This book is so unique in the way it combines a serial killer thriller with a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I imagine this book would be amazing in audio. The story centers around Briar Thorne—a grieving woman who has just lost her mother. She moves into her mother's home and finds herself haunted by strange dreams and occurrences. The writing is lyrical and I enjoyed not being sure what was happening at times as the mystery unfolds. Fans of lighter horror and paranormal thrillers would enjoy this one.

Cynthia Pelayo has written a short story called Snow White’s Shattered Coffin which is inspired by the famous fairy-tale and urban legends surrounding the statue of Inez Clarke, a funeral monument in Graceland Cemetery, Chicago. And I thought it was fantastic. it was essentially what drove me to request this novel.

Bare bones: Briar Rose,a freelance journalist, just moved to her old house, following the death of her loving, eccentric mother Aurora. Her grief is immense and she has troubles sleeping and functioning without her mother. And maybe it's the grief that makes her see a young girl on a side of her eye, cries and worlds in the wind and sensation of house talking to her? Or maybe the ghosts of tragically vanished girls are trying to send her a message. A message about the man who's hunting them...

There are certain elements you can expect from Pelayo novel:

- Chicago. Her books are essentially a love letter to the city of Chicago. There is a certain whimsical and gothic undertone to her descriptions of the city monuments and architecture, the dark mythology of the city that give it its personality. It's more than just the place where the story is happening or the atmosphere, it's a character on its own and I guess it's even more effective if read by locals. The haunted Archer Avenue, Alsip and Holy Sepulchre Cemetery are just some of the few mentioned in this novel. Chicago seems to be ever an inspiration for Cynthia Pelayo.
-Fairy-tales. The magical, paranormal vibes of her stories is emphasized by integrating traditional fairy tales into the story, and often calling on their original horror forms. In Children of Chicago it was the Pied Piper, in Forgotten Sisters it was The Little Mermaid and in this one it's The Sleeping Beauty. While I think that it was done really well in Children of Chicago series or the aforementioned shorter story, here it would sometimes come off as a bit on the nose, especially when tying in was done referencing the mainstream versions of it which are Disney's animation and Maleficent duology. Hence, our main character is called Briar Rose, her mother is Aurora and the villain is Mal. And just in case you weren't aware, the killer keep calling his victims " his sleeping beauties."
-Lyrical prose. Poetic storytelling and atmospheric writing which Pelayo uses as her vehicle to contemplate on different topics and in this particular novel it's about grief, violence and womanhood. Bri's loss of her beloved mother is not something that kicks the plot going, it is present through the entirety of the novel as something she is dealing with. This is what makes the story slow to get going with the whole "killer who vanishes daughters". A lot of dreams that are clearly a vision, but Bri would doubt it as a part of her imagination or she would just ...not investigating when overcome with grief. So, if you expect a fast-paced thriller about catching the serial killer, this is not it. For me her writing clicks and I knew what to expect and still I feel like we took too long to get the story really going. There was a whole magic explanation about thin-spaces, time travel and astral projection and trans and honestly, I didn't enjoy those because they were infodumpy and delivered through character who seems invented purely for that purpose.

Vanishing Girls was enjoyable, but nor really the best I've read from her, especially when it comes to characterization. The writing and the vibes are still there, but as much as I love Pelayo's style, I do wonder if it's time for her to try something new. Which each new book, the excitement and wonder was less than it was when I picked up Children of Chicago. The plot about serial killer and vanishing girls had something to say from the feminist point of view and violence against women, but 1) the intention reminded me of The Shining Girls where it was done better and 2) I feel the purposeful tying with The Sleeping Beauty fairy tale constricted the point, especially because the idea of generational serial murder was interesting. Taking in consideration how long the build up was, the culmination was a bit flat.
Recommend if you like a slow-cooker of a ghost novel with some pretty writing. :)

DNF around 10% just had a really hard time getting into may try again at some point just not the right book for me at the time.

Vanishing Daughters is a lot of things in one story. It's part murder mystery, part paranormal ghost story, part psycho-babble musing, part mind-numbingly boring repetition about grief and part inner reflection of our main character, Briar. Sadly, it simply does none of these things well enough to pull any of them off.

The pacing is all over the shop. The first 30-40% of the story moves at glacial pace and rehashes grief and what dreams might mean over and over and over again. It was face-meltingly boring. I was so close to giving up on the book. The only saving grace was the chapters from the killer's POV. Those were interesting and offered the incentive to keep reading.

The middle part of the book was reasonable and kept me reading, but then the ending felt so rushed and glossed over you never really get much resolution. The last couple of chapters are so fast, if you blink you'll miss them.

Sadly, there was just too much internal reflection and new-aged meditation guff crammed into this story with fairytales and folklore, witches, fairies and ghosts it grew unwieldly and the story meandered around interesting central ideas but with little-to-no substance actually appearing.

The murder mystery theme promised a lot, and I feel that there is definitely some great content that could easily be explored in that realm, but it wasn't to be part of this story. Hints of ties to long-standing and infamous killers could have easily been explored and offered to the reader on a platter and I, for one, would have lapped that up. I longed for some new insight into the serial killers that had been mentioned, some fantastical and paranormal ties to the true life crimes. It would have been glorious!

My dislike of the pacing, content and lack of anything really new to worn out tropes aside, Cynthia can write and put together a great scene. The characters had some interesting bones and I was particularly taken with little Prairie, Briar's dog.

Overall, this book promised a lot, but didn't deliver. I would, however, be very interested to read something else Cynthia has written to see if another story idea would fare better in terms of execution.

Vanishing Daughters by Cynthia Pelayo was a book that I could not put down once I started to read it. I am glad the book cover caught my eye especially as I did not read what this book was about. Now, this book was a weird read but in a good way, as it had me interested from the very first few pages and I wanted to find out what happens next.
I found it, a great read for a cold stormy night outside whilst you are snuggled in your bed, this made the atmosphere perfect whilst reading it!

OMX now my lights have started to flicker!!!!!! and I live in the country side!

This is a very spooky read!

It started on the night journalist Briar Thorne’s mother died in their rambling old mansion on Chicago’s South Side.

The nightmares of a woman in white pleading to come home, when music switched on in locked rooms, and the panicked fear of being swallowed by the dark. . . . . . . . Bri has almost convinced herself that these stirrings of dread are simply manifestations of grief and not the beyond-world of ghostly impossibilities her mother believed in, and more tangible terrors still lurk outside the decaying Victorian grey-stone.

Now, a serial killer has claimed the lives of fifty-one women in the Chicago area. and when Bri starts researching the murders, she meets a stranger who tells her there’s more to her sleepless nights than bad dreams. they hold the key to putting ghosts to rest and stopping a killer.
But the killer has caught on and is closing in, and if Bri doesn’t answer the call of the dead soon,. . . . . . . . . .
She’ll be walking among them.

WoW. . . . . . . . . I loved this book and I ended up reading it all night till the very end!!!!

I highly recommend this book! Superb read,

Big Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for my ARC.

This one had so much potential but sadly didn't deliver for me.

It's a good premise that just didn't really go anywhere. Briar Rose is grieving. Her mother has recently died and she's gone to live back in her childhood home. She believes it's haunted. She's not sleeping well. Partly due to her mother's death and partly due to the house. Her dreams become meddled where she can't tell the difference between reality and dream. I felt the same way reading it. Perhaps the story was meant to be like that and leave you wondering.

There's a lot going on in the story besides grieving. There's the retellings (several) of, "Sleeping Beauty," curses and legends and there's a serial killer on the loose in the neighbourhood!

Perhaps it's my recent grief but I just couldn't connect to this story. I encourage you to read other reviews as many others enjoyed it more than I did. Just not my cup of tea.

Published March 11, 2025

I'd like to kindly thank NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for granting me access to this Advanced Reader's Copy.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Vanishing Daughters was a read that was outside of my comfort zone! So many elements of this book were done well, where there were others that weren't. As with any good book. For starters, the writing style. I have never read a book with a writing style as the one in this book. A lot of the time while reading I thoroughly enjoyed the change of pace, but other times it made the plot a bit hard to follow. The overall plot of the book fell short for me at times, and it felt overall lackluster by it's ending. Just when the plot was getting somewhere I was invested in, it jumped to a completely different place, which adds to the hard to follow element. And the secondary plot felt as if it was entirely separate from the overall plot. There were many parts of this book that did interest me though. I think the spookier elements of the plot were done well and kept me in suspense. The world building was done phenomenally well. The spooky vibes are what maintained my interest throughout the book. I think this book did touch on some important elements, such as grief, in a realistic way. The roller coaster of emotions in the FMC's story felt pretty realistic to me. Grief is never linear and it's different for everyone. This book isn't your average run of the mill thriller and I think this book would be perfect for someone who is interested in reading something dark and twisted, but really outside of the box!

This one didn't hook me the way I thought it would. I thought the serial killer aspect would be more prominent but it was mostly about a women going through grief and sleep deprivation. Ultimately this wasn't for me but others might enjoy it more.

A psychological suspense retelling of The Sleeping Beauty. Briar Rose Thorne is grieving her mother. Her home seems to be haunted and trying to send her messages. She is having waking nightmares of a girl in white. 51 women have been killed in the Chicago area and police are no closer to finding the Chicago Strangler.
Bri must unlock the mystery of her family and a familiar ghost story if she wants to survive.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Thomas &Mercer for this digital e-arc.*

Thank you Netgalley & Thomas & Mercer for an eARC ♥️


Set in the eerie landscape of Chicago's South Side, the story follows journalist Briar Thorne as she unravels the tangled threads of a string of murders.
The author's masterful crafting of atmosphere is nothing short of enchanting. The crumbling mansion where Briar resides is a character in its own right, its creaking floorboards and ghostly whispers weaving a spell of foreboding that's impossible to shake. As Briar delves deeper into the mystery, the lines between reality and the paranormal begin to blur, plunging you into a world of unsettling uncertainty.
What I loved most about this book is its fearless willingness to defy genre conventions. The plot twists and turns like a snake through the grass, keeping you on the edge of your seat as you struggle to piece together the puzzle alongside Briar. And just when you think you've got it figured out, Cynthia Pelayo throws in another curveball, sending you careening down a rabbit hole of surprises.
The Sleeping Beauty fairytale elements are woven throughout the narrative like a subtle thread, adding depth and complexity to the story. It's a bold move, and one that pays off in spades.

I'm mixed on this one. I think I went in expecting a different read and it may have thrown me off. I found the writing itself to be great but the story just had too much going on and yet I found myself skimming a lot because nothing was really happening. I've enjoyed other books from this author, so this might just be a me thing.

This was such a creepy and intense read with the way it delved into grief. It was beautifully written and is one that will stay with me.

This book was a pleasant surprise.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, as it was a quick read and a good time.

2⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advanced copy of Vanishing Daughters.

Briar has just recently lost her mother and she has inherited her house which she believes to be haunted. There is also a serial killer that is on the loose in the neighborhood which is making it hard for her to sleep. She begins to have nightmares and she starts to feel like she is slowly losing her mind.

This was definitely less thriller/mystery and more horror/psychological. I feel like this whole book could have been a fever dream. There was just way too much going on and I was not a fan of the writing style. It was just not for me.

A lyrical modern fairy tale, in a crumbling mansion on the south side of Chicago, Vanishing Daughters is a story of women, of serial killers and of the legacy of pain left behind.

Cynthia Palayo has written a beautiful ghost story from two angles, from the ghost and from the current resident of the haunted place. With hints of Sleeping Beauty and the real life story of Chicago's dark history, this is a dreamy and haunting look at the history of women and of places.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A Chicago based thriller that ends up being part, fairytale and part psychological mind bender.

Disclaimer: I did read this as an e-book through NetGalley. Thank you to Thomas and Mercer and NetGalley for the free e-book copy. This is my honest and voluntary review.

(3.75 rounded up) Oh gosh, how I wanted to love this. And overall, I did enjoy the novel for the most part. However.....

First, the things I enjoyed. I always enjoy Pelayo's ability to blend Chicago history with the dark and mythical. In this novel, our main character is sorting through Chicago history, as well as living through a psychological thriller/fairytale type storyline. Dealing with the grief of her recently deceased mother Briar is caught in a web of insomnia, heartbreak, and what seems to be paranormal instances. All simultaneously well being stalked by a very prominent serial killer. Needless to say, the premise while super involved and complicated. It seems was a really interesting, dark and yet still fresh. The blend of psychological thriller and fairytale Law was something completely new to me and I have to admit it was very interesting and I did enjoy that aspect of the novel.

Now the however. It got extremely rambling towards the middle of the book. I felt like all of the action completely slowed to a halt, and we just got a lot of repetitive internal monologue from the main character. I could never quite tell if she was hallucinating or lucid. Which isn't necessarily a problem, but the periods of lucidity and hallucination were so incoherent at times that it really lost me. While everyone grieves differently, and I respect this portrayal of grief, it really felt over the top to me, and I just had a hard time relating to that particular aspect. I really wish there had been more development in the way of the relationships between the main character and her roommate and boyfriend. Well, they were a pretty significant part of the book. I felt like nothing really deep or motivating happened within those relationships.

The ending was definitely thrilling and left on a high note. And that is honestly what saved a lot of this book for me. But it did feel a little rushed and it happened extremely late within the book. Overall, I do recommend as something that is fun to read if you're into a psychological thriller, and wanna add a little bit of fairytale lore to that thriller. But it was a middle of the road book for me.

How fun was the concept of this book? However it kind of fell short for me. I wanted more from it.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my early e-arc.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. The writing style is very similar to a fairy tale and has a dream like feel to it, and I quickly realized this was not for me.

I liked the concept of this book and will be trying out others by this author, I just don’t think this one was for me. The multiple genres in the same book is something I would like to explore further. I requested this on Netgalley based on the description and as a daughter also grieving the loss of her mother I’m not sure this was what I was in the mood for? Just because this book wasn’t right for me though doesn’t mean it won’t be the right book for someone else. Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the arc.

This is the second book I read from this author and I am definitely getting a feel for her style. Vanishing Daughters is written in a dreamy, whimsical way which makes the reader wonder if they what is being told is just the imagination of the MC, Briar, or if it is actually happening.

Bri is a journalist who recently lost her mother and she is now living back in her childhood home in Chicago. She is battling with the grief of the loss of her mother which is causing her to have nightmares. At the same time, we learn of the Chicago Strangler who is a serial killer on the loose and has an obsession with Bri.
Bri leans heavily into memories of her mother and she remembers fairy tales that her mother shared with her and how one tale connects with her family.
What I loved about this story is the atmospheric, gothic, horror vibe to it. The fact that it was written from a dreamy perspective makes it an interesting read because you don't know if there are in facts real fairy tales, turned to horror or if this is all just a part of Bri's coping mechanism to her grief.

I recommend this book to readers who like atmospheric horror, gothic vibes, ghost stories and unsettling fairy tales. Thank you Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer. All opinions are my own.