What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan
Published by William Morrow & Company
Publication date: March 5, 2024
Genres: Fiction, Suspense
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When What Happened to Nina? opens we meet Nina, a vivacious 20-year-old who loves being outside. She’s with her boyfriend Simon at his parents’ vacation home in Vermont and they’re preparing to go out on a climb. This day is the first and last time we’ll hear from Nina. From this point on, when she doesn’t return from the trip, this fiendishly devised tale is a book that can’t be put down.
Nina’s last social media post was on Friday. Her boyfriend Simon returns home, dejected and tells his mother that they’ve broken up because Nina was cheating on him while he was away at college. She is rightfully upset, but also a bit relieved as she’s never thought Nina or her family good enough for Simon. Two days later when Nina’s parents, Leanne and Andy, learn from someone in town that Simon is home, they go to his parents’ house asking to talk to him as they’ve heard nothing from their daughter in days. Tempers flare when both Jeanie and Rory are dismissive in their responses and refuse to let them talk to Simon. The lines have been drawn and once the police are called in the situation deteriorates further.
Even if you’re not someone who follows true crime, it’s likely you know about Gabby Petito—a 22-year young woman who disappeared while on a cross-country trip with her longtime boyfriend. Author Dervla McTiernan doesn’t go to any great lengths to hide the parallels between Petito and the plot in What Happened to Nina?, but she doesn’t need to because the premise is the least of what makes this novel so incendiary and propulsive. By chapter 13 there is no more mystery, but rather than being a letdown, the fact that McTiernan shares the truth with the reader, but not the characters only makes emotions run that much hotter. There is no middle ground left.
The same can be said about how McTiernan emphasizes social media’s role in true crime or scandal. Initially, Nina’s friends and family organize to try and find her, setting up a Facebook page and creating a hashtag to get the word out. But as Simon comes under increasing pressure as a “person of interest” his wealthy father hires a PR firm who creates a different narrative—one impugning Nina’s parents—with far reaching effects. This recognizable aspect of our culture today created an ick factor in the novel. Lives being destroyed by lies generated by bots. A feeding frenzy that has less and less to do with the situation and more to do with how facts are a disappearing commodity in our world.
Depressing truths aside, What Happened to Nina? is unstoppable reading. Yes, there was an ancillary plotline that felt unnecessary, but that’s me. It wasn’t enough to slow my roll through this book. But while its message and ending is bleak I read it in one day thanks to McTiernan’s writing. A great option if you want to quickly indulge in your dark side.
In the mood for another dark tale of family, loyalty, and suspense? Try Herman Koch’s The Dinner, a favorite of mine.
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