Girl Last Seen

By: Nina Laurin

Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

An intense psychological thriller for fans of I Am Watching You, The Luckiest Girl Alive, and All the Missing Girls.

Two missing girls. Thirteen years apart.

Olivia Shaw has been missing since last Tuesday. She was last seen outside the entrance of her elementary school in Hunts Point wearing a white spring jacket, blue jeans, and pink boots. I force myself to look at the face in the photo, into her slightly smudged features, and I can't bring myself to move. Olivia Shaw could be my mirror image, rewound to 13 years ago.

If you have any knowledge of Olivia Shaw's whereabouts or any relevant information, please contact...

I've spent a long time peering into the faces of girls on missing posters, wondering which one replaced me in that basement. But they were never quite the right age, the right look, the right circumstances. Until Olivia Shaw, missing for one week tomorrow.

Whoever stole me was never found. But since I was taken, there hasn't been another girl.

And now there is.

©2017 Ioulia Zaitchik (P)2017 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

" Girl Last Seen hooked me so quickly I might have whiplash. This is a sharp, twisting, intense thriller, the heartbreaking and fast-paced story of a woman who bears the scars of a trip to hell and back but who refuses to be defeated. Don't miss this smashing debut!" (David Bell, best-selling author of Bring Her Home)

"Laurin creates a compelling, vulnerable central character." ( Publisher's Weekly)

"Debut novelist Nina Laurin has created a memorable character in complicated, flawed and endearing Laine Moreno. From the very first page, Girl Last Seen jettisons the reader into the life of a crime victim trying to outrun her past. Fast-paced and hard-edged, it is a heart-stopping thriller that had me guessing to the very end." (Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times best-selling author of The Weight of Silence and Not a Sound)

Rambling... still rambling...

The narrator is good but the writing is terrible! Endless, dramatic descriptions that lead nowhere and often have nothing to do with the story... not to mention she uses the same descriptions and metaphors repeatedly. The actual story took up about 3 chapters, the rest is just fluff. Could be a decent story if the writing wasn't so poor.

A Let Down

What did you like best about Girl Last Seen? What did you like least?

I had I hopes for this one, but it was a miss for me. The best part of this one is the pleasant sound of the narrator's voice, even though it does not match the voice of a pill-popping, damaged young adult. The story is unbelievable, the characters are poorly developed, and I found myself just wanting it to be over. It is simply the story of a missing girl, and the search for her.

What could Nina Laurin have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

A little less predictability in the story would make the book better. This is listed as a psychological, "mess with your head' thriller, but it is not.

Which scene was your favorite?

I can't tell my favorite scene without including a spoiler.

Do you think Girl Last Seen needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

NO. It is over. I don't know what else could be said.

Any additional comments?

I was expecting a psychological thriller such as The Stranger in my House, The Couple Next Door, The Wife Between Us, The Woman in the Window, etc... If you want something that leaves you wanting more, choose one of these.

Don’t do it

I read a few of the reviews that said this book started off slow but then got really good so that is why I decided to download it. It starts off so slow that at chapter 15 (almost halfway through the book) I had to stop listening to it. It wasn’t getting any better. the book was not enjoyable for me at all. The main character is not likable In fact none of them are.

Not Worth The Time or Credit

It was so slow to start off with, dragging on about nothing really then when it picked up, it was weird and confusing, not suspenseful and thrilling. The character interactions were not believable, and very unrealistic. To make matters worse, the end was not really shocking and overall lacking. I really just did not enjoy this book . Narration however, was not bad. Not favorite but not bad.

Didn’t make sense

I kept waiting for this book to get to “the good part,” and it just never happened. There are no gripping moments, and the whole book just felt very flat. The characters weren’t very interesting and the whole story was fairly predictable, except for the worst part of the book - the ending that didn’t make sense at all. It feels like the author just tacked it on at the end without bothering to go back and change the storyline to lead up to it.

*SPOILERS*

Why would Jacquelyn have had that whole scene where she pulled laney into her room and begged her to tell her everything she knew?

Why would Jacquelyn’s sister have accosted Laney in the way that she did if she knew the entire time?

How did Laney never recognize Tom’s voice during any of their many, MANY conversations, but then suddenly conveniently recognizes it when he’s attacking her?

None of it makes any sense. From Laney’s Mom being the one who had her kidnapped and nobody ever figuring that out, to Jacquelyn putting on this whole charade of her daughter being kidnapped for months just because she was afraid of Tom. Why wouldn’t she have just left with Olivia? Or told the police once Olivia was safe?

Maybe I’m just not sophisticated enough to get it or something, but it just didn’t impress me at all.

Uncomfortably Powerful

Great read... It'll garner some deserved chatter and accolades... You're hooked from the very first page, and proceed to be reeled in;). The narrative perspective really makes this novel... Through Lane/Ella's eyes and voice you experience a tangled and turbulent life exacerbated by her nightmares coming back to roost... Fantastic pace w/ some deft and unexpected turnabouts... The underlying mystery/mysteries are plotted well, and you'll be given all the clues... Up to you to figure it out, and even if figured out earlier you'll still feel the tension and suspense as the climax comes... Some very uncomfortable subject matter that's delivered w/ realism, sensitivity, and understanding... In the end it's a bit of a story of survival in all its various connotations... Gut punches abound... Narrator fits the voice of the story perfectly imo... Only caviats are that the procedural aspects are a little thin, and a plot point or two took an effort to swallow... Still a great read, finished it in a day w/ room to spare, couldn't put it down... Worth the listen, price/credit, and a bit of thought afterward...

Omg! Loved it!

If you could sum up Girl Last Seen in three words, what would they be?

Suspenseful, Engrossing, Gritty

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Once I thought I knew what was happening the story twists and turns and left me stunned. I love that in a good story.

What about Vanessa Johansson’s performance did you like?

She did not make the characters sound saccharine sweet. If there was an f-bomb, and there were many, she didn't shy away from it. So many times a narrator can ruin the story, Vanessa made it real.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I love thrillers because they scare and startle me. This book did this to me and I loved every second of it!

Any additional comments?

I have to say this was a great book. It should be turned into a movie.

Skip it

The writing is so terrible I could not get through this book. Better to just skip this one.

Holy.....

Starts off a bit slow, but once it picks up, you cannot put it down! Just when you think you know what's going on, the plot twists! Great read.

No Big Twist, Not an exciting ending

The story is told in small tidbits of information, going between what is happening and what did happen. I kept waiting for one chapter that would tell me the story of "what happened" and I never got it. I think the author missed something big there--it could have created the much needed suspense in the story. As for what "is happening", there are many missed areas where the author apparently leaves it for the reader to fill in the blanks and I just got tired of doing that. I saw reviews that said there was a big twist at the end, so I stuck it out and finished the book but I wouldn't call it a twist. I'd call it almost predictable. There are only so many characters in the book so you can only have one or two people be the bad guy.

The narrator was fantastic.