Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Local Woman Missing

"Local Woman Missing" by Mary Kubica is a psychological thriller that revolves around the mysterious disappearance of three women from a small town: Meredith, her daughter Delilah, and a young woman named Shelby. As the investigation unfolds, dark secrets about the town and its residents are revealed. The story explores themes of betrayal, deception, and the lengths people will go to protect their secrets.

1. **Plot and Storytelling:** 2/5 The pacing of the plot was sluggish, to say the least. While the initial chapter captured my interest, I found myself disengaged until I reached the 79% mark. It's a wonder I didn't abandon the book altogether.

2. **Characterization:** 3/5 The characters were adequately developed, although their actions weren't always entirely believable. Nevertheless, they did fit within the context of the story to some extent.

3. **Writing Style:** 4/5 Mary Kubica demonstrates solid writing skills. Despite my issues with the pacing, her prose is well-crafted and vivid, effectively painting a picture of the narrative.

4. **Originality:** 2/5 Unfortunately, the story felt somewhat recycled, lacking in originality. It felt eerily familiar, as if I'd encountered similar plotlines elsewhere before.

5. **Emotional Impact and Resolution:** 2/5 While the story failed to evoke strong emotional responses from me, it did succeed in creating moments of discomfort. I appreciated the tidy resolution with most loose ends accounted for, although I found the ending somewhat far-fetched.

Overall score: 2.6/5

If you’re looking for a good psychological thriller I recommend "The Silent Patient" by Alex Michaelides. It has a captivating plot with a steady pace that keeps readers hooked from the beginning. The characters are intriguing and well-developed, and the writing style is compelling, making it hard to put the book down. It offers a fresh and original storyline that delivers both suspense and emotional depth, providing a satisfying reading experience overall.

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coco78337's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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cgsigns's review

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DNF, i stopped listening because it was putting me in a dark place that i did not want to be in.

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djdiandra's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I just wanted to keep reading this book and not put it down.

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maddie_can_read's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

What I liked:

Good voice acting in the audiobook and multiple actors
How tense and how face paced the book was
The dialogue between the characters
Book structure, jumping back and forth through time and all the different characters perspectives
The two story-lines and how they interwined
The author was really good at making the reader feel the fear the characters were
Casual LGBTQ inclusion

What I didn't like

The characters felt a bit underdeveloped. So some of the decisions they made didn't really seem to make sense
The logic of the book unfortunately starts to fall apart a bit for me about 3/4 of the way through the book. Like characters do things that don't really make sense/ we don't know them well enough to justify the odd decisions they make

But you know what, I enjoyed most of the ride. This would have been an easy five stars for me if just a bit more attention was paid to logic/ character development so their decisions felt logical within the context of the story. I am someone who gets caught up in details of things and really gets annoyed by things not making sense in the context so what bothered me might not bother you, or maybe it will bother you even more haha.

Spoilers :

74% - Why would their respective partners leave two drunk ladies at the bar with no plan for them to get home? Also just weird for couples in their thirties to leave their partner behind at a bar, even if they're with a friend, this seems like a very immature thing to do, especially when they didn't plan how the two were going to get home.

Why are these grown ass women drunk driving? Again seems like an extremely juvenile/ immature thing to do. These ladies are presented as middle class/ upper class people who are not dumb. So they have the money for a cab and the common sense to take one. Do cabs/ Ubers not exist in this universe? I really think they would've called their partners or an Uber/ cab.

76% - The hit and hide the body. Why was the runner even in the middle of the road? Why didn't they see her? Earlier we were told that the runner was wearing running clothes. This is where the lack of character development makes things seem illogical. I just feel like we haven't seen anything from Meredith up until this point to indicate that she is such a pushover that she could literally get peer-presured into covering up a murder? I know it says she's in shock, I know she's drunk. But she literally knows who they hit. It says they're near a neig borhood. Girl if leaving the victim is unfathomable, wtf is hiding the body. RUN TO THE HOUSES???? I also feel like we didn't get to know Bea well enough to understand why she would rather risk covering up a murder than just phoning the police and risking a drunk driving manslaughter charge??? I feel like we also didn't see enough of Bea and Meridith's friendship to understand why Meredith would go along with her plan.

91% - Makes absolutely ZERO sense why Meredith would TELL BEA THAT SHE'S GOING TO TURN HER IN AND CONFRONT HER ONE ON ONE!!! the earlier illogical stuff could be forgiven but this makes no sense. Meridith at this point, literally knows Bea is capable of, if not murder, at least hiding a body, and framing an innocent person. Once again, maybe if we knew the characters a bit better/ knew their friendship a bit better this could have made a bit more sense. Especially why would Meredith would confront Bea if her child was at home. Like girl LIE to Bea! Phone the cops silly.

95% - Ok this part also makes zero sense. I really thought Bea was going to make Meredith take the knife and stab herself. Forensically this makes absolutely no sense. Self inflicted wounds look different than attack wounds!!!! She presses her palms against the wounds?? Like what. Like angles and shit man. This makes absolutely no sense. And don't hotels have videocameras ? Like what. Also she bonked her on the head with a Hammer LOL, like a self-inflicted hammer blow to the head lol
99% - copy-cat killer part is kinda weird? I feel saying this was just to justify why Carly looked so similar to Delilah. But it says they wanted attention and got none .. so why would they just keep Carly in the basement forever if they wanted attention. Also the Bea and the Garage part. Like I feel like Bea could've just said no to the police search. This part felt a bit forced. Feel like a bit of a tweak would've made it more realistic. Like Kate checking it out after being weirded out as to why Bea wouldn't let the cops in.

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murve's review against another edition

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4.0

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ellainalisa's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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that_person_logan's review against another edition

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dark sad tense

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

Was I on the edge of my seat for some of this? Yes.
Was it good? No.
Was there unnecessary and detailed medical trauma sprinkled in that in no way contributed to the story? Yes.
Would I recommend this? No.

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