Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

66 reviews

jesscoast's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

Underwhelming story with few developed characters. Instead of setting out clues for the reader to piece together, the story unravels in a mix of disembodied confessions that take a wild stretch of the imagination to believe. The plot didn’t quite go the diabolical direction I was expecting, instead it wrapped up rather neatly. Jewel places so much faith in tropes and stereotypes to do her storytelling for her.

Blue’s character really bothered me, Laurel was awful, and in the end Floyd wasn’t half as evil as I was expecting.

. Overall the dynamics felt forced and didn’t land for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Child abuse, and Confinement

middleagedbookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Great on audiobook. I recommend speeding it up to at least 1.25x, because the narrator speaks veeeerryyyyy slow. Other than that, the narration is amazing. 

I got very frustrated with Laurel a few times. I realized while reading this book, that I do not care for naive women (or men for that matter) in a story. I wanted to grab her by the shoulders, shake her, and ask her “what are you thinking?! Are you really that stupid?!”, a few times. Maybe I am being too harsh though… I tend to assume the worse about a person, where most people assume the best, I think 🤷🏼‍♀️

Anyways, overall, a great mystery thriller, and I would recommend. Even made me get teary eyed at the end… which is saying a lot, for quality of storytelling. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Mental illness

lapluie8's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

This is the first novel I read by Lisa Jewell and it did not disappoint! I was captivated from the very beginning. I was running scenarios and trying to answer WHO, WHAT, WHERE & WHEN. I rated it a shy of 5 stars just because it started to get predictable in the middle. I do love the POVs of the characters.  However, I’m curious to know the POVs of the others’, like the father, the sister, the brother and the boyfriend.. But overall, I enjoyed  reading it. A page-turner for me! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Infertility, Kidnapping, Stalking, Child death, Grief, Gun violence, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Rape

hgyow's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

sprinumter's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This is more than just a 4.5 star review! The read was dark, mysterious, emotional, and thrilling- however there were many points where the story was very predictable (hence the 4.5 not 5) as in I knew what the next plot twist was going to be.  Regardless, it is one of the most interesting stories I’ve read in a while and very much enjoyed how fast paced and easily digestible the content was.  Poppy is my favorite character of them all and I enjoyed the multiple viewpoints from the various characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Violence

bookin_w_tues's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Child death

lida_magg's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

2.75

not the most exciting book but it was still interesting to read

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Grief, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Stalking

tetetaeskz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Kidnapping, and Torture

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Slavery, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

selenat's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

4.0

 A really good thriller that had me hoping things would work out for Ellie and that she would find a way out. I enjoyed the multiple POVs and the alternating timelines. Will be seeking out more from Lisa Jewell. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Kidnapping, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Stalking, Physical abuse, Death, Child death, and Child abuse

Minor: Mental illness, Animal death, Rape, and Miscarriage

tatiannaskye's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

I don’t know what to say, this book took me on a whirlwind of emotions. I felt very connected to the characters and honestly wish that some things didn’t happen the way that they did. This was a wonderful mystery novel and the way it was structured made it that much better. Would definitely recommend!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Suicide

Just girl gets kidnapped and then following the story from there.