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.
Have You Seen This Girl by Nita Tyndall Published by HarperTeen on 5/21/24
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, LGBT, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 272
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Another girl has gone missing in Cardinal Creek.
Sid knows their dad didn’t do it—this time. He’s currently serving a life sentence for the five girls he murdered ten years ago. Girls whose bodies he dumped into the lake. The same lake where June Hargrove was just found. And while Sid’s dad couldn’t have done it, suspicion is now directed at Sid. The only person who doesn’t suspect Sid is the new girl, Mavis—as long as Sid doesn’t let her find out about their past.
But Sid has another secret: They’re being haunted by the ghosts of the five girls their father killed. Except now there are six. And unlike the others, June isn’t content to just whisper in Sid’s ear. She wants them to find out who’s killing again, especially as another girl goes missing. If Sid wants any chance of solving the current disappearances, they’re going to have to face what their father did—or risk being haunted forever.
Short and Sweet Review
When a girl goes missing all eyes are on Sid. Ten years ago Sids dad murdered 5 girls, but Sid knows he couldn’t have done it this time because he’s serving a life sentence. The girl who recently went missing, June, is found in the lake, the same lake that Sids dad used to leave his victims. There’s a copycat killer in town and Sid knows they needs to find the killer because they’re being blamed and the victims are haunting them.
Sid lives in a small town so it’s hard for her to escape what their dad did. Everyone in town knows who they are and basically doesn’t want anything to do with them and when the latest stint of murders start people think Sid is following in their dad’s footsteps. There’s also a new girl in town, Mavis, who doesn’t know about Sids dad and they’re hoping it stays that way so she can at least have one friend. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s a build up of things and I thought the pacing was great. Girls start to go missing and we learn that someone is copying the way Sids dad murdered his victims. Sid feels bad about what her dad did but the ghosts haunting her remind her that things aren’t about her. I feel like in other books we see ghost try to be helpful in solving cases but not in this one, they like to let Sid know that they shouldn’t be the one feeling bad for themself because they’re still alive and they’re not. If you’re confused by all my uses of they/them/theirs, it’s because those are the pronouns Sid wants to go by. Anyway this killer is following a pattern of when he’s killing the girls, and Sid eventually has to turn to their father and ask what to do because Sid knows if they don’t they’re going to be next on the killers hit list. I did like the friendship and little romance between Sid and Mavis mainly because you can tell a lot of people don’t give Sid a chance mainly because they spend their time judging her. I do like books where there’s a small town and crimes are taking place, because there’s not a lot of people we can really suspect and that’s the treatment Sid is getting. Sid is a good character and you can tell they’ve been through a lot but they have good intentions. The little inserts from the girls who have been murdered and their last moments alive was a good touch to really understand what happened on the days they went missing. There were a few twists and the ending was unexpected but so good.
Overall, I think I loved this book. It’s not long so it can be read in one sitting and you’re going to want to find out what’s going to happen next and finish it. Don’t miss out, read this book ASAP!
