Reviews with content warning for Violence - Then She Was Gone

Title: Then She Was Gone
Author: Lisa Jewell
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 4.0
Pub Date: April 24, 2018

T H R E E • W O R D S

Suspenseful • Compelling • Dark

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Ellie Mack has been missing for ten years. Her mother, Laurel, has been gripped by the hands of grief ever since, resulting in the dissolution of her marriage and a strained relationship with her other two children. Despite everything, she still holds out hope that Ellie will return one day.

When a handsome stranger named Floyd sweeps her off her feet. Before too long things have gotten pretty serious, and she is meeting his daughter, Poppy. When she sees Poppy for the first time, it takes her breath away as she has a striking resemblance to Ellie. The meeting stirs up all the unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel all these years.

💭 T H O U G H T S

After reading The House We Grew Up In I vowed to never read another Lisa Jewell book. Yet with a little encouragement from a friend and the opportunity of buddy reading it with her, I knew it was the ideal time to try again. Turns out I am glad I did.

It's been quite some time since I've picked up a thriller that held my attention beyond the first third, but this was definitely it! Lisa Jewell delivers a psychological thriller with emotional depth, and flawed, believable and well written characters. It kept me intrigued and guessing from start to finish, and I particularly valued the mother/daughter relationship. She constantly drops little hints throughout the story that eventually allows the plots to intersect flawlessly.

I don't know if it's my psychology/neuropsychology background but I always love trying to decipher the psychological aspects and how the characters brains work and the motivations behind their behaviours.

My one issue was the structure jumping around so much. The voice switched from one person to another at various parts, making it feel a tad disjointed at time. However, I admit there may not have been another option to properly flush out the narrative.

The icing on the top was Ellie's letter to help wrap things up, and leave me satisfied with the ending. The only thing I'd have wanted to change was Floyd's fate. Then She Was Gone helped me realized I like my thrillers with depth, and I'd consider for Lisa Jewell thrillers in the future.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of Ruth Ware and Liane Moriarty
• readers who like the missing person trope

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"When I read a book it feels like real life and when I put the book down it's like I go back into the dream."

"Cooking doesn’t just nurture the recipient, it nurtures the chef."

Content Warnings

beth_s98's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

jasminealizae's review

Go to review page

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?!

Content Warnings

astoriareader's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious fast-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

5.0

Content Warnings

hgyow's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

sprinumter's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

_youfloweryoufeast_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

4 ⭐️

Genre: Thriller
Age group : Adult
POV : First person & third person & multiple POV
Characters: 4.5/5 ⭐️
Plot: 3.5/5 ⭐️
Setting/Themes: 3/5 ⭐️
Writing: 3.5/5 ⭐️
Thrill factor: 3/5 ⭐️

• Please check TWs & CWs
• mature language, kidnapping, drugging, torture, starvation, chile abuse, forced pregnancy, violence, murder, death, loss of a loved one, gore, suicide, guns
• HEA (as happy is it could get after a horribly heartbreaking traumatising event)

“To anyone who finds this note [it begins], my name is Ellie Mack.

I am seventeen. None of them must feel bad about what happened to me because I am brave and I am brilliant and I am strong.

Yours sincerely,
Ellie Mack”

Let me start by saying this was quite great. I will say that it’s extremely triggering and would advice everyone to search up thorough trigger warnings before venturing into this book. It was a good thriller and the way the story unfolded to readers before it did to characters in the book was good. I’m assuming it’s a deliberate play of the author’s. I liked it. The author references the kidnapping of Colleen Stan but this reminded me of the Fritzl case. Truly horrifying.

Then She Was Gone is the heartbreaking story of a family dealing with grief, the devastating story of a mother who lost her golden child, the terrifying story of how sick lengths some individuals will go to appease themselves and a keep someone tied to them, the story of a mentally bothered man who was nothing but a child to hold on to and the dark secrets he buries, ultimately it’s a story of gore, grief and the audacity. (I mean this in the meanest way possible, sick sick Noelle,SICK SICK Floyd)

Overall, I recommend. If you’re looking for a great thriller, give this one a try.

Content Warnings

nicoleharris's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

More...