Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Select for gifting me this ALC of the audiobook to review.

The Nowhere Girls is a well-meaning attempt at an FBI mystery that did not have enough character depth for me.

While the suspense was definitely there and I wanted to find out what happened to the missing girls, the narration from the MC's point of view felt very clinical at times, especially considering that one of the dead girls is the MC's baby sister and this is the case that is the reason for the MC's career. She also does not seem to have any deep feelings towards the people in her life apart from what she thinks she ought to feel. For example, she thinks the following about her own father's death, a father that she describes being very close to, I might add *spoiler alert* : when it is revealed that he was in fact killed and did not have a heart attack: "he had a heart condition that would have killed him anyway". That seems incredibly detached from the situation. She doesn't even bother to think about her own father's emotional state of mind. Even if he had died soon after his murder, he was incredibly close to solving the case and could have died knowing he solved the case and most probably saved a lot of girls' lives. Moreover, having heart problems does not necessarily mean immediate death. He might have had a few more nice years and the MC's mother would also not have been secluded from the world for all these years, thinking the case killed her husband.

The readers get to know a few more characters, but just like the MC, the descriptions of the characters are very surface-level. The MC has a relationship in the beginning of the book and we get to read a bit about their interactions, but ultimately we don't really get to know the MC's boyfriend, nor is there any real point to this relationship. It seems that the author thought she had to add something additional to the MC, so she came up with the boyfriend, when in fact this relationship just highlights how one-dimensional all the characters are. This book is definitely story-driven and not at all character-driven.

In the same vein, the dialogue did not seem natural to me. I read like the author decided I want the reader to know information A and B, so during the dialogue one of the characters says "A" and the next says "B". The natural flow of conversation was missing, no jokes were made or things were said that were not at least somewhat important to the story, there was also no familiarity between characters that should know each other. When the MC talks to her partner from the FBI for example, the partner mentions her child like the two of them had never talked about her child before.

Descriptions like "Medical people" and "crime people" also made it a bit harder to believe we are receiving a narration of a true "crime professional".

Spoilers:
I appreciated that the resolution of the case had some intricacies, but at the same time, it was noticeable here as well that the author's strengths do not include character building.

So supposedly Tommy Thompson was driven to murder innocent (only) children because his daughter was killed at a young age. This motivation does not make any sense and the author hides behind this fact by leaving ambiguity as to whether Thompson might have killed her himself. But what was his motivation for killing her then? And if he killed her how does it explain a motivation to kill other children like her?

This, and the fact that we don't actually know what happened to his daughter makes the ending very unsatisfying for the reader and I also felt like the book ended rather abruptly.

It seems that this is meant to be the first book in a series and these questions might be resolved later, but for me, this is not a strong enough pull for me to continue a series. The unanswered questions don't seem fundamental enough and don't create enough mystery and I don't believe the base of the story is strong enough to carry another book, let alone a whole series.
This was a 2,5 star read for me.

3.5 rounded up

The Nowhere Girls follows Nikki Cassidy, whose little sister was taken and murdered when they were both kids, which influences her to become an FBI agent.

This is a return to hometown, FBI, procedural, serial killer thriller. Nikki convinces her boss in DC to send her back to Ohio to investigate a missing girl because she is convinced it’s related to her sister’s disappearance and murder.

I liked the tension between Nikki and the local police department (especially since her dad used to be the police chief), as well as between Nikki and her fiancé who wants her home in DC.

The end of this book both resolves the conflict introduced in the book, but also provides a clear path ahead for more stories featuring Nikki in the future. I would definitely read them!

Something new I am trying is rating the title separately in relation to how well it reflects the book.
Title rating: B
Rationale: it makes sense with the plot line, and is a solid choice. Didn’t wow me but didn’t confuse me.

Wow. This book kept me guessing till the end. I loved having a female FBI agent as the lead. Nikki is an FBI investigator who specialized in crimes against children. When her own sister’s death from 15 years ago come back in to play and connect to a new death this haunts Nikki.
This is not as simple of a story as one thinks. There are so many twist, turns and surprises. The end of the book was such a surprise to me.
I am looking forward to more from this FBI agent.

This was a good book! Detective Cassidy is such a likable character that you can’t help but enjoy. This book had a good story and is worth the read if you like books trying to solve a crime.

The nowhere Girls
By Dana Perry

Narrated by: Madeline Pell
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Format: audiobook 🎧
Publication date: 2nd April 2024

🌟:1.5/5

The premise of this book sounded promising but the thoughts, decisions and assumptions of the main character repeatedly made no sense. She was portrayed as naive and insubordinate but also supposed to be a good detective. The characters actions just made little sense to me and didn’t feel believable.

She is supposed to be a strong career minded woman, but has a highly misogynistic and inappropriate fiancé.
And the romance story line felt unnecessary to the plot.

The writing style was very formal and repetitive. The narration is also formal and posh sounding which doesn’t seem to fit the charachter whatsoever, I really struggled to listen to the narrator.

Some parts just didn’t make sense for example there is a man she’s just met, that’s she’s had two minutes of conversation with and says is attractive because of his interesting personality when she’s only really spoke professionally with him very briefly.

Without posting spoilers there are parts that just would not happen or be tolerated in the workplace.

The book sounded interesting but was not for me.

Nikki is an Fbi agent. Her sister was killed 15 years ago. Every year on the anniversary of her sister's death, Nikki goes and visits the killer in prison. She is just looking for some answers as to why he chose her sister. Every year, the prisoner says nothing. But this year, he isn't silent and decides to speak. He tells Niki that whatever happened has something to do with her father
But Nikkis father died of a heart attack right after her sister was killed, so how is she supposed to ask him.
While visiting her hometown, another girl turns up missing. Missing on the exact date that her sister was killed. Is this a copycat, or did they put the wrong man in jail all these many years ago
Nikki is determined to find out the truth. She doesn't care that she has no jurisdiction in this town. Someone knows something! Was her father hiding something all those many years ago, or is everyone in this town corrupt and knows more than they are willing to discuss

There's a lot to like in The Nowhere Girls by Dana Perry - I love the premise of an FBI agent whose sister went missing years ago becoming a badass known for finding missing girls. I just had a lot of trouble with many of the details of the story, I think if you're willing to get past some of the accuracy issues of the story, it's a really intriguing novel. I found myself frustrated with the main character, Nikki, being such a badass FBI agent but also a total doormat in her relationship with her fiance. I also would have enjoyed more details into the investigation, But overall, I thought this was an interesting story with some fun twists.

Nikki Cassidy is an FBI Agent. She is from small town Ohio, originally, but left there many years ago.
Actually, 15 years ago her little sister Caitlyn was killed there…and she has never stopped blaming herself. Neither has her mother…

Nikki returns every year to visit her sisters grave…and also to speak with the convicted murdered, who sits in jail. But he never speaks with her…

This year though, he has requested to speak with HER!

She is looking forward to this as she wants to know WHY he did this to an innocent 12 year old girl…But, what she finds out from him doesn’t solve anything. As a matter of fact, it makes her doubt everything!
And then, 15 years later, on the same day, another young girl goes missing…and strange things start to happen!!

Absolutely loved the premise of this book!
Was able to guess a couple of things as we went along, but not able to guess SO MANY MORE!

And the ending…NOT AT ALL what I expected!

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me!

Thanks to #NetGalley and #DreamscapeSelect for an ARC of the audiobook which releases on 4/2/24!

#TheNowhereGirls by #DanaPerry.

Although many reviews praised the narrator, to me it was like nails on a chalkboard…very hard to listen to.
Sorry, just my opinion…

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IG @ #BookReviews_with_emsr or
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Thanks so much for reading!📚⭐️

I enjoyed this new series staring a female FBI agent. I liked that while a police procedural novel it had multiple twists and turns along the way. Additionally the fact that it was not a romance was an added bonus.

# The Nowhere Girls
# 3/24/2024 ~ 3/25/2024
# 4.0 / 5.0

I received a copy of the audiobook to provide an honest review.
The narrator, Madeline Pell, did a great job narrating the cast of this audiobook. She kept the story flowing & engaging.

Nikki Cassidy, an FBI agent, has never gotten over the kidnapping and murder of her sister that took place when they were children. This was a captivating crime thriller that had me engaged and guessing until the end. I was really rooting for Nikki from start to finish. I cannot wait to dive into the next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the arc of this book.

Thank you Netgalley, Dana Perry and Dreamscape Select Bookouture for the audiobook!! This was a great audiobook Narrated by Madeline Pell. I loved this crime/detective story and can't wait for more in the series!

⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Nowhere Girls by Dana Perry, an audiobook narrated by Madeline Pell was a gripping crime thriller that made you guess constantly what the hell is going on. I really liked the investigation process, it was clever and twisted, and OMG the last twist I didn't see coming! It was shocking!
The only downsize was repetitiveness. So many parts were repeated again and again.
FBI agent Nikki was a really interesting character, she was strong-minded, dedicated, career-focused, and clever! Really clever!

Madeline Pell did fantastic narration. It was easy to follow, the speech was clear and she managed to make different voice intonations.

15 years ago Nikki's little sister was kidnapped and kiIIed. Every year on 19 July Nikki visits her hometown and pays respects to her sister and father who had a heart attack soon after her sister's funeral. But this year was different because one more girl has been kidnapped and Nikki sees the pattern and is ready to jump on this case.
Is it possible that cases are connected as kiIIer is still in the prison? Will Nikki convince her boss to let her stay and take part in this investigation? Is the local police chief will be happy to have Nikki around? Is it possible that Nikki sees what she wants to see and there is no connection?

I am grateful to Dreamscape Select, Bookouture and NetGalley for this copy!

I enjoyed the plot and the way it developed. I thought Nikki was a strong main character and I appreciated how driven and confident she was throughout the book. She followed her instincts and knew what she wanted, making her successful throughout the book. The ending was captivating and I liked how all my questions were answered by the end of the book.

I didn’t enjoy the romance aspect of this book. I think the book would have been just as good without it. I thought there were parts of the book that felt repetitive and made me lose interest in the middle.

This was such a captivating book! I was intrigued from the very start. The Nowhere Girls had everything: action, crime, twists, romance & complex family dynamics.

The story flowed well and the characters were well developed. I recommend this book and look forward to more from this author.


****Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review****

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced audio book
While the reveal of the killer and the reason why stretched believability a bit, I was willing to go with it because Nikki was such an interesting character and her motivations were compelling. I liked that even though the book's plot felt somewhat procedural (exactly what I'm looking for in a book like this), the end wasn't entirely wrapped up with a positive, neat bow. Looking forward to the second book in the series.

So for me this started slow and I wasn't sure how it was going to go. But then it got really interesting and good. I could see how all the strands fitted together and I was completely engrossed.
I loved the little trailer at the end as I knew the characters the next book was a definite must listen.
The narration worked really well for me and kept me intrigued.

Agent Nikki Cassidy has never been able to forget the tragic circumstances of her sister's death. Nikki was 18 and Caitlin was 13 when they went to the carnival that was in town, against their mother's wishes. Caitlin was never seen alive after that day and Nikki has never gotten past it. Every year, on the anniversary of the day Caitlin was taken, Nikki goes to visit her murderer in prison to try to get him to explain why he did it. This year he is finally talking to her. Then another girl missing on the exact same date as her sister's disappearance. Now Nikki feels compelled to stay and get to the bottom of the case using her FBI prowess. When another girl's body is discovered in the same location as her sister's body, Nikki knows that this case is related to her sister.

This book was fantastic! I absolutely loved it and rushed to finish it so that I could find out what happened. I loved the dark mystery that is all too realistic for what could really be happening today. I absolutely recommend this book!

The Nowhere Girls is the first in a series of gripping crime thrillers. Set in a small town, detective Nikki is back to investigate the discovery of a body - which was killed identical to how her sister was killed - 15 years ago. With the perpetrator in jail, she begins to question if they put away the right guy? And now

I really enjoyed the pace of this book and the characters throughout.
The narrator did a great job of capturing the emotions as well.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Select for this advanced audio in return for my honest opinion.

Pub date: 02 April 2024

This book was not what i thought it was at all. I wanted more from it. It had so much potential but just did not hit the mark for me.