Lilibet Bombshell's Reviews > The Girls Who Disappeared

This review won’t be one of my long ones, because I simply can’t find many positive things to say about Claire Douglas’ latest (which is an unusual and highly disappointing thing in and of itself), and I can’t refuse to be one of those reviewers who writes a review that’s comprised of nothing but negative remarks.

I am usually a fan of Claire Douglas. I may not think she’s the best writer in her genre, but I don’t pass up any of her releases either. I love the focus on females in her books, as the victims, heroes, and villains. She writes striking scenes, memorable characters, and some sinister plots. In “The Girls Who Disappeared”, the female focus was there, but I was, to put it rather bluntly, very bored.

The beginning of the book, like all Claire Douglas books, is set up to sink its hook right into your brain to drag you into the book. You find yourself needing to know what happened. It’s almost like a compulsion, because the set-up is so enticing. In the case of this book, I wasn’t hooked. It didn’t seem like anything new. It felt a bit like a 90’s horror film. It had that distinct feeling of having been done before. The podcast thing has been done innumerable times in the genre in the past three years, and I’m tired of it… especially when it doesn’t feel like the writer has done their homework on how a podcast meant to be aired on the BBC would be researched, recorded, written, produced, and how all the legal minutiae would be handled along the way. I found myself having to suspend far too much of my disbelief.

Mostly, though? I was simply tired of it. It wasn’t anything new, it wasn’t fun, and it bored me.

NetGalley and Harper Perennial Paperbacks provided me with access to this title. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. Thank you. As per my personal policy this review will not appear on social media or any bookseller website due to the 3 star or lower rating.

File Under: Psychological Thriller/Crime Thriller/Murder Thriller/Suspense Thriller