Well that was certainly twisty and turny! This is the first time I’ve read Claire Douglas, despite her being a pretty prolific mystery novelist. I was not disappointed. Told from three points of view and back and forth in time, this is a mystery that I could not solve until the end. Jenna arrives in Stafferbury to put on a podcast about the unsolved disappearance of three teenage girls following a car crash two decades earlier. The sole survivor of the car crash, Olivia, is steeped in guilt and sludging through life. The two women are desperate to know what actually happened all those years ago. But the more questions Jenna asks, the more dangerous small town Stafferbury is for her.

While there were some over the top plot aspects, overall this was excellent and I highly recommend! ( )

20 years earlier Olivia was in a car crash, but when she came to, her 3 friends were gone. Now, Jenna, a journalist wants to do a podcast about the disappearance. When she gets to the small town, she finds that most people remember the crash, but no one knows what happened to the girls.
Meanwhile, there is a group of friends who travel to Thailand together and one of them gets arrested for drugs as they are leaving.
All of this is related and the reveal will surprise you. ( )

I enjoyed this twisty mystery from Claire Douglas. I enjoyed the different points of view but I will admit, I was thoroughly confused by the story whenever we were hearing Stace's POV, I couldn't really figure out who these characters were. With that said, I love how Claire tied Stace's POV into the story. I liked the ending and I think this could even be turned into a series with Jenna traveling to new towns to investigate stories for her podcast.

I liked Joanne Froggatt and Clare Corbett's narration of this novel and I will definitely look for books narrated by either or both narrators in the future. ( )

Twenty years after a car accident has all but been forgotten, the case is reopened by the police force, and a journalist arrives in town to make a podcast about what happened.

Four friends were heading home from a night of drinking on a rainy night on The Devil's Corridor when a person appeared in the road, and they crashed.

The only one who survived was Olivia. The strange thing, though, is that the other three friends were not in the car, all their belongings were gone, and they have never been heard from for twenty years.

Why is the case being re-opened after all this time?

People don't want the case re-opened nor do they want Jenna, the journalist, to be digging up the past that most likely holds clues.

THE GIRLS WHO DISAPPEARED kept my interest and had some interesting characters.

The only puzzling thing was the chapters interspersed with something I wasn't really sure had to do with the murder, but oh you will find out why they are there.

This book will appeal to fans of Ms. Douglas, fans of suspense, and fans of characters with secrets.

Lots of secrets kept and many lies. 4/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review. ( )

The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas is a highly recommended mystery of domestic deceit.

Twenty years ago four young women were traveling along a rural Wilshire highway called the Devil’s Corridor when a car accident occurred. One girl, Olivia, the driver is trapped behind the wheel of the car. The other three disappeared and have never been found or heard from again. Journalist Jenna Halliday has traveled to Wilshire for the twentieth anniversary of the disappearance of the girls. She is going to take a new look at the mystery for a podcast and hopefully interview people who remember the case, including Olivia, and uncover new information.

The premise and opening of this novel is immediately intriguing and I was hooked. The narrative is intense and the suspense builds immediately. Clearly someone doesn't want the story of the missing girls looked into and it is made clear that Jenna isn't welcome. However, she persists and the intrigue builds as she slowly uncovers information. There are also plenty of rumors that the Devil's Corridor is haunted and Jenna begins to become a believer. It is especially helpful when she establishes a good working relationship with a detective, Dale, who is interested in reopening the case.

The characters are interesting and varied. Not all of them are likable, they are interesting, but neither really matters in this plot. The narrative alternates between Jenna and Olivia's point-of-view, as well as what seems an incongruous account of an earlier group of friends on a vacation in Thailand.

The story is multi-layered and the suspects keep changing. The pace is a bit uneven, but the mystery of what happened appears to be leading to hidden secrets and lies. It's always enjoyable to read cat and mouse mysteries where you are trying to figure out who is lying and what is actually happening behind the scenes based on scant clues you have to decipher and The Girls Who Disappeared fits that description neatly. An added bonus is the twists at the end.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins via NetGalley.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2022/12/the-girls-who-disappeared.html ( )