Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

70 reviews

brisha's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

definitely predictable but i still really enjoyed the read. i really enjoyed the format of this book and the different povs.  i like that the main character was flawed but we were still rooting for her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Child death, Death, Violence, Suicide, and Stalking

Minor: Death of parent

aas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Death, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Grief, Infertility, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

fifteenthjessica's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

Laurel Mack has had a hard time moving forward after her fifteen-year old daughter, Ellie, vanished one day on the way to the library ten years ago. It's not until she meets Floyd that she starts to repair the relationships (including with her surviving children) that were damaged when she withdrew into her own trauma after Ellie's disappearance. However, she's thrown off her new equilibrium when she meets his nine-year old daughter, Poppy, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Ellie.

This is another book club book that didn't look like what I normally read (contemporary mystery vs fantasy, sci fi, and historic fiction) but decided to read anyways. My specific thoughts when reading the synopsis was "this looks so messed up, I want to read it." It did not disappoint on that front.

The story is told in short chapters in a mix of third person limited and first person PoV, following Laurel in the story's present, Ellie around the time of her disappearance,

Ellie's kidnapper, and a lone chapter by Floyd that is the only one told in present tense. Plus an epilogue that I have no idea why it's present that reveals that if a random woman read her used book in a more timely manner could have revealed what happened to Ellie sooner. I don't know what it adds. The mystery was plenty bizarre and tragic without this revelation.

Like a lot of books with similar structures, I found the PoV switches frustrating at times. At the start, there's a chapter that ends with Laurel getting a call from the police about a new break in the case, but then we get a chapter from Ellie's PoV when she meets

the character we later learn is her eventual kidnapper.

Then Laurel driving to the police station. More Ellie. Then finally what the cops found. Good thing the chapters are short. Another issue with the structure is that the reader gets information from other PoVs that tell the audience a lot of information about what happened to Ellie, that Laurel is not privy to. However, it didn't bring me a sense of satisfying dramatic irony so much as a desire to shake Laurel and say "confront him already."

Characters are OK. Most of Laurel's family are likable enough and don't overstay their welcome, but I'm not sure if I would have been as attached to Ellie if she wasn't so similar to me at that age. For better or worse, Lisa Jewell does not shy away from the more unpleasant side of someone coping with a parent's worst nightmare, and at times Laurel's PoV can be frustrating to read about. The worst though, is probably Floyd. Maybe it's the fact that the synopsis hints at a connection with Ellie's disappearance, but it was obvious that something was off with him. However, my big issue is that while Laurel finds him charming, I never did. He comes off as a clingy sex pest with a weirdly clingy relationship with his younger daughter, and the climax revelations make him even worse in retrospect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Death, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Violence, Stalking, Physical abuse, Murder, Classism, Dementia, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Body horror

mysterymom40's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Confinement, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Violence, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Torture, Sexual content, and Death

Minor: Suicide

someone is unwillingly impregnated; thoughts of a what could be seen as a psychopath; very disturbing thoughts and actions

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

kimberlywilson's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.0

I need to process everything I've read before giving an actual review. So many emotions. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Child abuse, Child death, and Stalking

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Violence

eswinther's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Violence

Minor: Pregnancy

bek_p87's review against another edition

dark 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? No

5.0

I'm not an extensive reader of the thriller genre, so I wasn't sure what I'd be getting with this book. Maybe because I'm a relative newcomer, I didn't guess the "big shocking thing" until it was on top of me, right there on the page (or in my ear, as it were - I read this as an audiobook), and it WAS shocking. I guessed a few of the further twists and turns, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ending - I think sometimes in these sorts of books, once the mystery is finally, fully revealed, the author doesn't know how to bring it to a close, but that wasn't the case here. I'll definitely seek out more Lisa Jewell!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Minor: Suicide and Violence