Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

150 reviews

spellbindingtomes's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

𝘐𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘭, 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘢𝘳𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴. 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨.

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This was my first book in the thriller genre in a very long time and I really enjoyed it. Lisa's storytelling was both captivating and disturbing. 

There wasn't much suspense throughout the story and I think that's in part because of how Lisa chose to tell the story. She provided a lot of information upfront on the 'who' and 'why' and the reader just had to figure the 'how'. Because of that, the reveal toward the end didn't surprise me.  

I like that each part started with a different narrator and we got to see inside the heads of the main players in this story. Some of the content in the second half were incredibly hard to read, but I thought this was still a good reintroduction into the genre. I can't wait to read more of Lisa's works!

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𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 . . . 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Death, Stalking, Abandonment, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide, Animal death, and Miscarriage

beanjoles's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

3.75

Achingly sad and very reminiscent of The Lovely Bones. The plot was mostly predictable but that didn't stop me from waiting on tenterhooks for each new chapter. I liked the various perspective shifts throughout the story, particularly

Noelle's

. 

Also, 5 stars for Helen Duff! The writing style felt unpolished in places, but the narrator did a remarkable job of infusing life and tension into some passages that I imagine would have felt rather flat to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Pregnancy, and Kidnapping

hevs_'s review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Child death, Confinement, Pregnancy, and Child abuse

juanat77's review

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Grief, Suicide, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Child abuse, Medical content, Animal death, Child death, Alcohol, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Vomit

erinomaista's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

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

rebeccalhampton16's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy and Medical trauma

Moderate: Kidnapping, Stalking, Sexual content, Confinement, Rape, and Murder

sierrabowers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

This was a great read that told a chilling story. I did predict the ending, but I thought it was still a great book. I was sad for Elle the entire book and found myself gasping when I found out all of the things that happened to her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Miscarriage, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infertility, Pregnancy, Suicide, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Animal death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Blood, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Stalking, Violence, Child death, Sexual assault, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, and Trafficking

chapters_and_pages's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-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

Lisa Jewell is honestly becoming one of my favourite authors!

Then She Was Gone follows Laurel, who’s 15 year old daughter, Ellie, went missing 10 years prior. Throughout the book, we learn about the events that lead up to Ellie’s disappearance, what happened during the 10 years Ellie was gone, Laurel’s discovery of what exactly happened to her daughter. 

I’ll be honest, I pretty much guessed the plot twists within about 100 pages, but that didn’t stop me from loving this book!

My heart broke for Laurel, Ellie and Poppy, as well as the rest of Ellie’s family, and reading a book like this, it reminds you that even those this is a fictional story, there are people out there who have gone through similar things, whether as a direct victim or a loved one of a victim. 

Even though I really enjoyed this book, it felt like a 4 star read for me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I guessed the plot twists very early one. Secondly, Poppy was written quite unrealistically for a child of her age. I get what the author was trying to do, but it kind of missed the mark for me personally. Thirdly, while I really enjoyed this book, I didn’t enjoy it as much as some of her others. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Confinement, Grief, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Pregnancy

katdid's review

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

Such a dark story

and you can't help but be glad that Noelle ends up murdered(?) honestly. Ellie's death was so sad and wasteful!

From the three books of hers that I've now read Jewell never really sticks the landing imo -- she does plot-wise but not from a narrative/delivery point of view.

Like here I thought the Floyd chapters sucked if I'm honest and the final note from Ellie wasn't necessary.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Confinement, Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Minor: Animal death and Physical abuse

curtinbrit's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Confinement, Torture, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Animal death, Death, and Sexual assault