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secre 's review for:
How to Find a Missing Girl
by Victoria Wlosok
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
How to Find a Missing Girl genuinely surprised me in honesty. I found the opening chapters to be tedious in the extreme, yet by the end of the novel I was genuinely enjoying it. Don't get me wrong, the novel has flaws - largely the reliance on a podcast that added little or nothing to the plot throughout. It also leaned far too heavily on it's obvious reference point - A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (GGG) - and felt like a copycat gimmick for too much of it.
If there one thing GGG did well, it was incorporating the 'bonus material' including the podcast, interviews and diary-esque extracts. Everything felt like it had a place and was relevant. This... tried to use the same methodology but only used podcasts and they were so darn dull that it was a chore to read. Other plot points could have been directly lifted from GGG and whilst I didn't see the exact responsible party, I could guess at some of it solely due to the similarities. And I was not wrong. I did think the final reveal was done well though, so bonus points for that.
Where this excelled was in the secondary characters - and they were the ones who drew me into the narrative. There's a wealth of diversity on display here, and it's done well with genuine relationships and some wonderful characterisations. Occasionally it was thrown into your face in a blatant manner, but mostly it was humans being humans, loving who they love and being who they are. That was a delight to read. I also liked the depictions of parenthood - particularly Iris's aunt, who was thrust into parenthood rather than choosing it. The teenage angst directed at her from Iris felt real as well.
It's a pity that Iris's character as a whole didn't quite work. She's made being a detective the key part of her personality, no matter what boundaries she stomps and who she hurts. I can kind of see it. She's a teenager who lost her mum and her sister in close succession and knows her aunt never wanted kids. But it's also probably the most boring MC role to focus on. Any one of her LGBT friends would have been better, they at least had actual personalities beyond being annoying.
All in all, this is absolutely a rip-off of GGG, but it was an entertaining one by the end at least. It could have been better by being a little more original and having a more relateable MC. And cutting the podcasts out.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free review copy of this title.
If there one thing GGG did well, it was incorporating the 'bonus material' including the podcast, interviews and diary-esque extracts. Everything felt like it had a place and was relevant. This... tried to use the same methodology but only used podcasts and they were so darn dull that it was a chore to read. Other plot points could have been directly lifted from GGG and whilst I didn't see the exact responsible party, I could guess at some of it solely due to the similarities. And I was not wrong. I did think the final reveal was done well though, so bonus points for that.
Where this excelled was in the secondary characters - and they were the ones who drew me into the narrative. There's a wealth of diversity on display here, and it's done well with genuine relationships and some wonderful characterisations. Occasionally it was thrown into your face in a blatant manner, but mostly it was humans being humans, loving who they love and being who they are. That was a delight to read. I also liked the depictions of parenthood - particularly Iris's aunt, who was thrust into parenthood rather than choosing it. The teenage angst directed at her from Iris felt real as well.
It's a pity that Iris's character as a whole didn't quite work. She's made being a detective the key part of her personality, no matter what boundaries she stomps and who she hurts. I can kind of see it. She's a teenager who lost her mum and her sister in close succession and knows her aunt never wanted kids. But it's also probably the most boring MC role to focus on. Any one of her LGBT friends would have been better, they at least had actual personalities beyond being annoying.
All in all, this is absolutely a rip-off of GGG, but it was an entertaining one by the end at least. It could have been better by being a little more original and having a more relateable MC. And cutting the podcasts out.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free review copy of this title.