Maybe it’s pandemic fatigue. Or maybe it’s just me. My expectations may be a bit high? But when Mary Kubica is referred to repeatedly as the “queen of the domestic thriller,” and I am so ready for a grabber — you know, the kind where you just want people to leave you the bleep ALONE so you can go back to your book. That is what I was hoping for when I received a copy of Ms. Kubica’s Local Woman Missing from Harlequin/ParkRow and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. 

A couple of caveats: this book uses alternating points of view, and jumps back and forth in time, so if either of those turn you off, be forewarned. The story starts “eleven years ago,” with a woman going out for a run and meeting a somewhat vague and clearly disastrous ending. Flash forward to present day, with Delilah who went missing at the age of 6 and was missing for eleven years. Her mother, another narrator, tells her story from 11 years ago (see a pattern here?).

The story Delilah tells of her life during the time she was missing is horrific, and totally creeped me out. The story is dark and it seems like it is always raining, the streets are wet, the car was wet, etc. Delilah shows up and is reunited with her father and brother (her mother has been dead for about 11 years (pattern?). But before you know it, it turns out that the girl everyone welcomes back turns out NOT to actually be Delilah. Or is she? There was a DNA test, right?

Eventually, all is revealed. Sort of. We do find out who it was who met a bad fate while out for a run, where Delilah was for 11 years, and who the girl is that they think is Delilah, and WTH is up with that DNA test? Oh, and what about the women who live next door to “Delilah” and her father and brother? 

So I was hoping for one thing, and got another. I didn’t care for any of the characters, I couldn’t wait to find out what it was all about, and I was just basically annoyed. I went back and looked at Kubica’s last two books, and saw that I only gave one star to When The Lights Go Out in 2018 and The Other Ms. in 2020. So why did I think I would like this one? I’m pretty sure I am not Ms. Kubica’s audience, although some in my book club just LOVE her, and will enjoy this book. I’ll even recommend it to them. But for me? Third time is the charm — or the last straw. One star.