Reading in the Mountains

Ever wonder what happens when grief turns into grit? In today’s post, I’m diving into The Missing Half, a gripping new mystery from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of All Good People Here and host of the Crime Junkie podcast. This story follows Nic Monroe, a woman whose life has been stuck in neutral ever since her sister vanished without a trace seven years ago. Just when she’s at her lowest, another woman haunted by a similar loss enters her life—Jenna Connor, whose sister disappeared in the same eerie way. What starts as a chance encounter becomes a desperate partnership, as the two search for the truth behind their sisters’ disappearances—no matter what it costs. Let’s talk about why The Missing Half is the kind of mystery that stays with you long after the last page.

The book opens on a rather bleak note, with Jenna spotting Nic Monroe at the family-friendly pizza joint where she works—a place known for cheap, greasy slices and noisy kids. Nic immediately notices Jenna sitting alone, sipping a soda, and the fact that she’s in a children’s restaurant without a child raises red flags. Suspicious, Nic alerts her manager, silently hoping the woman isn’t a pedophile—or worse, a journalist.

But as Jenna’s shift ends, she calls out to Nic and reveals something that grabs her attention: her sister has gone missing too. That gets Nic off her bike and finally ready to listen. Jenna explains she found her sister’s journal and is convinced the two disappearances are linked. She believes they can work together to catch the killer—a case the police have already given up on.

I really enjoy how the two women team up and investigate, but I can’t help but hope they find their sisters before they themselves vanish. As their search deepens, they manage to speak to a friend of Kasey’s, who tells them about a shady man named McLean—a known abuser and rapist who somehow keeps slipping through the justice system. Disturbingly, he also owns a plot of land deep in the woods. It’s suspicious, but without evidence, there’s no warrant—and no way to search private property.

They later meet with a former detective at a diner, someone who clearly knows more than he’s letting on and seems to be protecting the very psychopath they’re after.

There’s one thing that really bothers me—something no true crime author ever talks about: it’s not okay to play detective online or outside, especially for safety reasons. Sure, we can hope the killer’s a tech-illiterate fool, but realistically, pretending to be a sleuth in real life without serious resources is dangerous. I kind of expected this to be addressed, especially since the author hosts a true crime podcast and should know just how risky this stuff can get—not just cold cases, but even those.

At some point, we need to draw a line between fiction and real-life tragedy.

It’s all fun and games until someone’s standing outside your house—outside those safe little internet walls.

At one point, I thought I had figured out who the killer was, and I was expecting it to be them—but the ending completely caught me off guard. I finished the book in under 24 hours. I actually really enjoyed it. I’m giving it a 5/5. I won’t say more because I don’t want to spoil anything… but should I start dropping hints?