Mary grew up in in Liberty Lake and wanted to get away from this life. In that in order to do this, she had to excel in high school. She became known as Ivy League Mary when she was accepted at Cornell University. She returned to Liberty Lake when she got into a fight with another girl at Cornell and was expelled. Mary pretended that she was working on her thesis and got a job in a local grocery store. A former school mate disappeared and was discovered brutally murdered. Mary was suspicious of this murder and began her own search for the killer. She managed to put herself into a situation of possibly becoming the next victim.

Nice Girls by Catherine Dang is a quick murder mystery in a small town. Two completely different girls go missing and end up dead. Mary, an Ivy League college girl who returns home due to an incident she was involved with at school, decides to try to solve and find the killer. Along the way, she questions what she knows about herself, what she wants for her future, and how she became this person that she is. Mary puts her newly found friends and herself in danger as she goes on a quest to find the killer.
Nice Girls is an enjoyable story but it has some drawbacks. Mary's backstory of her fight at college explains why she returns home but it offers nothing else in the story. Mary is an unlikable character who behaves more childlike than adult. No one in the story is really likeable at all, including Mary's father who seems to not like his daughter at all. The murder mystery was a little intriguing but the story from beginning to end seemed thrown together instead of planned out.I think I would have enjoyed the book better if there were at least one character I could root for.
Thank to Netgalley, William Morrow, and the Scene of the Crime Early Reads for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. The mystery kept me on my toes and had me hooked. I thought the book dived into some important topics that are relevant today like unequal representation when it comes to media and other facets of life when it comes to being a white person or a person of color. The ending was gripping and i finished this book very quickly, I had my suspicions on who the killer was but I was wrong.

This falls into a category of thrillers that are very "in" right now, but because of that it felt done. Nothing new here, but will please readers that like this type.

This was a fast paced book, that was hard to put down, and definitely a well done debut book! The characters were well defined and complex, although not all are likeable. Still, I admired Mary's persistence in her attempts to overcome her own failings, as well as discover who murdered two young women, one of whom was a childhood friend. The plot shows the dark side of social media, and the long term effects of bullying, as it twists through numerous suspects to the unexpected but completely plausible conclusion. I did receive an ARC of this from Scene of the Crime and Netgalley, and I am glad I did!

We all know of a few of "those girls" from High School. The pretty girl who seemingly has everything you want and her life is just perfect? Got her name? Now picture yourself 10 years down the road and she's missing. Are you helping to search for her or sitting on the couch thinking she had it coming?



Mary wasn't "that" girl, but she had been friends with her for most of her childhood before going their separate ways. But now Mary is back home after being booted from her Ivy League school and "that girl", aka Olivia, is missing.



If I'm being honest, I didn't feel as connected to Mary or any of the other characters as I think I should have been. She was a strong character, Sure, I empathized with her, but something just didn't make me love her. A brilliant mind in a dark place...The first half of the book alluded to why she was kicked out of school but once it was finally revealed, it just didn't feel all that... juicy? I think the book would have been helped if the reader know the why much sooner and could have related to Mary in regards to this...



There was a lot of thought processing throughout the book and if I hadn't been so dang curious about where Olivia was or her connection to DeMaria (the other missing girl), I probably wouldn't have finished the book. BUT, the fact that I felt I just had to know is a definite plus for Catherine Dang - great job at grabbing my curiosity and keeping me turning the pages!



And then the ending... What really happened to Olivia and DeMaria? Well, that was thrilling. It felt like watching a good thrilling movie - another kudos to Catherine! I'm not going to give away anything...



So overall, I think many people are going to love this book. I think that my feelings are probably the outcome the author was striving for even - that disconnect with Mary and the relationships surrounding her. Because, after all, they are the real winner of this book. This isn't a sick and twisted thriller if that's what you're hoping for - but it is definitely a book you'll want to absorb even if you don't understand exactly why...



Thank you William Morrow for allowing me to read this and give my honest opinion.

Wow, what a demented, deliciously dark, and addicting read! I absolutely had one of the hardest times putting this down, so well written, with character development done so realistically and phenomenally, I connected even more to a story I was already completely addicted to. Fast paced, with an unique plot, and a sense of reality in how the characters lived from high school or even younger (in some cases) throughout college years! Really brought back those feelings many feel when not in the popular group at school, and hoping you can show people you’re worth it someday! Didn’t really shock me, but the writing was so great I didn’t even care, as I had to get to the end. Really honestly quite emotional, with some dark, disturbing themes within! Highly, highly recommend, as I promise this is one that will definitely grab you, even if you figure out the twist, you can’t help being a bit shocked and hungover!

Will buzz around platforms and review with top Amazon reviewer number!

Nice Girls by Catherine Dang is a dark, suspenseful look at the role race, class, and even appearance play in how women are treated.

Growing up in a small town in Minnesota, Mary was chubby, unattractive, and poor. But she was also driven and smart which is how she earned a full-ride scholarship to an Ivy League college. Until her luck ran out and she was expelled. Now she’s back home, working a dead-end job at a grocery store, avoiding questions about what happened.

And then she gets tangled up in Olivia’s disappearance. Olivia was besties with Mary even as she was all of the things Mary wasn’t – pretty, popular, monied. Olivia, a social media influencer with the seemingly perfect Instagram-worthy life, has disappeared without a trace. And Mary feels driven to untangle what happened.

This debut is so much more than just a suspense novel about a missing college girl. It looks at how class, race, and prettiness affect how women are treated – by the press, the police, and even their neighbors. While the town turns out en masse to hunt for Olivia, a year earlier when a Black single mother disappeared, her mother had to beg the police to do any investigating at all.

And yet Catherine Dang doesn’t allow easy answers – all of these characters are flawed, some even deeply emotionally damaged.

This is a fast-paced, rollercoaster ride full of atmospheric descriptions, a relatable narrator, and ever-increasing tensions. So good!

A stand out debut novel from Catherine Dang. The book itself starts off kind of slow, but its all build up and character development which I appreciated and liked, as the slow burn wasn't off putting or boring in any way. A multi layered suspenseful read with a twist that I didn't see coming. This is one of my favorite books I have read this year.

Do you ever almost NOT read a book, and then you are glad that you decided to pick it up? That was me with Catherine Dang's finely crafted debut, Nice Girls. Having read plenty of "girl-gone-missing" thrillers, I feel like I have explored the scope of what this genre has to offer. Fortunately, Dang gave me a little something more to enjoy with her novel about "Ivy League Mary," a girl who made it to Cornell and was subsequently kicked out during her senior year for one moment of seriously bad judgment. Back home and living with her father who is not happy about her mistakes, Mary tries to keep what happened at Cornell a secret while working at the local grocery store. But when she becomes involved in not one, but two missing girl mysteries from her hometown, she learns that she is not the only one with something to hide.

Catherine Dang is a voice that needs to be heard, and she is a welcome addition to the women's suspense genre. What I loved so much about her debut is that she takes time to really build her story, investing readers in the plot and characters before pulling out the twists and turns. This strategy is so effective because it allows readers to form their own opinions about the characters and their motives, and hence, when the rug is pulled out from underneath them, the pay-off is gratifying. Dang does a lot of showing, as opposed to telling, which is a characteristic I really appreciate in a writer - one who lets me come to my own conclusions instead of telling me what to think.

I was "all in" during my entire reading of Nice Girls, which I devoured in practically one sitting. Dang effectively layers a story about a girl moving back in with her parents after a failed attempt at college and the adjustments she has to make to go from being somebody back to nobody, with a small-town missing girls mystery. While the missing girls are always in the background, they aren't the constant focus of this multi-layered novel, and readers will find that Mary has secrets and intrigue all of her own.

While I found Mary to be mostly unlikeable, even pitiful, the storyline was well imagined and delivered. Mary has ruined her college life and moved back home to a grocery store job and questionable acquaintances. When her childhood friend goes missing, and then is found in a lake, she believes their is a serial killer working, and she is determined to figure it out. Is it done as a penance for her misdeeds in life? Will she figure this out, or become a victim? .

A solid addition to the crowded thriller genre. A recommended purchase for collections where similar titles are popular.

I loved this book., a disgraced student and a missing girl. What a web we weave? Lies and mystery plague this book. I was literally spellbound by the ending. One of the best thrillers I’ve ever read.