What if you found evidence of a crime, but no one believed you? – Diese Frage steht im Zentrum von April Henrys Jugendthriller When We Go Missing, in dem die siebzehnjährige Willow durch Zufall auf eine verstörende Entdeckung stößt: Eine verlorene Speicherkarte, gefüllt mit Hunderten von Fotos – Mädchen, die lachen, nicht hinsehen oder eindeutig Angst haben. Als sie sich selbst auf einem der Bilder entdeckt, ist klar: Etwas stimmt hier ganz und gar nicht.

Willow ist eine starke, engagierte Hauptfigur, die viel Herz zeigt – besonders, wenn es um die Tiere im Tierheim Finding Home geht. Ihre Liebe zu den oft übersehenen Seelen dort ist authentisch und berührend. (Kleine Herzensbotschaft von mir: Adopt, don’t shop! – meine eigene Rescue-Hündin hat mein Leben verändert.)

Die zweite Hauptfigur ist Dare – und der ist alles andere als ein freiwilliger Helfer. Er muss Sozialstunden im Tierheim leisten, um dem Jugendgefängnis zu entgehen. Willow begegnet ihm zunächst mit Skepsis, was absolut nachvollziehbar ist. Doch nach und nach entwickelt sich eine vorsichtige Annäherung zwischen den beiden, die glaubwürdig und feinfühlig erzählt ist. Besonders schön: Dare lernt nicht nur viel über Tiere, sondern auch über Verantwortung, Vertrauen und sich selbst.

Unterschwellig bedrohlich ist von Anfang an die Perspektive des Täters: Ryan. Seine Kapitel sind intensiv, unheimlich und sorgen für echte Spannung. Er bleibt lange ein Schatten im Hintergrund, doch seine Präsenz ist spürbar – und das macht ihn umso beängstigender.

Die Handlung an sich ist nicht völlig neu, aber solide konstruiert. Die Spannung steigt langsam an und hält sich gut – auch wenn der ganz große Überraschungseffekt ausbleibt. Trotzdem liest sich das Buch flüssig und unterhaltsam, mit einer gelungenen Mischung aus Mystery, Coming-of-Age und düsteren Untertönen.

Fazit: When We Go Missing ist kein nervenzerreißender Pageturner, aber ein gut erzählter Jugendthriller mit engagierten Figuren, einem beängstigenden Gegenspieler und einem wichtigen Thema im Hintergrund. Für Fans von ruhiger Spannung, Tierliebe und jugendlicher Ermittlerenergie eine klare Empfehlung mit leichten Abzügen in der Spannungskurve.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. To commence this review, let us begin with the appearance and the synopsis of this narrative. In my view, the cover is merely adequate; it evokes the essence of the Goosebumps series, yet it did not immediately capture my attention, leading me to believe it could have been more visually appealing. However, the synopsis did pique my interest and motivated me to delve into this narrative. As for the actual story, I found the characters to be somewhat satisfactory; they seemed rather superficial and lacked comprehensive development. Conversely, I found the plot to be intriguing and distinctive. I appreciated how it addressed serious issues in a manner suitable for children, allowing them to contemplate the dangers they may face, even when unaware, and how they can be deceived. Furthermore, I believe this book serves as an excellent resource for parents, illustrating the ease with which individuals can be manipulated into perilous situations. One final aspect of the plot that I found enjoyable was its consistent and flowing narrative, which prevented it from being one-dimensional or tedious. In conclusion, while I do not consider this book to be poor, I firmly believe it has room for improvement.

April Henry’s When We Go Missing is a young adult thriller that blends true-crime elements, suspense, and a touch of romance. When We Go Missing centers on seventeen-year-old Willow O'Connor, an aspiring photographer who volunteers at Finding Home, an animal shelter in Portland, Oregon. While walking shelter dogs, Willow discovers a lost camera memory card containing hundreds of photos of teenage girls—some smiling, others unaware, and a few visibly terrified. The discovery takes a personal turn when Willow finds her own photo among the images, prompting her to suspect foul play.

Despite the police dismissing her concerns, citing that taking pictures in public isn’t a crime, Willow teams up with Dare Milani, a new volunteer at the shelter, to investigate. As they uncover connections between the photos and missing girls, Willow realizes the photographer may be a serial killer. The narrative unfolds through three alternating perspectives—Willow, Dare, and the predatory real estate agent Ryan—creating a tense, multi-layered mystery that keeps readers guessing. Willow's challenging home life, with an ill mother and distant stepfather, grounds her character in emotional reality, making her quest for justice feel personal and urgent.

Dare, meanwhile, is a layered counterpart, grappling with guilt over a past accident that led to his probation. Volunteering at the shelter is a condition of his plea deal, adding complexity to his motivations. Willow's relentless desire to find the young women being targeted, while also dealing with the local authorities who think she has too much time on her hands, and the possibility that Finding Home is on the brink of closure, leads to an interesting conversation.

The alternating perspectives heighten the suspense, particularly Ryan’s chilling chapters, which offer a predatory viewpoint without glorifying or sensationalizing his actions. This narrative choice adds a layer of creepiness, as readers glimpse the killer’s mindset while rooting for Willow and Dare to outsmart him. Lastly, I think the author intends to draw in a younger audience. Except for Willow, Dare, and Ryan, all the other secondary characters are in the 14-15 age range. That's her choice, but I think I will read reviews of future works Henry creates before reading the story.

When We Go Missing by April Henry is a fast-paced mystery.
I devoured the book in one-sitting. The story is fast-paced thrilling and gripping.
April is a great young adult writer and is probably one of my favorites.
There hasn't been a book by her that I didn't like.
She always crafts an engaging mystery!

Teens Willow and Dare meet as volunteers at Finding Home, an animal shelter in Portland, OR. They both came from troubled families, but have found joy in taking care of animals. One day they come across a camera card, which happens to be filled with photos of young teen girls. Most of the photos are harmless, but a few pictures show the girls looking terrified. When the police decide there is nothing wrong, Willow decides to play detective. Meanwhile, Finding Home is in financial trouble, so the teens decide to rename the pets as celebrities to get them adopted out before the shelter has to close.
First of all, I love April Henry. She has a fantastic way of getting reluctant readers hooked and interested in reading! That being said, this book, while good, had a few clunky parts with transistions and the ending was really not very satisfying. The drama is resolved way too quickly, things were told to the reader rather than letting us see it played out, and there was literally zero build up to Willow and Dare’s first kiss (their “romance” did not need to be part of this story). Also, what happened to the step dad? I needed more resolution with that part. I will still recommend this to readers, but as far as thriller/murder mystery goes, I feel that this could have been better.

I loved this book! This is the first book I’ve read from this author, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was blown away! I was literally glued to this book and nothing could stop me from reading it. I highly recommend it

Rating: 4 stars!

Abosolutely honored to have received my second ARC from April Henry! I absolutely love her as an author. I look forward to reading everything she publishes.

Willow is a 17 year old who takes photos for her local animal rescue. When she comes across a mysterious SD card with some questionable content, she starts to worry for her local community of women. We as the readers, follow Williow, the Finding Home Animal shelter rescues, and the bad-boy volunteer, Dare, as the attempt to solve the case of the person behind the SD card.

With cops refusing to get involved, Williow takes it upon herself to get to the bottom of the mystery. With danger lurking just around the corner, the book is a quick read that will have readers on the edge of their seat.

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this story- The MC is not only a photographer, but also volunteers at an animal rescue taking photos of the animals for the rescue's website. It had so much going for it that I love. however it was kind of a mess.

This story was just odd. There were too many disjointed elements and honestly I don't really understand WHY the MC got mixed up in the missing girls case in the first place. You've got the financially struggling, over crowded animal rescue, the kid on probation with a mysterious past, the mom who's an addict and the abusive, controlling step father- don't even get me started on this whole relationship. Why did it happen? how? When?

Then you get the antagonist's storyline which was horrific and chilling, but also the most compelling bit of the whole book, and yet it felt like reading bits from a completely separate book. it didn't feel like it fit in this story.

Then there's this RIDICULOUS drama that unfolds between the FMC and MMC that was just absurd. I rolled my eyes so hard they almost fell out of my head.

There was too much going on in this one which ruined the pacing making this very short book feel way longer than it actually is. I think this story should've been two separate books. The first being a romance/drama about the rescue and people involved, and a separate story with stalker/predator guy.

It took a while for this book to really get going, but once it did, I really enjoyed it. Very interesting characters and it was fun to see the stories intersect!

Willow loves to take pictures and volunteer at Finding Home, an animal shelter. After she finds a camera memory card with hundreds of pictures of teen girls, she takes it to the police. They tell her there is no proof of a crime, but they will look into it. That isn’t good enough. Willow works with a new volunteer to determine what happened to these girls. Both Willow and Dare have secrets that will need to be worked through as they attempt to unravel this mystery.

When We Go Missing is a stand-alone mystery that shows both the protagonist's and antagonist’s point of view. Readers know there is a mystery early on, yet the “investigation” doesn’t start until after the halfway point, and then the resolution comes quickly. Henry’s depiction of the thoughts of the villain enriches the story and allows the reader to make guesses on who may be the perpetrator. This was a quick read similar to other Henry novels, yet the story was fresh and new.

This one is a winner! A classic story from one of my favorite authors! As always, there’s a subtext that highlights a cool group, animal shelters. But the best party of the story is the redemption of a juvenile offender who changes his life by helping others. Today’s teens need to be reminded that sometimes the unexpected is the very best thing for you. There’s so many ideas and themes you could discuss here. Also, my daughter is going to love this one. It’s got all the elements of a great mystery: a terrible villain, a plucky main character, and some really cool dogs ( and the cats, too).

Short and Sweet Review

When We Go Missing follows our two main characters Willow and Dare as they work at Finding Homes an animal shelter and also try to solve the mystery of a camera memory card that has hundreds of pictures of girls that seem unaware or frightened.

I personally felt this book isn’t what the synopsis is selling it as. I expected it to be more of a mystery but it felt like a majority of the focus was on Willow and Dare working at the animal shelter and trying to get the animals adopted. This book was short and by the time theres a focus on the mystery the book was over so it felt like the pacing was off or there should have just been more attention paid to the mystery. Willow finds this camera memory card and the pictures she finds on it she finds to be alarming so she takes them to the police department and they tell her its nothing but she can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. There wasn’t a lot of detective work going on, honestly I feel like Willow got lucky that she even figured out what was going on with that memory card. We get the POVs of Willow, Dare, and the person behind taking the pictures. Willow is a dedicated worker and when she feels strongly about something you’ll know it. Dare volunteers at the animal shelter because he needs the community service hours after something he did that we don’t find out until later. When we get the POV of the culprit we can tell he’s a textbook weirdo someone you would see on an episode of criminal minds. I didn’t enjoy this book, I definitely went into it thinking it was going to be one way and I ended up with something completely different. I didn’t even have the time to care about the romance between Willow and Dare because I was too busy looking for the mystery. I did like seeing how Willow and Dare’s home lives were it does explain why Willow spends so much time at the shelter.

Overall, I really didn’t like this book because I feel bamboozled. If this was just a book about two teens working at an animal shelter and had romance that’s fine, but I swear this is being marketed as a mystery and that mystery is on the back burner for most of the book. I wouldn’t recommend this book especially if you’re going into it expecting a mystery but if that’s not important than you may like this book more than I did.

3.5⭐️

I have never read April Henry but I have heard good things about her writing so I was a bit disappointed in this book as while the premise is great’s the execution was not.

I think the book doesn’t know what it wants to be with all the sub plots. You have the main time crime plot but then you also have the very Hallmark-esque “let’s save the animal shelter” and a budding romance going on. It just doesn’t go very well together.

I did enjoy the multiple POV format complete with time stamps to put everything in a timeline. It even had the killers POV which made you almost root for him in a weird twisted way or at the very least feel bad for him. The chapters were very short which interrupted the flow of the book.

It is very short so it’s a quick and easy book to consume. Teens will enjoy the cultural references and it could be a good intro to the fiction true crime genre. It reads like a middle grade book but the content is a bit too mature for that reading level.


I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary eARC from Little Brown for children through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown for the eARC!

This was a great mystery/thriller! Willow and Dare are interesting characters - Henry does a good job of unraveling their back stories/ letting us get to know them.
It was also really interesting being in Ryan's head for portions of the book.
I have to admit, when I got to the 91% mark, I didn't think there was any way the mystery could be resolved, but Henry did it! And it didn't feel rushed (or at least not unbelievable).
I've added Henry's backlist to my TBR because I enjoyed this book so much.

*Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC of this book.

This was my first book by April Henry and I have a feeling it will not be the last... Henry does a great job of drawing the readers in with her characters, especially given that this is not a long book. The creepiness that is Ryan had me hooked from the first chapter. Then we meet Willow and Dare, two teens who are hiding secrets while trying to navigate family issues, court-mandated community service, teen homelessness, animal shelter issues, and more. Both Willow and Dare are lovable and well-developed characters (as are the animals they work with at the shelter). The alternating perspectives helped provide enough information throughout this fast-paced story, which I found very impressive.

Overall, this book was a quick, but compelling read with characters (and furry friends) you can’t help but root for. This would be perfect for anyone in a reading slump or someone interested in starting to read YA murder mysteries (it has a creepy vibe, but not the sleep-with-lights-on level of creepiness that some of the others have).

*3.5 rounded up to 4 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

2.5 stars

Great premise, but the execution of the central plot takes way too long to get started. It is one of the stories where there are multiple points of view, including the perpetrator. I had enough confidence in April Henry that I would soon understand how exactly all these characters would intersect. The premise was terrifying, but I believe it got overshadowed by Willow and Dare's budding relationship. I hate when that occurs.

I do think April Henry is a great author. I have loved her titles in the past and would still read her books in the future. Unfortunately, this one didn't wow me.





#WhenWeGoMissing #NetGalley.
Expected Publication 13/05/25
Goodreads Review 18/04/25

When We Go Missing by April Henry is a fast-paced and suspenseful read that I truly enjoyed from beginning to end. This is my first read by this author and won't be my last.

I found this book amazing. There is a bit of a trigger if you are sensitive to assault or animal harm (not intentional, and no spoiling of course). Overall, I found this book to be fantastic. It had two different time frames but it all fit towards the end and not a bit of time to jump either which was nice. This was a quick enjoyable read. April Henry did an amazing job on this book!

When We Go Missing is a compelling read with engaging characters and plenty of secrets and mysteries to keep it interesting. I loved the setting of the pet rescue center, and it was one of the reasons I was excited to pick this up. Although it is a YA read, it will appeal to adults who enjoy YA well-written YA mysteries. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

#WhenWeGoMissing

I don't know how I feel about this book. This is about Willow. She volunteers at an animal shelter. While out with a dog she finds a camera card with hundreds of photos of unsuspecting teen girls on it. We also get chapters from the photographer. This book was more about the 2 teens volunteering at an animal shelter and what they were going through in there lives than the thriller aspect. It was a quick read and I didn't hate it but the thrill was not there.