Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

349 reviews

paperkindle's review against another edition

4.0

dark fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Kidnapping

Minor: Stalking

alexisdavis528's review

4.0

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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

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This book has a great mystery to it and it definitely keeps you intrigued. It is a slow burn and the main character is incredibly dull in the beginning. Overall I'm glad I stuck through the first few dry chapters, because it ended up being an extraordinary story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Torture, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy

Moderate: Infertility, Physical abuse, Stalking

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence

j_lynne's review

5.0

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: N/A

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping

miarae's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious 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

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I liked the writing and the plot a lot, though I'm more fond of a thriller where you don't find out who the culprit is until quite late on. I liked the twist with Floyd, though I always disliked him as a character. Lisa Jewell is great at creating tension and suspense and I look forward to reading more of her books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Pregnancy, Abandonment

geesreadingcorner's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping

Moderate: Violence

dr_steph's review against another edition

2.5

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Pregnancy

Minor: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicide, Murder

ronja_oezkan's review

3.5

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Murder

hgootz's review against another edition

3.75

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I initially picked this book to be my last book of 2024, but instead ended up my first finished read of 2025. This was not a bad read to begin 2025 with. Then She Was Gone was a book that had moments of predictability,  times where I “I knew it” as a revelation happened, as well as “I should have seen that coming”, but also moments where I was on the edge of my seat, or feeling of shock where I had to take a moment to soak in what happened before I could continue reading. It was also so interesting to have the different POVs presented in this book and get the different perspectives as pieces of the story were lining up together.  Towards the end it definitely gave me vibes similar to the Netflix show You. This book in the end kept pulling me in and made me stay up until after midnight on a work night to finish it, so I can’t say it didn’t hook me. I don’t think I’ll go back to re-read it personally, but would recommend it to others. I’m glad to have chosen this as my second psychological thriller and can’t wait to explore more of this genre. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Abandonment

Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Dementia, Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual assault

janecassar's review

4.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy

The premise of this book is a child who is kidnapped/dead. About 2/3 of the way through the book, we find out that she is forced into pregnancy (I marked this as sexual assault, but not entirely sure), emotionally/physically abused, given numerous pet hamsters (which they talk about being dead), and briefly understand that the kidnapper is mentally ill and has suffered miscarriages/infertility. At the end of the book there is the death of a parent and death by suicide.

diaryofavoid's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment