Filled with suspense!

When a young couple goes on a hike and only one of them returns, it ignites suspicion between the two families, forcing them to pick a side.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. The author wrote a couple of interesting and plausible twists that perhaps readers, who are familiar with the Petito case, would find realistic and satisfying. Personally, I enjoyed it because it kept the pace steady, and provided justice and closure for the right characters. I liked how different the POVs were between the four parents. Simon’s parents were especially interesting considering how they handled the situation in the wake of Nina’s disappearance and Simon’s odd behavior. The ways they enabled and made excuses for him was terrifying. Nina’s parent’s went through hell and it was difficult to read, specifically because I found their internal dialogue / emotions somewhat repetitive. The way Nina’s father handled Simon was shocking, and probably my favorite scene in the book.

4/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
For readers who enjoy stories about missing persons’ cases, domestic suspense, and dark secrets.

A couple in love go away for the weekend but only one returns. This sounds similar to that notorious story in 2021 that continues to be brought up in crime shows and podcasts even in 2024 but this book is about Nina and Simon and the obsessive actions of both their families to find answers about Nina being missing and Simon's parents willing to anything and everything protect their son's reputation and his life. Yes, this book does sound reminiscent of that case but believe me it is definitely not that infamous case! This fictional story is so much more nightmarish if even possible!


I absolutely loved this crazy and emotional thriller! This book has a little bit of everything and then some about thoughts and feelings of both sets of parents and the hell that they were going through every minute of the day and making the reader think about what would they do or feel if either of these young adults were your own child and to what extent one would go to get answers and justice for the missing child vs. how far would you go to protect the child who is the prime and only suspect in his missing, beloved girlfriend's case.

I enjoyed everything about this emotional thriller and I will look forward to reading more books by Dervla McTiernan. The author did a wonderful job on making the characters very interesting and believable as far as the story played out which becomes a wicked thriller and not just another sad, soapy and predictable story.

Sometimes the parents were so unlikeable and other times their actions and thoughts just wrenched my heart and wouldn't let go because of the deep heartfelt and unconditional love that each parent had for their child. I must not forget another hero to the story was the dogged detective who was determined to find Nina at all costs and the great job he did at leaving "No Stone Unturned". The detective was so likeable and interesting that I wouldn't be surprised if the author wrote a new series featuring this man and his police force. The last thirty percent of the book is so exciting, unpredictable, crazy, mesmerizing and to top it all off! The Ending is a Wow, Wow!

Highly, Highly Recommend!

I want to thank the publisher " William Morrow " and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this novel and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I have given a rating of 4 1/2 STUNNING AND EMOTIONAL 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌠 STARS!!


Publication Date: March 26, 2024
Title: What Happened To Nina
Author: Dervla McTiernan

US pub date: 3/26/24
Genre: suspense
Quick summary: Nina and her rich boyfriend Simon are the perfect couple - but her disappearance after their trip together fuels worldwide suspicion, and armchair sleuths will do anything to find out the truth.

Thrillers that feel like true crime are a favorite of mine, and McTiernan kept me hooked while reading this one. It felt a bit like a Gabby Petito "ripped from the headlines" story, and it was interesting to see all the perspectives come together. One element I really liked was the battle of Nina and Simon's parents - we know that a parent will do a lot to protect a child, and both sets here lived up to that reputation. I also enjoyed the exploration of wealth disparities, a theme also present in THE SCHOLAR, the first book I read by McTiernan. I read this book in one day, and I bet a lot of readers will do the same. 4+ stars.

Thank you to William Morrow and @thoughtsfromapage podcast for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! As a parent, this book was extremely difficult to read. I could sympathize with both mothers, Leanne, and Jamie. This book made me mad and frustrated and sad! But in a good way. This is definitely a story that you could see actually happening and making headlines and going viral. This book was very well written but those who like happy perfect endings and everything tied up neatly in a bow may have difficulty with it. I can’t wait to read more books by this author. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of “What’s Happened to Nina”. I have read all of Dervla McTiernan’s books and enjoyed them all. This story was very similar to the story of Gabby Petito. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, or if the author was trying to offer answers to the mystery surrounding the real life case. In either case I’m still a fan of Ms McTiernan and look forward to reading all of her upcoming books.

Thanks netgalley and custom home for this book to read. I like reading about missing persons and this story was well written. It reminded me a lot of the Gabby Petito case. I love how the book down to the last sentence. It was a good wrap up for what happened to Nina.

I read this in one sitting because it was so addictive and I HAD to find out what happened. It had many similarities to the Gabby Petito case which drew national attention in 2021. I enjoyed seeing how Nina’s disappearance affected so many people in very different ways. The police procedural aspect was lovely as I enjoy a competent detective who knows what they are doing. McTiernan was also smart to look at how wealth disparities can change a crime outcome. And the ending? Oh man! I’ll be thinking about it for a while.

What would you do for your children? If your daughter is missing, what would you do to try and find her? If your son is suspected of murder, what would you do to protect him? McTiernan tries to answer these questions in her newest novel. We start the book with a chapter from Nina’s perspective while she and Simon, her boyfriend, are on vacation together. In the next chapter we discover Nina is missing and Simon has come home by himself. From there we get a great novel about what would the two sets of parents do for their children. Simon’s family has lots of money and Nina’s doesn’t. Would you believe your son if he said he was innocent? What would you do to try and find the truth about what happened to your daughter?

What Happened to Nina is a fast-paced emotional read. Nina and Simon are young, in love, and on a romantic getaway. We find out early on that Simon is the only one who returns from this little vacation. I enjoyed the multiple POV approach to telling this story. A well-written, engaging story that kept me invested until the end. Thank you William Morrow and NetGalley for the eARC.

Simon and Nina are a young couple in love with each other and just enjoying life. The questions start when Simon returns from a week long vacation and Nina does not. Simon's side of the story is not adding up and Nina's parents are bound for the truth about what happened to Nina. Both sets of parents are trying to get to the bottom of it and will stop at nothing to protect their kids and their reputations. There are plenty of twists and surprises in this story. I enjoyed this book! Thanks to @NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

We have all heard this story, it is the Gabby Petito case. This is young love between Nina and Simon and the same storyline as the Petito case. What we learn are the struggles from the families of Nina and Simon. How this is devastating to both families. This book is tightly plotted, beginning with high school sweethearts. They are vacationing at Simon's family's mountain home in Vermont. Simon returns home and Nina is missing. Simon's parents are wealthy and powerful, and Nina's are neither.

The story is told in different POV in each chapter. You know who did it early in the book and you have to keep reading to see what is going to happen next. You can't help but feel for both sets of parents. The story is all over the internet and many lies are told. The tension heightens as Nina's family tries to get to the bottom of her disappearance, while Simon's wealthy family does their best to shield him from any wrongdoing.

Drama, Show- Stopper, and The Truth! 3.5 stars!

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the advance copy! This book will be released 3/26/24.

What Happened to Nina? This book drew me right in. What happened when Nina and her boyfriend take a trip to his family’s cabin? Is it the age old, the boyfriend always did it?
This story is told from the perceptive of both sets of parents. The story twist and turns as money, privilege and social media play pivotal roles.
What would you do if it was your child that was missing accused?
I like the multiplied layers of this story and it held lots of surprises.
Thanks to Cindy Burnett @Thoughts from a Page and @Netgalley for the early read copy

Nina is a young college woman dating Simon Jordan. The book opens with us meeting Nina as she recounts a hiking weekend with Simon where she falls and later, she is packing her stuff to leave. When Nina doesn’t respond to phone calls, her parents call the cops and start a search party for Nina. Simon claims Nina broke up with him and went off to be with friends.
Detective Matthew Wright is called in to investigate with junior detective Sarah Jane (SJ). As they work to unravel the knots of this mystery, we see two different families pitted against each other. One is wealthy and has all sorts of resources while the other is a blue-collar, working-class kind of family.
I really enjoyed the author’s first book, The Murder Rule, and this was just as good. It is fast paced and emotional – both families are trying to deal with how they are perceived by the public. There are lies being spread about them and rumors about Nina and Simon.
The cover is not relevant to the story

Dervla McTiernan is one of my auto-buy authors so I was thrilled with the upcoming release of WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA? Wow! What an ending. This domestic thriller took me for a ride. I binge read this book in two days. I was glued. When I had to put it down, I found myself wondering about what was to come. I felt like I was an outsider watching all of this unfold. This book is about a couple who went on a romantic getaway to a remote cabin in Vermont, only one of them returns. As a New Englander, I enjoyed the Vermont setting. I also enjoyed the multiple POVs from the main character, family members and police officers. The pacing, the length of each chapters were just perfect!

Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

The story is a fictional true crime story about a young woman, Nina, who goes missing after a weekend away with her boyfriend, Simon, at his family cottage in Vermont. Simon comes back home, but Nina doesn’t.

The tension heightens as Nina’s family tries to get to the bottom of her disappearance, and Simon’s wealthy family does their best to shield him from scrutiny and any wrongdoing.

The story is told from multiple POV’s which keeps the story moving along, and adds to the fascination of events as the reader has the inside view of what the characters are experiencing, thinking, and feeling. This story is propulsive and has that wow factor. The effects of wealth, social media, and the dynamics of two very opposite families in a small community made this book so riveting. So very well done!

Thank you to Cindy from @thoughtsfromapage podcast for arranging the advance reader copy and author event through her Patreon Early Reads program. Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for the electronic ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I had the hardest time putting this book down! It was completely bingeable in such a good way!

The prologue begins from Nina’s POV and then the reader is rotated through multiple pov’s of those close to Nina surrounding her disappearance. I loved that each POV took a chapter forward in the story as it slowly built. We understood behind the scenes and what different individuals were feeling about the circumstances.

Fan of true crime? Then this is for you. Not gory, not disturbing, but completely engrossing and this is not based on a true story. So not really true crime.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the complimentary e-copy of this book!

I would give this book 4.5 stars if I could. It was not quite 5-star-worthy, but it was close.

Dervla McTiernan’s What Happened to Nina? perfectly ratchets up the tension until it is almost unbearable. It is clear fairly early on what happened to Nina. The real story lies in what happens to everyone else.

Telling this story from a variety of viewpoints is a master stroke. You are able to get inside of the characters’ heads and see how some of their subjectively reasonable actions look different to others. It really makes you realize how often we misinterpret the motives of others. Not only that, but it was a very effective way to move the story along.

I received an ARC from William Morrow through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinions about this book.

4.5
Nina and Simon have been dating for four years since they were sixteen, but have been friends all their lives. They decide to take a vacation to Simon's parent's new home in Vermont to go rock climbing. However, Simon returns early and tells his parents that Nina broke up with him and she stayed there another day so a friend could pick her up. However, no one seems to know where Nina is now.

The story is told with the POV's of each of the four parents and the detective; and each character moved the story along, peeling back the layers. This book leaves a lot to discuss on how social media plays into how people feel, the ways media is used to mold a story how someone wants it to look to those who hear about it, and what it can eventually do those harmed by a manipulative telling of the story a certain way.

I could not put this book down and really liked how the author told this story. The characters are so realistic and like all people, some you like and some you don't but all are very real. This was a great mystery that breaks the mold of so many popcorn thrillers and I highly recommend reading and discussing this with a friend. Hearing from the author's thoughts was especially interesting and enhanced this book.

My thanks to William Morrow Publishers and Cindy Burnett at Thoughts From a Page for an advanced copy of this e-book. Pubishes March 5, 2024.

This book captures your attention right away. You meet Nina at the beginning and then the book switches points of view with each chapter. The plot keeps moving forward with each POV as well.

If you enjoy true crime shows or podcasts this book is for you. While it is a thriller/mystery, it takes on a slightly different structure. The reader learns about what happened to Nina before the rest of the characters.

The author brought in the social media influence that often is a part of these true crime stories. There are no social media posts included but we see how sensational comments influence the main characters.

What would you do as a parent when your child goes missing?

I read this book as part of Cindy from @thoughtsfromapage Early Reads Patreon group. We had a nice discussion with the author as well. Thanks to @netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for providing the ARC.

#whathappenedtonina #dervlamctiernan #crimefiction

Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Young, fun and deeply in love. Until they leave for a weekend at his family’s cabin in Vermont, and only Simon comes home.

WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA?

Nobody knows. Simon’s explanation about what happened in their last hours together doesn’t add up. Nina’s parents push the police for answers, and Simon’s parents rush to protect him. They hire expensive lawyers and a PR firm that quickly ramps up a vicious, nothing-is-off-limits media campaign.

HOW FAR WILL HIS FAMILY GO TO KEEP HIM SAFE?

This was a fast paced thriller that sucked me in right from the beginning! I loved how you got several points of view, starting with Nina, then Simon and all of the parents. It was crazy to watch just what they would do to protect a child, it really makes you stop and think how far you would be willing to go. I could not put this one down and was really scared of how it might end. But no fear, the ending was perfect! I look forward to whatever this author writes next!

Thank you to @netgalley, @williammorrow and Cindy from @thoughtsfromapage podcast for this advanced readers copy. Looking forward to the author chat with @dervlamctiernan