“The Lost Girls” by Jessica Chiarella. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2021. 336 pages, $17 (paperback).

More than 20 years ago, Marti Reese’s sister, Maggie, disappeared. Marti was only 8 years old when it happened, and she can’t remember it – just that her sister got in a car and never came back. Through years of grief and trying to find out what happened on her own, Maggie lost herself in trying to cope. After a recent turn of events, she abandoned her marriage, started drinking to forget and documented her search through a true crime podcast with her best friend. Unexpectedly, the podcast becomes an award-winning hit, and they start getting all kinds of crazy calls with supposed tips on where Marti’s sister might be. But one mysterious woman, Ava Vreeland, seems to have information that could help. Ava has been fighting to free her brother’s murder conviction for years, and there are strange similarities between the two cases. So Ava is certain that there is a connection between the murder and Maggie’s disappearance – one that could help free her brother. Marti decides to work with Ava to find the truth. But as Marti digs, the answers begin to shake her.

True crime is not my go-to genre, but every once in a while I really do love to read it. This book delivered on all fronts and is one of the best I have read in a long time. Jessica Chiarella keeps you second-guessing where the story will end and just who the real culprit might have been. Although it does occasionally slow down, the plot is fast-paced and has you turning page after page to figure out what’s next. And I may or may not have decided to peek at the ending halfway through because I just couldn’t take it …

There are so many things that this book does well. First, Chiarella captures Marti’s emotional state at every stage in vivid clarity for the reader; from her downward spiral after the discovery, her mental health in general, and over the years to anxiety to depression to denial – and her problems with her family. There is no room to escape that part of Marti’s existence. To understand her character it is necessary to see where her head was at and how her brain was (or wasn’t) functioning at the time. It is portrayed as a key part of the story, to how she wound up in the situations we find her in and the decisions she makes, and it is refreshing. We often find main characters who are perfect or just really great at what they do with almost no faults – Marti is not that. Marti is real and someone we can relate to, from bad decisions, to desires, to everything in between. In doing this, Chiarella is also able to capture the worry from friends around her, not just about Marti, but about the consequences she brings with her.

I appreciated this real look at what grief can do to a person, especially when it is for so long undealt with, buried under a rug and shoved away deep down. For that is what Marti has somewhat done, for years in one capacity or another and is still doing. She buries her grief and how she feels. That, and more, becomes such an integral part of who she is, and who she isn’t. Finding that out for herself is part of the journey of this story. For those around her who can see the pain she is in, it is a matter of being unsure of what is the best course of action to help.

This book deals with societal issues as well. Marti comes from a well-to-do family but is not getting any of their money. She lives in a small apartment and is trying to decide what she wants to do with her life when she really feels like she should know at her age already. In looking at her sister’s case, and that of Ava’s brother, it brings up issues with the police force, the question of money and which side of town you are from influencing how your case gets handled – and race gets brought into the question as well. All of this is handled well throughout the book. It addresses other issues that we see in our daily life but does not make it seem as a simple after-thought, or as a way to bring up political topics or the hot take – it is simply a part of the life that Marti has lived and what she sees around her.

The story unfolds in bits and pieces. We learn about Marti’s past, and the bits and pieces of her sister’s story as flashbacks and remembrances throughout the novel. Though sometimes there were things I wanted to know sooner – it worked well throughout. Marti’s best friend is a mom of a little girl (and a lesbian, so LGBTQ+ rep), and there were places where I really connected with where she was at. I loved their friendship.

There are two plot twists at the end that will leave you flipping back through the pages for details and clues you may have missed in your initial reading. I always love it when an author can surprise me, and this one certainly did. It is clear there will be a second book to come, and I look forward to reading it.

SPOILER ALERT: For trigger warnings/potential spoilers here – there is drug abuse, illegal drug use, murder, child kidnapping, murders, mental health issues of many different types, robbery, etc. Generally, in a true crime novel you get everything wrapped up in a bow, right? Well, not in this one. One of the plot twists is that the sister is never found, which just threw me for a complete loop. That isn’t solved at all. So yeah – I need the second. And answers. END OF SPOILERS!

Chiarella is also the author of “And Again,” which was the Target Book Club Pick in August 2016. “The Lost Girls” is her second novel. Chiarella currently resides in Chicago with her dog, Leia.

– Reviewed by Fallon Willoughby, first-year experience instructor, Southcentral Kentucky Community & Technical College.