Review – Girl Last Seen by Nina Laurin

Girl Last Seen by Nina Laurin

Published: June 20th 2017

Grand Central Publishing

 

 

3.5 stars

I have always been interested in stories about missing people. So of course after reading the description for GIRL LAST SEEN, I knew I had to read it.

Two missing girls. Thirteen years apart.

Ella/Lainey/Laine has seen many missing posters over the last ten years. She studies them closely. But this recent one is different. The missing girl looks very similar to how Lainey looked 13 years ago. They never caught the man who kidnapped her and she didn’t think he had replaced her…

Until now.

“Olivia Shaw, Age ten, missing for one week tomorrow”

After seeing the poster it’s all she can think about. Running on a loop in her head “Olivia Shaw, age 10, last seen….”

Laine works two jobs, trying to make ends meet. Her evening job is as a bartender in a strip-club. She’s working and notices one of the patrons is blatantly staring at her. It starts to creep her out. She’s about to tell him off but then he calls her by name. It takes her a moment to place the familiar voice. Then she remembers….it’s Detective Sean Ortiz with the Seattle PD. As soon as she realizes who he is, her first instinct is to flee. He gives chase catching up to her easily and wants to know why she ran. She doesn’t know what to tell him as she’s not sure why she ran either. She wonders what he wants from her.

“Laine…this is about a missing girl”

And then he proceeds to tell her something else that she did NOT see coming.

They need Laine’s help and she wants to help, but she’s not sure how. She doesn’t remember anything more about her time in captivity or her kidnapper.

I have to say I was really pulled in by the beginning of this book. However, about halfway through I started having trouble with a few things. I know that all characters won’t be likeable all the time. But everyone seemed unlikable. For one thing there aren’t a lot of characters in the book and I was having a hard time connecting with any of them. Of course I felt sorry for Laine….the girl hasn’t caught a break her whole life. She’s addicted to drinking and drugs which after everything she’d been through isn’t surprising. But some of her decisions were frustrating beyond belief. As time went on I did start to feel more for her and I was definitely engrossed in the story and what was happening.

There was also something about Detective Sean Ortiz that put my teeth on edge. I had a really hard time liking him. I found him inconsistent…which of course characters can be, but some of his actions as a detective and a man both baffled and angered me.

(view spoiler)[He’s very rough with Laine physically, almost twisting her arm behind her back. Another time calling her a stupid bitch? I mean I know he was angry and she had messed up in some ways but it was a bit much. For a detective he was very aggressive. But then he would be so kind and caring to her. Just a bit too inconsistent (hide spoiler)]

However, I was still intrigued and wanted to know what was going to happen. Laine is determined to help the Shaw family find their daughter, even if it means putting herself in danger.

What secrets is Laine still hiding? And the missing girls parents seem to have secrets of their own.

Where is Olivia?

The book started off really good. The plot had me intrigued. Then it sort of lagged from the middle on. However, the action definitely picked up again in the last few chapters. In fact at that point I had a hard time putting it down. So I am glad that I stuck with it.

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing an advanced copy of this book for me to read in exchange for my honest review.

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