Where I Left Her by Amber Garza

Where I Left Her

by Amber Garza

A MISSING DAUGHTER. EVERY MOTHER'S WORST NIGHTMARE.
SHE'S NOT WHERE I LEFT HER

When Whitney drops her teenage daughter, Amelia, off at a sleepover at a friend's house, she has no idea that her entire life is about to irrevocably change.

Because the next morning, when Whitney returns to pick up Amelia, an elderly woman answers the door. She's never seen or heard of Amelia and she lives in this house alone with her husband. It's every mother's worst nightmare, but this time there's no waking up from it.

Distraught and terrified, as Whitney tries to get to the bottom of her daughter's disappearance, she is forced to confront the secrets she thought she had outrun years before. With time running out to find Amelia, Whitney is forced to journey to the darkest parts of her history and piece together a puzzle that will be the difference between Amelia's life and her death.

Reviewed by Quirky Cat on

3.5 of 5 stars

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Where I Left Her is the latest novel to come from the mind of Amber Garza, though I'll confess that this is the first novel I've read by her. Still, the description alone was more than enough to capture my attention right away.

Whitney is about to face a parent's worst nightmare, and she doesn't even know it yet. All she knows is that she's second-guessing this sleepover her daughter is heading to. She's never met Lauren's parents and knows she should probably do so now.

Not that Amelia would tolerate such a thing. The reason behind her resistance is made clear the following day. Her daughter didn't sleepover in the house she was dropped off at. Worse, she's been lying about everything and is now missing.

Where I Left Her is a spine-tingling psychological thriller that blends elements from typical family dynamics to increase the impact and fear. It easily takes advantage of the reader's emotions to carry this story along, and it does so flawlessly.

Whitney is a stereotypical overprotective mother, while Amelia is clearly the rebellious teenage daughter. Their tropes are extended to the nth degree here, as those dynamics twist into a missing person's case full of deception and concern.

What I like the most about this is that Amber Garza took advantage of Whitney's unreliable position to obfuscate the truth. It's hard to trust anything we're seeing – or getting told. It made the story all the more complex and intriguing.

Thanks to MIRA and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Check out more reviews at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 15 August, 2021: Finished reading
  • 15 August, 2021: Reviewed