Rating: 2.5 stars.
I've read quite a few of Kelley Armstrong's YA books, like the Darkest Powers series, Darkness Rising series and her most recent YA standalone, The Masked Truth. All of those books I've liked, if not loved. Missing was a different story for me in terms of enjoyment.
Missing follows teenage girl Winter Crane. She lives in a small town with her abusive father and works at a medical clinic, hoping to get into medical school in the future. Her mother died when Winter was young and Winter's sister Candace left for a bigger city after a tragedy that she blames Winter for. Winter's life gets shaken up when she finds an injured boy in a tree, trying to escape dangerous wild dogs. She saves him only to get caught up in a psychopath's scheme.
I think my favourite part of this book was the atmosphere that Armstrong creates. Missing is set in a small town in Kentucky and throughout the book, it becomes clear how independent one must be to live in this town. The sheriff's wife only picks up the phone if the sheriff isn't busy and word spreads around town like a wild fire. Because of this atmosphere, when Winter started to get stalked, I was REALLY creeped out. Feral wild dog attacks and getting locked in rooms with dead bodies were just a few plot elements that were so violent and scary.
In addition, I liked how independent Winter was. She lives in a shack behind her trailer sometimes because her dad can be an abusive drunk. Winter Crane can hunt for food in the forest and she has experience in taking care of injuries. I liked how the twin boys in this book are named Jude and Lennon (after the Beatles) and that there were quite a few Beatles jokes thrown into the story. Sometimes some of the jokes seemed a little out of place with the atmosphere of the book. For example, I think there was a porn joke thrown in and then the characters get attacked by a bear on the next page. It could be super confusing tone wise when this happened.
I was fairly happy with this book until about the halfway point. That's when Jude came into the picture. We first meet Jude when he comes to save his brother. The first problem I had with him was that he kind of brutalizes Winter when he first meets her. Jude doesn't see his brother and when Winter becomes uncomfortable with him in her shack and asks him to go outside, he blocks the exit. When she tries to fight her way out, he lifts her up and throws her to the ground. Like WTF?! And guess what guys, this is the freaking love interest!
As the book progresses, Jude becomes the damaged guy. He starts to care for Winter, taking care of her when she is attacked by her father and such. He's the talented piano player who is helping Winter find out what happened to her best friend and sister. There was a point in the book where I started to like him and all but why was that scene necessary at all?! I think I could have done without the romance in this book, especially since at the beginning, it looks like Winter and another character are going to be together.
The plot seemed to resolve itself very easily in the end, which was another aspect of this book that made me lower my rating. They introduced another character near the end of the book who ends up to be the psychopath, which makes for an unsatisfying ending. I mean, yay, I didn't guess the final plot twist but I would have been nice to play that guessing game and be close to being right.
Overall, not my favourite Kelley Armstrong book. I would probably suggest reading The Masked Truth before this one if you are looking for a YA thriller.
My Reviews of other Kelley Armstrong Books:
Gathering Darkness
The Masked Truth
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