I started listening to the Crime Junkie podcast waaaay back in 2017 (true crime has been my friend for years – when I worked in a public library, I could frequently be found in the 364.1523 section. I have mostly enjoyed it (due to Ashley more than Brit, TBH) except for that period when the plagiarism thing was rampant (although admittedly when I taught research, the section on attribution and citing one’s sources went over many people’s heads, in all honesty). So I would say I’m about 60% positively inclined toward things that are “Crime Junkie adjacent.” I received a copy of Ashley’s second book The Missing Half from Random House-Ballantine and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review, and I was happy to see that Ashley’s “co-author” Alex Kiester is acknowledged prominently on the cover..

I’ve seen this referred to as a true crime story, and while it’s been awhile since I read it, to meit was fiction…not even “faction,” as is the weird term sometimes applied t fictionalized versions of real events. Whatever – in this book, the protagonist is Nicole “Nic” Monroe. She is twenty-four, living in what sounds like a terrible place in a terrible state. As if that’s not enough, she has a pity job (family friend is her boss) that is going nowhere and she lives alone in…well, you get the idea. Oh, and she just got a DUI. She is a mess, having “...learned years ago that numbness is better than pain.” Seven years ago, her sister Kasey vanished and she has been an object of pity and sympathy ever since. She isn’t lacking in self-awareness: “I can’t keep living like this. I can’t keep avoiding my pain by drinking myself to sleep and hoping someone else will come along and clean up after me.”

Kasey’s car was found 100+ miles from home, with the door open and her purse on the seat – untouched, apparently. Weirdly, another young woman from the same area disappeared in the same way two weeks before Kasey. Both quickly became ice cold cases. The other woman who disappeared also had a sister, and one day that sister shows up and together the two of them go on an adventure, each one wanting to find their “missing half.”

It’s a fun read, and I didn’t guess the mystery (not unusual for me) but in all honesty it was gone from my brain almost instantly and I couldn’t tell you what happened. I recommend it for fans of vanished woman stories, fans of Ashley Flowers, and fans of one-night-stands (as I sometimes call the mysteries I binge read in a day or so). As my friend would say, it is what it is, and there should be copies available at your public library, since there will be lots of interest as the book tour gets rolling. Four stars, rounded down to three based on how memorable it was(n’t).

This was a super fast true crime read about two missing girls and their sisters who team up to try to find them! Great story! Lots of twist! Super fast read. Definitely for lovers of dateline!

I’ll be honest, this book is not as good as her first. I enjoyed the majority of the book but felt it ended abruptly and didn’t have the ending it should’ve

Thank you Ashley Flowers and Valentine Random House for this ARC! Available at retail stores May 6 2025!

At no point did I have the predictions in this book right. I usually tell my husband before I get halfway who I think did it. I've never changed my mind so many times. And all of them were wrong. And then surprise twist! Wrong again!

Nic & Jenna's journey to find out what happened to their sisters was a wild rollercoaster of a ride. While a short book at under 300 pages, I didn't feel the story lacked any depth. Ashley managed to pack it all in and twist up my brain and my feels at the same time.

I honestly don't know how to describe all that this made me feel without spoilers. I feel hurt, betrayed, surprised, sad, angry, and just all around a "wtf" vibe.

4.5 ⭐

The twists and turns in this book really left my jaw on the floor. I was so surprised. I thought I had the twist figured out halfway through and I was not even close. Nic has been dragging through life every since her sister Kacey went missing in 2012. Working a dead end job, receiving a recent DWI, and is stuck volunteering at the local animal shelter each week for community service she is stuck in anger in grief over Kacey's disappearance.. One day at work Jenna Conner shows up and tells Nic that she is the sister of another missing girl from 2012 and their cases are linked. They start to work together to try and solve their missing sister's cases. What they find is definitely not what they bargained for. I did grow up where this book takes place and graduated with Ashley Flowers so this was also a big hit of nostalgia for my hometown. I would definitely recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC.

I enjoyed my experience of reading The Missing Half and I think it will be very popular with Library patrons. It was a quick, easy read and didn’t make me do much deep thinking. It was sort of mysterious, but not scary or really, very unsettling at all. I think people will enjoy it as entertainment.

3.5 stars
This book really jumped right into the action and never stopped. I was easily engrossed, and the fast pace kept me flipping the pages.

The characters weren’t really likeable for me, so it was difficult for me to connect with them, but the thrills kept coming nevertheless.

This was a fun and entertaining read.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Gripping Tale of Sisterhood and Suspense

Ashley Flowers’ The Missing Half is an enthralling mystery that delves deep into the bonds of sisterhood and the lengths one will go to uncover the truth. The story follows Nic and Jenna, two women whose sisters vanished under eerily similar circumstances seven years apart. Their quest to find answers is both heart-wrenching and suspenseful, keeping readers on the edge of their seats. Flowers masterfully crafts a narrative filled with unexpected twists and a climax that leaves you breathless. A must-read for fans of psychological thrillers!

Incredibly atmospheric, this book will grab hold of your heart and keep you on the edge of your seat.

Two women who are desperate for answers about what really happened to their sisters, the “missing Mishawaka girls.” Seven years ago, Vic’s older sister and Jenna’s younger sister went missing weeks apart, under very similar circumstances, but their bodies were never recovered, their cases never solved.

United by their common goal, the truth, Jenna and Vic form a strong bond. Neither of them realize that the path of discovery is going to be so devastating. This was intense, this was heartbreaking, this was GREAT! I had such a good time reading this!

This was a super twisty, well developed mystery that had me right on the razor’s edge from beginning to end.

The Missing Half reads like an extended, more immersive Crime Junkie episode and I am HERE for it! Another go-to recommendation for my fellow CJs looking for their next thriller/suspense read! Thank you, NetGalley!

GRIPPY THRILLER WITH A HAW DROPPING PLOT TWIST THAT HAD ME UP AT 3AM! if you like the domestic thriller that keeps you hooked from the start to the end, then this one is for you

Two missing girls, two sisters left behind. After seven years of missing their sisters, with no leads in sight, Nic and Jenna decide to team up and search for their missing sisters together. Soon, for reasons unknown to Nic, Jenna gives up the search and Nic is on her own, and she’ll never give up until she finds the truth.

This is a pulsating work of fiction with so many plot twists that will keep you turning page after page. It’s fantastic! Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the advanced copy of this 5-star read.

This is one that I simply could not put down! It was completely addicting and I found myself racing through it. The Missing Half is truly a keeps-you-up-late-at-night, heart-pounding, I-absolutely-have-to-know-exactly-how-this-unravels-right-this-very-second types of thrillers.

As a huge fan of Ashley Flowers, I absolutely squealed when I was approved for an ARC of this one and I began reading it immediately. While I enjoyed her debut book, All Good People Here, I LOVED The Missing Half!

The Missing Half follows Nic, a 24 year-old who is struggling to make it day-to-day, absolutely haunted by her best friend/older sister’s sudden disappearance seven years prior. When Jenna Connor shows up at Nic’s work, Nic’s immediately skeptical, until she realizes Jenna may be the only person who understands how Nic feels—because Jenna’s younger sister vanished under eerily similar circumstances right around the time Nic’s had. The two decide to team up to get to the bottom of their sisters’ unsolved cases once and for all.

Thank you to Ashley Flowers, Random House Publishing, & NetGalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

Your sister goes missing without a trace. You witnessed her being taken but no one believes you. How do you move on from something like this? You don’t. You get approached by a woman claiming to be the sister of another girl that was taken. You two start working together to uncover new clues but are these clues leading you to the answer or giving you more questions. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, bam! Nicole will stop at nothing to uncover the truth about her sister’s disappearance.

ARC REVIEW: The Missing Half by Ashley Flowers and Alex Kiester
📚📚📚📚 (4/5 Stars)
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Release Date: March 6, 2025
Publisher: Bantam/Random House
Genre: Mystery/ Thriller/ Suspense
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I was lucky enough to receive an Advanced Reader Copy of The Half from NetGalley, and WOW—I was SO excited! I've been a long time fan of Ashley Flowers and her podcast, Crime Junkies, so when this NetGalley approval came through, I may have done a little happy dance.
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What I Loved:
✅ Gripping Plot – From the very first pages, I was hooked on a really exciting storyline. The story follows two missing women from towns next door to each other. The surviving sisters decide to come together to fill in the missing pieces in their cases.
✅ Quick Pacing - I love when a book has a good pacing, even better if it sucks me in and I don't realize how long I'm actually reading
✅Jaw-Dropping Twists - There were some good twists that I definitely didn't see coming, which is awesome. I feel like it was a more believable twists than some other thrillers I've read recently.

Minor Critiques:
❌Errors - Since this was an ARC, I did identify minor typos, grammar errors, and formatting issues, but nothing that took away from my enjoyment. Hopefully, those will be polished in the final version!
❌Flat Characters - The character never really felt like they moved beyond more than their status of "missing" or "sister". I would have liked to see a little bit more depth.

Final Thoughts:
✨If you love thrilling, chilling, and suspenseful domestic reads, I think this would be a great option for you. Normally, it takes me a long while to finish Epub format books for whatever reason, but I really flew through this one. I did not find myself pining and loving Flowers' first book so much, but this was a vast improvement and I really really enjoyed this one. More of this style please!
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Thank you to NetGalley, Ashley Flowers, Alex Kiester, and Bantam Random House for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Nicole Monroe and Jenna Connor have tragedy in common: Both of their sisters disappeared without a trace seven years ago, just weeks a part. When Jenna recruits Nic to start their own investigation into their sisters’ disappearances, Nic is forced to question everything she thought she knew about that night—and the sister she thought she knew better than herself.
 
This is the perfect read to get you out of a rut. A true page-turner, it grabbed my attention from the beginning and held it in a vice-like grip throughout. Nic is frustrating as a main character, someone who can’t seem to learn from her mistakes and get out of her own way, but this makes her both believable and relatable. I trusted her immediately because she was so honest about her faults. Her hesitation to open old wounds felt extremely realistic, especially given how much damage the loss of her sister has already inflicted on her life. And I couldn’t help but feel the same spark of hope she did when Jenna enters the picture, determined to solve this mystery once and for all. Their camaraderie was natural and even fun at times, lending a lighter air to a dark story. I enjoyed watching them unravel the clues, and I rooted for them to discover the truth. Author Ashley Flowers paced the story perfectly, revealing each new piece of the puzzle at exactly the right time. The shorter chapters made it so that the story never slowed, and I found myself desperate to know the truth. As someone who loves a good murder mystery and prides herself on collecting the clues, I can genuinely say I didn’t see this ending coming. And yet, by the time I set the book down, I couldn’t picture any other way this story could conclude. However, I do wish we got an epilogue, just a small look down the road at what's next for these characters. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys Megan Miranda, and I can’t wait to see what Flowers writes next.
 
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for granting me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Couldn’t put this book down!!!!

Nic and Jenna have one thing in common. Their sisters went missing two weeks apart one summer. Jenna approaches Nic under false pretenses to start diving deeper into their sister’s disappearances. The two learn so much. There are so many twists and turns. The ending is so good.

This is the first book I have read by Ashley Flowers but it is not going to be the last. I loved this book. It had just enough suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat. Just when I thought 1 had it figured out I was wrong.

Calling all crime sleuths! I have a fantastic whodunnit mystery for you to solve.

Two girls go missing and after several years, the case is still unsolved. The missing girls’ sisters decide to band together and solve the case themselves since the police aren’t much of any help. Can they find the real killer before the killer finds them first?

Packed with a handful of suspicious characters, the twists and turns kept coming. This was a super quick read. Definitely going to be a favorite among people who like true crime podcasts.

This was my first to read from this author. It was intriguing, though a bit slow at times, and I felt it just dropped off at the end and could have used, at minimum, an epilogue. Seven years ago, when Nic lost her sister, she lost herself as well as her parents and has just been going through the motions, numbing herself along the way. When Jenna reaches out to her with the same situation, they make a pact to try and solve the cold case of the two missing girls. Unfortunately, there is so much that is not as it seems. It is told in Nic's POV throughout, with the exception of a flashback.