Cover Image: The Quiet Girl

The Quiet Girl

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Member Reviews

Thank you to @sfkosa @bookmarked and @tlcbooktours for this gifted copy of The Quiet Girl in exchange for an honest review! If you are a fan of psychological suspense, dueling narratives, and characters with lots of secrets to uncover, then this is a book for you to check out. I do want to mention trigger warnings for abuse and rape.

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Synopsis from the publisher: When Alex arrives in Provincetown to patch things up with his new wife, Mina, he finds an empty wine glass in the sink, her wedding ring on the desk, and a string of questions in her wake. The police believe that Mina, a successful romance author, simply left, their marriage crumbling before it truly began. But what Alex finds in their empty cottage points him toward a different reality: Mina has always carried a secret. And now she’s disappeared. In his hunt for the truth, Alex comes across Layla, a young woman with information to share, who may hold the key to everything his wife has kept hidden. A strange, quiet girl whose missing memories may break them all. To find his missing wife, Alex must face what Layla has forgotten. And the consequences are anything but quiet.

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This book was a bit slow to start but quickly picked up, and maintained a very steady level of building suspense with the dueling narratives that unfold in the alternating chapters. Some characters are not entirely like able but not in way that takes away from the story. This is a book full of so many secrets that you never really know who it’s telling the truth or what will come next. This book is currently available in ebook and paperback released August 11th. I think this book would make an amazing audiobook with the alternating storylines, but currently there isn’t an audiobook version available.

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Do certain books ever get a song stuck in your head? I found myself humming the theme song from Pretty Little Liars while reading this one❤️

3.75 stars almost 4 stars!

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Newlywed author Mina is a missing person. Her husband Alex has a hard time time getting anyone to take it seriously, or to help him find her.

The Quiet Girl is a good psychological thriller, with strong romance-novel stylistic undertones (this is perhaps deliberate, since Mina herself is a successful romance writer, with aspirations toward something darker and more serious.)

The book's pacing is dynamic, its plotting is devious, its setting (Cape Cod) comes alive. Some of the other elements of the story didn't quite measure up to this level, but it's still a compelling read.

In general, the best chapters were in the third person, about Layla and Maggie. The chapters in first person, narrated by Alex, were filled with his frantic tension, but the present-day characters weren't as deeply portrayed as were the people who filled the alternate storyline.

Some nit-picky reader items: My focus was thrown off numerous times by some odd verb choices (one example: the heat bled from the cake as the layers cooled.) And that first chapter, from Mina's point of view, was the worst in the book. I almost stopped reading (glad I didn't!)

So, a mixed bag. Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advance readers copy.

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Alex returns home after a spat with his new wife and discovers her missing. Her rings are in a wineglass and that's that. The police treat it as a person who wants to be missing and do not take his pleas seriously. The story begins to unravel at that point.

Alex has not met his parents in law other than on a single occasion. He knows that his wife is not on good terms with them but they are his last resort to find out any clues as to what has happened to her. Meeting them and feeling the tensions and hidden stories behind their steely façade, Alex knows there is more than meets the eye and it is somehow connected to his wife's disappearance.

The story of Layla is running parallel to Mina's story and one is definitely linked to the other. How Alex has to work to unravel the mystery of his wife's past and somehow find her is this story.

The book was good but meandered a bit to the point that it became rambling and it was difficult for me to fix events and how they connected.

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The Quiet Girl starts out with a cake and a missing wife named Mina. It alternates chapters between Alex’s (Mina’s husband) search for Mina and an out of it young woman named Layla. Kosa keeps the connection point between the two pretty much under the radar until the halfway point. Slowly but surely we put the pieces together and realize the connection between the two women. The more her husband searches, the more he realizes he might not really know Mina at all. Is it true or is it fiction ... and where is Mina?? A fast paced read that’s quite twisty.

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Wow, what an excellent read! There were so many times I was surprised while reading this book. When I thought I had figured everything out there were more layers of complexity. This was a very tightly plotted book. I would love to read more books by this wonderful author!

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Kayla is working at a restaurant near Boston. She has been taken in by Esteban, the bartender. Kayla can’t remember anything about her life before Esteban. She is The Quiet Girl. Her mind is filled with disturbing thoughts and images.

Alex is the Chief Financial Officer of his best friend’s start-up. They have had a promising result in the first trial of their new cancer drug. But the company needs a venture capitalist angel to reach the finish line and acquire FDA approval.

During this stressful process, Alex’ new wife, Mina, has disappeared without a word. She has left her engagement and wedding rings behind. She took out $400 from their ATM and vanished without a trace. Sure, Alex and Mina had a fight before her disappearance. But Alex didn’t think it was important enough to cause Mina to run off. But when her car is found abandoned nearby, the police have only two theories: suicide or Alex is her murderer.

The Quiet Girl is a pulse-pounding thriller that is impossible to put down! Could the police have got it wrong? Is the answer to Mina’s disappearance much more complex than simply suicide or murder?

I envy the readers who haven’t had the pleasure of reading this book yet! A multitude of surprises await you. I highly recommend this spine-tingling puzzle of a thriller. 5 stars and a favorite!

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

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This is a challenging review to write, because its one in which the reader will want no inkling of what is going to happen, so suffice it to say, the premise lies with the missing wife of a very busy CFO. They have had a fight and Mina has left to spend time in her Cape Cod writing cottage and then disappears. This is a book told in what appears to be unconnected stories of Layla, who has major mental problems and Alex’s hunt for Mina. The stories come together and so does the mysterious disappearance. It’s a complicated, well-written psychological thriller.

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Well this is a thriller everyone will be talking about. The author did an amazing job with the alternating timeline and POV chapters. The characters were well written and left me cheering on and eager to find out the heck was happening. I’m hoping S.F. Kosa writes more thrillers because I am counting it.

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Things are never what they seem to be. Riveting and compulsive. You'll want to devour this well written thriller in one gulp. Pick this up. You will love it. Happy reading!

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When Alex goes to his Provincetown home to patch things up after a fight with his new wife, Mina, all he finds is an empty wine glass and her wedding ring. Mina isn’t answering his calls and he doesn’t know where to find her. She is a romance novelist, but during his search for answers he is given a manuscript Mina gave her publisher. In reading it, Alex realizes that Mina had a past he knew nothing about and finds the clues to her disappearance.
Oh wow. This was good. I had NO idea where this was going. The novel is told through Alex’s point of view alternating with the story in the manuscript. I enjoyed how multidimensional this novel is and loved that it kept me guessing until the end of the book.

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Thanks so much to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and S.F. Kosa for the opportunity to read this fantastic thriller - it will truly have your head spinning! 5 stars!

Alex had a fight with his wife, Mina. She headed to her writing cabin in Provincetown while he stayed in Boston. But now she's not answering her phone and he can't get in touch with her at all. Worried, he heads out to look for her even though it's a pivotal time for his company. When he gets there, he finds more questions than answers. Meanwhile, Layla finds herself in Provincetown without a clear memory of her past. When Alex finds out about Layla, he wonders what she has to do with his wife's disappearance.

I really don't want to give anything else away. This book is written in such a unique fashion, alternating between Alex's hunt for Mina and Layla's story. It may seem confusing but do not give up - you will soon learn how these two alternating storylines come together and you will be in for a totally gripping story.

Highly recommended!

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Mina Richards, a popular romance writer, and Alex Zarabian, a start-up CFO, marry after a six-month whirlwind courtship. Their world is turned completely upside down when Mina disappears without a trace just two months into their marriage. They had had a serious row about their future just before her disappearance, and the police believe that it is just a relationship gone wrong, with Mina vanishing of her own volition.

Realizing how little Alex knows about Mina, he begins to investigate her past for clues to her disappearance. His search reveals a complicated puzzle that leads him to question her parents, their neighbors, Mina's current colleagues, and her long-ago acquaintances. Each holds information that will ultimately lead Alex to the startling truth.

The Quiet Girl is a compulsive, twisty read that captures one's attention from start to finish. A clinical psychologist by training, Kosa offer authentic insight into human behavior and uses unique elements to move the plot forward, hurtling towards a disquieting yet satisfying conclusion.

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This book was not exactly what I was expecting, but was a twisty, fast-paced read. I enjoyed the playful structure, bouncing between the 3rd person POV and 1st person POV, and thought the author skilfully brought everything together in the end. The author also did a great job of creating sympathetic characters and a compelling mystery.

There were a couple threads I thought didn't quite add up, but overall if you're into domestic thrillers with super dark subject matter, this will be right up your alley!

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Even though I had a little bit of a difficult time getting into this one to begin with, once I was in....I was in. It has plenty of twists and turns and definitely feels like a psychological thriller. Usually I can see the end coming, but for this one I didn't. Super good.

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No spoilers from me! Know that you might THINK you know what's going on but you don't. And neither does Alex, whose wife Mina has dropped off the face of the earth. Alex, a tech executive who has a funding problem on his hands, fell in love with Mina, a romance novelist, in a whirlwind and they married within six months. Now, after a disagreement, she's left Boston for her cottage in Provincetown, and then, poof, she's gone. No one seems to be able to help Alex until a junior at her publishing company gives him a copy of an unpublished manuscript. At the same time, there are alternate chapters featuring Layla, a young woman with a psychological problem (to say the least). The less said the better so that you too can follow the twists. I loved the Cape Cod setting (if I can't be there, it was nice to read about familiar places). There are great characters (I can just see some of these people) and some real surprises. Trust Alex (he's the only one except perhaps the police, who play only cameos). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is a real page turner- highly recommend.

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Alex and Mina, married after a short courtship, have had a disagreement and Mina flees to her house on Provincetown. His apologetic phone calls ignored, Alex heads off to the Cape where he finds that Mina has disappeared.

Meanwhile, a mysterious young woman, Layla, is trying to scrape by working at a local restaurant. When a boisterous customer insists her name is Maggie, she takes off on her bicycle, apparently has an accident, and is having memory issues.

And that is all of a summary I am going to give to avoid any spoilers.

This is a psychological thriller, with emphasis on the psychological. This is a fast read and you will find yourself quickly turning the pages to try to figure out just what is going on.
Without going into it because of spoilers, I do think some of Mina's story strained credibility. Yet, as we find ourselves with time on our hands, it is worth a read.

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The Quiet Girl by S. F. Kosa Admittedly, I was at first confused by the different timelines/POVs but once that evened out, the story was an extremely fast paced psychological suspense thriller. And the ending..what a twisty surprise. Didn't think much of Alex at the beginning but he more than redeemed himself in the end.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

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Alex returns to the cottage in Provincetown earlier than planned, so that he could patch things up with his new wife, after they had a big argument about having a baby. When he gets there, instead of finding Mina, he finds her wedding ring on the desk & an empty wine glass in the sink. He starts trying to find her and even files a missing persons report. But the harder he looks, and the more things from her past that he uncovers,, he realizes he didn't really know her at all.
This book had so many twists and turns that I didn't know which way was up half of the time. It was non-stop action from start to finish.

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Really good psychological thriller with enough twists and hints to keep the reader glued to the story. I appreciated the minor side stories just as relief from the tension the author created in the main storyline. This comes close to a 5* novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC to read and review.

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I had a hard time getting past the first few chapters, which felt like two disparate stories. As the story advances, however, you begin to see the plot device the author used, and that's where it gets interesting as you see the parallels between the two stories. I'm not sure if the third plot line, regarding Alex's work venture fits in or is necessary other than to show how frantic he is when he finds his wife missing, and needs to take time off from work. It also introduces his mom and his best friend to readers.

Unlike some other reviewers, I found the story fairly predictable (though not the ending!) and I loved how Kosa unraveled the tale.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advance reader's copy for review.

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