Then She Was Gone

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Her novels have sold over 10 million copies internationally, and her work has also been translated into twenty-nine languages. The book was so good that I lost track of time and read so quickly, everything just disappeared, but I was absolutely connected and attached to every part of the story and characters.

In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. Then She Was Gone references in an excerpt from Ellie’s diary, Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones, another story about a young teenager who goes missing and the fallout of her unsolved disappearance on her family.Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Laurel's daughter in law, Blue, spouts New Age mumbo jumbo about how she didn't like Floyd when she met him because he has a bad aura or some crap like that. I was so intrigued in finding out what happened to Ellie Mack that I was racing through those pages as fast as I could! Laurel, Ellie's mother, couldn’t understand how her other children and her husband were able to move on with their lives without knowing what happened to Ellie. He makes mention about what a schlub he is and how incredible Laurel is just for giving him the time of day.

In chapters from Ellie’s perspective, she repeatedly brings up the subject of blame, thinking of all the moments that led to what happened to her and what she “should” have done differently, or what others could have done to save her. I became invested in the feelings of Eliie’s mother, and as a mother of four daughters, I wanted so badly for things to somehow turn out that this poor woman didn’t have to continue without knowing what happened to her missing beautiful, intelligent, golden girl!But, finally, after years of just going through the motions of life, Laurel meets Floyd, a single dad with a young daughter named Poppy.

If the author leans on hateable characters (like The Girl on the Train) or other thriller tropes (alcoholism, mental illness, etc. It's a very quick read - I read it in a single day - and it goes down smoothly and easily, but it is so easy to predict everything that will happen. But something isn’t quite right about Floyd, especially his relationship with his nine-year-old daughter, Polly. Thank you so much to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Lisa Jewell for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

In fact, I almost want to go back and read the book again knowing the conclusion and be more aware of the plot points I missed the first time around. I always have a hard time finding thrillers that are shocking but don’t rely on shock value, if that makes sense. But I think you left it a 3 star rating (I can't remember now, but definitely 3 or less), which lowers the overall rating for the book, which is a shame when it hasn't yet been published! I think Lisa Jewell has written a chilling novel of suspense, but it is also a book about the power of maternal love, forgiveness and healing and never giving up.

There is absolutely nothing better than a blindsighted twist in a psychological thriller and unfortunately there wasn’t a single one in this book. Ellie was a very smart, lovely girl whose disappearance left a hole in the lives of those who loved her. Maybe Ellie Mack would have gone to the library, got to sit all her GCSEs, got to marry Theo, got to live her life. Though I knew where it was going early on, I still truly enjoyed it and simply could not put it down!Her writing is addictive and appeals to a wide variety of readers; not too light, not too dark, but just right.