Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars**
Local Woman Missing is a completely engrossing Thriller. I cannot believe I’ve let this one sit on my backlist for so long.
I actually hadn’t read the synopsis in years, so went into this audiobook completely blind. It wasn’t what I expected, for some reason I was thinking this was about hikers who all went missing from trails around the same small town.
Spoiler alert: that’s decidedly not what this book is about. I’m not sure where I came up with that alternative plot?
This book is about missing women though, hence the title. The first to go missing was Shelby. Then two weeks later, Meredith and her 6-year old daughter, Delilah, went missing too. Both women from the same community, but they were seemingly unconnected.
Desperate searches lead to nothing conclusive. The initial investigations creating more questions than answers. The cases eventually go cold.
11-years later, Delilah, now a teen, suddenly reappears, in terrible shape, both physically and mentally. She was apparently held captive this entire time, until the day she forged a miraculous escape. But what became of her mother, Meredith? And for that matter, Shelby?
Also, why would anyone hold this girl captive for so long? And under the terrible conditions that she claims? Again, more questions than answers…
This book was gripping from the start, as you follow Delilah making her re-entrance into the community. This story follows various perspectives, including Meredith and Shelby, over both past and present timelines.
The way it is all pieced together is quite masterful, as far as building suspense and keeping the Reader on their toes.
I was most surprised that we got Leo’s perspective. Leo is Delilah’s little brother, and he has had to live with the aftermath of the disappearance of his mother and his sister for all these years.
I thought that was so interesting to include, because Leo was too young to have anything to do with the disappearances, but he had a lot of complex feelings following the return of his sister, that’s for sure.
I felt like that was such a compelling aspect to examine, and I was pleased that Kubica chose to include that more personal side of these events, instead of focusing solely on the crimes.
Overall, this was such a wicked web. The deeper you get into the past perspectives, the more the lightbulbs start going off in your head. You begin to see connections.
Nevertheless, there were still things all the way at the end that were dropping my jaw to the ground. I just felt like this was so entertaining. Some aspects felt a little convenient, but overall, a wickedly-wild ride!!
