killer lurking about in the neighborhood. Her insomnia has led her to have weird dreams -- which may be the victims of this killer trying to communicate with her.

The time we spent instead Briar Rose's head didn't make much sense and the time she spent interacting with other people felt stilted and awkward. I just could not connect to her character enough to get into this.

A cool concept, but not the read for me.

Vanishing Daughters is part ghost-story, part folklore and part twisted fairy tale. The author did a fantastic job of threading symbolism throughout the story. I enjoyed the names, links to Sleeping Beauty and the family secrets that had to be uncovered to stop the Chicago Strangler. The dreamscapes are well constructed. Most of the story takes place in Briar's mind or her dream realm, but it is still engrossing and spooky and the sense of real danger can be felt. Towards the end, you felt like you were in a car racing downhill, knowing there is danger if you look away and feeling a rush toward a crucial encounter. I fully enjoyed Briar and her family history and the way this story unfolded. Great writing and an exciting read!

This was a pretty good book but it was missing the buildup of a thriller. No gripping storytelling that made me want to keep reading the book all night if I had to. It was pretty slow. The main character had her mother die and she inherits her house. There’s a serial killer around and it’s just a bit predictable with no buildup.

3.5/5, rounded up to 4.

This book has a solid premise. After her mother’s death, Briar inherits her home and grapples with her grief while experiencing strange, mysterious dreams. Concurrently, a frightening serial killer is wreaking havoc in Chicago.

Despite the unsettling nature of the story, I didn’t experience the suspense that is typical of a thriller. If the author had focused more on developing tension for the reader, it could have easily been a perfect 5/5 read. Regrettably, I didn’t find myself on the edge of my seat.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the complimentary ARC. All opinions are my own.

This book was as beautifully written as the thriller storyline was gruesome. Ravishing descriptions of the scenery and an in detail description of how grief breaks us This book leaves you wondering and wanting to put all the puzzle pieces of the story together. And if you think you haven’t figured out by the end, you will be surprised.

This book has a really good foundation. Briar inherits her mother's home after her passing, and while dealing with her grief, she also has to deal with weird, cryptic dreams. At the same time, there’s also a disturbing serial killer terrorizing Chicago.

As unsettling as this book was, I didn’t feel any build-up of suspense like a thriller should. If there was time spent building the reader's suspense throughout the book, it would’ve been 5-stars. I wasn’t on the edge of my seat, unfortunately.

This was a strong suspenseful novel and enjoyed the idea of fairy tales for a real life concept. The characters were everything that I wanted and enjoyed about a serial killer story. It worked well in this genre and was glad I got to read this. Cynthia Pelayo wrote a suspenseful and well developed story and can’t wait to read more.