Review - 'No One Will Miss Her' by Kat Rosenfield

No One Will Miss Her has been getting rave reviews from everyone I know, so I went into it with high expectations. Too high, as it turns out, because it pretty much underwhelmed from beginning to end.

First of all, this is a relatively thin story. There isn't a lot of substance in here, and it's very much predicated on its one twist. The problem is that I figured it out almost from the very beginning. It's something I've seen done in a few books already, so it's quite obvious. And once I saw it, there just wasn't much else interesting in here.

Now, I know reading thrillers like this require suspension of disbelief. But this book took it pretty far, such that it's not only improbable, but also actually impossible. I mean, this isn't science fiction, so my suspension of disbelief can only stretch so far. It's hard to remain in the story when I'm laughing at the absurdity of it all.

Another issue is that this style of domestic thriller isn't my favorite. We spend a lot of time in the characters' heads while they ruminate about who they are as people, what others think of them, and how great/not great they are. There's nothing wrong with that per se, but I find it fairly dull and my eyes glaze over quickly if there are paragraphs upon paragraphs of that stuff.

Also, this book has what seems to be the largest amount of wrap-up to actual story I've ever come across. More than 100 pages of this book is wrapping up, which is just ridiculous on a 280 page story. At some point, I'm thinking to myself, Is this really it? Surely something else will happen. But no, that was all it was.

Gosh, that all sounds super negative, but it wasn't that bad. I was mostly indifferent to this story. Obviously, you should take my review with a grain of salt. So many other readers loved this and the twist made their jaws drop and their heads spin. But my jaw and head remained firmly in place, and no one's sadder than me. So my search continues for a mystery thriller that will actually thrill me.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars