Title: The Girl at the Bar 
Author: Nicholas Nash
Pages:  271 (Kindle edition)
Release Date: Feb. 1, 2017
Genre: Mystery, Thriller/Suspense
Summary: Rebecca, a brilliant cancer researcher, disappears after a one-night stand with a neurotic man with a questionable past.

Her sudden disappearance in the midst of a high-stakes quest to cure cancer between two rival billionaires sets into motion an inexplicable chain of events as the bodies start to pile up.

No one knows why she disappeared. The race to find answers ensnares everyone around her, one of whom is a deeply disturbed psychopath lurking in the shadows.

Is Rebecca still alive? What happened to her? Who did it? And why? Questions about her vex everyone looking for answers. No one can be trusted and no one is above suspicion…

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TRB Review – 3.5/5

It was such a pleasure to work with Nick while reading this great debut novel! The thrill and mystery intertwined between the various characters’ lives is very interesting, and keeps you wanting to know more!

There are five possible suspects who could be held responsible for Rebecca’s disappearance, and the story switches POV between them: Ragnar the one-night stand, Nancy or Christy the coworkers,  Rebecca’s boss Julia, and Dr. Gupta, the rival researcher. I’ve never read a book that switches between so many characters, which was a bit difficult to keep up with at first. Once you get to know them and become familiar with their part in the story, it’s a little easier to keep track of!

The information in this book regarding cancer research is very in depth and seems very knowledgeable, the author did a great job describing details without being too overly technical which was refreshing since I don’t know much about the scientific terminology in that field! The characters were shaped nicely. As I mentioned, it was a bit difficult to keep up with the transitioning POV’s at first but you start to follow along with each person’s scenario after a few chapters of each. It had a well woven story line, and I think that the author’s idea in it all was clever. There was constantly something happening, and the tenancy to switch POV’s right when something interesting happened made me want to keep reading to find out the details.

My issues with this book, and if you are a grammar freak like me you may want to take a breather, lie in the seemingly sub-par sentence structure and the feeling that it was not run through by an editor. Now, I did receive an ARC so I can only hope that there are corrections made before the final publication – but I had a very difficult time getting through the extremely obvious and reoccurring structural and grammatical errors from the first page to the last. You can tell when authors try to convey certain voices through their characters via the way they speak and act etc., but there were far too many instances where conversation and internal dialogue came across like sloppy conversations between high school students. This made it seem a bit less well-rounded to me. Although the story and the foundation behind it is solid and entertaining, the writing felt very basic which made it somewhat difficult for me to push through reading.

In the end, I am glad that I held on because I was surprised by who the culprit ended up being, and I did enjoy the story that the author told! It was entertaining and fast paced, the switching POV between so many characters was new and interesting for me to experience. I think that there is room for improvement, but if you can see past those mistakes I mentioned, or if that just doesn’t matter to you (being an editor I tend to absorb every little detail good and bad), I think that this can be a thoroughly enjoyable mystery/thriller to add to your collection!

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I received a complementary eBook copy from the the author in exchange for an honest review.

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About the Author:

Nicholas Nash is the exciting new author of The Girl At The Bar, a psychological thriller about the mysterious disappearance of a brilliant cancer researcher and the quest to find what happened to her. Nicholas resides in the concrete jungle of Manhattan in New York City with his wife and three children and enjoys every moment of it. An accomplished finance professional, he has a passion for reading fiction and non-fiction books which inspired him to write an intriguing thriller. Nicholas hopes you enjoy his work.

Nicholas can be reached at thegirlatthebar@gmail.com, you can also connect with him via his website, Facebook, and Instagram accounts!

You can pre-order your copy today via one of the retailers below! And don’t forget to check out the pre-order giveaway you can enter in our Author Interview with Nicholas Nash!
Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Featured image source: Nicholas Nash via Facebook