Gossip spreads around the office, when Deborah disappears. Her colleagues are terrified of who could be next. But Deborah knows her captor, and they’re a psychopath.

I found this book to be really confusing. There were a lot of characters I was trying to piece together. There is a lot of back and forth and told in different perspectives.

The title made me think it was a little girl that goes missing. But it’s a woman. I didn’t expect the book to have so many different characters, and that the plot was a little wishy washy for me. I thought it was about a girl who goes missing and that’s it. But there’s so many different parts to it.

This book just didn’t pull me in as much as I wanted it to.


Thank you Boldwood Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review

Local Girl Missing is available December 7.

A slow-paced, dark, and disquieting read that explores what happens when a local woman goes missing through the interactions and introspection of her work colleagues and the individual herself who describes her living nightmare in graphic and disturbing detail. Most of the characters are unlikeable and unreliable narrators. Although this adds to the atmospheric quality of the story and intensifies the psychological suspense, it is hard to empathise with anyone other than the missing woman. It's not an easy or particularly engaging read, but it does have believably flawed and complex characters and a few plot twists.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

I've read one other book by this author and while I don't usually judge an author by one book maybe I should have taken into consideration that previous read before delving into this one. Honestly? The premise to this sounded intriguing...but the story played out a whole lot differently. I got to around 15% before I ended up skimming to the end to find out what happened because I really didn't much care for it otherwise.

The chapters weren't long as such but they felt endless with everyone's moaning and monologuing that just seemed to be a constant whine about their co-workers and the incessant gossip about Deborah's disappearance. So she disappeared? It's been weeks now...get over it, kind of thing. And then there were those who weren't friendly with Deborah before she disappeared who suddenly seemed to take a huge interest in her and the fact she'd disappeared and that they were at the centre of it to feed off with their friends.

No, LOCAL GIRL MISSING wasn't for me. I didn't enjoy it one bit. Probably even less that the only other book by this author I've read "The Uninvited". And I'll try and remember that next time I see one of this author's books, no matter how intriguing the premise sounds, to keep scrolling because their style isn't for me.

I would like to thank #JABaker, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #LocalGirlMissing in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance read of this book.
It took a good while to get into this book but as it went on, I really started to empathise with Deborah and Izzie and couldn't wait to find out who was holding them captive. I was constantly trying to work out who it was and my suspect changed every chapter I read. Overall a good read. ⭐⭐⭐

When one of their work colleagues Deborah goes missing, Adrian, Merriel and Yvonne can’t believe this has happened. Ruth who is in charge looks at ways to get her teams moral up and comes up with ways to help her team bond again (unsuccessfully I might add).

All of Deborah’s work colleagues are afraid about what could have happened to Deborah and are worried one of them could be next. Questions arise over who has taken her, but the answer is much closer to home than they could all imagine.

I liked the way this book was told from various points of view with shorter chapters as this helped to uphold the pace of the book. They were told from Adriens, Deborah’s, Yvonne’s and a young child Sadie whose true identity isn’t revealed until the end.

I did work out who was behind the abduction of Deborah and later another local woman Izzie but all the same I did enjoy the pace of the book and the fact I worked out who dun it isn’t the end of the world for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an open and honest review.

Thank you Boldwood puishers and Netgalley for this arc.

I really tried to liked more the book but I get lost in the middle. The research was not working for me and the chapters from the missing girsl were maybe to littlw. But I am glad I was not knowing who took the girls. Maybe was just not the right day ro read.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this superb psychological thriller. It took a while to work out who all the characters were and the relevance of them to the story. Once I’d done this it all came together nicely. A definite page turner that kept me guessing right until the end. A must read for psychological thriller fans. 4 stars from me.

When Deborah goes missing, she leaves a void in her office. Her colleagues Adrian, Yvonne, Merriel and Ruth all try their best to keep morale up but when another person in town disappears, they are genuinely scared. Who is behind it all?

Told through short chapters and multiple POV's, we get to hear from Deborah and her other colleagues. I did manage to successfully guess who the culprit was but this did not take away from the enjoyment of the book. This was a decent thriller that kept me entertained throughout.

Adrian, Yvonne and Merriel are in shock when their co-worker, Deborah goes missing. Naturally everyone at work begins to wonder what happened to her. Did she leave on her own? Was she taken? Is she still alive? Was she taken by a killer? Who could be behind her disappearance? Everyone is afraid, except for one person - the one who knows the answers to all the questions!

This book is told through various POV's. One is Deborah's and readers learn what is happening to her. She is being held by a psychopath. Will she survive? What is going to happen to her? She is alone initially but soon she is joined by another captive.

This book grabbed my attention from the beginning and then began to slow down. I am not a big fan of slowness in books, thankfully, the speed picked up again as the character's pasts are revealed. As the book goes back and forth from the past to the present, Deborah's plight becomes more dangerous. The tension begins to mount.

I always enjoy trying to figure out whodunit. The author provides readers with many suspects as the characters were not that likeable and they all have secrets.

For me this was an enjoyable read that had me doing my own detective work. The slowness hindered my enjoyment to a degree. Having said that, I would happily read this author again as the parts in this book which were gripping were very nicely done.

#LocalGirlMissing #NetGalley

This book started of well for me and I was enjoying it, however about a third in to it I lost the point of the book and I lost interest in it. This book isn’t for me unfortunately.

I was looking forward to reading a first book by this author, it started off well,, but then lost my interest and i wasnt able to get back into the story, unfortunately not for me

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book by the author but I’ve seen her work before so I was looking forward to getting started.

The start of the book is excellent, it throws your right it the deep-end in the middle of all the action, then it moves on to Deborah’s workplace and how her office friends are coping after her disappearance and what secrets they may be hiding?.

I don’t want to give too much away because I don’t want to spoil the book at all but this is a twisty thriller that will keep you guessing right up until the very end and I’m going to look up the previous work by the author.

The interesting feature of this book was that the kidnapper was someone completely different from the psychopaths in other books about kidnappings. There are a lot of red herrings to make you suspect different people in Deborah's office (no surprise - we know it's someone she knows). But that's the trouble. Almost everyone who works for the company is angry, with a troubled past or present, and some have mental health issues. A couple are physically fit enough to pull off a kidnapping. And a couple are thrown in just because. There are some tense moments in the attic, peppered with some physical violence that made me cringe.

We learn the characters' backstories through flashbacks and retellings to their colleagues. The book is dark, mainly due to the unlikeable characters and the situations they have and are going through, and the book slows down in the middle. I really did relate to the nightmare of team building, though! Brought me flashbacks of my own!

Overall, the book is a tense thriller that will keep you guessing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an advance reader's copy.

Author of many books, Local Girl Missing by J A Baker is a standalone psychological thriller. The narrative is recounted from three different characters’ experiences as Deborah, Adrian and Yvonne all work together. When Deborah disappears, workplace tensions rise and the manager tries to raise morale with team-building exercises. There is much latent hostility in the work environment, as difficult or damaged childhoods are revealed. Meantime, Deborah is joined in captivity by another woman who remarkably looks like her. Who has kidnapped these women and why? The solution is slowly uncovered through flashbacks, as the various narratives intertwine into the finale. An enjoyable enough read, if overly negative and the characters rather uninteresting and joyless. So overall a so-so-average psychological thriller with a two and a half rating. With thanks to Boldwood Books and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

A book of too manys for me. Too many characters, too many issues, too many POV’s etc etc. so not a hit as far as I’m concerned.

Psychopath who has advantage
Deborah is now sharing this hell hole.
Everyone at work is missing her.
This book has lots of characters, and I found the book a bit slow in parts.
As it picks up I found after half way in it got a lot of action and gripping story lines. This won't put me off reading anymore of this authors work 4 star's

Good story line, but it did kind of lose my attention part way through, so had a bit of a break. The authors other books were really good, so it might have been this one that didn’t grab my attention.

Worth a read if your a fan, but I would still read any other books she writes

Fantastic plot. It took me a bit of time to keep up with who was who but the plot was brilliant and the ending even better! I could not figure out who it might have been. I kept changing my mind! Well written

When Debra goes missing all her coworkers have their own theories. While her coworkers are having memorial drinks for Deborah and Work events to build trust she is tied up and gagged she is forced to play out a maniacs Fantasy. She won’t be alone long but her determination to get out it’s overwhelming but will she be able to get away from this maniac? This book was so good these coworkers were almost comical I truly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. This is it your normal girl goes missing story and if you like thriller she’ll definitely like this book I certainly did! I received this book from NetGalley and Boldwood books but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Local Girl Missing was a solid good read for me. I am giving this book 3.5 stars rounded up. The book started off really good and then trickled into a slow burn. The ending was really good!  
 
Deborah works in an office setting. She goes missing one day after work. Her colleagues from the office are Merriel, Adrian, Yvonne and Ruth. The story is told from everyone's perspectives. The colleague's portions of the stories are a mix of their personal lives , including some of their past and work experiences. There is also another story that is clearly the past of Sadie and her experiences growing up. With so many stories and perspectives going on at the same time, I found myself having to go back and reread several portions to make sure I was reading the right things. Throughout the whole story, I thought any of the characters could be the kidnapper. The author did a great job developing the characters and jumping from present to past. I thought this book had some twisty turns and suspense. It was a good psychological thriller.  The ending was good and loose ends were tied up!