- Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
- Publication Date: March 12, 2024
- Author: Ripley Jones
- Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
- Page Count: 336
Blurb
In the months after Cam and Blair broke their small hometown’s legendary missing-girl story and catapulted to accidental fame, they vowed never to do it again. No more mysteries, no more podcasts, and no more sticking their heads where they don’t belong.
Until Mattie Brosillard, a freshman at their high school, shows up on their doorstep, begging Cam and Blair for help. Mattie’s sister Lola disappeared mysteriously five years ago. No trace of her was ever found. Now, she’s back–but Mattie is convinced the girl who returned is an impostor. Nobody believes Mattie’s wild story–not Mattie’s brother, not Mattie’s mother, and not even Cam and Blair. But something is definitely wrong in the Brosillard family. And Blair has her own reasons for wanting to know what really happened to Lola while she was gone.
With Cam and Blair still struggling with the aftermath of their first mystery―and with new secrets swirling between them―the stakes are higher than ever in this can’t-miss sequel to Missing Clarissa.
My Thoughts & Opinions
Because I really enjoyed Jones’ previous novel, Missing Clarissa, I was more than excited for the opportunity to read The Other Lola. With so many references to the mystery in Missing Clarissa, I don’t think that The Other Lola can be read as a standalone.
Unlike Missing Clarissa, The Other Lola is a slow read. Lacking plot twists and cliffhangers for a majority of the novel, it took a lot of patiences to get past the 51% point. But by then I figured out the finale. Skimming the rest of the novel till 86%, my suspicions on the perpetrator(s) were validated. It’s only because the novel closely mimics an episode of Law and Order SVU that I watched fairly recently. If it weren’t for the similarity to the TV episode, I probably would have enjoyed the novel a lot more.
The main characters are a carryover from the previous novel and because of that, they weren’t as fully fleshed out. Too bad since new readers will probably find the characters uninteresting and pretty vanilla. Some of the newer characters included a non-binary person and a few lesbians. I just don’t get why just about all authors seem to jump on the LGBTQ+ bandwagon and think it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Don’t get me wrong, it’s just that just about every book I’ve read recently either has a non-binary characters, or a lesbian/gay characters built into the narrative. And it can get a little confusing with the “they/them” pronouns.
In any event, The Other Lola turned out to be a decent read. Not the best, and not the worst. Three stars.
I was invited to read a DRC from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.
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