Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

165 reviews

canngrob's review

dark mysterious fast-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child death, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Child abuse

Moderate: Murder, Pregnancy, Stalking, and Suicide

Minor: Cancer and Death of parent

rgetch06's review

challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Stalking, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Classism, Infertility, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

ellieisreading's review

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Death, Confinement, and Child abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Suicide, Stalking, Rape, and Murder

tetrootz's review

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Stalking, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Alcohol, Grief, Rape, Murder, Confinement, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Child death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Sexual assault

twiller's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicide, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Murder, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Death, Infertility, and Toxic relationship

rilvil's review

dark sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Stalking, Child death, Grief, and Child abuse

kmthorson2's review

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Child abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Torture, Death, Dementia, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Stalking, Sexual assault, Slavery, Miscarriage, Grief, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Murder, Animal death, Self harm, Rape, and Domestic abuse

tyreadsbooks_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

⟡Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell⟡

★★★★★ 5/5 stars!

⟡ synopsis

Ellie Mack was 15 years old when she disappeared & was declared a runaway. 10 years later, her mother, Laurel, still doesn’t believe it. When she meets a man in a cafe & starts spending time with him & his daughter, she can’t help noticing odd coincidences. She begins to question everything - What happened to Ellie? Where did she go? Who still has secrets to hide?

⟡ Read if you like :

-I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney 

-Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica 

-dark, unsettling psychological thrillers

-short chapters

-missing persons cases

-suspicious new boyfriends

-seriously twisted characters 

⟡ my thoughts

This is one I can’t believe I haven’t read yet - I went in completely blind, other than knowing I love Lisa Jewell. I was positively hooked from beginning to end. 

This book isn’t a whodunnit. We find out early on the “who”  - but it’s the journey of figuring out the why & how that makes it fascinating. It felt like I was in on a secret. Jewell does a great job of slowly giving you bits of information from each of the POVs - just enough to keep you connecting dots & turning pages. This story unfolded so bizarrely. There is a great blend of suspense, suspicion & grief. All of the characters are very well written & developed, I found myself equally drawn to each narrative.

The last line was so incredibly moving, a heartbreaking & bittersweet ending.

I’d call Then She Was Gone an absolute must read for psychological thriller fans!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Stalking, Confinement, Miscarriage, Murder, Child death, and Suicide

dr_aebsouza's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure at first how much of a thriller it would be. But it turned out to be quite the roller coaster ride.

I enjoyed that the who-dunnit aspect didn't turn out the way I'd expected and (without spoiling it) flipped the stereotype on it's head. 

I love the then/now perspectives and the way the story is told from multiple points of view. 

Lisa Jewell is a terrific writer who comes up with chillingly good plots. This book is no exception. 

⭐4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Confinement, Child death, Infertility, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Minor: Rape, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Stalking

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.

•

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