Jessica Chiarella

Marti’s sister disappeared when Marti was eight and her sister was sixteen. Walking together, her sister tells her to run, and then gets in a car, never to be seen again. This tragedy has dominated Marti’s life, ruined her marriage and affected her career. She is always looking for her sister, drinking to forget, doing drugs, and sleeping around. She is not a likable character, nor is she believable. She holds herself responsible for her sister's disappearance, but what eight-year-old would really take on that guilt? Eventually, Marti does a podcast about her sister, which Ava sees and then contacts Marti about similarities involving her own family. And so goes the story. The author does some things right, especially Ava's character, but leaves too many loose ends and injustices that I just couldn’t like the tale. Too bad. It had potential to be a really great story but it missed the mark.… (más)

Marti was 8 years old when her 16-year-old sister, Maggie, walking her home from school, gets into a stranger’s car, telling Marti “to run.” Maggie has not been seen or heard from since. It’s been 20 years since that devastating event and Marti has devoted her life to finding the big sister she idolized. Her teen years were reckless as she’d leave her suburban Chicago home for the city to search the seedy side of town for any sign of Maggie. Her 20s were no better, using drugs, alcohol and sex in an attempt to assuage her longing for Maggie. The final straw, the one that exacerbated Marti’s downward spiral, was the call from the Chicago Police Department about a Jane Doe that could possibly be Maggie, the girl having a tattoo on her leg, the image similar to Maggie’s favorite doll. However, after DNA tests confirmed it wasn’t Maggie, Marti’s world,
including her marriage, fell totally apart. The only good to come out of this was that Marti and her best friend, Andrea, recorded an award-winning podcast outlining Marti’s search for Maggie.

Soon after receiving her award, Marti gets a call from Ava Vreeland whose brother, Colin, was convicted of the killing of Sarah Ketchum seven years earlier. Ava asserts that Colin is innocent and theorizes that Maggie’s disappearance and Sarah’s murder could be related—they were approximately the same age and appearance when each occurrence took place, they lived in houses, each visible from the others’. Though Sarah’s body was found in the woods near her house and Maggie was never found, Ava advances the theory and Marti bites, that it is the same perpetrator. Not interested in overturning Colin’s conviction, but rather telling Sarah’s story, Marti and Andrea begin season 2 of their podcast. But all is not what it seems and both Ava and Marti have deep secrets.
Ava and Marti are cut from the same cloth. They would do anything, go to any extreme
, for their siblings. Yet one has lost her family and friends as she drinks her way through her dismal life and one is calm and calculating, plotting each step on the road to the endgame. As I stated in the beginning, this is a dark and disturbing noir mystery that will keep you in suspense throughout. Despite their darker sides, the main characters are likeable. The plot keeps you interested. I’d definitely recommend this one.

The Lost Girls is a dark psychological mystery. The subject of lost girls makes it great for fans of Lisa Gardner’s Before She Disappeared and Paula McLain’s When the Stars Go Dark, and the podcast aspect makes it great for fans of Denise Mina’s Conviction.… (más)

The Lost Girls by Jessica Chiarella is a recommended psychological thriller.

Twenty years ago when Marti Reese was eight-years-old, her teenage sister Maggie got into a car and disappeared. Since that time Marti has been searching for her sister. When the true crime podcast about the case and her search wins her an award, it also propels her Maggie's case back into the news, which results in people contacting her. A woman, Dr. Ava Vreeland , contacts her with information that might have a tie to Maggie's case. It involves a young woman, Sarah Ketchum, who disappeared in the same area as the Reese family home and the similarities between the two cases. The only problem is that Ava's brother, Colin McCarty, was convicted for Sarah's murder, but Ava knows he is innocent. Marti sets off to tell Ava's story on her podcast in a search for the truth about Sarah's murder, which seems to have ties to Maggie's case.

Marti, as a character, is highly driven in her search for her sister but she also has self-destructive tendencies which are clearly displayed in the plot. You will have sympathy for her and her obsession with finding her sister while drinking too much, sabotaging her marriage, and making poor choices. She really is a tortured soul who needs some counseling. This makes her ripe for jumping on the information Ava provides her and using the case for the next season of their podcast. Personally, I actually didn't trust any of these characters because they all seemed self-serving.

This twisty case is compelling, however, you need to get through the opening pages which set up the story. After that the novel is fast-paced and will keep you reading to reach the shocking conclusion. I did successfully predict a major part of the plot, but there were still several surprises. This is a novel almost written for true crime podcast enthusiasts. Alas, I'm not one, but it is a very good psychological thriller. I was unsure about the slam near the beginning over other online talks shows. It's always best to keep the focus about your book.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the Penguin Publishing Group via NetGalley.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2021/07/the-lost-girls.html… (más)