Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

MAJOR SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Okay, after being deeply underwhelmed by Panic, my hopes weren't all that high for this book. The blurb sounded interesting but I wasn't sure what to expect. To my surprise though, I actually got drawn in pretty quickly. Unlike Panic, the characters in this book were very compelling and actually felt like detailed, potentially real people.

Imagine my horror when I discovered one of them wasn't real.

Yeah, unfortunately this book decided to go with the whole split-personality thing. To its credit, I didn't see it coming. However, that's mostly because it makes NO FREAKING SENSE WHATSOEVER.

Seriously, I understand that twists kinda seem necessary these days but this book definitely didn't need one. All it needed was a decent resolution to the plot it set up but instead of that, we get this cheap copout ending. It doesn't fit at all with the story-if Dara has been dead all along, why are her parents talking about her in private emails (that Nick doesn't see) as if she's still alive? Why aren't they more concerned by Nick expecting her sister to show up? Why is her phone still so active? When I read the big reveal, I didn't feel excited or satisfied. All I felt was shock followed by a slow, sinking feeling in my gut.

I can't even begin to really explain how disappointed this book made me. There's nothing worse that a book which is almost enjoyable and for that reason I can't give it a very high rating, no matter how good 3/4s of it were.

Overall Score:

.5