Book Review: The Lost Girls by Jessica Chiarella

 

Book: The Lost Girls 

Author: Jessica Chiarella 

Pages: 336

Read on: Kindle 

Read in: ~4 hours 

Plot Summary: When her true-crime podcast becomes an overnight sensation, a young woman is pulled into the web of a case that may offer a surprising connection to her own sister's disappearance years earlier.

It's been more than twenty years since Marti Reese's sister, Maggie, disappeared. Only eight-years-old at the time, Marti can't remember what happened, just that Maggie got into a car and never returned. After years of grief and countless false leads, Marti is coping as best she can: abandoning her marriage, drinking to forget, and documenting her never-ending search via a true-crime podcast. But when the podcast becomes an unexpected hit and Marti thinks she's finally ready to put it all behind her, a mysterious woman calls with new information that could lead her down a dangerous path. 

For years, Ava Vreeland has been fighting to overturn her brother's murder conviction. After finding strange similarities between the two cases, Ava is certain there's a connection between the murder and Maggie's disappearance, one that could prove her brother's innocence. Together, Marti and Ava embark on a quest for the truth, but the more Marti digs, the more she's shaken by the answers she might find, and what it is she's even searching for.

Things I Liked: 

1. The premise of this book is quite interesting. A 20-year-old cold case of a girl gone missing. A murder case from 5 years ago. Both with some kind of a nebulous connection. And a podcast! Seemed like just the kind of book I'd enjoy! 

2. The connection between Maggie's disappearance and the murder of a young woman for which Ava's brother is in prison is nicely built up. The investigation undertaken by Marti and her podcast producer/ best friend is also interesting and throws up some decent leads. 

3. There is a nice twist towards the end, which you may or may not see coming. Always a nice thing when a book has those. 

Things I Didn't Like:

1. The book spends way too much time on Marti and her alcohol dependence and her inability to move on with her life since her sister went missing. Marti's descent into chaos and upending her own life just because a Jane Doe that could've been her sister is a bit much and, honestly, all the chapters focused on Marti's self-destruction and her failed marriage and her difficult relationship with her mother are just annoying. There is way too many of these and I was really tempted to skip past them!

2. The big mystery of this book is Maggie's disappearance and (I don't even care if I am spoiling this for you) by the end of the book we are no close to finding out what happened to Maggie apart from some vague hint that she might still be alive and out there! Listen guys, this is an expensive ebook in India- around Rs. 840 or so- and I am doing you a solid here. If you were planning to pick up this book because it is about a cold case and you think the podcast and the new leads are going to solve this cold case (like we did!), then don't buy this book, okay?! It is just not worth it!

3. The twist I talked about up there in the 'likes' section. It is weird and the whole book's journey is made to feel quite pointless because of it. There is no sense of justice prevailing and some people who don't deserve to get away with crap have gotten away with it! Not very gratifying! 

Rating: 1.5 / 5

Save your money! Don't buy this book!