All the Missing Girls is a Backwards Suspense Story. What does that mean? I’ll tell you in my review.
I’ve been reading Megan Miranda’s YA books since the 2010s. I even said in a review that she ought to write adult thrillers, as back then YA mysteries weren’t really a thing. In 2016, she published All the Missing Girls. What did I think?
Jen’s Quick Take on All the Missing Girls
- Yes, All the Missing Girls is a mid-2010s (possibly Veronica Mars-inspired) book about the girl going back to her hometown after her friend disappeared or died. And the trend is BACK in the 2020s in books like Listen for the Lie, Everyone Who Could Forgive Me is Dead, Don’t Forget the Girl, The House in the Pines, and more.
- It’s also a “Girl” book like The Girl on the Train
- The stand-out part of the book? The narrative runs backwards (more details in the review)
All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda
Published on June 28, 2016 by Simon and Schuster. I read this book in 2016.
I adapted this review from a 2016 review written by Jen Ryland on YA All Day.
All The Missing Girls by Megan Miranda is a Backwards Suspense Story
If you’re a regular blog reader, you might remember that I reviewed Megan Miranda’s most recent YA thriller last week, and found it suspenseful but with too many loose ends.
I hope Miranda writes more adult books, because I enjoyed All the Missing Girls much more than the YA book. Among the slew of “Girl” thrillers (Gone Girl, Girl on a Train — I have read them all!) I thought All the Missing Girls was a pretty solid psychological thriller.
The narrative of All the Missing Girls runs backwards
There’s an introductory part, in which main character Nicolette Farrell is called home to help her brother deal with their aging father. She returns to her small town, where she’s still haunted by memories of her missing best friend Corinne.
But shortly after she arrives, another girl goes missing – Annalise, the current girlfriend of her ex, Tyler.
Apropos of nothing, I think all these female characters have names with too many double consonants. And apropos of something, this “return to small town” and “girl with missing friend” are tropes that I’ve read in many, many thrillers.
But All the Missing Girls does something interesting (and something I was initially pretty skeptical of.)
As soon as that introductory part of the story is set up, the narrative starts moving in reverse, starting with day fifteen and heading backwards to day one, the day that Annelise disappears. I thought this was a risky (and mostly successful) choice.
Typically, a story like this one that’s so rooted in past events would be told using flashbacks.
I think the one weakness of the backwards vs. flashback choice is that Nicolette isn’t a character we get to know very well.
But suspense-wise, I think the backward method works well, allowing some very interesting revelations.
If you’re a thriller fan looking for a solid summer read, definitely check this one out!
I’ve read and reviewed many of Megan Miranda’s other books:
Review of All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda
My Review of The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda
Review of Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda