Unmissing: A Thriller

Written by Minka Kent

Narrated by Jane Oppenheimer and Carly Robins

A return from the past knocks a family dangerously off-balance in a novel of spiraling suspense by Washington Post and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Minka Kent.

Merritt Coletto and her husband, Luca, have the life they dreamed of: a coastal home, a promising future, and a growing family. That dream ends with a late-night knock on the door.

Weak, broken, and emaciated, it’s Luca’s first wife, Lydia. Missing for ten years, presumed dead, and very much alive, she has quite a story. Her kidnapping. A torturous confinement that should’ve ended with her dead. And finally, escape. Racked with guilt over the beautiful life they’ve built, Merritt and Luca agree to help get Lydia back on her feet—it’s the least they can do.

But the more enmeshed Lydia becomes in Merritt’s family, the more questions Merritt has. What is it about Lydia that’s especially unnerving? Why hasn’t she gone to the police with her harrowing tale? What does she really want of them? The answers, when they come, are terrifying.

Because Lydia isn’t the only one with secrets.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Feb 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781713614708

Minka Kent

Minka Kent is the Washington Post bestselling author of The Stillwater Girls, The Thinnest Air, The Perfect Roommate, and The Memory Watcher. She is a graduate of Iowa State University and resides in Iowa with her husband and three children. For more information, visit www.minkakent.com.

Reviews for Unmissing

[Cynthia Jordan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So actually listen to this book on a whim, but it captured me every single moment. I mean the first chapter is just amazing. I’ve already recommended it multiple of my friends. I think that this book and this author are definitely very top-tier for me.

[Kendra Brown · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Maybe I’m expecting too much out of these cheap thrillers, but the complete lack of depth in the characters is so hard to look past. Not to mention how unrealistic everything is (police procedurals, how a woman who was abused for 9 years isn’t severely experiencing PTSD, etc). Truly terrible.

[Sharon Czudak · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I did enjoy it, easy listening. I guessed the first twist, not the second. But far fetched and unnecessarily nasty in parts but ok for an easy listen.

[Tamara Walters · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not the best book. The plot was pretty easy to figure out

[Eedge Eeva · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow, just wow, I mean just wow! Like there is no chance on the earth to guess the holly sh!t what's going on here!

[B4iwascrzy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A masterpiece of misdirection, the narrator is every bit as talented as the bestselling author who thought up this twisted tale.

[geauxgetlit · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow, this book kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. Imagine being attacked and held captive for 9 years by a monster. You escape after you are left for dead after being shot and you find out that your husband has not only married again, but he has landed himself in the lap of luxury.

Told from the POVS of both wives, this is a train wreck waiting to happen, yet those trains take some ghastly turns before the wreckage even begins!

Fast-paced, exhilarating, thriller lovers delight!

[jenn88-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The plot was intriguing and there was so much potential but the execution wasn't well done at all. The twists were so unbelievable that it took the enjoyment out of reading it for me. What a chore to finish.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for an ARC.

[jhscolloquium · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Unmissing is another fast-paced psychological thriller from author Minka Kent. in which she explores a question that could have myriad answers: What if a man's wife was legally declared dead after disappearing without a trace a decade ago, but suddenly reappears after he has remarried, and started a business and family with a second wife? The story begins ten years ago as Lydia, twenty years old, is hiking near Bent Creek, Oregon. Just a few months earlier, they moved to Luca's home town so he could eventually open a restaurant. Lydia is applying to nursing school and they plan to start a family. In her first-person narrative, Lydia gushes, "We're building our dream life one beautiful brick at a time." That dream dies when a man clamps his hand over her mouth and warns her, "Don't scream." She can't get to her backpack containing her phone and GPS tracker. But she left a note for her husband, Luca, back at their house, telling him where she was going. It proves to be of no use.In the present day, Merritt also relates her own story in the first person, declaring at the outset that she is "a reasonable woman," as she finds a "sunken-eyed, cadaverous figure" at her front door. She immediately recognizes Lydia, her husband's first wife. Lydia wants to speak to Luca, who is out of town attempting to sell their restaurant franchise to a national chain because it is hemorrhaging money and they are on the verge of losing everything they have worked for. They already have a young daughter and Merritt is about to give birth to a son. After Lydia -- is she really Lydia, back from the dead? -- leaves, Merritt makes clear at the outset that Luca is her best friend and soul mate, as well as the father of her children, and "there's nothing I wouldn't do to keep them safe -- or to keep us together." Lydia explains that she was abducted, tortured, sexually abused, and held captive until just a few months ago when she managed to escape. She has been working her way back to Bent Creek, sleeping on park benches, in post offices, working here and there along the way. Finally back home, she finds a "help wanted" sign in the window of The Blessed Alchemist store owned by Delphine DuBois, an intuitive who has lost her husband and daughter. Calling Lydia "Angel," she agrees to let her stay in her deceased daughter's room in exchange for working in the store and home. But Delphine makes clear that Lydia must pass a drug test, work to get her affairs in order without delay, and always be completely honest. Lydia explains only that she's been "off the grid" and must get a new copy of her birth certificate in order to obtain a driver's license and Social Security number so that Delphine can put her on the store's payroll. What Lydia doesn't reveal, of course, is that the actual documents belong to a woman who is, from a legal standpoint, dead. And she is back in town in order to be reunited with Luca. "I'm here for one thing and one thing only -- to get my life back." Is she set on breaking up Luca's second marriage?Kent advances the story via alternating chapters expressing the women's experiences and perspectives. Merritt is sweet and conciliatory in her dealings with Lydia, expressing sympathy for Lydia because she managed to survive a decade-long nightmare. She aggressively tries to help Lydia by, for example, taking her shopping for clothes. But those overtures are solely for the purpose of ensuring that Lydia does not disrupt the life she has built with Luca. She confesses that she is actually terrified of Lydia and what her reappearance might mean for Merritt's family. Her goal is to befriend Lydia in order to pacify her so she will simply move on, leaving Merritt to enjoy the perfect life with Luca that she has carefully cultivated. Lydia is grateful to and genuinely fond of Delphine, determined not to do anything to hurt her. But she is understandably angry and resentful about what happened to her. "Who knows how I'd have turned out if it weren't for that fateful afternoon in the woods. . . . I can't stop focusing on the imbalance of justice." She insists that she must meet with Luca face-to-face and eventually does. Kent's portrayal of their reunion is a fascinating character study, His reaction to seeing her again, along with Lydia's failure to go straight to the police when she escaped the captor she refers to as "The Monster," are clues that Kent has again crafted an intricately-constructed story in which shocking revelations are imminent.As Lydia gets to know Merritt, she finds herself caring for her and her children, harboring no ill will toward her for having married and started a family with Luca. Rather, she is determined to protect Merritt and the children when she eventually comes to believe that Merritt is a victim from whom Luca has been keeping terrible secrets. But Lydia is strong, resourceful, and resolved. She has had a full decade to imagine and plan what she would do once she regained her freedom. And no matter how much she wants to shield Merritt from getting hurt, she has no intention of going anywhere until she gets exactly what she came back to Bent Creek for. Gradually, Kent reveals that the true agendas and motives of each character are quite disparate from the way in which readers originally perceive them. Kent provides the clues from the story's inception. But like a magician employing misdirection, Kent initially draws readers' attention away from those clues, distracting them until she is ready to surprise them by taking the story down a completely unexpected path. At that point, the pace of the tale continues accelerating to an explosive conclusion. Readers will likely guess the biggest twist long before Kent discloses it, but that fact does not detract from the book's entertainment value. Lydia is a sympathetic character, and Kent's revelations of the truth further endear her to readers, along with the tender-hearted and lonely Delphine. Readers will find themselves reading feverishly to see if their hunch is accurate and learn whether Kent provides both ladies a happy ending. And delivers justice to "The Monster." Which makes Unmissing a thoroughly enjoyable thriller.Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.

[carole888fort · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What did I just read? Unmissing by Minka Kent has a storyline that packs many punches. There are three main characters : Luca Coletto, a restaurant owner and developer; Merritt Coletto, Luca’s pregnant wife; and Lydia Coletto, Luca’s first wife, who disappeared without a trace ten years ago and was presumed dead and officially declared as such. Life is fairly good for Luca and Merritt, when out of nowhere appears Lydia, wife number one who had been kidnapped and tortured for years. And that is as far as I can go with this. The rest is up to the readers. No matter how much I attempted to guess how this mystery would unfold, I was always wrong. Unmissing’s plot is so original and well-developed that the book takes the reader on quite a ride. Who kidnapped Lydia? Why did she not go to the police when she escaped her captor? Which wife will Luca chose over the other? Why does Merritt want to befriend Lydia? I have thoroughly enjoyed Unmissing and I would not hesitate to read more books written by Minka Kent. Highly recommended. Thank you to Thomas & Mercer, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[alekee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Once I picked this book up I didn’t put it down until I had the answers, and when they started coming, well, it was not at all what I had thought.The author did a great job of weaving this story and keeping my attention, and did she surprise me, oh yes!My mind was wondering why the new wife is befriending the lost wife? Well, we find out why!Don’t miss this thriller, it is going to keep you guessing and surprised right to the end!I received this book through Net Galley and Publisher Thomas & Mercer, and was not required to give a positive review.

[ozzer_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If one is willing to suspend disbelief in a wildly improbable plot and a cast of unbelievable characters, the UNMISSING can be a worthy reading experience. It’s not possible to read this thriller, however, without remembering Faulkner—"The past is never dead. It's not even past."—because its central plot element is the shocking return of a character presumed to have been dead for a decade. Setting her novel in the Pacific Northwest, with its iconic dark forests and gloomy rain, suggests Kent intended to evoke the kind of gothic mood that Faulkner exploited with the Deep South. However, since she does not capitalize on it in her narrative, the setting falls a little flat. Notwithstanding this shortcoming, twisty plotting and unnerving characters redeem the novel to some extent.Kent tells her story in alternating chapters narrated by the two wives of Luca Coletto. Yet both seem unreliable. Lydia, Luca’s first wife, has been legally dead for a decade following her disappearance. However, she turns up one night, weak and destitute, with a horrific tale of kidnap, confinement, torture, rape, and attempted murder at the hands of a person she calls “the monster.” Following her escape, Lydia’s behavior can only be construed as strange since she fails to report the crime. Instead, she elects to muddle along with no money, no job, no shelter, and no ID. In place of these essentials, she focusses on a hidden agenda involving revenge and retribution that can only be revealed by reading the novel. Merritt is Luka’s second wife. She comes across as a loving mother and supportive spouse. Concern for Lydia’s potential to upset the idyllic life she has struggled to build with Luca motivates her to help her counterpart. To say the least, this behavior also seems quite weird. Once again, the details need to be reserved for the reader. On one level, Kent portrays Luca as a loving husband and father. Also, he appears to be a successful entrepreneur. However, we quickly learn that he has his own issues. He is financially overextended and may harbor a dark past with psychological implications. Once again, all eventually is revealed.Delphine DuBois is the only other character of note. She runs a new-age store called “The Blessed Alchemist.” Kent makes a half-hearted attempt to provide her with a rational backstory for her unrealistic openness and kindness toward Lydia, but one is left with the impression that her main function in the plot is to provide Lydia with the things she needs to survive and launch her revenge scheme. Kent builds suspense slowly (maybe a little too slowly), but eventually brings all to a boil in the climax. Each character’s shortcomings become apparent, and a thrilling finish utilizes some outlandish plot twisting to close out the novel.

[lorikboyd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My second book by this author, and it didn’t disappoint. With her fast paced writing style, Ms. Kent weaves a story that keeps you wondering and guessing till the end. Love the cast of characters and their development. Your feelings will be all over the place for Lydia, the unmissing wife of Luca Colletto, wealthy restaurateur. Luca is now happily married to Merritt, living a great life, running a successful franchise. This all changes with a knock on the door. Little by little, pieces of the puzzle are revealed and the masks come off. Thanks to Ms. Kent, Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.