Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

92 reviews

badflowerbee's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional 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: No

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This was so fucked up. Heartbreaking and devastating don't cover it. Absolutely loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Vomit, Alcohol, Classism

sebnebula's review

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Lisa Jewell is a master in atmospheric writing, characterization, and making the most mundane moments so provocative and visceral. However, the mystery itself was over-explained and didn’t leave anything to the imagination, which it could have benefitted from. Can’t wait to read more from her!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Abandonment

chloefay's review

4.5

dark sad

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment

soumya248's review

4.5

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The starting of the book was rather difficult to comprehend and follow but as the book went on it becomes extremely captivating, addicting and pulls you into the story like a finely woven web.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment

hewbear13's review

3.5

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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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.

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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, Alcohol

kdes621's review

3.0

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Pregnancy, Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Murder

annawilt's review

4.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pregnancy

Minor: Death of parent

tallyswrldd's review

5.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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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if i could give this book 10 stars, i would. I'll be really surprised if any book tops this one as my favorite read of 2025, it's that phenomenal! it was harrowing, heartbreaking, beautiful, and addicting. it slowly shattered me in the best way possible. it was so hard to put this book down, and i can not recommend it enough!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Kidnapping, Death of parent, 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.