I finished this book within 24 hours of starting, I was hooked. It's fast paced, nail biting and had me constantly needing to know what happened next. My favourite read of 2025 so far!

Such a fantastic read!

I loved the aspect of multiple perspectives during the book. There was a lot going on but the writing is so brilliant that it flowed so well. I was on the edge of my seat and so tense from the first page!

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

WOW!! Another great book by Noelle W. Ihli!! I have enjoyed most of her books and this one was no exception. The best part is that it is based on a true story. After reading this, it makes me want to read about the actual crime.

Thank you to Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read this first! Noelle Ihli has easily become one of my favorite authors. I don't even have to read the blurb to know that what I am about to read is going to be amazing. And Such Quiet Girls is no exception.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dynamite Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. I have enjoyed this author in the past and this looked like another good thriller read so I was super excited to get my hands on it. Let me just say, IT DID NOT DISSAPOINT!!! This book had multiple POV's but was easy to follow in between the characters, had emotion, high tension and a great ending! When I was reading the notes at the end of the book, I found out that this book was based on a real event in 1976. I cant wait to read her next thriller!

Very quick fast paced read! I enjoyed this one. I will say though Jessa was on my nerves at the beginning with how she acted. She finally came to her senses though. I loved that one of the main characters was a fierce 12 year old girl who really was a better leader than Jessa. Overall a good read if you want a fast paced thriller.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc of this book. This is my favorite Noelle West Ihli book. I simply could not put it down. The story is told from 4 POVS, but I actually didn't mind that. It was easy enough to follow along, and was gripping. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

Thank you Net Galley, Noelle West Ihli, and Dynamite Books for an EARC of Such Quiet Girls.

I was so excited to get an eARC of this book! I have loved all of Noelle’s books and this one did not disappoint.

Children being kidnapped on their way home from school. Two moms navigating trying times in their lives with family. Being buried alive in a bunker. All the things to make for a tense read as you race to find out what happens to the characters. So good!

Wow! What a great book! Captured my attention from page one and kept me at the edge of my seat to the very end. Very fast paced and claustrophobic. Can't imagine being responsible for keeping that many children alive and calm when you are also freaking out. One of my favorites by Noelle!

I was so excited to have received this arc from NetGalley & Dynamite books. I really enjoyed both Ask For Andrea and Gray After Dark by Noelle W. Ihli and had high hopes for this book too.

The book did not disappoint, it had me hooked from the beginning. The book is based on true events relating to a kidnapping of a bus full of students and the burial of them alive in an underground bunker/mineshaft.

The book is told from a multiple POV which I’m not usually a fan of but it works really well with this story. We are told the story through the eyes of the bus driver, Jessa who we find out has a troubled past, one of the kidnappers Ted, Sage one of the children and Sheena, Sage’s Mother.

I read the book in one sitting, I couldn’t put it down because I NEEDED to know what was going to happen next! It built up just the right amount of suspense and tension needed for the plot and I felt this was executed perfectly!

It was such a fast paced thriller, with so much terror, suspense and desperation that it has you feeling like you are within the pages and will have you on the edge of your seat!

I would definitely recommend this to all the thriller fans!

Omg it is 5:08 in the AM and I was supposed to be asleep hours ago- but I couldn't put this down. I NEEDED to find out what happens.
As a mother myself, I was heartbroken for both Jessa and Sheena. The horror and trauma everyone in this book goes through was really brought out. I was literally holding my breath 😭 And to know something like this actually has happened before is truly horrifying.
Thank you so much @noelleihliauthor for books like this - remarkably breathtaking.

Ten children, abducted in broad daylight—and buried alive. Their brand new driver with a dark past of her own can't do anything to help them.
Trapped in a shipping container buried twenty feet underground they need to try their best to stay calm before their time and air runs out.

A bus of children and the driver are kidnapped and placed underground in a shipping container. Two young men hold them for ransom, sending one of the parents on a run to get the fund requested. This is told from the point of view of one of the kidnappers, the oldest child at 12, the bus driver, and the 12 year old’s mom.
I love Noelle Ihli’s writing style. She can take true crime and spin it into a gripping story. I absolutely couldn’t put this one down! She did an amazing time spinning the sub plots together and keeping the action going. Another great book by this author!

The lives of ten children, two of them Sheena’s depended upon her ability to follow instructions. Sheena’s girls took a bus home from school except on this particular day they wouldn’t make it home from school. Instead they would be taken in broad daylight—and buried alive.
Jessa is the schools’s new bus driver. She got this job by lying on her application. Three years ago she did something that put her in jail which led to her daughter being taken away.
…
Now Jessa and ten children are buried in a shipping container. The kidnappers insist that if everyone behaves, they’ll be freed when the ransom is paid. But Sage isn’t sure they’ll last that long. Neither is Jessa. It’s dark and cramped, and with every passing minute it’s getting harder to breathe.
With time—and air—running thin, Jessa and the children must find a way to outsmart their captors, or face an unthinkable fate.
…
Inspired by actual events Noelle Ihli recaptures the fear and hope of the children and bus driver moving quickly to escape their demise.
…
Noelle Ihli has written several books based on true events and each one has elements of fear and survival. She educates readers on the importance of being able to survive fearful, desperate situations at the hands of horrible desperate people. Ms. Ihli shares a story about a mother with two daughters on the hijacked bus. This mother is also a caregiver to her father who is battling Alzheimer’s. The bus driver Jessa is a woman with a past and record which she hid from the bus company. She herself has a nine year old daughter who was taken away from her. Jessa needs to prove she can provide a safe environment for her daughter and this hijacking experience tests her ability to make choices that will make or break her as a protector of children.
…
Noelle lays the groundwork depicting a scary and terrifying scenario in which children are used as leverage. The reality of this situation sits heavy in the pit of my stomach imagining what these young children must be thinking about. I can’t imagine having to live an experience like this one. The unpredictability of this situation is astounding. Noelle paints a picture in my mind both in illustrative colors using perfectly crafted words to convey the emotional state of the children.

I did not put this book down from start till finish and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time ! This book is written from different points of view of multiple characters so we get to see many sides of the story. It’s about a bus full of elementary students that go missing, buried in an underground bunker and what they have to do to survive. The whole plot was fast paced and had me jumping up and down at times. The fact that it’s based on true events made it that more gripping. I would definitely recommend if you have a few hours to spend reading because you won’t want to put this down !!

Up until this book, I never got an ARC approval and immediately started reading it, completely pausing another book I was already reading. But I couldn’t help myself once I got my hands on Noelle Ihli’s newest book! Noelle has a way with writing that absolutely captures me. Like many of her other books, this is inspired by true events. (Which always results in me falling down rabbit holes of the real happenings as soon as I finish the book.) The pacing and multiple POVs were perfect. This was a quick suspenseful read.

Thank you NetGalley and Dynamite Books
for this ARC. This review will be shared on NetGalley and Goodreads.

Pub Date Apr 29 2025

oh Noelle... you’ve done it again. 😮‍💨

reading this book was NOT easy; emotionally, and mentally. this book tugged at parts of me i didn’t even know a story could reach. the pacing, the plot, the tension, and the entire book was so brilliantly done.

that final 20% of the book? it completely wrecked me. i was on edge the whole time. heart pounding, breath shallow. i actually had to pause and take breaks just to collect myself. it was that intense. 🥺🥺

knowing that this story was inspired by real events only made it more haunting. it lingers. it forces you to sit with uncomfortable truths, to question, to feel.

this isn’t just a book; it’s an experience. and i absolutely recommend it.

thanks to Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book will stay with me for a long time! I work in finance for our local government so that part hit a little close to home and it never crossed my mind about something like this happening but it totally makes sense!

10 kids and a bus driver go missing. The bus is found and all of their phones but not a single trace is left of the kids or bus driver. The mother of two of the children receives a ransom note and has to decide to follow the instructions on the note or instead alert the police. The book is very fast paced and hard to put down, making it a quick, gripping read. Noelle Ihli has written another amazing book and has quickly become one of my favorite authors.

Thank you, Dynamite Books, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Such Quiet Girls (Pub Date: 4.29): Noelle Ihli has done it again my friends. In true fashion, she delivers a dark, disturbing and tense story about a kidnapping of small children and their bus driver and the courage it takes to survive, no matter how young. I’ll never look at a school bus the same again! 5 stars all the way around!

I absolutely devoured the book!! It's so deliciously addictive. I would have read it in one sitting if I could have. The danger for the children had me eager to find out if they would be okay. I am now excited to read more from this author because I can't rate this book highly enough. The tension had me holding my breath while flying through the pages. I actually liked the characters and the grandpa with Alzheimer's touched my heart.❤️

I think this one just became my new favorite Noelle Ihli read! 😍
Ugh. This book was such an emotional roller coaster, and left me sobbing (per usual with her last few books...). 😭
An immediate page turner, fast paced, with multi POV and so very difficult to put down.
Inspired by a True Story, but I went into this one blind and researched later.. SO glad I did.
The complexity of the characters really had me on the edge of my seat.
Sage was rebellious and inspiring, Jessa had me so conflicted, Greasy Hair had me anxious and my heart ached for Sheena.
I was hooked immediately and will forever be shoving this book into everyone's face.

Truly fantastic. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️