Bree and Ty are supposed to be on a romantic getaway in New York City, but on their last morning, she discovers a dead body and her Ty is nowhere to be seen. What follows is a media frenzy around the fact that the body is that of missing white woman Janelle Beckett, whom people have been searching for. As a Black woman, Bree is well aware of the media storm that churns for missing white women but remains silent for people of color. Desperate for help, she turns to her estranged best friend, a lawyer, with secrets of her own. This book explores the discrepancies in which victims are treated based on race and Missing White Woman is an excellent read for fans of S.A. Cosby. Thank you to Mullholland Books and to Netgalley for the advanced review copy.

Good for fans of:
🔪thrillers incorporating social media
🔪BIPOC main character
🔪amateur sleuths
🔪Search Party (tv show)
🔪When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole

This is a gripping and taut thriller! I found Bree to be a very relatable character and enjoyed her perspective in the story. After a weekend away with her new boyfriend ends in Bree stumbling upon a dead body in the foyer of their Airbnb, a prominent TikToker ignites a social media frenzy where internet sleuths believe the body belongs to a local missing woman and begin trying to solve the case ahead of the police. Bree has her reasons to be suspicious of the police, but with her boyfriend missing (on the run?), her options are limited. That is, until someone from her past reappears.

The pace of this story is medium to fast. By turns, I felt protective of Bree, frustrated by her choices, and eager for her to figure out what was going on. The use of TikTok was a new layer I haven’t encountered in thrillers, and I think it was used effectively here. It enhanced the story. It shone a light on the ways Internet culture magnifies societal prejudices and who the winners and losers of viral movements tend to be.

While reading portions of the story set in the Jersey City Airbnb, where all the white neighbors are suspicious of Bree’s very presence, I felt the same sense of claustrophobia and stress as in When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole. As the TikTok character directs her followers to pursue leads in the case, I found myself thinking of the inept and dangerous choices by characters in the TV show Search Party.

This is a great thriller for fans of the genre looking for a layered story, amateur sleuths, and incorporating social media in a smart and savvy way.

4/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for an early copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. Good mystery, I thought I had it all figured out and it turned out I hadn't. It was an enjoyable read. I felt like the crime and build up lasted awhile and then the wrap up was a little too quick for me but needless to say I enjoyed the book and read it super quickly. I was in the mood for a page turner and this did not disappoint.

As a mystery/thriller, Missing White Woman is good, but that's only part of it. Garrett lures us in with the murder mystery and, as we read, makes astute points on race, social media, citizen sleuths.

I didnt love this as much as I thought I would, I found this to be a super slow born, the boyfriend was sketchy from the get go, but the ending really didn’t do it for me

I was compelled to read this book because it’s set in my neck of the woods. I was not impressed.

First, the dialogue didn’t work for me. The characters were aged at most in their mid 30s and the slang/turns of phrases used were of people in their 50s. As a 30something with siblings in that age range, it made my skin crawl.

The main character is exceptionally altruistic for the situation she finds herself in. I could not suspend my disbelief. When a person that’s been in the system already finds themselves compromised and about to go back, there is no way she’d think of a no name young black male before herself. I’m not referring to her boyfriend. I’m talking about the hypothetical innocents she constantly defers to in spite of incriminating herself in a murder.

While the pace was good (earned the book a second star,) the twists were sometimes predictable. The friendship drama was under explored and the boyfriend was not sympathetic or swoon worthy. At least not enough so to warrant her dogged loyalty.


Finally, there were setting inaccuracies. As a long time commuter, it irked me that the main character took the wrong train to a certain destination. I know I’m supposed to give fiction some grace but if you’re going to use actual locations, make sure easily verifiable info is correct.

There’s more I can say but I think the two star rating is sufficient. I received a NetGalley arc for an honest review.

I was really excited about this book, but unfortunately, it didn't quite meet my expectations. The pace was slow, and the conclusion, especially regarding Bree and her best friend, as well as the resolution of the mystery, felt abrupt and unsatisfying. However, the premise of the story and its commentary on issues like social media and the differing treatment of crimes involving white women versus minorities were thought-provoking.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review

Breanna can’t wait for weekend getaway with her new boyfriend, Ty. Then she arrives at the posh penthouse he has rented for the weekend and she gets even more excited. Even the workaholic Ty won’t spoil Brenna’s good mood, or the amazing views.

But as Ty grows increasingly distracted with work woes, Breanna finds herself growing frustrated. She also finds herself on high alert as an African American woman in an overly white dominated community. While she knows their stares shouldn’t matter, she can’t help but feel uneasy in a place where all she hoped to do was relax.

Then one morning, Breanna wakes up to an empty house-and a dead woman on the first floor. With Ty nowhere to be found and a past criminal record that framed her for something she didn’t do, Breanna can’t help but to have a case of deceitful Deja vu. When it’s suspected that the dead woman is the same missing woman whose face has been all over social media, Breanna’s panic multiplies. Reluctantly, she accepts the help of a friend who left her high and dry all those years ago. Can she trust her now, and more importantly, can she find out the truth?

Missing White Woman is a propulsive page turner from @kellyekell. Although a morose mystery, there are added layers of depth in this story with the additions of social media scrutiny and regretful racial profiling. A book that kept me guessing from start to finish, Missing White Woman is both a compelling read, and a careful commentary on quiet characterization.

I really enjoyed this suspense story about a young woman who goes on a romantic weekend with a new-ish boyfriend only to find herself trapped in a nightmare. He goes missing and she's the prime suspect. She has to align herself with a former BFF in order to find the real killer. It's fun to read a millennial detective story and I recommend this one to both adult and YA readers!

Breanna is supposed to be an enjoying a weekend away in Jersey City with her boyfriend Ty. They keep seeing missing posters for a white woman, Janelle, who disappeared from an area near their Airbnb. However, things take a turn for the worse for Breanna when Janelle is found murdered in her airbnb and Ty is the main suspect (and can’t be found).

I really enjoyed this one! It was fast-paced, suspenseful and had some good twists (including a few I didn’t see coming). I wish we had gotten a little more in the epilogue about Breanna in the future but I am wondering if there will be a sequel/second related book as it kind of leaves on a cliffhanger. Maybe that isn’t the right phrase but we get a tidbit of knowledge that could maybe tie into another book. Overall if you are looking for a good thriller, you definitely should read this one!

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is another tight and engaging thriller from Kellye Garrett, with a lot of well done social commentary to boot. I thought that Garrett did a good job of laying out various clues, as well as some well placed misdirections, and I thought that the suspense not only about who the killer was but also about Breanne being a Black woman accused of being involved in the case of a high profile missing white woman's death was maintained well and made for tense reading. But what really sold it for me was how well Garrett incorporates the stark and frustrating realities of how systemic racism towards Black people makes it easy for them to be villainized by the police, as well as how armchair detectives and spotlight thirsty people on the Internet can cloud, damage, and do real harm when it comes to active cases. As well as the media's obsession with Missing White Woman syndrome. and how that can take priority over so many other things. Overall, I really enjoyed this thriller!

ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴏʀʏ: Breanna is visiting her new bf Ty for the weekend, but on her last day she wakes up in her Airbnb to find Ty gone and a dead body at the foot of the stairs.

ᴍʏ ᴛᴡᴏ ᴄᴇɴᴛs: This was such a great story with some really relevant commentary on today’s society. Janelle Beckett (a white woman who went missing) made national headlines and is believed to be the body Breanna finds in their weekend rental.

The way that the entire case was portrayed was so realistic and so sad. It’s not right that certain people make headlines based on their social connections and skin color while so many others go missing everyday and we never hear about them. Also, this book was a great example of how people are tried in the court of public opinion thanks to the wide-reaching internet with little regard for evidence, and many are quick to attack strangers for perceived slights.

The story itself was fast-paced and engaging, and I love a good twisty thriller, but the social commentary is what really made this book one I’d recommend.

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮:
👯‍♀️Enjoy domestic thrillers
👯‍♀️Love a second chance redemption arc
👯‍♀️Want a crime novel that depicts social media’s impact on the evidence

Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett was one of my most highly anticipated mystery/thrillers of the year. I'm familiar with missing white woman syndrome, and was instantly drawn in by the premise: loads of attention is on locating a white woman, when a Black woman finds a body in her Airbnb. Plus I'd read three of her books and thought they were just getting better.

I'm recommend reading Missing White Woman as contemporary fiction, rather than mystery/suspense. There's a lot to chew on, from the role of social media in active police investigations to the experience of a Black woman alone in a new city. It's also a slow-burn character-driven plot. This next bit might be spoilery so read at your own risk!


I didn't care for the climax and resolution: I don't feel like the reader ever got a "why" or motive. Some clear details regarding the case aren't shared - which, OK, you can make the argument that we don't need them, they're ancillary, but after spending 300+ pages following along as Bree tried to figure out what happened, I felt letdown. (Which also may have been prevented by reading this one more as general fiction than a mystery/thriller!)

To be sure, I'll be interested in whatever Garrett writes next.

You can't look at a news source without seeing some blonde haired white woman who is missing. What you can't find are the black and brown women who are missing. I truly expected this story to lean into that issue much stronger than it did. Sure there is some good social commentary, but not as heavy as I was thinking I would find. Instead we have a young black woman, Brea, who is uncomfortable trying to enter her AirBNB in a very white neighborhood. This gets worse when she wakes a couple days later to find a white woman very dead and her boyfriend very missing. From there it is trying to determine who did what. I liked that one of the "tee hee what ifs" I imagined actually came to be. There were some great twists and turns and I enjoyed following along as Brea tried to protect herself and find out what happened with Ty and the missing white woman.

Missing White Woman is a slow-burning thriller that examines social media culture and societal prejudices against people of color.

Bree is spending a long weekend with her boyfriend Ty at an AirBnB in Jersey City. At the same time, a local white woman has gone missing, and a TikTok makeup influencer has taken up the cause. Bree comes downstairs on the last morning of the trip to finda bludgeoned woman on the floor and her boyfriend missing. While the case is viral on social media, Bree tries to stay out of the spotlight. She reconnects with her former friend, Adore, who is now a lawyer, and the two try to navigate the police and the vigilantes who are everywhere.

I thought the beginning part of this book, detailing her dates with Ty, was kind of slow, but once she found the body, the story really picked up. I liked the intersection of social media and the justice system. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to the publisher, the author, and Netgalley!

Talk about a vacation from hell. Nothing like a good ole weekend with you man when you find out he really isn’t who you thought it was…or is he? Missing White Woman had me on the edge of my seat tuned in. I felt like i was solving this case in real time like the internet sleuths. But boy was I irritated with everybody literally. Right off bat I was not feeling the character Billie she irked me and reminded me of several irl content creators lol but I go into to much on her. Bree i was so mad and irritated with how she was moving especially considering her last like girl get it together. And then Adore infinity eye roll emojis her way because she was foul. But the messaging behind this book was great and it highlighted some cons to “viral” moments and the bad behaviors of people on the internet. The real victim was Ty and the whole details of what was going on was explained but the one thing it lacked to me was the why? Why was this plan executed. It would’ve been great to get another POV maybe the male main character.

3.5⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for this e-ARC.

What if you woke up in your AirBnB to find your boyfriend gone and a murdered woman on the floor? Such is the premise for this twisty, propulsive thriller from Kellye Garrett. What ensues is a tense, slow-burn mystery compounded by rabid social media attention.

It’s a fun, easy read and while a lot of the twists were telegraphed miles ahead of time, there were still a few that managed to surprise. I was satisfied with the ending but also could have used a bit more information and tying up of ends.

LIKE A SISTER author Garrett interrogates the ethics of the true crime industrial complex in her smart and fresh thriller. Smart, fresh, and utterly unputdownable, this could be Garrett's breakout. I hope it is!

Do I think this book will feel dated in a year bc of all its references to crypto and TikTok? Yes probably. But I can forgive that because of how fantastic its critique of true crime, performative grief, racism, and influencer culture was.

I enjoyed this book for the most part—It had some really great twists and turns, and I really had no idea what actually happened until the 80% mark when the FMC puts the pieces together. Parts of the plot felt a little clunky and like I said, some of it already feels a bit dated (or maybe I’m just biased against crypto) but overall, like I said, I enjoyed it. I especially liked the friendship element and the redemption arc there.

I was very interested in reading this one as it sounded like a thriller with some promising social commentary about our culture’s obsession with missing white women (which often comes at the expense of other racial and cultural groups largely ignored by the media and general public). And this didn’t disappoint on that front.

This is certainly a thriller of the modern era where a crime happens at an Airbnb, and a lot of the story is propelled through a TikTok channel obsessed with the case of a missing white woman. Our story follows Breanna, a black woman who finds herself mixed up in a case she doesn’t understand and finds herself and her boyfriend profiled and villainized by the internet. This book definitely sheds light on the dark side of internet sleuths who often jump to conclusions without any basis, ruining innocent people’s lives in the process and justifying it by saying they are “seeking justice for the victim.” This is sadly a real-life issue, and I appreciated the author’s highlighting this alongside the wrongs of the criminal justice system against black people in particular.

I really enjoyed the author’s writing and was so intent on reading until the end to figure out what actually happened. I thought I was going to rate this a little higher, but the ending lost me a little bit. The pacing was just really off from the rest of the story in the last 10-15% of the book. And I think overall I liked where the ending took the story - it was a very unique twist of events. I just wish there had been a little more time spent on making that ending feel earned. Had that been the case, this may have been a five star read for me.

But overall, I still recommend this book when it is published! Particularly if you are someone looking for a little more substance in your thrillers.