Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Then She Was Gone

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Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

80 reviews

mysterymom40's review

4.75

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

meluelmil's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Really, really enjoyed this book. It was hard to put down, but I also kept stopping to write my thoughts and theories so I could look back on them and see if I was on the right track. I LOVE that the story was well concluded and the loose ends were all tied. AND IT ALL MADE SENSE! There were lots of surprises and scenes that made me gasp out loud without a lazy explanation (read: “it was mental illness” or “it was all a dream” or “it was all a coincidence”). Great story, great execution, great epilogue!

Content Warnings

nuh_thaan's review

4.5

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The thrills were so good with this one! It was such a fun and fast paced read. Even though I could predict some of the things that happened, it was a good time!

As we started to learn about the connection between Floyd and Noelle, it was very easy to sense that Noelle couldn't get pregnant. All the pieces fell into place as you knew the set up from the end result in the beginning of the book, but not necessarily the how or why.

How Ellie became pregnant really surprised me! I thought that Floyd was going to play a bigger part in that with Noelle, but it was really just her that was completely unhinged. The fact that she bought sperm and inseminated Ellie was appalling.

I also thought the end of Part Four was fascinating where Floyd was giving Noelle a gift, but Part Five really dropped the ball. It was too happy and easy for the characters. I wanted more drama and for it to keep up pace with the rest of the book. The fact that Blue said Floyd's aura was dark felt like it didn't really come into play.

Poppy was also an interesting character and acted so much older. I was hoping we'd find out more about why Floyd made the decisions she did.

Definitely recommend this one for people looking for a fast, fun, thrilling read!

Content Warnings

feuillemobile's review

3.5

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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: Complicated

Content Warnings

myrtle's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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: Complicated

Content Warnings

jasminealizae's review against another edition

1.0

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: Complicated

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

sharlapeggy's review against another edition

3.5

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Bit predictable and I realised what was happening as the story went on. I hoped I’d be wrong and there would be a big twist but I was disappointed. However I did enjoy this and it did keep me wondering what was happening!!

Content Warnings