Name: Local Woman Missing
ISBN: 9781488073960

Mary Kubica

"Dark and twisty, with white-knuckle tension and jaw-dropping surprises." —Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of Home Before Dark In this smart and chilling thriller, master of suspense Mary Kubica takes domestic secrets to a whole new level, showing that some people will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried. People don't just disappear without a trace… Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold. Now, eleven years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they'll find… Look for these other riveting thrillers by Mary Kubica: The Good Girl Pretty Baby Don't You Cry Every Last Lie When the Lights Go Out The Other Mrs.

A Novel

Local Woman Missing

People don't just disappear without a trace... Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold. Now, eleven years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they'll find... In this smart and chilling thriller, master of suspense and New York Times bestselling author Mary Kubica shows that some people will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried. "I'm shamelessly addicted to Mary Kubica's juicy, unpredictable reads... She just keeps getting better." --Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Never Have I Ever "Complex, richly atmospheric and thoroughly riveting." --Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia and A Good Marriage

Hayden Lussi

‘DARK AND TWISTY’ Riley Sager ‘A JAW-DROPPING TWIST THAT I NEVER SAW COMING’ Joshilyn Jackson

i read this quickly, the story moves forward and the writing is easy to get through. it does significantly slow down after the halfway point. 

i personally feel like going over 300 pages for most books is unnecessary and i feel the same here. several chapters felt very fluffy. 

the ending is also absurd. there were a lot of little things that i dont feel like panned out, but that is the business of trying to build a complex whodunit. if you are able to let those things go, you will probably love this book. 

Sophia Rico

guys i dont know about this one. 

i read this quickly, the story moves forward and the writing is easy to get through. it does significantly slow down after the halfway point. 

i personally feel like going over 300 pages for most books is unnecessary and i feel the same here. several chapters felt very fluffy. 

the ending is also absurd. there were a lot of little things that i dont feel like panned out, but that is the business of trying to build a complex whodunit. if you are able to let those things go, you will probably love this book. 

i liked this book, i liked the characters, but the only issue i had with this book was, that the ending was kinda predictable and rushed. Like why was the story of fake Delilah forgotten just like that? And why would Bea be the bad guy in the book? She clearly wasn’t evil enough through the book to be the bad guy…In my opinion this is the book where even author of the book didn’t know what will happen in the end and this is why the ending was rushed and in some perspective didn’t make sense. 

Angie

People don't just disappear without a trace... Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold. Now, eleven years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they'll find... In this smart and chilling thriller, master of suspense and New York Times bestselling author Mary Kubica takes domestic secrets to a whole new level, showing that some people will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.

This is a good thriller - definitely surprising twists and turns. Check TW - there were a couple areas I skipped through a bit on the audiobook and I still got the plot just fine. The ending did feel a bit rushed? But that is true of a lot of thriller/mysteries, once you solve for x then what more is there to say? I saw a review saying there are too many red herrings which is wild to me - should it just be 10 pages long and straight to the point haha? I like that you have to think and are kept guessing. I am not sure I could identify any clear plot holes. Oh, and it’s deeply disturbing, lol. Enjoy! 

Coley T

Lauren Piper

My first five star read of 2025! A part of me didn’t expect it because my recent thriller reads haven’t been the best. But this one was just so so good. It captures your attention instantly, it keeps your attention throughout, the narrator was really good. Then the twists just kept coming and coming. And after sitting there after finishing trying to find at least one plot hole—fyi I found none and I thought about it for far too long—I knew right then and there it was a five star read. So if you are looking for a thriller that is so easy to read but has a complete to it that you will understand look no further and check this one out!

Priscilla Stanfield

5/5⭐️

My first five star read of 2025! A part of me didn’t expect it because my recent thriller reads haven’t been the best. But this one was just so so good. It captures your attention instantly, it keeps your attention throughout, the narrator was really good. Then the twists just kept coming and coming. And after sitting there after finishing trying to find at least one plot hole—fyi I found none and I thought about it for far too long—I knew right then and there it was a five star read. So if you are looking for a thriller that is so easy to read but has a complete to it that you will understand look no further and check this one out!

This was my first book by this author and it popped up in my Audible selection.  I really enjoyed the book and the narration.  Will definitely give her other books a try. 

Two missing women and a missing child has an entire neighborhood on edge.  People are searching, trying to find answers and not trusting those around them.  Secrets come out about the historic little neighborhood and the neighbors.  When the bodies of the missing women turn up, there are still so many unanswered questions until 11 years later.

Trigger warnings:  violence, child abuse, traumatic pregnancy and language

Barbara Williford

This was my first book by this author and it popped up in my Audible selection.  I really enjoyed the book and the narration.  Will definitely give her other books a try. 

Two missing women and a missing child has an entire neighborhood on edge.  People are searching, trying to find answers and not trusting those around them.  Secrets come out about the historic little neighborhood and the neighbors.  When the bodies of the missing women turn up, there are still so many unanswered questions until 11 years later.

Trigger warnings:  violence, child abuse, traumatic pregnancy and language

it’s been SO long since i rated a book 5 stars omg… this book was so easy to read, fast and the plot was wowz. i’m so glad i read this book

tris

Shivam

7

Intense and gripping for the majority, but the ending feels very rushed. There are also way too many red herrings for my liking, they don't really matter in terms of satisfactory conclusion or character depth.

armoni mayes

AHHH I loved this book! I tend to stay away from thrillers because i constantly feel let down . I feel like i can always figure out the twist at the end but seriously i never expected anything in this book to happen! I appreciated the constant change in the POV without it being confusing or hard to follow. One of my favorite quotes from this book,” For the first time in days, i felt like i could sleep forever.” If you read this book, you’ll know the sadness and grief behind these words. anyways, easiest five stars ever!

Daphne

I couldn't put this book down. At no point did I know "who did it". I did feel like there were some plot holes, making me question the entire outcome of the story, but it doesn't take away from my recommending this one. 

Hannah Colbert

Sandrin

Honestly, I really struggle with rating thrillers more than 3 stars, because a lot of authors tend to dumb down their characters in order for the plot to work and sadly this one isnt an exception.

Overall, interesting, atmospheric, and well written, but those characters, man... The only one I was really invested in was Leo and we barely got to see him.

This was pretty good and I didn’t see the plot twist coming

Kate W

I loved this book!!! 10/10! It kept me hook from page one. There were many twists throughout that kept me wanting more. Seeing what other people were seeing and thinking in their POVs was *chefs kiss* perfect. The ending I was not expecting whatsoever. Highly recommend!!!

Angel 🖤

Catarina Lopes 

destiny

Elizabeth Van Deusen

This book started out strong and had me hooked in its plot line. But the ending just wasn’t satisfying. I was excited to find out who did what and who was where, but it was a let down. I guess I enjoyed reading it through but the ending just made it go from a 3 to a 2.

Syahla Aurel

There are a lot of things that didn’t make any sense in this book, starting from the characters action to the plot twist. But it was still fun to read it though.

Laurianne

I think the story is pretty engaging, but not enough to give it full stars. I love how it makes me question almost the whole neighborhood, but the downside of it is, it never shows any strong motive that I am never so sure of who the real culprit is throughout the entire book. Instead, it provides unnecessary details that are so uncalled for, example: Meredith suddenly describes her husband handsome when she was just thinking of something else a second ago. (Really? Do you have to go that far?)
I, too, think there's something lacking. Delilah could have tried to escape anyhow, or the writer could have given us her point of view at the last part of the book, but nope, none. I like it as whole, I just think it could be better.

Unpredictable! I really liked how the story was structured. At no point was I bored or waiting for things to pick up!

Savannah Ostrowski

keyzia

** spoiler alert **
           felt kind of predictable once i noticed we didn’t have bea’s POV

This book was a quick, easy read. I feel like I loved it until about 50%, then it disappointed me towards the end.

I feel like the ending was a little bit stretched, like the author wanted to throw as many twists and turns they could in the plot before it was over. I couldn't stop reading it to see how it ended, though, so I count that as a positive reading experience.  

Roberta

This book was a quick, easy read. I feel like I loved it until about 50%, then it disappointed me towards the end.

I feel like the ending was a little bit stretched, like the author wanted to throw as many twists and turns they could in the plot before it was over. I couldn't stop reading it to see how it ended, though, so I count that as a positive reading experience.  



Kenzi Linton

I’ve been wanting to read this book for awhile now and I finally got my hands on it through my library’s libby app after being on a 50+ waitlist. This book was good and it kept me hooked. I had so many questions, and I was so curious about what the end result would be. With the way the book alternated between eleven years before and then to the present, with one of the perspectives being a neighbor, I was fully invested. It was heartbreaking and shocking and everything in between. Go give it a read.

Local Woman Missing A Novel

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