Hmm I couldn’t really get to grips with this book which was frustrating as I found the premise super interesting but it was almost like a task for me to get through it! That is only my opinion and others may love it. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my eArc of this book.

Super gripping throughout! Was easy to read in one sitting and the plot draws you in until you've reached the last page. Highly recommend to to any fan of mystery thrillers!

A difficult book to fairly review because I wasn’t really a fan but find it hard to pinpoint what the problem was. The story is well told and whilst the characters aren’t particularly nice they are well developed. There isn’t much in the way of tension and I suppose this was my criticism. The tale meandered along with very few bumps in the road.

A slow burn /coming of age mystery. Nicola returns to her Appalachian hometown after her mothers death. Its been almost 20 years since she was there and since she last saw her friend Lauren too. Lauren disappeared and Nicola has been haunted by what happened her missing friend in the intervening years. Little has changed in her hometown since she has left , it feels like the exact same place but people have moved on. Nicola feels unable to and decides to stay and try to piece together what happened years ago.

There is some great writing in this book and the author captures the mood and sense of a place well but I think this book didn't match my expectations and that put me on a wrong footing with this one.. There was no suspense but more examination of memory and the book meanders along slowly. I enjoyed the writing but the plot lacked something for me. I am glad I persevered with this one but not sure if I would recommend it. In saying that, I would read what the author writes next as I liked her style of writing.

This book started off with promise as I was really drawn to the plot of the book, however as I continued reading I realised it was quite slow paced and is focused largely on Nicola’s past with Lauren which I didn’t think was necessary, considering it didn’t make much of a difference to the ending of the book.
I will say I was surprised by the ending, and certainly didn’t expect that, so that was a pleasant surprise instead of the usual outcome to most mystery novels.
Three stars for an easy read that isn’t difficult to follow and will give you a surprise at the end.

Definitely more of a slow burn mystery than a full on thriller but nevertheless still kept me interested in how it was going to play out. 2.5 stars. .

Thank you to netgalley for providing an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

There was just something about this one that I really did not like. Not sure what but I couldn't enjoy it

The book is a slow burn with some unlikeable characters, but I'm glad I stayed the course because I found the ending very satisfying. If you are prepared to stay seated and see it through you will enjoy this mystery.

The Good Ones was a solid enough mystery, albeit never really entirely thrilling and, despite having a good ending, it overplayed its hand a bit. Which is why the 3-star rating, when it might have been more.

The story follows Nicola, back in her hometown after her mother’s death and her own lack of success in a job hunt. Nicola is obsessed with the disappearance of a friend over a decade ago. It’s quite a slow moving plot, to be honest, with the actual sort-of-investigating not taking place for a good chunk of it. It also flips back and forth between the present day narrative and the past, pre Lauren’s disappearance.

I say this book was good and that I liked it, but I liked it in a way that was more, I enjoyed the time I spent reading it. Whether it stuck with me, whether it compelled me, is another matter entirely and I would have to say I’m on the fence about that one. It was intriguing enough, and I was definitely interested in the whole aspect of Nicola’s relationship with her disappeared friend’s husband, but I felt there was a disconnect between, oh this has my attention, and what it did with it.

Mostly, I think the issue was that, while the set-up for a lot of it was promising, it never really delivered on that promise as I’d hoped. The mystery never felt particularly thrilling or, at times, even that compelling. I think that came down to the feeling that the writing was holding you at a distance from the characters. It was very nice writing, to be sure, but it felt a little like it was holding back. Because there was that distance I never really felt anything about the characters and I think, in a book like this, actually feeling something is very important. It’s not a plot-heavy book. It’s quite character-driven, so you need to connect well with the characters and that’s something I didn’t manage.

However, this could well be just a case of me not quite being the right reader. Very likely it is. Basically, don’t let my review put you off reading it. If it sounds like the kind of book you would enjoy, go for it. While I can’t say I would wholeheartedly recommend it, neither is it a book I wouldn’t recommend at all.

Rounding up to three stars.
I was half way through before coming to the conclusion I hadn't really liked a single character.
There wasn't even anyone I disliked intensely, I was just indifferent to them all.... and by the end of the book, I wasn't too bothered what happened to anyone.
Despite that, it was an easy read. I was reading chunks at a time, so I'm interested to see what comes next from this author.