What Happened to Nina? is another great novel to add to my list titled: “Books That Scream, ‘F*ck the Patriarchy’”. This list is, of course, not only filled with books that make me so mad at the patriarchy while reading it makes me want to scream (not that I don’t live every day like this), but also filled with books where whatever/whomever is standing in for the symbol of the patriarchy in the book gets some just desserts. 

(Can I just note, very briefly, that I absolutely hate the cover for this book? I can’t stand it. I’m sorry.)

What Happened to Nina? is a slightly misleading title, because we find out, rather nebulously, what happened to Nina in the prologue of the book. This book isn’t about Nina: It’s about the aftermath of her disappearance. It’s about her working-class family, the boyfriend that came home from their week-long vacation when she didn’t, about his rich and influential family, about privilege, about the members of law enforcement working the case, about domestic abuse in college-aged couples, about friends keeping secrets and enemies spreading lies, and it’s a lot about how far parents will go for their kids (and maybe some thoughts of how far should you go?). 

Dervla McTiernan writes an impeccably-plotted, well-paced, multiple-POV tale that threads a riot of emotions through a small town and two families divided by money, intellect, grit, love, and humanity. It doesn’t end pretty, but I like a lot of stories better that way because in real life a lot of stories like this don’t have pretty endings. Sometimes they don’t have endings at all. 

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.