Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

30 reviews

james1star's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Ugh this was going so well. Like full on 4-5 star potential. But then it just went so down hill and so quickly. Why?!? 

Anywho, in this we follow a tri-POV from Kim, a woman who’s teenage daughter goes missing one night after going out with her boyfriend at the time it happened, Sophie an author who’s recently moved to the village as the girlfriend of the new headmaster at a school for rich kids who have no where else to go in the most up to date time, and finally Tallulah the teenage mother who goes missing in the further time frame as she tells her story of what went down. After she goes missing, Kim is certain her daughter wouldn’t abandon her young son Noah so is determined to did what happened. Sophie sees a sign saying to ‘dig here’ when she arrives and in doing so the case of the missing teenagers is reopened so she leaves her crime writing to do some irl investigating. Tallulah is dealing with being a new, young mum but also wants what the other girls her age have and maybe she finds this in Scarlett, a girl who knows what she wants and how to get it. She starts a relationship back with her baby daddy Zach and his hopes of a new life as a family but becomes ever more controlling. So yh I think that’s all of the plot I’ll say. 

The writing and suspense was definitely there, I was intrigued and just had to read on. It is very slow paced but I was still interested in what was happening, mostly Tallulah’s parts despite my huge hatred of Scarlett, but I guess as it went along the pacing was just getting a bit jarring. Like I said, it started so well and it made me feel panicky and rather claustrophobic too which was probably the best part: the way it made me feel I mean. Things are rehashed so many times which is just annoying making it drag on and on. The emotional/domestic abuse storyline I think was portrayed well in how things slowly add up but things to do with it just didn’t make sense - I think I’ll post a whole YouTube review soon which’ll contain spoilers and I can fully share my thoughts. In a similar vein, ugh the last 20-ish% and ending was soooo bad and unbelievable like just what? Huh? How? Lisaaaa what was that? And for what? 

Anyways I’m done with this for the moment, I don’t care to review anymore of this. I liked it but then I hated it, do with that as you wish. I wouldn’t recommend it but I am intrigued to pick up another Jewell read in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Cursing, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, and Domestic abuse

karly_ackley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Alcohol, Infidelity, and Rape

Minor: Homophobia

norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Addiction, Blood, Classism, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Alcohol, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Death, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Pregnancy

espressoreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Grief, Body horror, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, Rape, Drug use, Confinement, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Murder, Classism, and Emotional abuse

aas's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Rape, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Murder, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Pedophilia, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Violence

perfectsham's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Quite an enjoyable mystery novel, not very challenging, but fun. Difficult to feel any sympathy for the main "victim" in the flashback scenes since she's such a complete drip. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Murder, Rape, and Toxic relationship

s13perry's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense 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? No

2.0

I normally love books like this but this one just missed for me. It was extremely slow moving and there wasn’t a whole lot to keep my attention. There was definitely some good twists at the end, but overall it was kind of hard to get through.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Murder, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Sexual assault

emeraldsanto's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This was the second novel by Lisa Jewell I picked up, after "Watching You" (which I liked better).

I definitely enjoyed this story but as other readers have mentioned, the constant back and forth between time periods can get a little confusing at times; especially in the beginning as you're still learning the characters' names.

Once I managed to get over this small burden, I found the storyline to be quite diverse as it explored many different aspects of the same event through a cast of characters experiencing it in different times in parallel.

However, I was expecting more twists and turns along the way (I don't think I gasped even once throughout).

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Blood, Gaslighting, Confinement, Death, Murder, Pregnancy, and Grief

Minor: Rape and Drug use

cady_sass's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

I really enjoyed this and then everyone in book club shit on it so that’s very on brand for me 🤣

Solid thriller with multiple points of view, all of the characters (hold a few randos) feel fully fleshed out and the story arc comes together nicely. The few twists really surprised me and anytime a thriller can actually surprise me is a win! 

It’s really tough to tell you what kept this from being 5 stars without spoilers, so I’ll just say this: it’s a bit messy in some parts with loose ends that don’t quite come together, or critical plot points that are just thrown casually together. BUT! It’s more good than bad and I would definitely recommend it. I’ve owned “And then she was gone” for years and never picked it up, now I’m finally inspired to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Violence, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Sexual violence, Ableism, Blood, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Sexual content

hzamrzla's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I don’t read many murder-mystery novels but this one was great! The flaws and interior lives of the characters drove the plot, and while the framing device seemed a little unnecessary, the main mystery was compelling! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Confinement, and Abandonment

Moderate: Grief and Homophobia

Minor: Addiction and Drug use