A review by doodlebeanz
Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica

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

2.5

I was SO excited for this book and I am SO sad that it was such a let down. I try to go into every thriller I read with optimism and hope that one will reach the level of The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, and every time I am let down. This book was no exception. 

First off, I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style. Lots of dialogue followed up by internal dialogue which was then also followed up with 'I said this to her/him/them.' Like... just have the characters have external dialogue and a conversation instead of writing about what someone is thinking in their heads and also saying? I don't know, the writing style was weird. It was good writing, but just oddly set up.

Second, there were WAY TOO MANY CHARACTERS. Too many characters who shared too many similarities; living on the same street, having children, being slightly suspicious, being dead. There were so many times I had to be like 'wait, who?'. I even had to start writing in the journal entries here on Storygraph to keep up with the characters. 

Third, I am usually a huge fan of books that deal with the past and the present, but similarly to the mass amounts of characters becoming confusing, the back and forth between present and future became confusing in the end.
Why were Leo's chapters like he was writing in a journal, or a letter written to Delilah?
There was too much skipping around and too many POVs where it just became jumbled in my mind.

Fourth, and the worst of them all, this book fell victim to my biggest thriller book irk... I read 340+ pages of tension and build up just for it to be wrapped up in 2 pages... approximately 5-6 paragraphs, maybe.
You find out that Bea is a sociopath apparently and Delilah had been living in her 'studio' in the backyard, 20 feet away from her family for 11 years, and Bea goes to jail and Shelby's daughter is living with her real father and Jason was let out of his wrongful imprisonment and the people who took Carly were copycat criminals and they stupidly went back to the house where they held Carly captive and were captured... all in 2 pages. Like why did I even read the entire story then?! Also, what the hell was the point of the entire OBGYN Dr. Fiengold? Just seemed like a little plot point to throw everyone off the scent of what really happened but by then the reader, at least I didn't, realize anything was amiss with Bea so... just unnecessary characters and mini suspenseful plot twists that turn into nothing.
 

The story had so many characters and twists and turns and so much suspense that it just couldn't keep up with it all. The first half the book was good, but it was also SLOW PACED... like glacially slow. Like painfully slow. It didn't hold my attention much past the half way point, if I'm being honest. So disappointing. :(
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