What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan

Title: What Happened to Nina?

Author: Dervla McTiernan

Genre: Crime

Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Published: 28^th February 2024

Format: Paperback

Pages: 336

Price: $34.99

Synopsis: From the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Murder Rule comes an emotional novel of suspense about two families pitted against each other.

Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Young, fun and deeply in love. Until they leave for a weekend at his family’s cabin in Vermont, and only Simon comes home.

WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA?

Nobody knows. Simon’s explanation about what happened in their last hours together doesn’t add up. Nina’s parents push the police for answers, and Simon’s parents rush to protect him. They hire expensive lawyers and a PR firm that quickly ramps up a vicious, nothing-is-off-limits media campaign.

HOW FAR WILL HIS FAMILY GO TO KEEP HIM SAFE?

Soon, facts are lost in a swirl of accusation and counter-accusation. Everyone chooses a side, and the story goes viral, fuelled by armchair investigators and wild conspiracy theories and illustrated with pretty pictures taken from Nina’s social media accounts. Journalists descend on their small Vermont town, followed by a few obsessive ‘fans.’

HOW FAR WILL HER FAMILY GO TO GET TO THE TRUTH?

Nina’s family is under siege, but they never lose sight of the only thing that really matters – finding their daughter. Out-gunned by Simon’s wealthy, powerful family, Nina’s parents recognize that if playing by the rules won’t get them anywhere, it’s time to break them.

~*~

Nina Fraser is off on a week-long break with her long-time boyfriend, Simon. She’s known him her whole life and he has gone from being a friend to boyfriend. They’re staying at his family’s cabin in Vermont during a university break – but then Simon returns home alone. And soon, the entire small community is caught up in the mystery of what happened to Nina. Nina’s parents Leanne and Andy, and the police aren’t convinced with Simon’s story. They can sense that something doesn’t add up. Simon’s family is rich – his parents, Jamie and Rory rush to protect him. They’re convinced that Nina has just run away, that she is the problem, and that Simon would never hurt a fly. And they’re determined to use all their power and influence to protect Simon and muddy the waters, to ensure that the truth never comes out.

The story begins with the facts: Nina and Simon were dating, they went away together, and Simon came home alone – and then things get complicated, especially when Leanne is driven to extremes, and forced to drive her own campaign to find out what happened to Nina when it feels like nobody cares, as though everyone is falling over themselves to believe Simon because of his family’s wealth.

As the Frasers begin an online campaign to find Nina, begging for help from the public as family and friends gather and start a social media campaign to help find Nina, or at least, find out what happened to her. The tension rises when Simon’s family retaliates with help from lawyers and a PR friend, tainting Nina and her family and muddying the waters with rumours and confusion. Set over a week or so, the novel explores family tensions, community tensions, and the ways the media, in this case social media, can affect the outcome of a case, or how a case is investigated as armchair detectives come out and defend Simon and try to destroy Nina’s family. It examines the role of money and social standing – the way that people seem to assume and conclude that the nice boy, the rich boy could never hurt anyone, labelling Nina as someone who had problems and has just gone off. The efforts of Simon’s family to distract the media and investigation ensure that nobody is reliable in this book – everyone’s flaws are thrust front and centre, from Leanne and Andy’s obsessive need to find out what happened and protect Grace, to Rory being consumed by business and not really knowing what is going on until it is too late, and Jamie, Simon’s mother- who comes off as a bit cold and obsessed with how society sees her – she is determined that this whole investigation will not sully her son and that he will be able to live a life that it seems Nina may not.

These elements combine to create a compelling narrative where neither side is playing by the rules. One family just wants to know what has happened to their daughter, whilst the other family doesn’t seem to care, and is more concerned with image and standing in the community. It explores how people take sides, and the way misinformation can be spread easily, and the impact that it has. But at its heart are two desperate families – one you can sympathise with more than the other who want answers, and who will do anything to get them. Jamie and Leanne are acting on their maternal instincts, but to extremes that highlight the flaws with the justice system, and the flaws of social media – how reaching out for help can backfire and the ways people use a woman’s image and background to judge her. Dervla has cultivated these attitudes and written a compelling novel filled with twists and turns, and chills. There were characters like Jamie and Simon that I never had a good feeling about – there was something unsettling about them and at times I wondered if Jamie knew more than she let on.

What Happened to Nina is told through the perspectives of Rory, Jamie, Andy, Leanne and Matthew, the detective investigating the case, and some perspectives are in first person and Matthew is in third person – which allows the reader to examine each event from the outside and each person’s point of view. We also get a chance to get into their heads and see how they think and feel. In doing so, Dervla has shown how everyone reacts differently to tragedy, crime, and trauma, and what happens when we are pushed into circumstances that force people into doing things they would never have done otherwise – the lengths they go to so they can find the truth, or in some cases, obscure the truth because they don’t want to believe that someone they love has done something. This is an intriguing story that examines the other side of a missing persons investigation – the families involved and the lengths they go to so they can find out what happened or protect their families. Dervla has done this eloquently and in a way that makes you question what is really going on and whom you can trust – with a powerful drive and narrative filled with twisty shocks – a great thriller and mystery.