A review by spellbindingtomes
Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

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!



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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