“What Happened to Nina” is another triumph from one of the most malleable storytellers writing crime fiction. Dervla McTiernan has followed up her trilogy of Cormac Reilly police procedurals and her psychological-cum-legal-thriller “The Murder Rule” with a domestic thriller comparable to the very best of Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins.

This is a story about the disappearance of a young woman, and the aftermath. When Nina Fraser doesn’t return home from a weekend away with her wealthy boyfriend at his family’s cabin, Nina’s mother and father immediately suspect his involvement. But Simon Jordan maintains his innocence, insisting he left her behind, alive and well, after a heated argument that resulted in their break up.

The Jordan’s are a rich and influential family, and quickly take countermeasures to protect themselves from any bad press and publicity, using their status to contort the court of public opinion in their favour. The Fraser’s have far fewer resources, but plenty of motivation. Ignoring the online commotion and the clamour of journalists parked outside their home, as well as a stalled police investigation, Nina’s family take matters into their own hands to find the truth. That truth has consequences, and “What Happened to Nina?” is most compelling in its aftermath, when its characters are reeling from the revelation, and making impulsive and ill-fated decisions.

This is a masterfully constructed thriller, its alternating viewpoints pushing the narrative forward and fleshing out the lives of the Frasers and Jordans. “What Happened to Nina?” is about the lengths a parent will go to protect their child, and in mining such fertile material, McTiernan has surpassed herself.