Happy Release Week!

Such Quiet Girls is a gripping thriller had me firing through the pages. The concept- school bus of children kidnapped without a trace- is terrifying on its own, but Noelle W. Ihli adds depth by focusing on the unraveling of trust between the perpetrators and the desperation of the families left behind, as well as the resilience of the children.

The story is well-paced, with enough twists to keep you guessing, and the emotional weight of the parents’ grief and fear feels raw and authentic. The tension and character-driven storytelling held strong throughout. It’s one of those books that lingers with you afterward, not just because of the mystery, but because of what it says about trauma, resilience, and how people respond to the unimaginable.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

wow, wow,wow!!
What a perfect delivery.
This book left me utterly breathless!
This phenomenal novel is an emotional rollercoaster that had me on the edge of my seat, tears streaming down my face.
Based on true events, the story is gripping and heart-wrenching, with masterful writing that absolutely sucked me in. I devoured it.
If you're ready for a book that'll rip your heart out and completely absorb you then this is it.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Dynamite Books for the privilege to review this book.

Fast paced. Tense. Attention gripping. Page turning!

A bus full of children. An abduction. Buried in a shipping container. A ransom. And a mom fighting for her girls back.

Such Quiet Girls was such a ride (no pun intended).

I genuinely couldn’t put this down and loved being able to read the story from all the different point of views. The atmosphere felt real to a point where even I felt claustrophobic. And based on actual events!? A quick and gripping read that truly embodies a bone chilling thriller!

Thank you to Netgalley for my arc copy!

One of my most anticipated reads of 2025 is here! Noelle Ihli, you’ve done it again. Happy publishing day!!!! 5 stars.

I cannot believe this story is based on true events. Wow. My mind is blown. I didn’t want to stop reading.. devoured it in one sitting! Thank you so much to the publisher for an advanced copy.

Such Quiet Girls by Noelle W. Ihli? Whew. This one took me on a wild ride.

Inspired by the real-life Chowchilla kidnapping, this book is a fictional deep dive into one of the most haunting crimes you’ve probably never heard about—and it’s told through the eyes of a kidnapped child, the bus driver, a grieving parent, and even one of the suspects. The multiple POVs made the story feel layered, raw, and emotionally intense.

This was one of those books I couldn’t put down. The pacing was relentless in the best way—it had me flipping pages like a madwoman just to find out how it ended. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. The stakes felt sky-high, and the emotional weight of it all? Whew. It was giving “gut-punch” from start to finish.

It left me asking: what kind of person even thinks up something like this? The writing was powerful, the characters were well-drawn, and it somehow managed to be both horrifying and heartfelt. If you like thrillers that are fast, fierce, and based on real events, this one’s for you.

Thanks to NetGalley, Noelle West Ihli, and the Dynamite Books for this ARC—I devoured it!

I received this ARC for an honest review, and this book was so so good, first of all i had no idea this was based on true events, now I want to watch the documentary that was suggested. it had suspense and it was a page turner and it also made you want to know what was going to happen, were the kids on the bus along with MIss Jessa going to come out of this alive or not, and the bravery of Sage, just loved it and how none of them gave up hope that they were going to make it out. The twist with Sheena was what got me i was like what? Like how did they know how to reach out to her and did it have something to do with her past? it was for sure a story that i enjoyed from start to finish, looking forward to reading more from this author.

I wish I had known this was based on a true story because I really feel like it would have changed my entire outlook while reading. It was fast paced from start to finish, but even though the stakes were high, I just never felt that edge of my seat tension. That being said, I did enjoy the book. It's a quick and easy read and now that I do know the history behind it, it makes the story that much more intense.

Noelle W. Ihli delivers a compelling novel inspired by a chilling true story.
Told from multiple perspectives, including those of child and adult victims, an abductor and one of the parents.
Captivating and suspenseful, it created a sense of urgency that made it difficult to put down until the very last page.
Thank you to the publisher/author for the opportunity to read this complimentary advanced copy. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This book gripped me from the very first page and didn’t let go. Such Quiet Girls is a tense, emotional, and heart-pounding thriller inspired by real-life events—specifically the infamous Chowchilla kidnapping of 1976—and Ihli does an incredible job turning that terrifying premise into a suspenseful survival story that feels chillingly possible.

Ten children and their bus driver, Jessa, are kidnapped in broad daylight and buried alive in a shipping container. From that horrifying setup, the story unfolds with rising dread, claustrophobic tension, and a strong emotional core. I really appreciated the layered perspectives, especially Jessa’s—still grieving the loss of her own daughter—as she tries desperately to protect the children now trapped with her underground. Sage and her sister Bonnie were standout characters too, showing remarkable strength and resilience.

While the plot is harrowing, it’s the emotional weight and sense of urgency that kept me turning the pages. There were a few moments where I wished for even deeper character development or a bit more time to breathe between tense scenes, but overall this was a powerful and memorable read. The ending especially hit hard—I definitely wasn’t ready for the emotional punch it delivered.

This story will stay with me for a long time. If you’re a fan of survival thrillers with emotional stakes and don’t mind stories rooted in real-life nightmares, Such Quiet Girls is absolutely worth the read.

Thank you to Dynamite Books and NetGalley for the free ARC copy in exchange for my honest review!!

A mothers worst nightmare. On the way to a daycare, a bus full of children’s goes missing.

This was such a fast paced thriller that I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. We get multiple POVs from one of the kidnapped girls to the the kidnappers. You really felt for the child’s and teacher who were taken.

I love everything Noelle writes. She writes dark thriller that leave you never wanting to leave your house.

Genre: Thriller
APK: Ebook
Pages: 354
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Series or Standalone: Stand-alone

This was okay!! I enjoyed that this was based on a true story but it also made it harder to read. It was very disturbing. I was in a mild reading slump while reading this so that may have affected my enjoyment. Overall I think it it’s worth the read.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

Wow what an intense edge-of-your-seat thriller. From the very first chapter every time I picked up this book my heart rate would increase. Such Quiet Girls is loosely based on a true story. A bus full of kids and their bus driver are all kidnapped and are being held for ransom. This story tells the viewpoints of the oldest student, her mother, the bus driver, and one of the kidnappers. It was SO well done. This is my first Noelle W. Ilhi book, but will not be my last. I highly recommend this if you love thrillers and strong women! I would warn about reading it right before bed - truly nightmare inducing! Thanks to NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for this eARC.

Such Quiet Girls by Noelle West Ihli is a gripping thriller that is inspired by the Chowchilla Kidnapping in 1976 where a bus full of children and their bus driver were kidnapped and buried in a container underground. Riveting and pulse-pounding, you don't want to miss this!!

Jessa is a new bus driver of bus 315 and is driving ten children when a detour takes her off of the normal route. What started as an inconvenience quickly turns into a nightmare when two masked men demand Jessa to stop and open up the doors. Once the doors open, Jessa and the children are zip tied and forced to walk one by one to an awaiting van. After being driven to the middle of nowhere, the kids and Jessa are forced down a ladder into an underground container. While the kidnappers had said that once they get ransom money then everyone will be released and unharmed, Jessa's past failures and fears haunt her and she knows she needs to find a way for everyone to be safe. With time and air running out will Jessa and the children of Bus 315 make it out alive?

This book was so powerfully written and I am once again reaffirmed why Noelle West Ihli is an auto buy author for me!! It is every parents worst nightmare for your child to go missing and Ihli brilliantly captured the dread and overwhelm of the mother of two of the children on the bus. I really like the multiple POVs, (Jessa, Sage, Sheena and Ted) this allows us to be fully immersed into the story seeing these different perceptions of the events. The pacing is perfect with quick chapters that are filled with tension and suspense. And the fact that this book is inspired by the Chowchilla Kidnapping is just what my true crime loving soul needed. If you love thought provoking, chilling thrillers that highlight resiliency and strength, definitely give Such Quiet Girls a chance!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Noelle West Ihli, and Dynamite Books for this ARC!! Publication date is April 29th 2025.

Noelle is one of my favorite authors and I will read anything she writes. I usually go into her books completely blind because I know they’ll always be good, but I read a little bit of the description for this one and wasn’t sure if I would be able to read it.

For someone that works with children at an elementary school my worst nightmare is for something to happen to any one of them while under the care of the school. Reading about a bus full of children, and their bus driver, being kidnapped and buried in a trailer below ground was extremely heartbreaking and I didn’t think I could continue reading.

I fought through the tears and was able to finish it in a day. This book was based on a true story which made it such an emotional read. In 1976, three armed men kidnapped 26 children, and their bus driver, and imprisoned them in a truck trailer buried in a quarry in Livermore, California. I won’t get into anymore details so you can be just as surprised as I was while reading this book.

To think there are real people out there who kidnapped over twenty children for the sake of ransom money is truly disturbing. All three were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but after some digging, one was granted full parole in 2022 and the other two were paroled as well.

Inspired by real life events, this book was gripping. I enjoyed most of it, but I thought the bus driver's back story was uninteresting and unnecessary.

Such Quiet Girls is such a gripping thriller! This book is so well written. It is easy to follow the multiple POVs throughout the book. I was on the edge of my seat from the beginning of this book, it was really hard to put down. Such Quiet Girls could be turned in to one of the best movies!

A quick, entertaining popcorn thriller. I didn’t agree with all of the characters’ actions but it made for an interesting read. You’ll have to suspend a bit of disbelief but overall a good thriller.

This was my first book by Noelle and I can’t wait to read more by her! This book was based off a real kidnapping. And it was soo good! One of my favorite reads of 2025! I had been waiting for this to come out!

This is my first book by this author and definitely won’t be my last!

This story was inspired by true events of the Chowchilla kidnapping in 1976. Here, 10 children and their bus driver are taken from their school bus and buried in an underground bunker. The story follows the POVs of four people. One of the kidnappers, one of the older children, the mother of that child and the bus driver. With Noelle’s writing, I found it very easy to follow the many POVs. This was exactly what you want from a thriller. Keeps you on the edge of your seat and thirsty for more until the very end.

Thank you NetGalley and Noelle W. Ihli for allowing me to ARC read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Such Quiet Girls
By Noelle West Ihli

Such Quiet Girls is my first Noelle West Ihli book ( I have 3 of her books on my TBR) so when I received the ARC ebook by @netgalley @dynamitebooks , I was super excited! This book starts off with a bang and immediately grabs you in - a school bus on its way to an afterschool program takes a detour and is hijacked by 2 men with pantyhose covering their faces. The 10 children and bus driver, Ms Jessa are led down a ladder and into an underground shipping container. Only 1 parent - the mom of two daughters kidnapped receives a ransom notice. Get ready for a wild ride told in multiple POVs (Ted-one of the kidnappers, Sage- one of the daughters taken, Ms Jessa-the bus driver and Sheena- mom to Sage and Bonnie, responsible for getting kidnappers the ransom). This is a fast paced thriller with characters you root for and those you want to yell at. Such Quiet Girls by Noelle West Ihli coming out April 29! #NetGalley #dynamitebooks #suchquietgirls @noellewestihli #noseinabook #bookstagram #booklover #book #suspense #thrillerbook