Local Gone Missing by Fiona Barton

Hello, beautiful people! Welcome to a new review! For this review, I get into Local Gone Missing by Fiona Barton. Set in a small, quiet town on the verge of a gentrification crisis, we follow the perspective of a detective on medical leave who is observing and watching the chaos around them. Tempted by the tensions and lives on the line, we see the battle between the wealthy and all the rest, and how it can turn ugly in different ways

Main Characters:

Elise King: A career driven detective who is on medical leave after a tough battle with breast cancer, in her time off is watching and observing those around her and starts to see trouble on the horizon when two teens overdose at a music festival and a local goes missing and can’t help but throw herself into the chaos

Dee Eastwood: Elise, and many other housekeepers who hide in the shadows of the locals’ homes and see and know much more than anyone would ever expect

Charlie Perry: Beloved local who goes missing and this drives in a lot of concern for those who knew and respected him, some feel it could have to do with the uproar of gentrification from summer time vacationers who are taking over the small town, his disappearance brings up a lot of dark secrets in the city and things others are trying to hide

Ronnie: Elise’s neighbour, who she often bounces ideas off of, given that she is technically no longer an investigator, pushes her to see that she is still capable, even after all she has been through

Pete Diamond: Wealthy newcomer who wants to bring more travel into the town by starting a music festival, locals are against it due to the fears of issues it could bring to the town, and are quickly proven that their concerns are valid

My Review

Local Gone Missing by Fiona Barton wasn’t a total miss, but it didn’t really hit either. Local Gone Missing has strong characters that gave the story some depth, but overall, I just felt kind of confused and underwhelmed by the plot. This led to me giving it a 5.5/10 rating. It also has some really good reviews, so maybe for people who enjoy a bit of a slower mystery, this would be a hit for you. I think it was just a lot going on, but also not at the same time, which may seem weird, but hear me out. The setting is in this slow, calm seaside town that is struggling to keep up with rich people coming in and taking over. A music festival comes in bringing in a charming but threatening wealthy man, leading to the death of two young people. On the other side as well, for the locals, one of their own has gone missing, and people are forced to look at why all of this is happening. So a lot is going on… but it’s kind of boring. I am not sure how else to explain it, but I just wasn’t super excited to dive into this mystery because it felt like something I had read before, but with a weaker plot. It just didn’t pull me in, in the way I would have hoped, ultimately leading to me just really not enjoying the book overall.

Local Gone Missing follows Elise King, a well-versed detective who is currently out on medical leave after a breast cancer diagnosis. Held up in her home, she is aching to go back to work, but fearful at the same time. In her solitude, she watches the small town around her erupt in chaos when a wealthy newcomer funds a musical festival, bringing the wrong kind of tourists and people into the area. At the same time as that battle, the locals are rocked when Charlie Perry, a beloved community member, goes missing with no trace of what happened to him. Elise throws herself into the mystery. Battling her insecurities after her battle with cancer, Elise throws herself into both sides of the story, the locals’ side and that of the wealthy travellers. Overall, both plots pull out a lot of secrets from both sides of the pond and force people to see if they ever really know the people around them. Carried by a classic us vs them mentality, the blame and shame get thrown from both sides, all of whom just want answers.

The book starts off strong, a local man named Charlie Perry disappears around the time Pete Diamond, a wealthy newcomer, throws a music festival that no local wanted and ended up bringing more problems than solutions. The town of Ebbing is immediately full of whispers, secrets, and suspicion. You’d think this would tie neatly into the bigger drama of two teenagers overdosing at the same festival—but spoiler alert: it doesn’t really. I kept waiting for it to all click together satisfyingly, but it never quite got there. The plot kind of meanders through a bunch of storylines that feel important in the moment, but don’t really add up to much in the end. There’s a mystery, sure, but the payoff is a little murky and honestly not all that satisfying when we get there. The differing perspectives were a nice take, but again, didn’t make much sense when there was this overarching issue that you couldn’t really see how it all connected together. If anything, I feel like this book should be called “How Elise Got Her Groove Back” because that’s what this book felt like more so than a murder mystery. Now I am not mad at that, I like a good woman empowerment story as much as the next gal, but it just wasn’t what I thought I was getting myself into.

That said, the character work is definitely the saving grace here. Elise, our main detective slash cancer survivor, brings a lot of heart to the page. She’s complicated and clearly still trying to find her footing again. I liked her, but I didn’t totally get why she was inserting herself into this investigation. Like, does she not trust the local police? Is this her way of proving she’s still got it after everything she’s been through? It’s not super clear, but I guess you could argue it’s part of her post-illness identity crisis. Either way, it was a bit of a stretch that she was just nosing around, and no one really stopped her. I also really liked Ronnie, Elise’s neighbour. He’s quirky, warm, and exactly what she needed, someone to remind her that she’s still capable, even when she’s doubting herself. He was a quiet but important support system, and I think without him, Elise’s arc wouldn’t have hit as well as it did.

So yeah—decent characters, kind of a muddled mystery. Not a total flop, but not a standout either. I wouldn’t totally recommend this one to others and I definitely won’t be continuing on with the series but overall I don’t think it’s a bad book and others have enjoyed it much more than I did so it’s for some people out there!

*** Don’t read any further if you want to save yourself from spoilers ***

Okay, so don’t come for me on this one, but I kind of don’t remember how the book ended. I mean I do, but there is one part that I couldn’t remember, and it’s kind of an important one. I can’t remember who killed Charlie or if someone did. I looked through the end of the book again, and did some digging online, and just no one seems to know, so it genuinely may have been an unanswered part to the book.

The things that get exposed are that Charlie Perry, who is later revealed to have been living under the alias Charles Williams, is found dead in the cellar of his home. While the medical examiner notes that he may have suffered a heart attack, there is also evidence suggesting he was struck in the head with a heavy object, indicating foul play. So like, someone killed him, right?? I mean, yeah, it’s a big deal that he is lying about his identity, but like, who hit him over the head and why? Why is this question unanswered? Okay, wait, as typing this out, I wonder if it’s because Elise wasn’t an actual active officer at the time, so she was never really going to find that out, just find out who Charlie really was? I don’t know, it’s all kind of a mess to be real with you. Charlie’s past is riddled with financial misdeeds, including a fraudulent investment scheme that left many locals in financial ruin. These revelations uncover a multitude of potential suspects, each with their own motives rooted in betrayal and loss.

During the festival run by Pete Diamond, two teenagers overdose on drugs, adding to the town’s turmoil. While Charlie’s direct involvement in the drug incident isn’t established or ever really pulled together as a reason why he could have died, the festival’s chaotic environment makes it seem like it could, and that’s what I thought for sure while reading the book. A connection is never really made, though, which is weird; it would have made more sense if it were.

Ultimately, the investigation led by Elise uncovers the layers of deceit and hidden connections among Ebbing’s residents, painting a portrait of a community where appearances are deceiving and secrets can be deadly. The investigation gives Elise the confidence to see that she still has it in her job and that she is okay to go back to work.

So again, a bit of an unsatisfying ending, but it wasn’t exactly the most satisfying book overall, so it makes sense that things went this way.

Thank you for checking out this review. I hope you enjoyed it! Sign up for the email updates at the bottom of the page to be one of the first to know when I release a new review!