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hewbear13's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Depression and sex. This book disturbed me by all the sex I went into it not knowing. It kept me intrigued but it also made me feel depressed because the whole thing was unsettling. Check trigger warnings there is a lot. There is also a decent amount of romance. I predicted it when I read it but I thought it would be Floyd’s sperm. Overall 3.5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
ellenoell's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"I want you to tell them all that I’m sorry and that I love them more than anything in the world and that 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"
Absolutely devastating, fucked up, heartbreaking read. I absolutely cannot fathom that Jewell sat down and created this plot and put out this book with ease. Just when you thought it couldn't get more screwed up, it did. The worst part is, there are so many books & movies (ex. Room) that have this same plot, which means that this is something that people have experienced before. This, something that should stay fiction and never be experienced in real life, has happened to real people. It makes me sick to my stomach.
The only reason this book lost a star was because Laurel was almost TOO irritating of a character. Maybe it's because I'm not a writer, but I felt she didn't need to be this insufferable. But at the same time, if she wasn't, the book probably would've ended 10 chapters earlier.
Absolutely devastating, fucked up, heartbreaking read. I absolutely cannot fathom that Jewell sat down and created this plot and put out this book with ease. Just when you thought it couldn't get more screwed up, it did. The worst part is, there are so many books & movies (ex. Room) that have this same plot, which means that this is something that people have experienced before. This, something that should stay fiction and never be experienced in real life, has happened to real people. It makes me sick to my stomach.
The only reason this book lost a star was because Laurel was almost TOO irritating of a character. Maybe it's because I'm not a writer, but I felt she didn't need to be this insufferable. But at the same time, if she wasn't, the book probably would've ended 10 chapters earlier.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Rape, Suicide, Kidnapping, Murder, and Pregnancy
sophieamreacher's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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? No
4.75
Brilliant, twisted, dark, sad. A real page turner.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
pernillelsk's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Grief
Minor: Eating disorder and Death of parent
juanat77's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
booplesnoot_'s review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-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? It's complicated
3.0
Overall, it’s a solid read. A very surprising ending indeed. I get that how it’s organized is very much intentional, but it felt all over the place to me and felt like it took awhile to find some footing and flow. The first half of the book is great. The second half is also good, but that’s where a lot of the narrative jumping is. The pacing at which things are revealed is nice, but this narrative problem doesn’t lend itself kindly to it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Child abuse, Death, and Suicide
amberv92'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I give ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ellie is young, vibrant, funny and the golden girl of her family. She is a genius when it comes to numbers just not knowing when her number is up. One day Ellie leaves home says bye to her mom just like every day before but this time she doesn’t come home. 10 years later Ellie’s mother Laurel is still trying to find closure unfortunately she gets some closure when bones are found and they prove to be Ellie. Laurel decides to find life again and jumps right into falling in love with a man she just met. This man has a daughter named Poppy Laurel feels an odd connection but she will never be ready for the connection that is confessed to her by the man she quickly falls in love with.
This is definitely a must read when you think you have it figured out another mystery is thrown at you. I knocked one star only because this is a book that resembles many other plots. The author Lisa Jewell definitely has plots that set her books apart from many others. She uses many real world situations where other books you see the characters getting into out of this earth situations that just don’t help you picture the story. This book is a definite TBR for you if you love romance mixed with suspense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Medical trauma
kailey222's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Pregnancy
kccool12255's review against another edition
adventurous
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
4.0
Original (3.25 stars):
I kid you not when I say this is literally one of the most messed-up books I have ever read. The Liars series had bad stuff like this IN those books, BUT THE PLOT TWISTS MADE SENSE. This book literally feels like a fever dream. I can’t even put it into words. The only thing I can say is that it spellbound me. I literally COULD NOT put it down, I HAD to know how it ended. Just…I can’t. I don’t know what else to say. This book sucked. Although it’s SO CUTE how Poppy calls Laurel Mama. Still bad, though.
Revisited (4.0 stars):
Yes, I reread it. And BOY OH BOY, I was READY for it this time.
I think that for books like this, you really have to know what you're getting into. You need to know what level of disgusting, messed-up crap is gonna be in these types of books before you're reading about a girl who gets kidnapped and unknowingly, WITHOUT HER CONSENT, gets inseminated with some random dude's sperm bought on the dark web. This book is MESSED. UP. you dive straight in. There needs to be DISCLAIMERS. I know that there's content warnings on here, but they should have something actually IN the book before you read it, so you don't go in blind. I don't know, that's just my personal thoughts.
That being said, for this genre? Then She Was Gone is MASTERFUL in its storytelling, and I think it paved the way for a lot more books like it, like I Invited Her In by Adele Parks. I'll have to fact-check that, but the two fall in the same category. However, where I Invited Her In is basically just a bunch of things happening in quick succession, Then She Was Gone is actually a narrative that is woven through multiple different time frames, and just about EVERYTHING ties together in the end. It's very smart, and honestly just very good writing.
However, I still take issue for the multiple side character storylines that were unnecessary and kind of stupid. WHY did Hanna have to get with and MARRY Ellie's old boyfriend? That is...a lot, and frankly, it's disrespectful to Ellie on both of their parts. With Theo, WHY would you date your missing girlfriend's SISTER? With Hanna, WHY would you date your missing sister's BOYFRIEND? It's VERY unrealistic, and I do not like the storyline any way you slice it up. It's weird, and kind of gross. And WHY did Sara-Jade need to be having an affair with a MARRIED man TWICE HER AGE? And did she need to be a nude model, or whatever the heck she is? She's just a really weird character, she could've been much better but Lisa Jewell held back.
Ellie is very well-written for being a teenager, and no one can fault her for the mistakes she makes that lead to her downfall. You can feel genuinely bad for her and what she goes through down in that basement.
Floyd, Laurel, and Poppy are all VERY well-rounded characters, and I liked them a lot. Not much to say on that front. Laurel and Poppy's relationship is very sweet, especially in the end. Laurel gets to be the mother Poppy never had! *sob* Floyd is very well-written in his confessional, I love how his like entire personality is really just a facade, built up to please Laurel. He was in a BAD situation, and you can give him a lot of blame for that, but honestly, he did what he could. I can't believe he KILLED himself, THAT had me shook, but honestly, what else was he gonna do in his life? Noelle screwed up a LOT of people, and I STILL can't believe he killed her. That was just...wow.
I would probably rate this book higher, but we have history. Maybe I'll revisit it sometime in the future for a higher rating, but for now, I'm satisfied with what we have.
I kid you not when I say this is literally one of the most messed-up books I have ever read. The Liars series had bad stuff like this IN those books, BUT THE PLOT TWISTS MADE SENSE. This book literally feels like a fever dream. I can’t even put it into words. The only thing I can say is that it spellbound me. I literally COULD NOT put it down, I HAD to know how it ended. Just…I can’t. I don’t know what else to say. This book sucked.
Revisited (4.0 stars):
Yes, I reread it. And BOY OH BOY, I was READY for it this time.
I think that for books like this, you really have to know what you're getting into. You need to know what level of disgusting, messed-up crap is gonna be in these types of books before
That being said, for this genre? Then She Was Gone is MASTERFUL in its storytelling, and I think it paved the way for a lot more books like it, like I Invited Her In by Adele Parks. I'll have to fact-check that, but the two fall in the same category. However, where I Invited Her In is basically just a bunch of things happening in quick succession, Then She Was Gone is actually a narrative that is woven through multiple different time frames, and just about EVERYTHING ties together in the end. It's very smart, and honestly just very good writing.
Ellie is very well-written for being a teenager, and no one can fault her for the mistakes she makes that lead to her downfall. You can feel genuinely bad for her and what she goes through down in that basement.
Floyd, Laurel, and Poppy are all VERY well-rounded characters, and I liked them a lot. Not much to say on that front. Laurel and Poppy's relationship is very sweet, especially in the end.
I would probably rate this book higher, but we have history. Maybe I'll revisit it sometime in the future for a higher rating, but for now, I'm satisfied with what we have.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Kidnapping
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Physical abuse 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.
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,
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Dementia, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, and Classism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Car accident, and Death of parent