All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

I finished All the Missing Girls nearly two days ago, and I've listened to TWO reviews for it...but I still can't decide how I feel about it.  It's been compared to The Girl on the Train and Luckiest Girl Alive (which I have yet to read), and for good reasons.  The book is a tense read, just how I like my thrillers.  It's got the trifecta of a perfect mystery: more than one missing person, a woman with a past she wants to forget, and a town that doesn't want to forget.  It almost reached "page-turner" status for me, but not quite.

Here's the low-down: 
Nicolette (Nic) Farrell is living in Philadelphia with her fiancé, Everett.  Nic gets a call from her brother, Daniel, that he needs help selling their father's house, which is back in her hometown of Cooley Ridge, North Carolina.  Cooley Ridge is one of those rural, everyone knows everyone's business, no one leaves, type of towns.  Nic left years ago after her best friend Corinne went missing.  (If you're counting, that's Missing Girl #1.)  Most people think her boyfriend, Jackson, had something to do with it, but officials could never close the case.  It seems that Nic never quite got over Corinne's disappearance, so much so that she ran away from her then-boyfriend Tyler as well as the town.  It just so happens that every time she comes home, she hooks up with Tyler in secret.  
 
Once she's home, Nic meets up with her father, who has Alzheimer's, and he tells her that he saw "the girl."  This opens up the can of worms that sets the story into motion.  Corinne's case isn't as cold as Cooley Ridge once thought, especially after Annaleise Carter becomes Missing Girl #2 the day after Nic arrives to town.  Oh, and did I mention that Annaleise is Tyler's girlfriend? Sounds suspiciously complicated, doesn’t it? We're thrust into Nic's investigation of the past and present, all the while learning that there is more than meets the eye about Nic and her relationship with the town.   We get to meet Jackson, Corinne's boyfriend from ten years ago, and Laura, Daniel's extremely pregnant wife along the way...both of whom are key characters in this thriller.  
 
Want another twist?  This story is told backwards.  Yes, Miranda sets the scene with the first day Nic returns to Cooley Ridge and then fast-forwards us to 14 days later.  In some ways, this method of story telling works.  It gives hints of what happened the day before so much that it kept me interested in finding out what happened.  On the other hand, I had a hard time wrapping my head around how I as a reader was missing information and how different the story would be if I had that information beforehand.  This is definitely a read in as few sittings as possible type book for that very reason.  
 
I have to be honest; I wasn't a fan of the book at the beginning.  The reverse chronological order really threw me for a loop.  However, once I reached the last 3-4 days (or I guess it's the first 3-4 days chronologically), I was totally into it.  There were so many twists that I never saw coming, it kind of made up for the lack-luster rising action.  I was not a fan of Nic or Daniel, but I think the story works better that way if I'm not rooting for her to begin with.  
 
TL/DR: All the Missing Girls is a thriller told backwards, and will leave you reeling days after trying to decide your feelings about it.   
 
Rating: Overall, I'm going to have to give this one a three for the "meh" middle and the stellar ending. 
 
Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy for an unbiased review