Kristen Bird’s debut novel, The Night She Went Missing, is a very well-crafted mystery full of suspense as well as new twists or turns around every corner. Anytime the reader starts to think they know exactly where the story will go next, Bird has a surprise waiting for them.
Told from several different perspectives throughout, The Night She Went Missing is the story of a teenage girl who has (obviously) gone missing, but Bird has worked in themes and ideas that are less commonly included in mystery/thrillers. By setting the story in Galveston, Texas, which is an island connected to the greater Houston area only by a causeway (for those unfamiliar with this location), Bird has placed this story in a somewhat unique environment. Having lived in Galveston myself, I can confidently say that the author has portrayed the island, its society, and the prevailing attitudes perfectly, and used them in just the right way.
There is a bit of a locked-room mystery feel, because (as several characters state) the island operates like a world unto itself. Throughout the novel, the reader gets the feeling of seclusion and separation from anything outside of the island. The fourth largest city in the United States is literally 30 minutes away, but you would never know that, either living on the island or from the characters and events in The Night She Went Missing.
Social class structure and privilege are also incredibly well used throughout the novel. The story focuses primarily on the highest social class in Galveston, with private schools, lavish parties and events, and political connections that will make your blood boil (again, both in the novel and in real life). But using this section of society allows Bird to incorporate themes of life not working out how we may have believed it would, and how there are things in life that all the money and privilege in the world can not protect you from.
My personal favourite aspect of The Night She Went Missing is Bird’s way of slowly answering all of the reader’s questions, rather than in one quick information dump of a solution. Unlike what we often see on television shows with detectives literally saying, “Here’s what happened…” we instead get a few of the answers we were looking for, and by the time the reader starts to think, “well, what about…” Bird them gives us a little more of the puzzle.
I am always excited about debut authors and was thrilled to discover Bird has a new book scheduled for March of 2023. I can’t wait to read whatever is coming next!
The Night She Went Missing is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
An intriguing and twisty domestic suspense about loyalty and deceit in a tight-knit Texas community where parents are known to behave badly and people are not always who they appear to be.
Emily, a popular but bookish prep school senior, goes missing after a night out with friends. She was last seen leaving a party with Alex, a football player with a dubious reputation. But no one is talking.
Now three mothers, Catherine, Leslie and Morgan, friends turned frenemies, have their lives turned upside down as they are forced to look to their own children—and each other’s—for answers to questions they don’t want to ask.
Each mother is sure she knows who is responsible, but they all have their own secrets to keep and reputations to protect. And the lies they tell themselves and each other may just have the potential to be lethal in this riveting debut.
