by Dervla McTiernan
William Morrow, 2024. 322 pages. Fiction
Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Young, fun, and deeply in love. Until they leave for a weekend at his family's cabin in Vermont, and only Simon comes home. Simon's explanation about what happened in their last hours together doesn't add up. Nina's parents push the police for answers, and Simon's parents rush to protect him. They hire expensive lawyers and a PR firm that quickly ramps up a vicious, nothing-is-off-limits media campaign. Soon, facts are lost in a swirl of accusation and counter-accusation. Everyone chooses a side, and the story goes viral, fueled by armchair investigators and wild conspiracy theories and illustrated with pretty pictures taken from Nina's social media accounts. Journalists descend on their small Vermont town, followed by a few obsessive "fans." Out-gunned by Simon's wealthy, powerful family, Nina's parents recognize that if playing by the rules won't get them anywhere, it's time to break them.
This interesting twist on a suspense novel kept me hooked with its similarities to the Gabby Petito case. While all of the characters question, "What happened to Nina?" the driving focus of the story is the experience of the family members left with unanswered questions, debating how far they'll go in order to find closure. The book shifts perspective between a number of characters, giving the reader insight into what each character knows, what their motivations are, and how their actions affect others. I found this novel to be both fascinating and heartbreaking. Fans of missing persons stories will appreciate the nuances portrayed here.
If you like What Happened to Nina? you might also like:
by Imran Mahmood
Bantam Books, 2024. 339 pages. Fiction
For the last seventeen years, everything Harry and Zara King have done has been for their only daughter, Sophie. When she goes missing, Harry and Zara will stop at nothing to find her. Someone knows what happened. The police have no leads, and as the weeks pass there's little news. Harry and Zara's suspicion of a neighbor and his involvement in Sophie's disappearance quickly becomes an obsession—and they'll do anything to get the answers to their questions. When the neighbor is found dead in his apartment, Harry and Zara are arrested and charged with murder. They deny everything. Meanwhile, their precious daughter is still missing.
by J.P. Delaney
Ballantine Books, 2020. 402 pages. Fiction
Pete Riley answers the door one morning and lets in a parent's worst nightmare. On his doorstep is Miles Lambert, a stranger who breaks the devastating news that Pete's son, Theo, isn't actually his son; he is the Lamberts', switched at birth by an understaffed hospital, while their real son was sent home with Miles and his wife Lucy. For Pete and his family, life will never be the same again. The two families, reeling from the shock, take comfort in shared good intentions, eagerly entwining their very different lives in the hope of becoming one unconventional modern family. But a plan to sue the hospital triggers an official investigation that unearths some disturbing questions. How much can they trust the other parents or even each other? Stretched to the breaking point, Pete and Maddie discover they will each stop at nothing to keep their family safe. They are done playing nice.
MB
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