"Why do we judge the women who end up dead as if it’s their own fault?"

4.5 stars

This was a hard read for me. The kind of book that just stays with you, leaving you feeling unwell, in a state of unease, and for me, sorrow.

I know very little about Ireland, so I had never heard about any of these women. The author does constantly reiterate throughout the book about her disbelief that these things could happen in a place like Ireland. I found that very surprising given how violent Ireland is known to have been. It also seems like quite a guarded way of viewing the world. One I wish I could go back to.

There's not a single place where I would be shocked by these acts occurring. Evil is everywhere. Violence against women is rampant in every nook and cranny over the world.

Many important points and questions are touched upon in this book.

- Violence against women by men.
- Class, age, race and physical appearance deciding how much people will care. How hard you will be looked for. How much media attention your disapperance and murder will gain.
- History of mental health heavily swaying how investigators view disappearances.
-Corrupt police and system.
-Violent offenders getting lenient treatment, able to continue on with their lives and to re-offend again and again.

Most importantly, the terrible stigma that women are responsible for their own rape and murder.

Why can't women have the freedom to walk along a road, day or night?

"Oh, well, she shouldn't have been walking alone."

No. The man shouldn't have killed her.

Women are raped and murdered because men choose to harm them.

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The one thing I didn't care for in this book was how the author would constantly say, "if this was one of my novels". It was said A LOT. It is disrespectful and also just becomes plain annoying.

My heart breaks for all the families who are still fighting all these decades later, to bring answers and closure for their loved ones.

I do wish there could have been the inclusion of a map with markers, for all of those who are unfamiliar with the area. Overall, a well written and researched book.

Disclaimer: I normally do not read true crime books. With this book I wanted to get somewhat out of my comfort zone, and because it was set in an area in Ireland I hoped it would at least be interesting.

Because it is a very short book, trying to cover imo quite a number of cases (as stated above, I don't know how usual that is in true crime books), it all seemed rushed. I understand that often there might not be more information about the cases. But as the blurb promises us that backdrop of the ireland of the writer's youth, and a hook of being a woman in that age's Ireland, I think the book would have benefited from more (and more in-depth and researched) parts about the country, and it's culture etc. at the time. There was some of it now, but more could have slowed down the pace from almost a list of cases to a truly interesting read about how a culture affects situations and cases like these.

A brilliant analysis of true crime cases along with a truly insightful social analysis of what contributed to them both occurring and remaining unsolved. The author’s experience shows through in well paced, respectful prose.

I have loved Claire McGowan's fiction works before and am a fan of true crime, so I was thrilled to get an ARC of The Vanishing Triangle. I loved McGowan's honest and in-depth investigation into the disappearance of the eight women. It was such a well written account and really eye-opening, I simply could not put it down and devoured the entire book!

I hadn’t heard of the case of Ireland’s missing women before picking up this book and found Claire McGowan’s account to be interesting and gripping. A great true crime offering.

Claire McGowan provides an in depth look at the murders and disappearances of numerous women in Ireland over the past 40 years. The Vanishing Triangle is the name given to an area where many of these women were last seen, giving rise to the fear that a serial killer has been at work. Due to many factors - in many instances the lack of a body, but also the lack of DNA testing and the seemingly incompetence or negligence of the Gardai - and against the backdrop of the continuing Troubles affecting the whole region, these cases were never solved.

I have to admit, this isn’t a boom I would usually have chosen to read, but once I had started, I was hooked. The stories of these tragic women deserve to be told in the hope that one day, even if justice cannot be served, then at least maybe the bodies will be found and laid to rest.

A fascinating insight, not only into the crimes themselves, but also into the wider history of life in Ireland at this time.

This is an interesting look into the bleak treatment of women in the nineties in Ireland. This true crime novel dives into the investigation of the disappearance of eight women and the culture of victim blaming that permeated the times. I was definitely engaged and thought the author conveyed a in-depth description of this very tragic moment in history.Thank you NetGalley for my copy.

Thank you Amazon Publishing UK, Little A, Netgalley for this ARC - It's a good thing I've downloaded all my books ahead of time before they were all archived. I know it's late but here is my review.

This is my second Claire McGowan book to date and this was another fascinating read by this author. The first book I read of hers was fictional so this was entirely different. To think, this was all based on true stories and her research. It's just scary and depressing to think about Ireland's missing women. It is also disappointing to think that in this day and age women are still going through issues about victim blaming and because of that most of the time justice is never even served. It kept my attention because I've always been interested in documentaries that revolve around true crime and the like. Although it did have a lot of opinions from the author but it was an interesting telling about these women. I recommend this to people who want a break from fiction and have a thought-provoking read.

Thank you Amazon Publishing UK, Little A and Netgalley for this arc. I was really devastated avout the idea of missing woman. I felt so sad, sorry, terrifed. And like a documentary the life went on and like in reality is never easy. Moat of the time is hard, really heard

This was a fascinating read. The research that has so obviously been put into it, shines through. It was tough read due to subject matter but was gripping. Highly recommend

The true story of several women who disappeared across Ireland in a triangular area but were never properly investigated and potentially many murderers were left to continue killing people.
This was an astonishing read, terrifying that this was more of a documentary and so all the poor victims are real people.
I enjoy Claire’s writing and this book was different in that it felt like she was exploring this story together with the reader instead of narrating it.

True Crime Time


I typically read at least one or two true crime like stories a year I am glad this was on my arc stack this year even though it was hard to get through. This was very well researched and presented. McGowan focuses on several cases, comparing and contrasting their similarities and differences. She shows how attitudes toward women and their value can have various effects on solving crimes. Bringing in the influence of religion and politics, McGowan explores possibilities and in the end explains that no one knows why and how so many people go missing. I found the topic to be scary and disconcerting. After reading this I was left with a sense of frustration. Dark things happen in so many parts of the world and I honestly understand that, what I have a hard time with is the fact that the way the police is portrayed while we watch TV comes across abusive and lazy. Which makes me wonder if things are getting better or worse.

As you can see this book is extremely tough to read and thought provoking, which makes it worth your time. I can’t make this a 5 star read on the fact that it is a rough subject but I can say it was a solid 3 stars and worth your time.

I struggled to enjoy this book and found many parts of it to be depressing. Unfortunately I didn’t finish it and only read about 2/3’s. What I did read was obviously well written and written with passion about the subject but it just wasn’t for me.

This book was just depressing. I love true crime and I’ve read many cold case true crimes but this one was different. It was just bad blow after bad blow with no positives at all. It just made me lose faith in the world and those are the worst kinds of true crime. This one just wasn’t for me.

I really felt like I not only got a compassionate look at these missing women and girls but a real look at Northern Irish culture and life. It wasn’t good but it cleared up some questions I had about modern Northern Ireland.

The tone was very conversational, I almost felt like I was reading a podcast transcript. That worked for me but it did repeat on itself a bit.

I love Claire McGowan's fictional books, particularly the Paula Mcguire series that centres on missing women on the Irish border, so I was intrigued to see the fruits of her real-life research into Ireland's missing women.

The author makes some very valid points about why some of the women who went missing in 1990s Ireland have never been found, let alone have the perpetrators bought to trial. What didn't work quite so well was that there were lots of repetition and to be honest I found the author assumed that the reader would remember the specifics of the many victims she spoke about throughout the book. With the number of missing, raped and murdered women mentioned, it was hard to keep the details to the forefront of my mind.

I think part of the problem may have been that the facts and conclusions were pretty much set out early on and then specific details were used to illustrate this, that added to the feeling of repetition. A useful read to understand what living in Ireland was really like before the country began to shed the grip of the church on the population.

I sincerely hope that some of the families mentioned do find their missing women!

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

I found this book very disturbing the apparent victim blaming which caused so many investigations to stall and the way in which women are perceived

I did not enjoy this book at all and for me it’s way too opinionated.
The author writes in a very biased way and to be honest whether you agree or not it’s not an easy track and the way it is written is very offputting. You close down because of the tone.
It also drags on. Lots of repetition. Lots of long winded sections.

This was a fantastic nonfiction! It was very easy to read, and written in a way that that kept my attention and made me want to keep reading. McGowan created a very interesting narrative about a series of crimes that I personally have never heard of, which made the read that much more interesting. I know McGowan's main genre is fiction, but I hope she continues to dip her toes in the nonfiction world, because her writing style really suits the genre!