Review ~ GIRL LAST SEEN by Nina Laurin

GIRL LAST SEEN

Standalone

Nina Laurin

Releasing on June 20, 2017

Purchase on Amazon

BLURB

Two missing girls. Thirteen years apart.
Olivia Shaw has been missing since last Tuesday. She was last seen outside the entrance of her elementary school in Hunts Point wearing a white spring jacket, blue jeans, and pink boots.

I force myself to look at the face in the photo, into her slightly smudged features, and I can’t bring myself to move. Olivia Shaw could be my mirror image, rewound to thirteen years ago.

If you have any knowledge of Olivia Shaw’s whereabouts or any relevant information, please contact…

I’ve spent a long time peering into the faces of girls on missing posters, wondering which one replaced me in that basement. But they were never quite the right age, the right look, the right circumstances. Until Olivia Shaw, missing for one week tomorrow.

Whoever stole me was never found. But since I was taken, there hasn’t been another girl.

And now there is.

*3.5 Stars*

Girl Last Seen offers everything I look for in a thriller: mystery, suspense, an untrustworthy cast of characters, a twisty “whodunnit” plot, not to mention that eerily beautiful cover—and yet the way it was all sort of haphazardly pulled together left me slightly underwhelmed.

But why not start with the positive: The characters were gritty and uncensored—in fact, so were the elements of the plot—and I love that. If you’re going to create a lost and abused, pill-popping, drug addicted female protagonist, I want to be able to *feel* her desperation to my core—and I DID.

I felt “icky” (Amy *Foxy’s* term, All Rights Reserved;) and uncomfortable, and deeply saddened for the tragedy our heroine endured. This author knows how to breathe life into her characters, and their hopelessness was suffocating.

The suspense was thickly layered, turning almost everyone into a suspect at some point, and sparked a lingering guessing game for the reader. Without giving away any spoilers—the ending was a change from most of the thrillers I’ve been reading lately, and although it closed in a way I don’t typically prefer, I will say, in this case, I was left satisfied.

The not-so-postive : As alive as this story became, I didn’t find myself wondering about it much or compelled to pick it back up after I’d stopped reading, and I’m not exactly sure why. The writing style was decent, but didn’t leave a huge impression, and there were some undercooked scenarios in this story that appeared to hold significance but were left to dangle as loose ends.

Although the structure of the plot felt a little unpolished, I do think this book has incredible potential, and would definitely recommend to those looking for a thriller with an unrefined edge.

*Thanks for buddy reading this one with me, Amy (Foxy)!*

Complimentary ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley

Author: Kristin (KC)

1 thought on “Review ~ GIRL LAST SEEN by Nina Laurin

  1. I’m reading the book but have forgot whom Peter Lyons is it what part he is in all this. Can u say? I’m just at where she finds him at his house idk why she went looking

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