Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Missing Person by Sarah Lotz is a unique and entertaining character-driven thriller, that has the vibe of a true-crime story.

Sarah Lotz has written another page turner this one chilling with lots of twists and turns.The characters are really well written really come alive.This more of a thriller then a horror book ,it had me reading late into the night .#netgalley #missingperson

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

A huge Thank You to The author, The publisher and Netgalley for providing the e-arc in exchange for a unbiased review of these works.

Arm chair detectives rise! loved the forum feel and the brillaint range of charcters this brought, thrilling and captivating a fantasic read!

Missing-linc.com comprises a group of misfit sleuths scattered across the States. Their macabre passion is giving names to the unidentified dead. When Ellie Caine starts investigating the corpse known as the Boy in the Dress, the Boy’s killer decides to join the group. The closer they get to the truth, the closer he will get to them.

The Boy was Teddy Ryan. He was meant to have been killed in a car crash in the west of Ireland in 1989. Only he wasn’t. There is no grave in Galway and Teddy was writing letters from New York a year after he supposedly died. But one night he met a man in a Minnesota bar and vanished off the face of the earth.

Teddy’s nephew, Shaun, is no hero, but he is determined to solve the thirty-year-old mystery. He joins forces with the disparate members of Missing-linc to hunt down the killer. The only problem: the killer will be with them every step of the way . . .

When I heard Sarah Lotz was writing a crime novel, I have to admit I was more than a little intrigued. I’m a huge fan of her horror fiction. In fact, I’ll go further, I reckon The Three and Day Four are two of my favourite horror novels in the last ten years.

When a long-hidden family secret is un-covered, Shaun Ryan realises there is a further mystery that needs investigating. While some relatives want to leave the past firmly in the past, Shaun knows the more he tries to escape it the more he is caught up in answering the only question that matters – what became of his uncle Teddy? Anxious and unassuming, Shaun doesn’t seem to be the sort of person who wants to cause any fuss but there is a grim tenacity lurking just beneath his nervous exterior. This is a young man driven by the need to discover the truth. His journey leads him to connect with a curious group of individuals who spend their time searching for people who have disappeared.

The members of the Missing-linc forum all have reasons for doing what they do. It’s fascinating to discover how the online personas of characters like Ratking1, Rainbowbrite, Aqualung* and BobbieCowell compare to their real lives. I think the thing I found most interesting were the motivations that drive these people to try and uncover the truth, often on the behalf of those who can’t. There are a whole host of potential reasons why someone may want to help. It could be that they are seeking some form of escape from the pain of their own loss. Perhaps they are an amateur sleuth keen the help in any way they can. It could however be something a bit more sinister. There are those who exhibit a morbid sense of curiosity, very nearly voyeurism, that could easily become something far darker.

It’s the relationships in Missing Person that help to elevate the narrative into something exceptional. Lotz always excels in creating her characters. I particularly enjoyed the dynamic between Ratking1 and Rainbowbrite. They could not be more different from one another. Ratking1 is intensely private, almost to the point of introversion, while Rainbowbrite is endlessly positive and upbeat. It’s clear to see that one is the accelerator and the other is the brakes when it comes to their online existence.

There are chapters scattered through the plot that deal with events from the killer’s perspective and there is something genuinely compelling about these moments. Insight into their thought processes is mesmerising. The fact that some killers are able to so easily compartmentalise the darker elements of their personality makes them all the more terrifying.

Elsewhere on the internet, I’ve read opinions suggesting that the novel’s end is a trifle anti-climactic. I disagree wholeheartedly. Rather than being over the top or potentially mawkish, Lotz opts for a more low-key conclusion and I like this approach. There is a sense of closure for each of the characters that helps to flesh out each of their respective journeys. As I mentioned before, Sarah Lotz is an author who always excels when it comes to characterisation and that skill is certainly on display here. I love that each person we meet continues to evolve up until the very last page.

I would urge fans of this author’s horror writing to give this novel a shot. I feel that pigeon-holing Missing Person as a crime novel is a bit of a misnomer. It is just as dark as the author’s other works. In fact, it is made all the more sinister by the fact that it is far

more grounded than anything else the author has written. It is all too easy to believe that the plot of Missing Person could be one hundred percent real. The best authors are the one who can bridge the gap between genres and not miss a beat. I’ve read a few in my time and I have to say that it is always a pleasure to discover another who makes, what is likely the trickiest of skills, looks so effortless. Missing Person is a superior thriller that with the blackest of hearts. Lotz proves yet again, if proof were needed, that her writing is always worthy of your attention.

Missing Person is published by Hodder and available from 5th September. Highly recommended.

My musical recommendation to accompany Missing Person is the haunting soundtrack to Zodiac by David Shire. Music from a movie about one of the most famous serial killers feels like the ideal fit for Sarah Lotz latest novel.

*Extra points for a Jethro Tull reference.

This is great book following a group of online sleuths as they try to solve crimes through their meddling. With a brilliant twist and interesting storytelling format, I flew through this book.
Good fast-paced mystery read.

2,5 Stars

Was this really a book written by Sarah Lotz?? I absolutely loved “The Three” and “The White Road”. “Day Four” was an Ok read for me. But I always adored how she managed to create a creepy atmosphere and a disturbing plot. Here in this book there was nothing of this. Well, it was an average good story about people who are living their lives online. In this case on a website dedicated to missing people. Maybe it’s just being me but this story never seems to be realistic. Her previous books, which dealt with supernatural things, where more realistic than this story. Is this really a thing, people investigating on their own cold cases? Somehow this story never worked out for me and nothing really is happening. It was also overdrawn and way too long.

I must admit that I am disappointed. This was not what I expected from a new book from Sarah Lotz. There is no creepiness, no atmosphere, and no gripping plot. This was just an average and not very good crafted story.

A group of wannabee sleuths gather on a website called Missing-Linc to try to identify the unnamed and unclaimed remains of the missing. When evidence on a case more 20 years old suddenly comes to light there is great excitement on the website, with talk of murder and even the possibility of a serial killer. Members of Missing-Linc, new and old, pull together to try to identify the remains of 'the Boy in the Dress', a blonde male who died in the 1990s, found wearing what appears to be a pink prom-style frock. But, of course, being the internet, not everyone is actually the person they portray over the world weird web.

This very different to Sarah Lot's previous stories and there isn't much, if any, of the horror and dread that I have come to expect from her books. But even so this is a solid modern mystery with some memorable characters and a pretty original plot.

Sarah Lotz's thriller, set in the US and Ireland, is a modern take with its everyday misfits and ordinary people operating as amateur detectives on Missing-linc.com, an American website dedicated to identifying the unidentified dead, cases often given up on by law enforcement. Shaun Ryan is a solitary young gay man in Galway, Ireland, he has still to get over the death of his mother, and is involved in a secret relationship with a married man, Brendan. He works in a bookshop, and is shocked when a unprepossessing stranger called Johnny tells him his gay Uncle Teddy, his mother's favourite, whom he physically resembles, did not die in a car crash as he had been told, but went to New York instead. His remaining family, who he is not close to, admit the truth, Janice, begs him to leave well alone, and Donny, threatens Shaun if he pursues the matter of Teddy any further.

He puts out a picture of his Uncle Teddy online, for it to be picked up by Rainbowbrite, aka Ellen Caine, who thinks Teddy is likely to be unidenfied corpse, decades old, found close to her home, known as the 'Boy in a Dress', someone she had spent considerable time working on in the past. It is the wheel chair bound Christina Guzman, aka Kingrat, moderator, who set up the Missing-linc site, who gets in touch with Wicklow boy, Shaun, to let him know Teddy looks to be the 'boy in a dress'. Shaun, who had weaved daydreams of going over to the US to be with his uncle, is hit hard by the news. Members of the site, led by Ellen, dig deep to verify Teddy's identity and his life in the US prior to being murdered, making extensive use of social media. However, amongst the web sleuths, lurks the killer, keeping tabs on everyone should they come close to him. The killer has moved on from his past life as a murderer, but he just cannot leave well alone, engaging in underhand machinations, as his past self converges to threaten the present life he has worked so hard to build.

Lotz writes a character driven thriller, with much of the narrative in the form of messages and other communications between the website members and with Shaun. We learn about the lives of the site members such as Christina who is still haunted by the long ago loss of her missing mother, and an Ellen struggling with family life, given her obsession and need to contribute on the site and chasing down Teddy's identity. Shaun is to find there is so much more to Teddy's story than simply his family being ashamed of his gay sexuality. This is a great and entertaining crime novel, less concerned about being action orientated, it is the characters and their lives that hold centre stage. Wonderful and captivating book. Many thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC.

I wasn't sure I was going to like this book as the synopsis hinted at something that could be pretty scary and violent. It wasn't like that at all and I have raced through to the end , staying up all night to finish the book.
This story spans Ireland and USA and follows a group of websleuths in America determined to match missing people with unidentified bodies. The link to Ireland is that Shaun's cousin Teddy (both from Ireland) who was sent to NYC in disgrace is matched to a murder of The Boy in the Dress.
The book takes a look at attitudes towards homosexuality as well as the dangers of thinking you know who is guilty and the fallout from what happens when the accused is innocent. The websleuths don't all live in the same area of USA but are united online and are a motley crew!
What I loved about this book is that part-way through, for most of the story, we get to know who actually 'did it'. Bits of the back story are revealed piece by piece until we are presented with the whole picture..
I found Missing Person original and engaging. I just didn't want to put it down!
Thanks to the author, Sarah Lotz, the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this fantastic book.

I've enjoyed Sarah Lotz's previous novels. Read this one for the excellent characters and their development. The characters are the true star of Missing Person with it's diverse cast of forum members. Missing Person isn't a pure thriller or horror. Although, this is still unputdownable.

This thriller has a very modern feel , as it involves a website which attempts to identify unidentified bodies and link them to missing people. This group is in America, run by wheelchair bound Chris, who is the moderator and there are a group of other people, including Ellie (online name, Rainbowbrite) who is obsessed with the site, but found herself banned after an event, which we learn about later in the story.

Although Missing-linc.com is in the States, much of this novel is also set in Ireland, where Shaun learns about his uncle, Teddy. Shaun had believed Teddy, his mother’s favourite, was long dead and is shocked to discover that his family conspired to make her believe her brother was dead when he had, in fact, left for New York. Disconcerted to realise Teddy might still be around, Shaun does what everyone would now – he turns to the internet and comes in contact with Missing-linc.

There was much I liked about this book, including the cast of characters who are members of the online group. However, one of the group are only too aware of what happened to Shaun’s uncle and he is keeping an eye on the site, to make sure the group don’t uncover the truth. .. This was a good read, but, ultimately, it lacks some suspense, as the outcome is a little too easy to guess. Saying that, the reading journey is interesting, well written and I enjoyed the setting very much.

The bad news is this isn't horror. The good news is it's as gripping and entertaining as anything Lotz has written. Shaun, a twentysomething gay guy in Ireland, finds out his uncle Teddy – who he'd previously been told was dead – actually ran away to New York about 30 years ago. On a mission to track Teddy down, he crosses paths with the denizens of the web forum Missing-linc.com, who aim is to identify the nameless dead. They suspect that a hitherto-unidentified murder victim, known as 'The Boy in the Dress', might've been Teddy. We then follow Shaun and the online sleuths on the zig-zagging path to the truth.

We know fairly early that there's a killer among the members of Missing-linc, and that this person knows more about Teddy than they're letting on. For the most part, this adds to the tension, and if it all gets a bit convoluted on occasion, there's more than enough interesting detail to make up for it. Rather than who did it or why, the focus is on the emotional fallout for those affected by a crime, and for that reason (as well as the well-drawn characters) I think this might appeal to fans of Tana French. Missing Person is tightly plotted and thoroughly enjoyable; read it if you like mysteries that prioritise careful scene-setting and character development over a dramatic finale.

I just loved this book it is my first by this Sarah Lotz and wow I was totally impressed with just how good it was. When I first read the overview I knew it was a book I just had to have and so I was thrilled to receive the ARC from NetGalley and it turned out even better than I was expecting. For me what made the book was the excellent portrayal of the characters who were all so different and all had a story to tell, the plot itself was intriguing and I found it to be a book that was difficult to put down and I will now I ensure I will more from this author and thoroughly enjoyed this book and can well recommend it as an excellent thriller.
My thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I always enjoy Sarah Lotz's fiction and this was no exception - a brilliantly plotted mystery with lots of twists I didn't see coming. At first I was disappointed there was no horror element, but the nuanced character portrayals (especially of Shaun) more than made up for that. Really well put together and absolutely gripping from start to finish.

Missing Person was good but i was really hoping for more. I wouldn't call it a horror book which is strange as they call Lotz a horror author and i was expecting something more in that style. It was well written but i have read many books i enjoyed more.