Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

66 reviews

riereeds's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow. I feel like a lot of stories about “missing kids” can be very easy to predict. They tend to be written the same. I did not feel that way with this book. There are times you think you know. But you don’t. The ending was exactly what it needed to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, and Death

Minor: Suicide

baileyridgway's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Kidnapping

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Murder, Child death, Rape, Infertility, Suicide, Stalking, Grief, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Confinement, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

sidneypbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Child death, Death, and Mental illness

Minor: Pregnancy, Suicide, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Animal death, Child abuse, Violence, Death, Grief, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Sexual assault

cdoubet's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Confinement, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Child death, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Minor: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

meluelmil's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Really, really enjoyed this book. It was hard to put down, but I also kept stopping to write my thoughts and theories so I could look back on them and see if I was on the right track. I LOVE that the story was well concluded and the loose ends were all tied. AND IT ALL MADE SENSE! There were lots of surprises and scenes that made me gasp out loud without a lazy explanation (read: “it was mental illness” or “it was all a dream” or “it was all a coincidence”). Great story, great execution, great epilogue!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Suicide, Child death, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, and Stalking

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Pedophilia, Infertility, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Cancer, and Mental illness

ash_cypher's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Mental illness, Confinement, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Murder, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Child death, and Pregnancy

myrtle's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Stalking, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Murder, Violence, and Suicide

Minor: Body shaming

livvmarks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Definitely a dark and very heavy read, but also a great mystery with many twists and turns that will leave you on the edge of your seat!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Abandonment, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Torture, Stalking, Mental illness, Infertility, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Miscarriage

beth_s98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicide, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Stalking, Violence, Murder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content

jasminealizae's review

sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

Plot was all over the place, in a bad way. Poorly thought out. 30% of the chapters could have been excluded. Do these authors get paid per page or character count? How can we switch to a POV of a character who is dead, but is being written as if she’s confessing all of her sins from the future? It was very confusing and unjustified. The ending made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

What was the reason for Floyd to have confessed his wrongdoings in a letter to Laurel, then take a train to another town just to kill hisself? Surely, he could have just killed hisself without fleeing to another town. Especially since it’s not like he committed suicide in a different city to prevent Poppy from finding out, because she ends up knowing shortly after the fact. For Noelle to have been so “obsessed” with not only Ellie, but also Floyd and wanting a child with him, it felt very forced to have her kidnap Ellie, hold her hostage, rape and impregnate her with SOMEONE ELSE’S sperm, not even Floyd’s 🤦🏽‍♀️ just to let Ellie die, and not take care of her child. Noelle was written to be this psychopath who is strange, quirky and really obsessive, but it all felt incredibly underdeveloped. As if the author did no research and thought that having Noelle do these weird/quirky things was going to be enough to get that idea across to the readers. It wasn’t. Prime example would be the hamsters.

Everything felt forced to me. The relationships, the character’s flaws, the timelines, the interactions, the abuse/neglect, literally everything. This book really solidified the fact that I hate reading books that have children in them. Poppy is nine-years-old but is written having much too mature vocabulary and conversational skills, and made entirely too aware. The backstories were extremely flat as were the characters. The connection between SJ and Laurel was for what purpose?

Other than for SJ to be the one to “egg” Laurel on to continue looking into the disappearance of Noelle by telling Laurel she saw Noelle’s stomach completely flat when Noelle was allegedly very pregnant. Poppy’s “cousins” and “grandma” storyline’s were unnecessary. The last nail in the coffin for me to officially “one star” this book was Hannah and Theo. Why make Hannah and Theo (Ellie’s boyfriend) become a couple and get married? As if the whole situation isn’t strange enough. Having Ellie get kidnapped, raped and impregnated by Noelle her math tutor, Noelle do all of these terrible things to Ellie just to secure her relationship with Floyd. Floyd date Ellie’s mother Laurel, while also raising Ellie’s daughter as his own despite knowing it’s not his child and how she was conceived. Then just when you think this is complicated enough, why not have the boy Ellie was dating when she died get married to her sister. What?!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Child death, Rape, Sexual content, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Infertility, Mental illness, Violence, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Confinement, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, and Death