Then She Was Gone | Book Review

Then She Was Gone

Written by: Lisa Jewell

Number of Pages: 368

Average Rating: 4.37 / 5 stars

My Rating: 2 / 5 stars

Originally Published: July 27, 2017

Re-released: April 17, 2018

Read in March 2018

Summary According to Goodreads

Ellie Mack was the perfect daughter. She was fifteen, the youngest of three. She was beloved by her parents, friends, and teachers. She and her boyfriend made a teenaged golden couple. She was days away from an idyllic post-exams summer vacation, with her whole life ahead of her. 

And then she was gone. 

Now, her mother Laurel Mack is trying to put her life back together. It’s been ten years since her daughter disappeared, seven years since her marriage ended, and only months since the last clue in Ellie’s case was unearthed. So when she meets an unexpectedly charming man in a cafe, no one is more surprised than Laurel at how quickly their flirtation develops into something deeper. Before she knows it, she’s meeting Floyd’s daughters - and his youngest, Poppy, takes Laurel’s breath away. 

Because looking at Poppy is like looking at Ellie. And now, the unanswered questions she’s tried so hard to put to rest begin to haunt Laurel anew. Where did Ellie go? Did she really run away from home, as the police have long suspected, or was there a more sinister reason for her disappearance? Who is Floyd, really? And why does his daughter remind Laurel so viscerally of her own missing girl?

My Thoughts

I received an e-arc copy of this novel from NetGalley to review, but that does not influence my opinion.

I love thrillers, and I was immediately intrigued in this novel after reading the synopsis. The beginning of the novel started strong, but then slowly began to weaken. Her writing was not anything extraordinary or addicting, and was something I would have expected from a debut author. 

My biggest issue with this novel was its predictability. I was able to guess from early on where the plot was going to go, and where the twists would lead - and that took away from the suspense of my experience. I was never sitting on the edge of my seat, because it was an overall flat story. It is classified as a mystery and thriller, but I would consider it to be more of an adult fiction with dark themes. In my opinion, there was nothing mysterious or thrilling about it.

I found our main narrator, Laurel, to be flat and bland, although I do assume her emotional detachments come from losing her daughter all those years ago. Her character did not make a lot of sense to me, describing herself as introverted and wary of everyone, but then all of a sudden diving headfirst into a relationship with someone she only just met. She talked to this man more than she talked to her children, and considering she’d already lost one I was discouraged by how distant she was from her other two.

This novel did grip me in the beginning being told in the “before” and “after” of the kidnapping, and it was nice to get the perspective of Ellie in order to sympathize with what happens to her later. I felt sorry for Ellie and what she went through, but I could not have cared less about any of the other characters. They didn’t feel real, they felt like every generic family you would see on a talk show after one of the members goes missing.I think if the author had done more research on this topic, and rounded out her characters a bit more, she would have had a much stronger novel.

Overall, I was disappointed in this read. It is difficult to write in the thriller genre, so I appreciate the effort, but she didn’t bring anything original to the table with this novel. I am not in a rush to go out and pick up another one of her books, but I will keep an eye out in case any sound interesting enough.