When a Thriller Jumps-the-Shark

In this day and age it’s no secret that many women enjoy true-crime content. And for an assortment of reasons: some take comfort in knowing that, no matter how bad life can get, things could always be worse. Others, like me, are secretly trying to learn how to avoid certain dangerous situations - because I have the battle-prowess of marshmallow-fluff.

That’s why I was deeply intrigued when the next selection on our book-club’s list came out as Don’t Believe Her (2024), by Nicola Sanders.

Yes, it is another modern-thriller, yes it involves a missing-person’s case, and yes, it was very entertaining - albeit, slightly infuriating.

Synopsis:

12 years ago, 16 year old Carla vanished without a trace from her hometown. In that time, her best friend, Ellie, has never given up the search for answers all in the hopes of finding her friend and - if possible - bringing her home again. In that time, meanwhile, Ellie herself has moved back to her hometown and started a sweet romance with Carla’s older brother, Nick. As the couple plan the rest of their lives together, a familiar face re-enters the fray… claiming to be none other than the long-lost Carla!

But something is off about this prodigal-daughter…

Her behavior is off.

Her tiny quirks and habits.

More damning, there appear to be glaring holes in the shared childhood of Carla and Ellie.

A gnawing suspicion sinks in as our protagonist is forced into an unexpected game of cat-and-mouse: Carla isn’t Carla.

But if she isn’t, then just who is she?

Review:

Now, I’m not gonna lie to you all, despite what the other reviews say about this book I once never doubted Ellie’s sanity. I know that’s what Sanders was going for - a constant psychological tug-of-war that makes question everyone and everything, and paints the narrator as unreliable. But, I just never got that vibe from Ellie as a character.

Now, was she quick to disparage herself? Oh yeah, for sure. She’s definitely the kind of person who’s quick to blame herself for trouble, rather than holding people accountable for their own screw-ups (speaking from personal experience here). And that’s why I never doubted Ellie’s sanity or memories: someone who’s so earnest to help, and way too dense to see all of the glaring red-flags, can’t possibly be a crazed-stalker-turned-murder.

Speaking of those red-flags, it was actually her intended and his mother who were giving me serious criminal-vibes, and as early as chapter seven. In order:

1. Ellie has only been seeing Nick for a few months when he pops the question - and with a piece of string from her sweater.

2. Nick and Margery are quick to insinuate themselves into Ellie’s daughter’s world - the girl is only 6 years old, and they insist she call them “Granny” and “Uncle” (again, this romance is only a few months old!)

3. Nick and Margery - Carla’s surviving family - haven’t made as much splash looking for answers to Carla’s disappearance; they seem all too content to let it stay buried (Pun completely intended)

4. When “Carla” does reappear in their lives they hound her with questions and angry retorts about her missing time, demanding to know why she left and how can they fix their relationship and… just kidding! They both act like literally nothing so major has actually happened! She just went off to Paris for a decade, got married, started a career, never called, and wanted to drop in one afternoon for a quick cup of tea!

Do you see this insanity? Do you see now how Ellie couldn’t possibly be the villain??

Now, to be fair, recent life-events have exposed me to more manipulative behaviors than I care to know about. Without getting into the gory-nitty-gritty of that story: now if I see gaslighting being done, I get angry at gaslighting being done.

And Ellie was being gaslit - hard!

As for the mystery of the story, well, that wasn’t nearly as immersive as I was hoping for. Because of the obvious red-flags being tossed at Ellie’s head, I kind of figured out early on that Nick and Margary weren’t so innocent after all. As early as chapter 7 I suspected they had killed Carla themselves, though to be fair I suspected their motivations to be more pedestrian - namely, I thought they killed her for insurance money, or because she’d gotten pregnant at 16.

(When you’ve seen as much true-crime content as I have, you quickly learn there are literally thousands of stupid reasons that homicide exists.)

So, their big-twist-betrayal near the end of the book didn’t feel so much like a “twist” as it did an “inevitably.”

That said, you may be wondering “then how did the story jump the shark?” and to answer that question, I’m going to have to get into spoiler-heavy territory here…

You have been warned!

BIG SPOILER CONTENT:

The twist I genuinely did not see coming was that Susan - or rather the woman impersonating Carla - was in fact the real Carla. And, to be honest, it’s a twist I’m still kind of on the fence about. Looking back on it, there are indeed moments in the book where seeds have been sown to hint at that idea - the party-disaster, the note on the car - but, frankly, those few hints sprinkled throughout don’t seem strong enough to indicate Carla has actually returned.

Remember, for readers like me there was no question regarding Ellie’s sanity or reliability as a narrator. She was simply a sweet, though extremely naive, young mother trying to find her friend and save her remaining-family (even though she was consistently waltzing past one red flag after another). For that reason, Susan revealing herself to be the missing Carla all along feels like a last-ditch effort to avoid an especially grim ending. In fact, as I was listening to the audiobook in real time I was already pitching new ideas as to how Ellie would have escaped by the skin of her teeth - had deus ex machina Carla not shown up in the nick of time.

I suppose that pretty much sums up my biggest personal nit-pick with this story: if the protagonist doesn’t make a good unreliable narrator, then they need to have the agency necessary to move the story along. Ellie, meanwhile, while charming and entertaining, was simply too passive and not particularly bright.

To be fair, this is easily a personal gripe I’ve had since I was a child: I personally just can’t relate to a passive lead (hence my disdain for stories with “blank-slate characters”). IRL, people are simply much more fascinating than fiction.

All the critiques aside, I actually did enjoy this book a lot. It was a read that forced me to take my time because of the sheer number of blatant gas-lighting episodes; one night I legitimately couldn’t fall asleep because I was so hopped up on angry energy. So, if that sort of villainy is especially triggering for you, this may not be the read for you (some plot elements just hit too close to home, you know?).

If you aren’t phased by these shenanigans, however, and enjoy a fast-paced, engaging story, then by all means check this one out. I happily award this read 3 out of 5 stars.

The predictability is strong, but the ride is surprisingly fun.

And, sometimes, that’s all you really need from your shark-jump.