Hmm. This is twisty! That revelation floored me! Fellows, that made a mark! So good!

Cheers to Netgalley for the copy!

Karen Wolff’s second published fiction book The Endless Search is a historic mystery thriller. A Cold Case Unit reopens an investigation of two South Dakota high school girls thirty-three years after their disappearance. The main suspect is a once troubled youth, now convicted violent criminal of sexual assault against women. Is this reprobate Eli Thorson guilty of their abduction and disappearance? This is more of a character study and about the lives of various affected people in the differing time periods, rather than a crime mystery. The disappearance of the teenagers is more a subplot and therefore, somewhat disappointingly only a three-and-a-half-star rating. With thanks to BHC Press and the author, for an uncorrected advanced copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given, without influence.

I do believe that this book is written well and structured well. However, the story is not for me. It fell flat in my opinion. I really did not like any of the characters. I understand the concept of it but it really just never pulled me into the story. I do think I would try to read another book.

The Endless Search is the story of two young girls what go missing on their way to a keg party. Eli is the perfect candidate to be responsible for the missing girls. Eli is a troubled boy that has impulse issues as well as focusing on a specific girl/woman and unbale to control his urges. As a result he becomes more intense in his pursuit to the point of being unstable and dangerous to those he focuses on. He is bright when given the opportunity of attending college and does quite well. But on a emotional level he lacks the basics of accepted normalcy. His family has overcompensated to protect him and covers up many of his wrong doings and crimes. Unfortunately, this story takes place in a time when their was no DNA process and the advances in crime detection were unavailable. In addition, many law agencies preferred to look the other way in regards to stalking, sexual abuse, and in general crimes against women. The way the story is told there isn't much emphasis on investigation when the girls go missing, more of a wait and see if they turn up in the next few days. After thirty years, a missing persons department is created and the "truth" is discovered.

I liked this book, but I felt it dragged in many parts. I kept waiting for it to build and pick up speed. It was more of a story being told but not from anyone in particular point of view.

Two young women disappear after saying they are going to a party. There are many questions surrounding their disappearance. They believe a known acquaintance may be the culprit. The story shares about his experiences with woman and how he may potentially have hurt these two young women.

Before anything else, I want to say that the author of this book is clearly very talented. It's obvious that they're an experienced author and they had a great idea for a story. They also had dozens of characters and several storylines to keep straight, and they did a wonderful job of doing that!

So I'm sad to say that I feel like this story wasn't executed very well, in my opinion. I felt that there were too many characters and the book overall was just much longer than it needed to be. Like, there were certain parts of the story that had nothing to do with anything and it might've been better if they were just cut out.

About halfway through, I just felt as though the story was going on a bit too slow, and by the ending, I felt like it fell kind of flat.

It was a good story idea by a talented writer, but it just wasn't the best execution for me.

I think my initial impression that I will share is that this author has promise. That being said I think this book needed a bit of fine tuning. The author also threw in a few very long, rarely used words here and there which I found a bit odd. I like the premise and the story but I will same the title fits as it seemed to go on for a very long time. I would say this book was just okay, however, I would be willing to read another book by this same author.

It was an amazing amazing read. The end was most unexpected . I was caught up by the sheer softness of the truth, as it was sprung upon the readers. I am giving this one 4.5 stars. Il keep a look out for more from Ms Karen. Thank you net galley.

Set in the 1970's,, The Endless Search is a novel about seeking the truth. Paulette and Denise two high school young women, recently graduated. Denise and Paulette for different reasons have little stability in their home lives.

The setting is believable, lots of reminder of life back then and the importance of peers and belonging. Early on we meet the most obvious suspect for the disappearance of the girls; Eli. He is not a nice person and he is violent in some situations.

Many, many characters are introduced as the years pass and only when a cold case division is opened in the are do we find the truth. Where are Paulette and Denise?

The story lost tension with two many characters and some tangents. It's a good idea that was not executed perfectly. I will surely try author Karen Wolff again. Missing persons your favorite thriller topic? Try #TheEndlessSearch.

Mystery book that covers the disappearance of two teenage girls over a 30 year period, this book reads like a true crime story rather than a typical suspense novel. Paulette and Denise are two high school friends. Denise is living with her grandfather due to a difficult home life and has just graduated from high school. Paulette is a year younger, the late in life child from a couple who have grown children, Paulette is a shy girl who plays in the high school band. This book is set in the 1970's and the author gets all of the details right, the way the characters act and look and their behaviors. The girls are sometimes bothered by a disturbed young man named Eli Thorson, and Eli['s story spans the entirety of this book. One evening the girls are invited to a party to be held at a local sand pit and they never come home. Eli is suspected due to his interest in Paulette and the fact that he has tried to rape other women and is generally known to be violent. However, no clues are found and the police cannot tie Eli to the case or find out what happened.

This book has dozens of characters and while I applaud the author for keeping everyone straight, it became difficult to remember who was who especially since each character came with a spouse, children, co-workers and occupations and it was too much to remember. This usually becomes a factor for me in true crime novels and I double checked to make sure this was fiction. There are also interludes with various characters which have no relation to the story such as when Denise's brother Kevin is briefly dating a Jewish woman who wants to marry someone within her own faith. The novel loses steam for me in the last half. As the years go by, dozens of new characters appear and we are introduced to the stories of several women (and their relatives) who have dated and been raped by Eli. At the very end of the novel, a cold case department opens up in the South Dakota town where the girls disappear and we eventually find out the truth. The author did a good job with the details and time periods, but too many characters and a weak overall storyline caused me to give this a lower rating.

I'm not sure how to review this book. The actual writing was nice and the author seems to know what she is a doing on that end. I felt like I was promised one thing and ended up with something completely different. This is not really a murder mystery. Instead, this is an exploration of the effects are on p[people when loved ones disappear. The author sets it up as a typical mystery and then doesn't deliver. I won't spoil anything, but the ending felt like it was added so that they author could throw in a twist just for the sake of throwing in a twist. Ultimately, it was a disappointing experience.