Review: Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

A MISSING GIRL

A BURIED SECRET

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?

Review: Wow! This book left me breathless, shaking with adrenaline and just blown away. Lisa Jewell has just written her best novel yet (and I am a massive fan of hers so I am allowed to make that call!). I just loved this book, the twisty plot, the intense characters and the family theme running through it that just reduced me to tears. This is just a must read this summer. 

It is hard to go into too many specifics about what I loved so much about this book without giving away any spoilers but I will do my best. This novel is written in 5 parts and has 4 different narrators. We hear from Mum Laurel's perspective, some from Ellie's perspective, a little from Floyd and there is another narrator in there that I won't giveaway. We also have sections written then and sections written now, as the blurb would suggest. This may sound a little complicated, but believe me, it totally works. I love the fact that it was heavily structured like this and the short sections from each narrator made it even more fast paced for me because I wanted to find out what happened then that let to now or what happened to one person and how that affected another-I love books like this!

In terms of the character, Lisa Jewell always writes these amazing strong family relationships that you don't see from many other writers of psychological thrillers. The family at the core of this novel are your typical family, a Mum, a Dad two girls and a boy and I loved the fact that we get to go through this story meeting all of these characters and they all have their own backstory and subplot. But the main characters here are Mum Laurel and daughter Ellie. This whole story revolves around Ellie's disappearance and Laurel's quest to find out what happened. Laurel is really down to earth. She values her family and she trusts her instincts and I love that about her. She is a typical mum when it comes to her children, but we also see her become a woman in her own right when it comes to Floyd. 

Of course there are villains in this book as well as heros, what would a good psychological thriller be without a villain or two. But these characters are written so that we as readers can sympathise with them to some extent and form a kind of trust with them in many ways. And of course there are twists with each character along the way, I've already said too much! Needless to say the characters in this novel are all full formed people you could meet on the street, work with, go to school with and I feel like I know them inside out now. 

This novel is set in North London and so is very easy to relate to in terms of setting. A lot of it takes place inside which I thought really added to the tension and was an interesting choice, but each home and setting is well-described and easy to put yourself right into. The tension in this book is unbelievable. I had to go and pick my husband up when I had reached 90% and I was physically shaking with the adrenaline of the story unfolding in front of me and as soon as he got in the car I told him to be quiet to I could finish, this book is that good!

The storyline is fabulous, totally believable, incredibly tense but also something you could totally see happening in your neighbourhood to your friends. I loved the family theme and the twists and turns during every section of the story. The structure was perfect and lends itself to binge reading, what more could you want from a book this summer? Go out and get yourself a copy now-you won't regret it!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US