Just Another Missing Person

Regardless of genre, my ideal reading setup is a cozy one—leaning back in my favorite sofa, legs slung over the arm, mug of tea next to me cooling to the perfect temperature. My reading experience of Just Another Missing Person was the exact opposite of this: under glaring fluorescent light, sitting in a creaky government-issued chair, waiting anxiously to hear whether I’d be called to serve. And that’s how I knew that this was a cream-of-the-crop thriller: even in the midst of jury duty, it managed to take me away and keep me enthralled through every page.

Just Another Missing Person opens with 22-year-old Olivia’s disappearance. We see the case through the eyes of detective Julia, who has a teenage daughter of her own whom she’d do anything to protect. The more Julia dives into this girl’s life, the more she feels her daughter’s long-buried secrets threatening to implode, and Julia wonders if it’s even possible to defend both her badge and her family—or if one of them will have to be sacrificed.

This book hit me with twist after twist as we flit between different perspectives and complicated motives. Just Another Missing Person has a wonderfully emotional core, delving into parent-child relationships in a way that keeps the stakes high and the consequences equally intense. While I wish for you a more idyllic reading setting, this is the kind of thriller that will make you forget the world around you—so regardless, you’re in for a treat.

22-year-old Olivia has been missing for one day . . . and counting. She was last seen on CCTV, entering a dead-end alley. And not coming back out again.

Julia, the detective heading up the search for Olivia, thinks she knows what to expect. A desperate family, a ticking clock, and long hours away from her husband and daughter. But she has no idea just how close to home this case is going to get.

Because the criminal at the heart of the disappearance has something she never expected. His weapon isn’t a gun, or a knife: it’s a secret. Her worst one. And her family’s safety depends on one thing: Julia must NOT find out what happened to Olivia—and must frame somebody else for her murder.

If you find her, you will lose everything. What would you do?