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panda_charlotte's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
amysbrittain's review
3.0
Much of the book involves thwarted attempts to unravel the past by a main protagonist who has been emotionally destroyed by trauma and loss.
Joseph Bridgeman took his little sister to the fair, and he only looked away for a second. But in that instant, his little sister Amy disappeared.
Two decades later, Joe remains haunted by her absence. He obsesses over what he might have done differently, how he might have paid more attention, how he might have saved her.
Joe has always had certain "viewings": he can sometimes touch an object and see clear scenes from the past, understanding how and when that object was important to someone. He glimpses moments from the past when he holds Amy's hair ribbon, which was lost that day. But the viewing offers no concrete information that he can use.
He is a shell of a man, ruined by the loss of his sister. His father and mother were similarly brutally damaged by Amy's disappearance.
In an attempt to cure his insomnia, Joe undergoes hypnotherapy...and finds out that he has bigger powers than he ever imagined: he can travel back through time.
He repeatedly attempts to time travel to the night Amy disappeared, but the amount of time he can spend in the past is getting shorter and shorter, and if he can't reach the correct day soon, the possibility of figuring out what happened to Amy will slip through his fingers forever.
I listened to And Then She Vanished as an audiobook. The book is set in Great Britain, and the supporting characters have British accents. I couldn't figure out any reason why Joe would not have a British accent, but he did not, although he uses words like "tetchy" and "proper" and is meant to be British. I found this American-accented Joe extremely distracting.
A grown man's voicing of the little-girl voice for Amy felt off to me, and the tone of the narration came across to me as generally irritated, as though Joe were fed up with it all.
Joe is presented as a guy's guy here. He is understandably emotionally stunted and is somewhat childlike in certain ways because of his life of trauma and loss. But at one point in the book, when he's preparing to have a woman at his house, he looks around at how messy it is and says something to the effect of "Did all of these clothes that are lying around just walk themselves into every room?" I was impatient with this "helpless, clueless man" scenario. NO, JOE. THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED. You made a mess. You made all of this mess. Take responsibility for yourself, mister!
Because of our extremely limited our page time with Amy, who is the heart of the mission here--and the loss of Amy caused the unraveling heartbreak and destruction for her family--she comes across as one-dimensional. The structure of the story and its focus on Joe and his attempt to master time travel didn't allow me to feel a connection to her.
At around 85 percent of the way through the book, we finally see a version of the encounter we've been waiting for. We spend much of the page time that leads up to that moment--that is, by far the bulk of the book--with other people telling Joe theories about how to jump through time, teaching Joe how to improve his mindfulness, and with Joe making frustratingly brief, failed attempts.
The resolution involves a twist I had anticipated and leaves a main character in a state of upheaval as a result of the time travel (as part of a classic time-travel conundrum involving alternate paths and lives). The latter situation felt immensely unsatisfying to me.
Yet I loved the premise of this story, and I do love a time-travel book and a mystery. This is the first in a series.
If you like books that play with time, you may like the Greedy Reading Lists of books linked to within this review: Six Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life Stories or some of the other time-travel stories I've reviewed.
To see my full review on The Bossy Bookworm, or to find out about Bossy reviews and Greedy Reading Lists as soon as they're posted, please see And Then She Vanished.
Find hundreds of reviews and lots of roundups of my favorite books on the blog: Bossy Bookworm
Follow me on Instagram! @bossybookwormblog
Or Facebook! The Bossy Bookworm
Joseph Bridgeman took his little sister to the fair, and he only looked away for a second. But in that instant, his little sister Amy disappeared.
Two decades later, Joe remains haunted by her absence. He obsesses over what he might have done differently, how he might have paid more attention, how he might have saved her.
Joe has always had certain "viewings": he can sometimes touch an object and see clear scenes from the past, understanding how and when that object was important to someone. He glimpses moments from the past when he holds Amy's hair ribbon, which was lost that day. But the viewing offers no concrete information that he can use.
He is a shell of a man, ruined by the loss of his sister. His father and mother were similarly brutally damaged by Amy's disappearance.
In an attempt to cure his insomnia, Joe undergoes hypnotherapy...and finds out that he has bigger powers than he ever imagined: he can travel back through time.
He repeatedly attempts to time travel to the night Amy disappeared, but the amount of time he can spend in the past is getting shorter and shorter, and if he can't reach the correct day soon, the possibility of figuring out what happened to Amy will slip through his fingers forever.
I listened to And Then She Vanished as an audiobook. The book is set in Great Britain, and the supporting characters have British accents. I couldn't figure out any reason why Joe would not have a British accent, but he did not, although he uses words like "tetchy" and "proper" and is meant to be British. I found this American-accented Joe extremely distracting.
A grown man's voicing of the little-girl voice for Amy felt off to me, and the tone of the narration came across to me as generally irritated, as though Joe were fed up with it all.
Joe is presented as a guy's guy here. He is understandably emotionally stunted and is somewhat childlike in certain ways because of his life of trauma and loss. But at one point in the book, when he's preparing to have a woman at his house, he looks around at how messy it is and says something to the effect of "Did all of these clothes that are lying around just walk themselves into every room?" I was impatient with this "helpless, clueless man" scenario. NO, JOE. THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED. You made a mess. You made all of this mess. Take responsibility for yourself, mister!
Because of our extremely limited our page time with Amy, who is the heart of the mission here--and the loss of Amy caused the unraveling heartbreak and destruction for her family--she comes across as one-dimensional. The structure of the story and its focus on Joe and his attempt to master time travel didn't allow me to feel a connection to her.
At around 85 percent of the way through the book, we finally see a version of the encounter we've been waiting for. We spend much of the page time that leads up to that moment--that is, by far the bulk of the book--with other people telling Joe theories about how to jump through time, teaching Joe how to improve his mindfulness, and with Joe making frustratingly brief, failed attempts.
The resolution involves a twist I had anticipated and leaves a main character in a state of upheaval as a result of the time travel (as part of a classic time-travel conundrum involving alternate paths and lives). The latter situation felt immensely unsatisfying to me.
Yet I loved the premise of this story, and I do love a time-travel book and a mystery. This is the first in a series.
If you like books that play with time, you may like the Greedy Reading Lists of books linked to within this review: Six Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life Stories or some of the other time-travel stories I've reviewed.
To see my full review on The Bossy Bookworm, or to find out about Bossy reviews and Greedy Reading Lists as soon as they're posted, please see And Then She Vanished.
Find hundreds of reviews and lots of roundups of my favorite books on the blog: Bossy Bookworm
Follow me on Instagram! @bossybookwormblog
Or Facebook! The Bossy Bookworm
boabyb25's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
jpreston's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mistaaay's review
emotional
4.0
What a beautiful book. I didn't do a great job reading the summary before starting and didn't realize this book was about time travel so it took a second to adjust. Once I did I enjoyed it so much. I can't wait to start the second book and see what's next for Joe.
leebeeloves's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Dementia and Suicide
Minor: Vomit
kathymcd's review
4.0
I love anything about time travel so was intrigued with this synopsis. I was drawn in quickly and enjoyed the storyline,
notinjersey's review
4.0
I love books about time travel! I have found some have done it in ways that are harder to understand, some allow you to believe, and some make you have to suspend your disbelief. This one falls into the latter, as in order to believe that Joe could time travel, you also had to believe that he was quickly able to control his new talent and to work out the problems involved with time jumping! At the same time, it was not complicated to understand and was a fun type of read overall.
The book focuses on the present time line including Joe’s time jumps, as well as flashbacks to his sister’s childhood. I was basically able to figure out what had happened to Amy, which was the mystery Joe tries to solve by jumping back in time. I was confused about one part of the conclusion, and I wonder if it will be explained in the future books in this series!
The book focuses on the present time line including Joe’s time jumps, as well as flashbacks to his sister’s childhood. I was basically able to figure out what had happened to Amy, which was the mystery Joe tries to solve by jumping back in time. I was confused about one part of the conclusion, and I wonder if it will be explained in the future books in this series!