Missing by Kelley Armstrong

Title: Missing
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Release Date: April 18, 2017
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Pages: 384
Source: ARC provided by Penguin Random House Canada
Add to Goodreads | Amazon.ca | Indigo

Overall: 4 STARS

SUMMARY

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes a new romantic thriller that will leave fans trembling for more.

The only thing Winter Crane likes about Reeve's End is that soon she'll leave it. Like her best friend did. Like her sister did. Like most of the teens born in town have done. There's nothing for them there but abandoned mines and empty futures. They're better off taking a chance elsewhere.

The only thing Winter will miss is the woods. Her only refuge. At least it was. Until the day she found Lennon left for dead, bleeding in a tree.

But now Lennon is gone too. And he has Winter questioning what she once thought was true. What if nobody left at all? What if they're all missing? 

MY THOUGHTS 
Kelley Armstrong's latest YA thriller is an intense, chilling read that kept me guessing until the very end. But first, I should probably preface this review by saying that Missing does come with some trigger warnings. There is cruelty towards animals, a flashback to a suicide, and domestic violence experienced. While I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Missing for anyone looking for a gripping summer mystery/thriller, this book is definitely intended for a more mature YA audience. 

Some of the gruesome descriptions (especially of the feral dogs left for dead) made myself even uncomfortable at times, even though it did ramp up the terror and emphasize the horror of the murderer's actions. Missing was fast-paced and addictive, always leaving me feeling tense and anxious to discover what would happen next. The culprit was playing a sick game with Winter and Jude, taunting them over and over again, and I just had to know how they would finally be caught. 

Winter Crane dreams of leaving the tiny town of Reeve's End as soon as she graduates. Her best friend Edie already left a few months ago, and now Winter is on her own, focused on maintaining her high grades and earning a scholarship. She spends much of her time hunting in the woods and avoiding her drunk father's fists at home in their worn down trailer. She's a tough girl, capable of fending for herself when most kids have the luxury of caring parents or food in their fridge.

But Winter's life is soon in danger when she finds a young man named Lennon unconscious and bleeding in the woods. He had come to town to find Edie, who thought she was being followed and abruptly ended their phone call when she was on her way back to Reeve's End. And then Lennon is soon gone too, recklessly disappearing on his own to search for Edie. Winter begins to question if the other kids who left town ever really left for the city and better prospects. What if they're actually missing? Winter is all the more worried because her older sister left for college last year and hasn't been in touch since then...

I'm very curious to find out what kind of YA book Kelley Armstrong will write next! Return to paranormal? More fantasy? Another thriller/mystery in the works? The genre doesn't really matter—if Kelley Armstrong writes it, I'll read it!