No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield
What's It About?
“My name is Lizzie Ouellette, and if you’re reading this, I’m already dead.”So begins Kat Rosenfield’s latest novel, No One Will Miss Her (William Morrow), a dark, murderous and twisted thriller that takes readers on a psychological ride as two women, each one lonely in her own way, struggle with identity and belonging.
Lizzie was the most hated woman in Copper Falls, ME. The daughter of the local junkyard owner, she was an outcast from the wrong side of the tracks … and the town pariah. She was the kind of woman people made judgments about without really knowing her. Of course, they liked to think that they did. Few people mourned her when she died, concerned more, instead, with the whereabouts of her missing husband: the golden boy, son of the town pastor — and the prime suspect in her murder.
FROM THE TOWN’S DEAD OUTCAST TO ITS LIVING “IT” GIRL
Adrienne Richards, on the other hand, seems to have it all. She’s gorgeous, an Instagram influencer living the high life thanks to her husband’s abundance of wealth, but she’s not the perfect “It” girl everyone thinks she is. She and her husband, Ethan, were long-time renters of the lake house Lizzie owned … and where her body was found. They were also the last two people to see Lizzie and her husband alive.
As Adrienne’s connection to the case becomes more evident, so does her connection to Lizzie. And so begins one of the most complex cases of Detective Ian Bird’s career, a case with a twist of an ending that will shock even the savviest of readers.
“They both know what it means to want to escape yourself, a self made up of other people’s ideas,” writes Rosenfield about her characters in a “behind the book” exploration of the novel. Alternating between Lizzie’s vantage point from beyond the grave and the third person, readers learn what happens when these contrary women discover the dangers of wanting to be someone else.
ROSENFIELD UNMASKS DESPAIR IN THE SEARCH FOR BELONGING
We all know, or have known, people like Adrienne and Lizzie. Some of us may even be an Adrienne or a Lizzie, trying to find our place in the world and realizing that, sometimes, we don’t fit — no matter how hard we try. “The ghost you. She isn’t real,” says Rosenfield, “yet she exists for all of us. Even you. She’s out there now, doing her worst. Posting. Tweeting. Smiling for a filtered selfie, wearing your face like a mask.” In her novel, readers glimpse the very real despair when dealing with issues of identity.
In addition to the human characters, the town of Copper Falls takes on a life of its own thanks to Rosenfield’s descriptive narration. It’s a small town trying to survive a declining economy while barely hanging on and whose residents have known each other since their kids were kids. And like many small towns, she doesn’t take too kindly to strangers waltzing in and demanding things such as fancy yogurts.
This is a great read for those who prefer dark thrillers with heavy content* as well as fans of authors like Gillian Flynn, Lisa Unger, Taylor Adams and Brenda Novak.
*Content warning: domestic violence, drug abuse, mentions of rape, mild discussion of animal cruelty
