Missing Molly
By: Natalie Barelli
Narrator: Lucy Price-Lewis
ISBN: 9781464247514
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: 10/20/2026
Format:Paperback
My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)
From bestselling author Natalie Barelli comes a dark psychological thriller about a cold case, the newspaper investigating it, and the woman for whom it all hits a little too close to home…
Millions are searching for the truth. Only she knows it's all a lie.
Rachel Holloway has built a quiet life in London. She has a daughter, a partner, and a steady job at the local paper. Then the paper launches a true-crime podcast, and their first case is the disappearance of twelve-year-old Molly Forster, missing since her family's brutal murder twelve years ago.
But Rachel knows exactly what happened to Molly. Because Rachel is Molly. She's spent years hiding from the killer who destroyed her family, and now her own podcast is about to expose her and the truth she's buried.
As the story goes viral, new evidence emerges that confirms what Rachel has known all along: The wrong man was convicted.
The real killer is still free.
And he's coming for Rachel.
Praise
"A gripping premise, a heroine worth rooting for, and a story that refuses to let you go. This was intriguing and fun."
Jessie Garcia, author of The Business Trip
"A fiendishly clever take on the podcast-within-a-thriller trope, Natalie Barelli's MISSING MOLLY hooked me from the very first pages and had me flying through the short, propulsive chapters, gasping at the twists, desperate to find out what was going to happen next. With a riveting narrator, razor-sharp prose, and one hell of a premise, Barelli's masterful storytelling had me wholly engrossed."
―May Cobb, bestselling author of The Hunting Wives
About the Author
NATALIE BARELLI is a bestselling author of psychological thrillers. She lives with her family in Australia, where she is forever thinking about new ways of killing people and getting away with it. WEBSITE
My Review
Imagine your office starting a true-crime podcast about a 12-year-old cold case... and YOU are the missing girl.
Natalie Barelli’s MISSING MOLLY is an absolutely wild, high-anxiety thriller that completely flips the genre on its head.
The Hook
What do you do when your struggling local newspaper decides to launch a true-crime podcast to track down a girl who has been missing for over a decade... and that missing girl is you?
Elevator Pitch
Rachel Holloway has meticulously built a quiet, safe life in London with a loving boyfriend and a three-year-old daughter. But when the small newspaper where she works launches an investigative true-crime podcast, their first cold case is the disappearance of Molly Forster—the lone survivor who vanished twelve years ago after her family was brutally murdered. Rachel is panicking because she is Molly. To protect her new family, she must insert herself into the podcast production to manipulate the narrative, all while trying to keep her colleagues from digging up the truth—and attracting the attention of the real killer who is still out there.
Setting
The chaotic, close-knit office of the South Hackney Herald newspaper in London, shifting between Rachel's cozy domestic life and the dark, looming memory of her childhood family home.
Vibe
Paranoid, fast-paced, addictive, and deeply anxiety-inducing.
Genre
Psychological Thriller / Suspense Mystery / Domestic Noir.
Themes
~Hiding in plain sight and the weight of living a lie
~The modern obsession with true-crime exploitation
~Survival guilt and childhood trauma
~The lengths a mother will go to protect her child
Standout Characters
~Rachel Holloway (Molly Forster) The deeply anxious, high-strung protagonist who is desperately trying to play puppet master with her own cold-case investigation.
~Vivian Rachel’s ambitious, true-crime-obsessed coworker who spearheads the podcast, completely unaware she is sitting across from her subject.
~Mike The newspaper's star writer, determined to get a breakout hit by digging up every dirty detail of the Forster family massacre.
~Jacob A complex, sharp-witted character who gets dragged into Rachel's orbit and becomes one of the most compelling figures in the book.
Author Writing Standout
Barelli masterfully flips the typical thriller structure by revealing the "twist" of Rachel's identity to the reader in the very beginning. The thrill doesn't come from guessing who Rachel is, but from the unbearable friction of watching her try to control a runaway train while maintaining her everyday facade.
Takeaway
You can change your name, your location, and your entire life, but the past has a horrific way of broadcasting itself to the world when you least expect it.
Title Significance
Missing Molly represents the dual nature of Rachel’s existence. On the surface, it’s the flashy title of the newspaper's true-crime podcast. Below the surface, it represents the pieces of her original identity that Rachel had to cut away and "lose" forever just to survive the night her family died.
Metaphor
The investigative podcast functions like an unrelenting tide washing away a sandcastle. No matter how hard Rachel works to pack down the sand and protect her fake identity, her coworkers keep digging up the foundation until the whole structure threatens to collapse.
Why You Should Read
It is a uniquely original take on the over-saturated podcast-thriller trope. The cat-and-mouse dynamic is inverted because the cat has no idea the mouse is leading the hunt, making it an incredibly tense binge-read.
My Thoughts
Millions Are Searching for Molly. Too Bad She’s the One Making the Podcast.Short chapters, massive twists, and pure paranoia.
This is a wild, nerve-shredding ride that gives off major Freida McFadden vibes. Rachel’s choices can be wildly frustrating and highly anxiety-inducing, but you can’t help but root for her as her lies spiral spectacularly out of control. The second half picks up immense speed and leaves you completely breathless.
Verdict 5/5 Stars
An addictively deceptive, high-octane psychological thriller that grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go. Natalie Barelli brilliantly weaponizes domestic paranoia and true-crime culture to deliver a frantic, page-turner that will make you double-check your locks.
Recs or read alikes
~The Housewife by Natalie Barelli (Her 2026 domestic thriller centered on an elite Beverly Hills life built entirely on dark, murderous marital secrets)
~The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
~Don't Look For Me by Wendy Walker (For a deeply engaging, layered missing-persons mystery)
~Those Girls or Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
Special thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for sharing an advance reading copy in exchange for my honest thoughts. I also purchased/listened to the audiobook years ago and it was fun to revisit in the stunning paperback edition. #CoverCrush
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: Oct 20, 2026
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