A child goes missing on the eve of her 3rd birthday at a crowded Thanksgiving parade. The terror and desperation that the parents of little Kiera feel is very effectively conveyed to the reader. And if you have ever loved a child (and even more so, if you have one of your own), it is not hard to imagine how dreadful it must be to find yourself in such a predicament.

Despite their continued efforts to locate their daughter, Kiera's parents are left bereft. Until, in subsequent years, they receive videos of their child apparently still alive.

The book also features a young journalist named Miren who becomes fiercely invested in Kiera's case, because certain aspects of her own story that make her determined to find this child. Not that this is easy.

The book is fast paced and well written. But it can be confusing at times, because it features not only multiple POV but also multiple timelines for different characters.

Plus, the author is fond of ending chapters on cliffhangers and then suddenly shifting to another POV which can at times be frustrating. Nevertheless, if you can concentrate hard and read the book within as short a time as possible, it tells a compelling story. I give it 3.5 stars.

Just finished this book and I could not put it down. It was a bit of a hard read being a parent myself, I lost my daughter for 5 minutes once and it was the worst 5 mins of my life so it was hard to read what the parents in the book were going through.

The book flicks back and from the time when Kiera disappeared and then to 5 and 12 years after her disappearance. I liked the way the story was told and this back and forth in the timelines. I loved the character of Mirren and was really rooting for her.

My only comment is I would have liked to hear a bit from Kiera’s point of view, especially in the chapters where it was 12 years later and she would be able to articulate herself, this have been interesting to hear the odd chapter from her. Other than that I don’t have any other comments, this book was amazing.

A very good read. Enjoyed the unravelling of the plot. Got a little confusing with the timelines but still all made sense. Will look forward to future books by this author.

I loved the premise of this book, a three year old girl goes missing almost in front of her parents. Then it gets very confusing with multiple time lines and so many Pov's. Also this author has the habit of ending some chapters with a cliff hanger then goes off on a tangent which I found very annoying. Still so many unanswered questions. So disappointed this book could have been so much more.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the Arc in return for an honest review.

I loved the premise of this and it had me hooked from the start! It's fast paced and thrilling and has tbe intensity of a scandi thriller. This is by ji means an easy read though, the multiple povs and changes in timelines can get a bit confusing if you're not focused on the storyline so done try and read this whilst at the gym or anything or you'll be coming straight off that treadmill. I loved the use of cliffhangers at the end of chapters and then having tk wait for the outcome, it made me absolutely fly through the pages but a lot of the events did seem a bit..... far fetched shall we say. Then again, its a fiction book so it can be as far fetched as it wants. Definitely a strong thriller but one I'm very kuchen jn the fence about

A 2 year old girl is taken on Thanksgiving on the eve of her third birthday and this book takes us on the journey of all characters involved.

This is a difficult book to review. On the one hand, it grabbed me for the first few chapters and I found the initial storyline gripping and really well written. Unfortunately, the back and forth with varying timelines is confusing and in addition, as the storyline progresses, the character of Miren became irritating to me. So much so, I started to skim read. However, I then became so engaged again that I went back and reread and I finally got into the rhythm of the writing and enjoyed it.

Overall, I found it to be a challenging, gripping read and would recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph Penguin Random House and congratulations to the author.

Ooh this read like a Scandi, Spanish mix of thrills and murder

A girl goes missing during the thanksgiving parade

It's already on Netflix this book and is really big in Spain

Can't wait for what JC does next!

A three year old girl disappears during a crowded Thanksgiving event. Miren Triggs, a student journalist, makes finding out what happened to Kiera Templeton her life's work....although she has to focus on other investigations when leads dry up.
The book has multiple timelines for different protagonists. Castillo loves the device of ending a chapter on a cliffhanger and then reverting to another timeline, leaving us frustrated.
The book shines a light on gun culture in America as well as the detailed and time consuming policing needed for resolution of missing people. It just doesn't happen.
I had to suspend belief on a couple of occasions, particularly with the number of attacks and attempted burglaries that seemed to follow Miren (unrelated to the main plot).
Miren's character development throughout the book is fascinating: initially she is fearful and needing to speak often to her mother. Later, as a seasoned journalist, she is a cold and determined assassin.
I found it an intriguing book but it didn't quite add up to the hype

This was very readable but it stretched the realms of reality in parts.

A child goes missing during the 1998 Macy's Thanksgiving parade. There are thousands of people there yet 3 year old Kiera disappears without anybody seeing a thing. Her distraught parents issue appeals but no information is forthcoming until in the years later, vhs tapes arrive showing their daughter alive and well.
A young journalist, Miren is involved in the early stages of the disappearance when she discovers a suspect in not involved and she becomes determined to find this little girl, she has had her own traumas and turns into quite the fierce and relentless journalist as a result. The story is told from multiple points of view and jumps back and forward in time which required concentration at times and pulled me away from the story but its relatively decently paced and it kept me interested.

This book was a huge hit in Spain and subsequently has been made into a Netflix show. I do think some of the nuance may have been lost in translation with this one or maybe the story didn't transfer from Malaga to New York as seamlessly as hoped. The translation is excellent but maybe some of the urgency and emotion was misplaced along the way. Id say this is a stronger read in its original format.

A good story a little unevenly told but kept me turning the pages.

The premise of this story alone will have any parent hooked from the first chapter. The thought of a child going missing at a crowded event is just terrifying and the atmosphere created in these sections of the book was spot on. The panic, the disorientation, the guilt and the what ifs were palpable. All of this comes before we are introduced to Miren who takes it upon herself to be the advocate that Keira's parents need in their search. I loved the juxtaposition of the police investigation with the differing techniques of Miren and the newspaper, how they were both on the same side and in competition at the same time.

Miren is the perfect person to investigate Keira's disappearance because she herself is broken. She was let down by the system and as a result has a determination and tenacity to actually solve something that the police are failing to. She's a character that a lot of readers will champion.

There is a lot of jumping back and forth with multiple timelines and characters but this just emphasises the sheer volume of the investigation and the measures that Miren, the police and Keira's parents are willing to go to in order to find out what happened to their daughter.

The Snow Girl is a thriller you will not be able to put down, gripping, tense and thought-provoking story which explores the lengths people will go to for family and the danger and horrors of hopelessness.

I literally couldn't put this book down. I caught myself stealing a few minutes that turned into a half hour every now and again to read. Really good. The writer still managed to keep me enthralled by seamlessly jumping from one time period to the other. This book is worth each of its five stars. Now, I need to go and watch the series, but doubt it will be as good as the book.

This book is not written properly. It left me confused. It seems unfinished and unclear in the motive.

The premise of this book was really interesting but it was difficult to follow the multiple storylines, POV and the book itself was difficult to read. I will not be reviewing this title unfortunately

Javier Castillo has written a fast paced gripping thriller based upon tracking down a child who disappeared during the NY Thanks Giving Parade of 1998. Having read about the success of the author, there was an assumption that it would be set in Spain ( the Netflix series is apparently set in Malaga).
This is a story about tragedy, retribution and in many sense the role of the media in how it publicises events and the journalists who pursue the stories.
Young Keira Templeton is abducted and student / trainee journalist Miren Briggs is determined to track down the perpetrators and bring comfort to the parents. Miren has faced a traumatic event and feels the need to track down Keira as a way of dealing with her own inner turmoil.To add further torment, a series of videos are delivered to the parents over the subsequent years.
This is not a linear story ; it weaves back and forth between events at the period of the abduction and the years ahead- focusing on the parents, Miren, an investigating detective and the abductor..... No spoilers
There is a sense of the Lisbeth Salander in Mirren Briggs - a strong, independent and determined woman. The pace of the story is brisk and soon pulls you.
What you are left with is a satisfying thriller and even more of an awareness of the media's control and manipulation over people's thinking - even more so since the rise of online journalism- in the late 1990s to 2010.
What next for Miren Briggs...Javier Castillo will certainly have more to tell ?
A great winter escapist read

90% of this book was good.
It had a decent pace, interesting characters, and a nice back and forth storyline that kept me always wanting to know more.
But then there were some scenes, that just felt off, didn't fit with the rest of the book for me.
They were the more shocking/surprising scenes, so maybe I didn't feel the author quite got them right.
Non the less, I raced through the book in less than 24 hours and enjoyed it.

The Spanish Stephen King? Are you kidding me? This is far from that calibre of writing. Really far. This was incredibly slow and I really struggle to stay interested. I didn’t take to any characters at all. The constant timeline and character shifts were unable to flow to make good reading. Too many distinct time periods. Then and now would of been better.

The book is very wordy for what it delivers. Despite the story supposedly being focused on the missing girl, a Journalist reporter takes up all the room. Whilst she is involved in the plot I felt she was a flat character and there were chapters upon chapters of not very much going on. I was able to skim read lots and missed out on absolutely nothing. The brief moments mentioned in the blurb that make it sound good are exactly that. Brief moments with a load of other unnecessary bits padded around it.

I nearly didn’t finish this but wanted to get to the ending which was rather disappointing and very unrealistic. If this had more focus on the missing girl it would of been so much better. It has zero traction until a long way into into the book. The truth around the missing girl seemed played down and it should of been the feature in my opinion. I hated all the back story around the female Journalist and the role she plays. This was tedious. This isn’t on par with many crime novels, thrillers or other missing kid books I’ve enjoyed. Maybe I am a lone wolf in hating it but it offered nothing special and was weak in so many areas.

I didn’t like it and I can’t recommend it. Based on similar books I’ve read this year this one is a big let down. The shifting timelines just muddled the story and there was far too much “filling” in the novel to make very boring chapters, Just nope.

The Snow Girl by Javier Castillo was a massive best-seller in the author's native Spain then worldwide,finally we in the UK get to see what the fuss is all about.

The story begins at the 1998 Macy's Thanksgiving Parade where the Templeton's have taken their 3 year-old daughter to experience the spectacular event...........where she goes missing. Young Investigative Journalist Miren Triggs becomes interested in the case to the point of obsession. As the months since Keira's disappearance turn into years there is no sign of her until her parents receive a video of her alive and well on her 8th birthday. Over the years more videos follow until the final one showing an empty room. What does it mean and who has been sending them?

This is a gripping thriller with the action jumping backwards and forwards between not only timelines but also characters so it can get a bit confusing at times. That might not appeal to some readers but the author uses it to maintain the tension as events prove not be as they first seemed and it all comes together like a jigsaw puzzle,as seemingly random pieces make up the big picture.

This is a clever and involving story that serves also to show Miren's character growing as a person with a couple of exciting diversions from the main plot.

I really enjoyed the book, it's already a massive hit internationally and I suspect it will make Javier Castillo a big name in the UK as well.