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

4.5 stars and another winner from Noelle. Can we say claustrophobia, cause that’s what this book was giving me. My mama heart broke reading this but I didn’t want to put it down. Based off a true kidnapping in the 1970s Such Quiet Girls kept me on the edge of my seat. Sage was so brave in the face of fear while still trying to keep the other kids calm. Definitely would recommend.

"𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅. 𝑾𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅. 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅."

Such Quiet Girls is inspired by an actual event - The Chowchilla kidnapping in 1976 where three men hijacked a school bus and kidnapped 26 children and their driver and buried them alive in a truck trailer.

Noelle Ihli delivers a pulse pounding thriller with non stop tension oozing out from every page. She masterfully executes the plot building suspense with each passing moment and creating a feeling of fear and dread, more so because it is based off an actual event. It touched on every parent's worst nightmare.

I loved the multiple perspectives of Sage, one of the older kidnapped children, Ted, one of the kidnappers, Sheena, the mother of the two children on the bus and Jessa, the bus driver. It certainly added depth and an all consuming intensity to the narrative. As a reader not only was I privy to their thoughts but could also feel their emotions.

This was definitely an emotionally charged, thrilling ride, I read in one sitting and that lingered with me long after I swiped the last page. Such Quiet Girls is my third book by @noelleihliauthor and my favourite so far.

Thank you Dynamite Books and @netgalley for the ARC to read and review. The book is out today 4/29.

Inspired by the real life tragedy of the 1976 Chowchilla kidnapping, this gripping novel reimagines the terrifying story of ten children abducted in broad daylight and buried alive. Told through multiple perspectives, it will have you holding your breath, desperate to find out what happens next and whether these children will ever make it home.

We follow Sage and her sister, two young girls determined to survive and reunite with their mother. Jessa, the bus driver with a troubled past, is thrust into a nightmare she never could have prepared for and must decide whether she has the courage to protect the kids in her care. Sheena, a frantic mother juggling fear, a dementia stricken father, and the moral weight of a ransom demand, faces an impossible choice. And Ted, driven by revenge, must confront just how far he's willing to go. Especially when his partner's ruthlessness threatens everything.

This novel closely mirrors the events of Chowchilla but offers fictional twists that elevate the suspense and emotional impact. It’s harrowing to imagine what those children endured, but Ihli gives readers a powerful, if terrifying, journey with a satisfying and redemptive ending.
Absolutely loved this book! It was tense, heartbreaking, and unforgettable. This is a must read for fans of true crime.

*Thank you to Noelle W. Ihli, Dynamite Books and Netgalley for the ARC copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

My first book by this author! I absolutely loved it!! Keep you wanting to read more !! Highly suggest reading this one !! Five stars !!

I was able to read this as an ARC and is available April 29, 2025.
Noelle West Ihli does it again with another amazing thriller based on true events!
I knew about this kidnapping from being a true crime junkie but I love the spins she throws in them so it’s not just a retelling of what actually happened. She makes you fall in love with the characters and her descriptions of scenes makes it feel like you’re really there.
This author is an auto-buy for me!