On the fifteenth anniversary of the murder of her younger sister Caitlin, Nikki Cassidy, now an agent with the FBI, returns to her small Ohio hometown, only to find out that another young girl has just been taken. But with Caitlin’s killer behind bars, are the parallels to her sister’s case just a coincidence, or is something more sinister at work?

With such a promising premise, I am actually shocked at how average this book managed to be. Seeing it was the first in a series featuring FBI agent Nikki Cassidy, I had high hopes for it, but I figured out pretty quickly that I was in for a major disappointment.

Part of this might be due to the absolutely false book description. From the name of Nikki‘s hometown (Huntsdale, not Groveton), to the fact that the body found in the woods does *not* belong to Natalie Jarvis, and that there is no note addressed to Nikki next to it, it almost seems like I read a completely different book. Furthermore, while the book‘s title is amazing, there actually already exist not one but two books by that same name (one was written by Amy Reed, one by Alex Urquhart, and both were published in 2017), which probably could have been avoided.

As for the actual content of the book, I found it to be slightly below your average mystery/suspense.

My main gripe with the book is that it seems to assume its readers are either of below average intelligence or have the attention span of a three-year old, judging by the repetitiveness of the writing. First, every single detail of the case is repeated seemingly at least once in every chapter for the first half of the book, mostly under the guise of Nikki talking to a new person. To make matters worse, anytime someone on the periphery of the story is mentioned, we are repeatedly reintroduced to them: not only are we reminded of their full names (yes, again and again), but most often also to their occupation, lest we ever forget that, for example, „Tommy Thompson“ (yes, that‘s his name, though I‘m not sure about the spelling since I listened to the audiobook) is actually „District Attorney Thommy Thompson“. If your reader still needs to be reminded the third or tenth time a name is mentioned, they are probably the wrong audience for a mystery novel. Not only does this repetitiveness take away from the suspense, it also gets irritating quickly.

As for Nikki herself, while I appreciated that she is unapologetically career-driven, she is actually not that great at her job, but comes across as insubordinate and gullible; for all her pride in her ability to read people, she gets it wrong all the time, which does not humble her one bit. Not surprisingly (but annoyingly), she frequently goes off on her own to follow leads, and even hijacks a press conference by giving away all all the details of her case when you‘d think playing your cards close to the vest is investigation 101. It‘s not even clear why she even needs other agents there with her (one serves to give her relationship advice, while the other is mostly comic relief), as none of them actually really do anything of substance for most of the book.

The underlying mystery itself sounded far more interesting in the somewhat misleading description than it played out to be in the actual book. To be fair, that also might have at least a little to do with the questionable investigative tactics displayed. Conflicts of interest aside, it feels like none of these supposedly highly trained agents know how to behave during an investigation (for example, while securing a potential crime scene - unmistakable, complete with open door and blood on the floor - they amicably chitchat with each other, all while the culprit might still be on the scene and they‘re supposed to secure the perimeter). But on the other hand, there isn‘t exactly a criminal mastermind at work, either, so maybe it evens itself out? (Who goes through the trouble of setting up a website on the dark web only to choose a password as simple as a name? Not even Google would allow that these days!)

Finally, there is a completely unnecessary romance angle that takes up way too much space, though Nikki‘s fiancé is as dull as dishwater, insensitive (trying to get into her pants right after she talks about her dead sister), and beyond misogynistic. In fact, Nicki herself isn‘t even sure she loves him, and he adds nothing to the story. I actually found myself secretly hoping he was the killer just so she could shoot him in the end.

Tl;dr: a promising premise with a disappointing execution.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Select for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The plot twists were everything! I enjoyed this so much, but I think I would like to read it when it comes out so I can get the full effect. While the story itself was amazing, I felt the narrator was a little robotic and boring 🫣 I found myself getting distracted but the story itself was amazing

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so good! I was pulled right in from the beginning and was hooked. I really enjoyed Nikki’s investigative style and how the book circled the murder of her sister 15 years earlier. There were so many twists in this book and I enjoyed every one of them. This ending was so good and well done. I am looking forward to the next book.

The Nowhere Girls great. The plot was interesting all the way through and I enjoyed the plot twist. The narrator was really robotic though, I may have enjoyed the book more reading as opposed to the Audio book.

Narrated by Madeline Pell
Presented by Dreamscape Select

An interesting idea but not a lot really happens.

The story is classic: big shot FBI agent has to leave big shot fiancé to travel back to her home town to investigate a crime close to her heart. In this case, Nikki Cassidy is off to re-open the investigation into the death of her little sister fifteen years ago because another girl is missing in the present.

The setup was so familiar that it didn't suck me in right away - rather, I spent a lot of time rolling my eyes at the stereotypes. There's a strong focus on Nikki's relationships more than the criminal activity, and most of the book is Nikki talking to people.

There's very little progression in the actual crime side of things, and even the case itself is washed out and uninteresting. There are no twists along the way and very little action to speak of.

There's also way too much talk about the obvious situation of Nikki not actually wanting to marry the man she's engaged to. Yuck. I've read this same story in far too many other books - normally chick lit. I really didn't need it, here, since it adds nothing to the story OR the character.

When the revelations came, I really felt nothing. It was incredibly underwhelming, and all the connections were stretched a bit thin for my liking.

Narration was okay, but there were some spots where they'd obviously re-recorded lines and these stood out like a sore thumb. Listened easily at 2x speed and it flowed naturally.

Not too solid a crime novel, I'm afraid - there's better on offer elsewhere.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

This 1st book in the Detective Nikki Cassidy series by Dana Perry is definitely the suspenseful crime thriller it’s been advertised as!

Every year on the anniversary of her sisters murder FBI agent Nikki Cassidy goes back to her hometown in Ohio to pay her respects, but this time her visit is paired with what appears to be a repeat kidnapping! With a missing girl, and a few other strange events, the case has been reopened and Nikki is willing to do whatever it takes to be on the case, hopefully before it’s too late!

With suspense and mystery this book is an engaging read! But, personally I find it hard to read/listen to content relating to snuff films and the kind of horrific things found on the dark web. This book contains some of that kind of material, nothing graphic or gory, just hard to read…

I just reviewed The Nowhere Girls by Dana Perry. #TheNowhereGirls #NetGalley

This was a miss for me. I did not care for the MC at all. I think her engagement was supposed to make her more personable, but it seemed forced, especially with the flirting she had with Billy.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing, especially the dialogue. It seemed a little clunky and didn’t really flow how normal conversations would.

While the killer was a surprise, I don’t think the motive for becoming a serial made very much sense.

It was an easy listen, and would probably listen to subsequent books to see if some of the loose ends are tied up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Select for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I'm sorry, but this book didn't work for me at all.

Some of my problems:

Content is incredibly repetitive. We're constantly told the exact same thing, over and over, which is mind-numbing and irritating.

Nikki is not especially likeable, nor is she good at her job. Her investigative skills, for an FBI agent, are severely lacking.

Dialogue is just plain silly. No one speaks like these people.

The romance between Nikki and her so-called fiance is uncomfortable, pointless, odd, and just... why? She admits she isn't even sure she likes him, and she calls their sex adequate. And he hates her job, and clearly expects her to quit. I mean. why are they even engaged?

I felt the characters all lacked depth and complexities.

As for the audiobook narrator, she was, to use Nikki's word, adequate. The experience was exactly like listening to someone read a book, whereas a gifted narrator immerses me in the story.

I found this writing style absolutely painful! It feels like badly written AI. Everything is over-explained and robotic and told in the least interesting way possible. The plot is very generic and the characters are less than one dimensional. The way Nikki and her fiance meet was gross. Then there are several scenes with them together where she's talking about her dead sister and her sister's killer and in one, he thinks this is a great moment to initial sex (which she agrees... SO GROSS) and the second he says they should change the subject. I just do not understand the high ratings people are giving this. I don't even know how this made it to publishing!

Fifteen years ago, Detective Nikki Cassidy's sister was murdered. Now, after all this time, the killer finally wants to talk to Nikki - something he has refused to do until now. When Nikki gets a call that another girl has gone missing, she knows something isn't right, and she fears her sister's murder may not be solved after all...

I liked the overall storyline of this book, the mystery was well done & not easily guessed! The author did a good job of getting my interest, and I *had* to know what happened and how this would end. The pacing of this book was pretty well done, I didn't feel like we got "stuck" anywhere.

That being said, I could not stand the protagonist. She was extremely unlikable, and very judgmental. The tense that the book is written in is odd- it seems to switch between past and present tense. Also, I found that this book got to be repetitive in some parts.

The audio narrator wasn't my favorite, but some of that could be due to the fact that the phrasing of this book was a little odd. I would say the audio narrator didn't add anything, but didn't ruin the book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dana Perry, and Dreamscape Select - Bookouture for this advanced audio copy! All opinions are my own.

The Nowhere Girls was a cross between a thriller and a police procedural novel, which I really enjoyed! It started out a bit slow and repetitive at times, but picked up after the first quarter of the book. Being the first in a series, it had me hooked enough to want to read the next one.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I love to throw in a mystery/thriller occasionally to mix things up. The Nowhere Girls definitely succeeded at that. I was captured from the beginning and wanted to know what happened to Nikki's sister. The more we learned about the past case and the current case, things got interesting. Just when I thought I knew who did it, I was proved wrong.
I thoroughly enjoyed this audio. The narrator did a fantastic job. The chapters are short, but give you just enough detail to hold your attention. 
Thank you to Netgalley for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

The Nowhere Girls begins as many whodunit stories do, with an FBI agent named Nikki Cassidy in charge of a case that closely resembles that of her murdered sister. On her way to discover what happened to a missing girl, she finds that more girls were also missing and found murdered.

Having returned to her hometown to focus on the new case, she becomes obsessed with her sister's murder as well, and turns over all stones to find the killer.. Although the book is similar to many other detective stories, such that I wasn't all that enthralled throughout the first part of the book, it does pick up around 2/3 of the way through, and becomes more intriguing. The ending, although rather predictable, is satisfying. Thanks to #netgalley for the audio ARC.

#netgalleyaudio

Thank you to Dreamscape Select | Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with a free Audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This really is your bread and butter police mystery novel and it works well for what it is.

The twists are unexpected and the pace keeps you hooked from the start, without being constant action and no depth.

Nikki isn't the most likeable character which is a large factor as to why this rating isn't higher, She's not a particularly unlikeable character, but she offers very little to root for. I will most likely continue with the series, but it really is just very typical of the genre.

I found that I didn’t really enjoy the detective and so did not like this book as much as I would have liked. I liked the narrator though but unfortunately that in itself didn’t save the book for me.

I love the setup of this book. Nikki, a badass, headstrong FBI agent goes into the law enforcement field after her own sister was murdered (15 years ago). She tries for many years to find out why the man convicted of murder killed her sister, but for once he asked her to speak with him (instead of her going to him for answers, year after year). Finally, right? Perry made me feel very invested in Nikki's little sister. It was fast-paced from start to finish. I had a guess in the early chapters, but I was wrong. I love when that happens.

The romance element was kind of "off" for me. It may have been better left out or presented in a different way.

Thanks to NetGally and Dreamscape Select, I was able to listen to the audiobook early. Unfortunately, the book narorator was very difficult for me to listen to.

At this point, I am invested in the series and look forward to reading the next few books. 3.5 stars-rounded up.

This is your normal mystery/crime thriller type book about a girl who got killed in the past and her sister is FBI and a case comes up 15 years later and another girl goes missing, then another one and it’s pretty basic but it’s good. It’s nothing amazing but it’s not boring either. It took me a while to finish it cause life got in the way so that’s why it’s probably 50/50 for me but I’m giving it a 3.5

The Nowhere Girls is a new novel highlighting FBI Detective Nikki Cassidy. This is the first in a series. Overall the plot of the story was well-paced; I was interested in what was unfolding and wanted to see where it ended up. The “whodunnit” actually was unexpected to me and was a plausible ending to the story. The downfall for me was some of the dialogue and that the style leaned more to YA. I also didn’t completely root for Nikki, but that’s just a personal preference of mine...I must like at least one character. I may pick up the second in the series to see if the characters are more developed in the future.

This was a basic FBI agent mystery that I could see being a TV movie. The plot was fun but I didn’t connect with the characters or the mystery. I will have a full review up on my blog.

Thank you to Dreamscape Select and NetGalley for giving me the ability to have early access to listen to this book. I am always worried when starting a new audiobook because I might not like the voice. But this narrator has a calm and intriguing voice. I loved this plot and thought it was well written. The story kept me hooked from the beginning and I knew it was something I was going to like. The characters are relatable and I wasn't able to guess the ending. I would continue the series.