The lives of ten children, two of them Sheena’s depended upon her ability to follow instructions. Sheena’s girls took a bus home from school except on this particular day they wouldn’t make it home from school. Instead they would be taken in broad daylight—and buried alive.
Jessa is the schools’s new bus driver. She got this job by lying on her application. Three years ago she did something that put her in jail which led to her daughter being taken away.
…
Now Jessa and ten children are buried in a shipping container. The kidnappers insist that if everyone behaves, they’ll be freed when the ransom is paid. But Sage isn’t sure they’ll last that long. Neither is Jessa. It’s dark and cramped, and with every passing minute it’s getting harder to breathe.
With time—and air—running thin, Jessa and the children must find a way to outsmart their captors, or face an unthinkable fate.
…
Inspired by actual events Noelle Ihli recaptures the fear and hope of the children and bus driver moving quickly to escape their demise.
…
Noelle Ihli has written several books based on true events and each one has elements of fear and survival. She educates readers on the importance of being able to survive fearful, desperate situations at the hands of horrible desperate people. Ms. Ihli shares a story about a mother with two daughters on the hijacked bus. This mother is also a caregiver to her father who is battling Alzheimer’s. The bus driver Jessa is a woman with a past and record which she hid from the bus company. She herself has a nine year old daughter who was taken away from her. Jessa needs to prove she can provide a safe environment for her daughter and this hijacking experience tests her ability to make choices that will make or break her as a protector of children.
…
Noelle lays the groundwork depicting a scary and terrifying scenario in which children are used as leverage. The reality of this situation sits heavy in the pit of my stomach imagining what these young children must be thinking about. I can’t imagine having to live an experience like this one. The unpredictability of this situation is astounding. Noelle paints a picture in my mind both in illustrative colors using perfectly crafted words to convey the emotional state of the children.

I did not put this book down from start till finish and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time ! This book is written from different points of view of multiple characters so we get to see many sides of the story. It’s about a bus full of elementary students that go missing, buried in an underground bunker and what they have to do to survive. The whole plot was fast paced and had me jumping up and down at times. The fact that it’s based on true events made it that more gripping. I would definitely recommend if you have a few hours to spend reading because you won’t want to put this down !!

Up until this book, I never got an ARC approval and immediately started reading it, completely pausing another book I was already reading. But I couldn’t help myself once I got my hands on Noelle Ihli’s newest book! Noelle has a way with writing that absolutely captures me. Like many of her other books, this is inspired by true events. (Which always results in me falling down rabbit holes of the real happenings as soon as I finish the book.) The pacing and multiple POVs were perfect. This was a quick suspenseful read.

Thank you NetGalley and Dynamite Books
for this ARC. This review will be shared on NetGalley and Goodreads.

Pub Date Apr 29 2025

oh Noelle... you’ve done it again. 😮‍💨

reading this book was NOT easy; emotionally, and mentally. this book tugged at parts of me i didn’t even know a story could reach. the pacing, the plot, the tension, and the entire book was so brilliantly done.

that final 20% of the book? it completely wrecked me. i was on edge the whole time. heart pounding, breath shallow. i actually had to pause and take breaks just to collect myself. it was that intense. 🥺🥺

knowing that this story was inspired by real events only made it more haunting. it lingers. it forces you to sit with uncomfortable truths, to question, to feel.

this isn’t just a book; it’s an experience. and i absolutely recommend it.

thanks to Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book will stay with me for a long time! I work in finance for our local government so that part hit a little close to home and it never crossed my mind about something like this happening but it totally makes sense!

10 kids and a bus driver go missing. The bus is found and all of their phones but not a single trace is left of the kids or bus driver. The mother of two of the children receives a ransom note and has to decide to follow the instructions on the note or instead alert the police. The book is very fast paced and hard to put down, making it a quick, gripping read. Noelle Ihli has written another amazing book and has quickly become one of my favorite authors.

Thank you, Dynamite Books, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Such Quiet Girls (Pub Date: 4.29): Noelle Ihli has done it again my friends. In true fashion, she delivers a dark, disturbing and tense story about a kidnapping of small children and their bus driver and the courage it takes to survive, no matter how young. I’ll never look at a school bus the same again! 5 stars all the way around!

I absolutely devoured the book!! It's so deliciously addictive. I would have read it in one sitting if I could have. The danger for the children had me eager to find out if they would be okay. I am now excited to read more from this author because I can't rate this book highly enough. The tension had me holding my breath while flying through the pages. I actually liked the characters and the grandpa with Alzheimer's touched my heart.❤️

I think this one just became my new favorite Noelle Ihli read! 😍
Ugh. This book was such an emotional roller coaster, and left me sobbing (per usual with her last few books...). 😭
An immediate page turner, fast paced, with multi POV and so very difficult to put down.
Inspired by a True Story, but I went into this one blind and researched later.. SO glad I did.
The complexity of the characters really had me on the edge of my seat.
Sage was rebellious and inspiring, Jessa had me so conflicted, Greasy Hair had me anxious and my heart ached for Sheena.
I was hooked immediately and will forever be shoving this book into everyone's face.

Truly fantastic. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received this book as an ARC from netgalley.
This was a great book. It was heart pounding near the end and then I literally cried the last few chapters. This was my first book by this author and I will definitely read more.

✨ ✨ ✨ INTENSE. HEART-STOPPING. UNSETTLING. RELENTLESS. TOP TIER✨ ✨ ✨

Such Quiet Girls is a book that every single thriller fan MUST read!!

I just recently read Gray After Dark by Noelle W. Ihli (a new to me author) after seeing Freida McFadden give it a rave review and I really enjoyed that one. I knew I had to read more from this author. So I was quite happily surprised to get the chance to read an ARC copy of this one!!

The blurb for Such Quiet Girls caught my attention right away, especially being inspired by true events, and I knew I HAD to read it.

The writing is immaculate, the atmosphere is tense and unsettling, and the plot is relentless and had my pulse racing and my heart-stopping!!! This sure did trigger my claustrophobia too!! I could FEEL it. Spectacular writing and the end made me feel all emotional. I loved it and I have literally no bad things to say about this book at all. It’s a new favorite book for me!

👏 👏 👏

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free ebook copy in exchange for an honest review. This book will be released April 29, 2025.

If you’re familiar with Ihli’s books you know you’re in for a face-paced and wild ride.
This book is full of moments that had me, quite literally, pacing around my house screaming “RUN!” At my phone. The claustrophobia I felt even just reading this was intense and at one point had me wanting to put the book down out of pure fear of what may be coming next for some of the characters but this is the type of book that’s impossible to put down.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

This book had me on the edge of my seat. The content was horrifying and the writing put me right there with the characters. And don’t forget to read the author's note, explaining that (while fiction) this is based on actual events. Everything I’ve read from Noelle Ihli has been amazing, and this book definitely follows that trend!

Thank you to NetGalley, Noelle Ihli, and Dynamite for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

WOWZA! This was a pulse pounding and hard to put down page turner! I loved the tension and dread that jumped from the pages as every parent's worst nightmare happens in Such Quiet Girls: A Thriller. Noelle W. Ihli blew me away with this heart wrenching and riveting book about two mothers and ten abducted children! The author captured the instantly gut gripping reaction of Sheena, one mother learning that her two children have been abducted, and the fear and sense of responsibility of Jessa, the other mother who was driving the bus and was abducted along with the children. Whew! The author put her characters and readers through the ringer and then some!

From the very first page, I was instantly invested and read most of this book in one day as I did not want to put this book down! What began as a normal day ends in a nightmare as a bus driver and the children she is carrying and kidnapped and placed in an underground bunker. Can you even imagine their fear? I had to keep reading to learn what was going to happen next! This book is told through the POV's of Sheena, Jessa, Sage (Sheena's daughter), and one of the kidnappers. I found this to be a very nice touch and helped readers not only get into their heads but feel their emotions.

What an emotional roller coaster of a ride this book became. Both mothers had me feeling for them and what they are going through and experiencing. Sheena fears for her two daughters who had been taken while trying to care for her father with Alzheimer's. Jessa is locked underground with the children trying to keep them calm while battling her own growing anxiety and discomfort. Not to mention the children who try their best to be brave in a horrifying and frightening situation.

What a tense, thrilling, gripping and frightening page turner which was inspired by true events! There were some nice twists and turns along the way which made this book even more enjoyable and riveting.

I can't wait to read what Noelle W. Ihli writes next!

Such Quiet Girls by Noelle Ihli is a suspenseful, heart-stopping, and unforgettable thriller based on the actual events of the Chowchilla kidnappings.

A school bus is on its way to drop some children off at their daycare Bright Beginnings when a couple of men decide to send it on a dangerous detour. The men kidnap the children and bus driver and take them to a buried shipping container in an isolated quarry where they plan to keep them until the ransom money is paid. Told through the perspectives of Sage (the oldest child on the bus whose younger sister Bonnie is on the same bus), Jessa (the new bus driver who is a mama with a past she is trying to forget), Ted (one of the kidnappers), and Sheena (the mother of Sage and Bonnie), Ihli takes the reader on a fast-paced ride filled with tension.

Noelle Ihli has quickly become one of my favorite authors due to her uncanny ability to help me imagine all the terrifying and nerve-wracking emotional turmoil each character feels. There were many times while reading this that my heart was in my stomach and I was left trying to catch my breath, riddled with anxiety, and clinging to hope amidst the terror that was in store. I was struggling to stay calm while racing from page to page, unable to finally breath until the very end.

Ihli has done it again, and I am eagerly anticipating her next one! Needless to say, I will be reading anything this author writes in the future! Fans of thrillers or true-crimes, I highly recommend you grab your copies when they become available on 4/29/25!

I owe a huge thank you to NetGalley and Dynamite Books for the advanced review copy in exchange for my honest review!

4.25 stars.

A bus of about a dozen children and their bus driver is hijacked and the occupants kidnapped.

We get multiple POVs from: the (female) bus driver, one of the kidnapped children, one of the parents, and one of the bad guys. (kind of nice that we didn't get a POV of the police trying to investigate the crime). Loved the way the women were depicted here - scared, but strong and courageous.

This didn't blow my mind with a twist I didn't see coming, but the last 20% was intense. I was going to say it's not the most original idea for a thriller (kidnapping), but was well executed. (then I saw it was inspired by true events, so book gets leeway there!)

Thank you to NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for providing me with an advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Publishes April 29, 2025

I really enjoyed this i absolutely adored sage what an amazing character she was !!!
This was fast paced intense and a little claustrophobic.
I was literally sitting on the edge of my bed during some parts
I loved the ending had a little cry
This was such a easy read I picked it up and fall straight into it loved it

The way this book gave me anxiety... whew. I was half way through when my daughter was getting on her bus to head to school. It was a fast paced read, that I could not put down. Can't wait to read more from this author.

As a mom of young kids, this book hit so close to home for me, I really appreciated the trigger warnings. This story keeps you engaged the entire time and I really felt like I was sitting next to each person when it was their POV. Noelle is a master when it comes to thrillers.

OMG this book I have been waiting for ever to get and I was so excited to start this one. I knew I would fly through this book like all of her books. She is one of my fav authors she writes thrillers that keep you up all night reading and keeps your pulse pounding. I couldn't stop thinking of this book every time I put it down. Not only is Noelle a fabulous fiction writer but her stuff based on true stories are my favorite. As a mom I was holding my breath for half of this book. I cant wait for her next book because she never disappoints. I am a life long Noelle Ihli fan!!! I recommend her books to everyone I know and all my book groups and on my tik tok reviews.

Noelle Ihli has absolutely knocked this one OUT OF THE PARK!

For Jessa the day is going per usual, driving her school bus picking up kids to bring home. Soon a detour takes her and 10 students down a path that will change everything. Held at gunpoint and forced into a ransom situation, Jessa and her students, Sage, Bonnie, and 8 others, are held captive with no way to call for help. Can Sage and Bonnie's mom get to them in time? Can Jessa and the students fight their way out?

I absolutely devoured every word of this book. So gripping from the first chapter. No "slow" parts in this fast-paced thriller! I found myself staying up late and flipping pages so quickly because I HAD to know how this story was going to end. Ihli's writing style is so well done and captivating. Her characters are so beautifully developed and relatable. Put this one at the top of your TBR, you won't be disappointed!!

Thanks to NetGalley, Noelle Ihli, and Dynamite Books for this ARC and chance to give my honest opinion.