Book Review and Giveaway: Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

Pages: 368

Genre: YA Realistic Fiction/Mystery

Pub. Date:  March 10, 2015

Source: Publisher for review

Other Books By Author: Delirium and Before I Fall

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Goodreads says, "Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it's too late. In this edgy and compelling novel, Lauren Oliver creates a world of intrigue, loss, and suspicion as two sisters search to find themselves, and each other."

Dara and Nick are two sisters that couldn't be more different. Things change for them when both girls are involved in a car accident leaving beautiful Dara scarred.  Nick has always been the sensible sister and Dara has always been the kind of girl who throws caution to the wind and even though both girls are very different, they are sisters and can never escape that.  Nick tries to smooth things over with Dara, but she has distanced herself since the accident. Things get serious when Dara ends up missing (is she just playing a prank on Nick?) and to top it off, a nine year old girl in the neighborhood goes missing as well. Lauren Oliver's Vanishing Girls is a well-written and entertaining psychological thriller. I loved how the story was told, but in the end, it felt too familiar for me to completely fall in love with it.

Dara and Nick are two very different sisters in Vanishing Girls. I liked how Oliver examined that kind of familial bond. How can two girls raised by the same parents in the same environment be so different? It's an interesting question and one I often think about, so I liked that kind of glimpse into the psychology behind it. I can't say I was overly connected to either Dara or Nick, but I did gravitate more towards reliable Nick.  I got frustrated that she would often cover for Dara who was always getting into all sorts of trouble. Her mother rarely held Dara accountable, which was also frustrating for me.

The way Vanishing Girls is told is really fantastic. It's told through flashbacks from both Dara and Nick's perspective as well as emails, diaries, news reports, etc. Then the narration would jump to "after" the accident. It had me questioning who was the reliable narrator and what exactly happened to Dara. It reminded me a bit of We Were Liars; after awhile I was questioning both girls' views of reality. One thing is for sure, I am definitely a fan of Oliver's writing style. She does know how to spin a tale.

Of course there's a boy that comes between them and although it wasn't a main focus of Vanishing Girls, the love triangle between two sisters was a little played out. I also thought it wasn't developed as well as I would have liked, so obviously this wasn't my favorite aspect of the story.

The mystery between Dara's disappearance and the nine-year old girl seems to be grasping for straws at times, but I did find it wholly entertaining.  However, this book seems to be riding on the coat tails of some previous successful psychological thrillers that are just a little bit better, such as We Were Liars. 

So, if you are a fan of mysteries and enjoy psychological thrillers with a complex sisterly relationship, then check out Lauren Oliver's Vanishing Girls. Thanks to HarperCollins, I am giving away one hardback copy of Vanishing Girls to one lucky US reader. Please refer to my giveaway rules and the deadline is March 20th.  Good luck! 

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