All the Missing Girls

All the Missing Girls, a 2016 suspense novel by Megan Miranda, tells the story of Nic Farrell, who returns home after receiving a phone call from her brother suggesting that she needs help take care of their ill father. 

Nic lives in Philadelphia with her fiancé, Everett, but is from Cooley Ridge, a small town on the edge of the Smoky Mountains. Upon returning home, she is forced to confront memories she thought she’d put behind her 10 years ago, when she left. Her mother died when she was a teenager, which completely destabilized the nature of her life as well as the lives of her brother and father. After the disappearance of her best friend, Corinne Prescott, Nic left town for good. Corinne was never found, and, after a while, people stopped looking. They fed themselves an easy narrative, saying that Corinne was troubled and that she had it coming. 

Another girl goes missing almost immediately after Nic arrives in town. This girl is a few years younger than Nic and named Annaleise Carter. The book moves backward in time, from two weeks into the investigation to Nic’s first day in town.