Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell Book Review

BLURB

A MISSING GIRL. A BURIED SECRET.

From the acclaimed author of I Found You and the Richard & Judy bestseller, The Girls, comes a compulsively twist psychological thriller that will keep you gripped to the very last page.

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.

Ten years on, Laurel has never given up hope of finding Ellie. And then she meets a charming and charismatic stranger who sweeps her off her feet.

But what really takes her breath away is when she meets his nine-year-old daughter.

Because his daughter is the image of Ellie.

Now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What really happened to Ellie? And who still has secrets to hide? 


MY THOUGHTS

Then She Was Gone is the first book by Lisa Jewell which I have read. It tells the tale of a distraught mother who fights to find answers as to what happened to her daughter who went missing ten years before.

In Then She Was Gone, Laurel is still searching for her daughter, Ellie ten years after she disappeared. The police believe that her daughter ran away and eventually she has to accept that as the only possible scenario. Surely that’s what the evidence points to. Ten years later, Laurel is finally ready to start moving on with her life although she has never truly left her daughter behind. And when she meets someone who she falls head over heels in love with she can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. It is only when she meets his daughter Poppy, who is the spitting image of her daughter who went missing does she begin to question what really happened to Ellie and the truth finally begins to unravel.

We hear the voices of both Laurel and her daughter, Ellie who went missing ten years ago. Lisa gives us an insight into Ellie’s mind in the days leading up to her disappearance whilst in the present, Laurel and the rest of her family are rocked when the police uncover a significant piece of evidence. It is soon after this point that Laurel first meets Floyd who she falls head over heels in love for.

There were definitely some chilling scenes in this book, particularly when the novel was told from Ellie’s perspective; I can imagine that some of these scenes must’ve been hard for Lisa to write. There was one character in the book who really gave me chills. The ending of this book really was heartbreaking and so well done.

Lisa Jewell’s latest novel really had me gripped all the way through and I wanted to find out what had happened to Ellie, Lisa has woven a gripping and intriguing tale which keeps you guessing right up until the end.

A fantastic read, five stars from me. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy to read. 

Publisher: Century

Publication date: 27th July 2017

Print length: 432 pages


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