The Missing Season

The Missing Season by Gillian French

BURY MY HEART AT MUMBLER’S MARSH . . .

Whenever another kid goes missing in October, the Pender kids know what is really behind it: a horrific monster out in the marshes they have named the Mumbler.

Clara is new in town, so she doesn’t actually believe in the Mumbler, not like the irresistible Kincaid does. But as Halloween gets closer and tensions build in the town, it’s hard to shake the feeling that there really is something dark and dangerous in Pender, lurking in the shadows, waiting to bring the stories to life.

If you’re coming to this book looking for a hardcore horror story then you might walk away disappointed. But if you’re just looking for a good time, a fun friend group, and a cute romance story, which all plays out against the backdrop of a town with a very creepy atmosphere, then you will most likely walk away happy, like I did.

I absolutely love thrillers set in small towns surrounded by creepy woods, and this story definitely delivered on that promise. The book started off strong. The story was positively dripping with creepy vibes as the new kid in town learns about the Mumbler legend and the teens who died in mysterious ways in the town of Pender.

One criticism that some readers might have, is that the beginning of the story gives the strong impression that the Mumbler legend is going to be the main focus of the story, but by the time we reach the middle chunk of the book, it takes a backseat to the other subplots that are unfolding. During the middle chunk of the book, the Mumbler storyline becomes very thinly spread, it even feels kinda non-existent at times, taking its own sweet time and only coming back into play toward the last third of the book. At times, it almost feels like the Mumbler thriller story is the subplot, instead of it being the other way around.

The middle chunk of the book, for the most part, reads like a contemporary romance story. And strangely enough, I didn’t mind! Even though I hardly ever read from that genre. The middle chunk of the book was filled with best friend fallouts, and boy drama, and being the new kid in town trying to get accepted into the cool group. Fortunately, the friend group was really fun and interesting to read about. And one of the friends even reminded me of a character from the first Scream movie (the character named Stu played by Matthew Lillard), which definitely earned major bonus points with me. 

I will say that the ending wasn’t my favorite. It wasn’t a bad ending per se, but I don’t know, I guess I was just expecting more because of how much I enjoyed the rest of the story, and the ending also maybe felt a bit rushed. Another thing I didn’t enjoy in the book was the scenes that were sexual in nature. Although they never actually have sex, they do go far enough for it to be cringey if you don’t like reading those kinda scenes.

Overall, I found it to be an enjoyable read. Although the Mumbler part of the story felt like it could have used some fattening up, the rest of the story made up for it and kept me turning the page. I would definitely like to check out what other books this author has written.