A review by ksheaffs
Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I’ll happily put this one at a 3.5.  It has a lot of good things going for it and I found it to be overall enjoyable but not especially incredible.
 
Local Woman Missing starts off strong right from the beginning and is engaging throughout.  Even the title has an ominous air about it.  Kubica gets the ball rolling in the first few chapters with 3 missing persons and a hold-your-breath suspense sequence as a teenage girl attempts to escape from her captors that have been holding her for 11 years. The author uses the thriller-classic multiple timelines to her advantage, effectively keeping the reader in the dark for the majority of the novel.  The interwovenness of the several main characters builds up to a fun surprise ending, however many of the twists and turns are easy to see coming several pages in advance, lessening some of the thrill and while the author does her best to misdirect the reader, I really wasn’t fooled by any of the red herrings. 
 
Unfortunately, while this thriller aims to be rooted in reality more than some, it does require a level of suspension of disbelief. Kubica includes several small details necessary to the execution of the final twists and turns that rely a little too much on characters being incompetent and/or completely unaware and left me ultimately unsatisfied. The neatly wrapped bow of an ending was the final nail in the coffin as victims of such a crime really don’t just bounce back like that.
 
Final thoughts? If you are big into thrillers and looking for shock value at the expense of plausibility, I think this is a great choice.  The audiobook was especially easy to listen to and made for a quick read
Expand filter menu Content Warnings