Such Quiet Girls by Noelle W. Ihli

4.5⭐️

Such Quiet Girls by Noelle Ihli is a suspenseful, heart-stopping, and unforgettable thriller based on the actual events of the Chowchilla kidnappings.

A school bus is on its way to drop some children off at their daycare Bright Beginnings when a couple of men decide to send it on a dangerous detour. The men kidnap the children and bus driver and take them to a buried shipping container in an isolated quarry where they plan to keep them until the ransom money is paid. Told through the perspectives of Sage (the oldest child on the bus whose younger sister Bonnie is on the same bus), Jessa (the new bus driver who is a mama with a past she is trying to forget), Ted (one of the kidnappers), and Sheena (the mother of Sage and Bonnie), Ihli takes the reader on a fast-paced ride filled with tension. 

Noelle Ihli has quickly become one of my favorite authors due to her uncanny ability to help me imagine all the terrifying and nerve-wracking emotional turmoil each character feels.  There were many times while reading this that my heart was in my stomach and I was left trying to catch my breath, riddled with anxiety, and clinging to hope amidst the terror that was in store. I was struggling to stay calm while racing from page to page, unable to finally breath until the very end.

Ihli has done it again, and I am eagerly anticipating her next one! Needless to say, I will be reading anything this author writes in the future! Fans of thrillers or true-crimes, I highly recommend you grab your copies when they become available on 4/29/25!  

I owe a huge thank you to NetGalley and Dynamite Books for the advanced review copy in exchange for my honest review!