Missing Clarissa

A few weeks ago, I was invited to read an ARC version of Ripley Jones's upcoming novel "Missing Clarissa" via her publishing/marketing team as well as through NetGalley. Thank fuck, I finally found time to read it (before it expired from my account and I lost this amazing opportunity--as well as a fantastic mystery).

["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?"]

Everyone loves a dead girl.

It's a direct quote said multiple times throughout the novel (as well as on the cover itself), but it's so damn true. The coverage a missing white girl gets, let alone a popular and pretty one? Insane. Then the hype that is true crime and podcasts over the last decade? Crazy. Add to it the wave of published novels within the ya mystery/thriller genre over the last five years? W O W.

It was really good! I thought I knew things, I thought I had hunches, I thought some pretty twisted and convoluted theories...I was wrong. I was so wrong. I mean, like, holy. shit. 

This book was really good! There were slow parts, and parts that seemed irrelevant at the time or just redundant, but it was glorious.

I, personally, really liked how the POV switched mid-chapter between Cam and Blair, without any subheaders. I've written like that before, but my professors in grad school didn't find it "refined" and "clear" enough. But like I said, I liked it.

The personal drama between the two and their lives were just all very...juvenile. But, it was a young adult novel, and it's been a loooong while since I read one, so I think it was just that. Double But, there was character growth and a whole arc development between them. They grew as individuals and learned about themselves. They fell into and out of love. It was beautiful. 

Check this book out when it debuts on 7 March 2023!

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