I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Missing Clarissa by Ripley Jones Published by Wednesday Books on 3/7/23
Genres: Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 249
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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In August of 1999, dazzlingly popular cheerleader Clarissa Campbell disappears from a party in the woods outside the rural town of Oreville, Washington and is never seen again. The police question her friends, teachers, and the adults who knew her—who all have something to hide. And thanks to Clarissa’s beauty, the mystery captures the attention of the nation. But with no leads and no body, the case soon grows cold. Despite the efforts of internet sleuths and true-crime aficionados, Clarissa is never found—dead or alive.
Over twenty years later, Oreville high-school juniors and best friends Blair and Cameron start a true crime podcast, determined to unravel the story of what—or who—happened to this rural urban legend. In the process they uncover a nest of dirty small-town secrets, the sordid truth of Clarissa’s relationship with her charismatic boyfriend, and a high school art teacher turned small-town figurehead who had a very good reason for wanting Clarissa dead. Such a good reason, in fact, that they might have to make him the highlight of their next episode…
But does an ugly history with a missing girl make him guilty of murder? Or are two teenage girls about to destroy the life of an innocent man—and help the true killer walk free?
Short and Sweet Review
20 years ago Clarissa Campbell went missing after a party in the woods. Everyone was questioned and seemed to have something to hide, because of Clarissa’s status as a cheerleader and her beauty her case made national headlines. None of the leads led police to find Clarissa or arrest a suspect so now her case is cold.
20 years later high school juniors Blair and Cameron start a true crime podcast and decide to cover the Clarissa Campbell case. The podcast is for a project for their journalism class, and Blair and Cameron realize that digging for information isn’t as easy as they thought it would be. The girls learn more about Clarissa, even a secret boyfriend, when they decide to make him the topic of their next podcast they could be letting the actual killer walk free.
The synopsis of this book sounded really good, who doesn’t want a cold case from 20 years ago to be solved by two teens from the same town who just decided to start a podcast. Granted the podcast is basically for their class project. I really wanted to like this book but there were just a lot of problems and my biggest one is the characters. Cameron would just go off and do things that aren’t ethical in the world of journalism and she knows they’re not because its what she’s learning about in class, also its like she’s too impulsive she’ll do things without realizing how it’s going to affect those around her. Blair on the other hand is like Cameron’s lackey she’s filled with a lot of self doubt and just about goes with anything Cameron wants to do. The girls do interviews with people who were the closest with Clarissa to find out more information about her life and what happened at the party. I feel that the girls got the information easily, no one made them work for it or even seemed like they were trying to hide something, they were all just spilling their guts. The thing that bothered me the most was when they found out that Clarissa was secretly seeing a teacher and Cameron decides he’s the murderer. The man was guilty of other things but not murder so I thought the girls got what they deserved when he retaliated.
Missing Clarissa was unrealistic and predictable and the ending was rushed. The plot was good but the way things were executed just didn’t work. Cameron and Blair were the biggest let down, I couldn’t relate to either of them and the decisions being made by the two of them were just impulsive and showed no care for a career path people actually take seriously. I personally wouldn’t recommend this book, but maybe someone else would like it.
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