The time it was about All the Missing Girls

I’ve been a fan of Megan Miranda since I read her first YA novel, Fracture.  I even drove myself up the 405 to see her in Huntington Beach. Needless to say, when I saw that she was writing a mystery “adult” novel, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.  I requested it on her name alone and didn’t read the synopsis until I was about to start it.

On the night I started, I saw that it was going to be told in reverse…for me that can only go one of two ways: it’s going to be amazingly epic {a la the movie Memento} or a huge clusterfuck. Obviously, if it was the latter, I wouldn’t have begged Megan and her publicist for an interview.

Before we get to the interview, let’s check out the book!

Like the spellbinding psychological suspense in The Girl on the Train and Luckiest Girl Alive, Megan Miranda’s novel is a nail-biting, breathtaking story about the disappearances of two young women—a decade apart—told in reverse.

It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched.

The decade-old investigation focused on Nic, her brother Daniel, boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson. Since then, only Nic has left Cooley Ridge. Daniel and his wife, Laura, are expecting a baby; Jackson works at the town bar; and Tyler is dating Annaleise Carter, Nic’s younger neighbor and the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared. Then, within days of Nic’s return, Annaleise goes missing.

Told backwards—Day 15 to Day 1—from the time Annaleise goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago.

Like nothing you’ve ever read before, All the Missing Girls delivers in all the right ways. With twists and turns that lead down dark alleys and dead ends, you may think you’re walking a familiar path, but then Megan Miranda turns it all upside down and inside out and leaves us wondering just how far we would be willing to go to protect those we love.

Sounds amazing, right? {Hint: it’s one of my top books of the year}

1. Please give the elevator pitch for All the Missing Girls.

Two girls have gone missing ten years apart and their cases are linked by the same group of friends in a small NC town. Also, it’s told in reverse.

2. Where did the idea come from?

I had been driving home from NJ (where I’m from) to NC (where I live), when I first got the idea for Nic’s character. The drive feels like a character shift, where the scenery changes around you, and it made me wonder if there could be different versions of yourself tied to different times and places. Nic is someone who left her past behind and tried to become someone new. And it got me thinking about all the different ways people can disappear—not just in the literal sense of people disappearing in the woods, but whether it was possible for the person you were in the past to disappear, or if that person still lives inside somewhere.

3. Why do you love Nic and why should we root for her?

The things I admire most about Nic are the fact that she’s both resilient and self-made. Nic left her hometown with very little to her name after the death of a parent and the disappearance of her best friend, and she made a life for herself, on her own.

4. The story unfolds backwards and I loved it.  Did the format change how you wrote and edited it?

I wrote the book mostly in the order it’s read, so there was a lot of trial and error involved, and the draft was constantly evolving. The format required me to keep lists alongside what had happened each day: what the narrator knew versus what the reader knew. So when I was editing, I had to make sure to stay true to both.

5. Without spoilers, what was your favorite scene in the book?

My favorite scene is one that plays out several times in the book, in memory, involving the Ferris wheel. I think it’s my favorite because it’s the start of everything, and also because I’m terrified of Ferris wheels, so my stomach always drops when I’m imagining it.

Speed [ish] round:

1. You get the call/email/letter that says you’re being published for the first time. Describe the next 5 minutes.

I remember this! I had 2 small children on my lap, and we were watching television. My agent called and said “are you sitting down.” So I immediately stood up, my kids looking at me like, huh? After the call, I told them it was time to dance. They were 2 and 4 and had no idea why we were dancing, but they happily did it.

2. What three things would you take to a desert island?

A map, a satellite phone, and some sort of water purification system. Basically I would like to find a way off said desert island as quickly as possible.

3. You can only read one book for the rest of your life. What is it?

Nooo! Hmm, maybe some sort of Choose Your Own Adventure story, so I can read something new each time…

4. Who is your favorite book boyfriend and book BFF?

My favorite things to read are creepy, twisty stories with morally ambiguous characters, so not exactly the best book boyfriend or BFF material there. However, when I was young, I totally wanted to be a part of The Babysitters Club.

5. What is the one thing about publishing you wish someone would have told you?

There will always be elements that are outside your control, so concentrate on the thing you can control—writing the book.

6. You wake up and discover you are Bella in Twilight. You know how it plays out. What do you do differently? {Huge thanks to Bookish Broads for letting me use this question}

I am of the opinion that it’s probably best for my personal safety to avoid vampires and/or vampire politics when given the option. So I would ask my dad to homeschool me, please.

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Megan Miranda is the author of the young adult novels FRACTURE, HYSTERIA, VENGEANCE, and SOULPRINT. Her next young adult novel, THE SAFEST LIES, will be published by Crown BFYR/Random House on May 24th, 2016. Her first novel for adults, ALL THE MISSING GIRLS, will be published by Simon & Schuster on June 28th, 2016.

Megan has a degree in Biology from MIT and currently lives near Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband and two children.
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Huge thanks to Megan for taking the time to do this.  Make sure you’re checking out her website, following her on Twitter, liking her Facebook page, and adding all of her book to your Goodreads TBR.

All the Missing Girls is out now. You can find it: Simon & Schuster | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon