Written by Lisa Jewell

Publisher: Atria
Pages: 426
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Published: 2017-07-27
Original Language: English

THEN She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone. NOW It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter. And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet. Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter. Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away. Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age. And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back. What happened to Ellie? Where did she go? Who still has secrets to hide?

Read from 2023-06-02 to 2023-07-16
Read in English
Rating: 4/5
Review: Then she was gone is a solid thriller, but it stopped short of giving me quite what I’d want from it.

The plot is intriguing and interesting, though some twists are telegraphed to the point where the surprise of the event taking place rather than being a bluff is a bit of a twist in itself. The characters are interesting, and there is a constant sense of unease that I very much like like in books like this one.

However, I wish the book would have dived just a little deeper into some of the potential physiological horror that could have been further explored in the context of the story. There’s a certain aspect of the story that’s probably disturbing enough as written, and it’s done well, but the book could have taken it further and become more harrowing. Drawing the line where it was drawn was certainly deliberate, and probably the right decision, but for me I felt like the book was packing a punch it never quite delivered.

I any case, this is a good, solid, quick, enjoyable thriller , and it’s absolutely up there with The Silent Patient and The Girl on The Train - though it doesn’t quite reach Gone Girl levels for me.