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A review by themermaddie
Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
4.0
3.5 stars
this is book is like a cross between true crime, netflix documentary, family drama, and a cold case. this is a great book to read if you want a bit of a mystery with a (mostly) happy ending, which i found surprising for this genre; i kept bracing myself for an inevitable fucked up ending, but instead everyone here just felt so horribly and predictably human. yes, there are villains, but everyone's just a product of their own circumstances and despite everything, nothing felt... malicious? it's just like, everyone's worst traits conspiring in a shitstorm that resulted in tragedy.
the writing here was lovely. i really felt the grief and the wide chasm between laurel and the rest of her family as a result of ellie's disappearance, and the monotony of laurel's life was so draining. i think i was most moved by her relationship with her surviving daughter, hanna. their scenes are few and far in between, and jewell uses few words to say a lot. i honestly thought hanna was just gay instead of sleeping with theo, and i'm glad that she has him, even though it's basically entirely off screen. i would love to know how they even happened. i also really enjoyed the complexity of the mack clan, i love her relationship with paul and eventually meeting bonnie, i was touched by all the scenes with ruby, i even liked the weird amount of apathy she has for jake and blue. in all, it created a realistic portrait of a family, with all their growing pains and resentment steeped in love for one another.
as other reviewers have said, this isn't really the most original or dramatic in its genre; in fact i wouldn't call it a thriller at all. the switching perspectives is done tastefully, but it does mean that you start to get let into the plot earlier than you expect. i really didn't mind this! i thought the early reveal of poppy's real mother was offset by the extra detail you get because of the switching povs, and also because your investment in this book is primarily your affection for laurel and not because the drama is just that gripping. the thing that kept me guessing was exactly how malicious floyd was, and what his intentions were with deception this whole time, considering how kind and sincere he was this whole time, and shockingly forthcoming whenever laurel asked him questions about noelle. obviously i ended up being right about him being an unwitting 'accomplice', which just solidifies the fact that this is really more of a family drama than a thriller novel; everyone here tried their best and it just didn't work out. floyd probably didn't need to kill himself, that admittedly felt like a lot, like his whole spiel about not understanding how other people interact with each other in normal social situations? babe you might just be autistic! like maybe just go to therapy and it would've been fine, poppy and laurel would've been on your side. the possibility that floyd wasn't even poppy's father did catch me off guard actually, that was an interesting choice to leave it so open-ended, i like the ambiguity of it.
anyway i really enjoyed this, i sped through it in a day and it was a good read with a lot of heart. if you want a heart-racing thriller, this book isn't for you, but if you want a cold case with a happy(ish) ending, then give this a try.
this is book is like a cross between true crime, netflix documentary, family drama, and a cold case. this is a great book to read if you want a bit of a mystery with a (mostly) happy ending, which i found surprising for this genre; i kept bracing myself for an inevitable fucked up ending, but instead everyone here just felt so horribly and predictably human. yes, there are villains, but everyone's just a product of their own circumstances and despite everything, nothing felt... malicious? it's just like, everyone's worst traits conspiring in a shitstorm that resulted in tragedy.
the writing here was lovely. i really felt the grief and the wide chasm between laurel and the rest of her family as a result of ellie's disappearance, and the monotony of laurel's life was so draining. i think i was most moved by her relationship with her surviving daughter, hanna. their scenes are few and far in between, and jewell uses few words to say a lot. i honestly thought hanna was just gay instead of sleeping with theo, and i'm glad that she has him, even though it's basically entirely off screen. i would love to know how they even happened. i also really enjoyed the complexity of the mack clan, i love her relationship with paul and eventually meeting bonnie, i was touched by all the scenes with ruby, i even liked the weird amount of apathy she has for jake and blue. in all, it created a realistic portrait of a family, with all their growing pains and resentment steeped in love for one another.
as other reviewers have said, this isn't really the most original or dramatic in its genre; in fact i wouldn't call it a thriller at all. the switching perspectives is done tastefully, but it does mean that you start to get let into the plot earlier than you expect. i really didn't mind this! i thought the early reveal of poppy's real mother was offset by the extra detail you get because of the switching povs, and also because your investment in this book is primarily your affection for laurel and not because the drama is just that gripping. the thing that kept me guessing was exactly how malicious floyd was, and what his intentions were with deception this whole time, considering how kind and sincere he was this whole time, and shockingly forthcoming whenever laurel asked him questions about noelle. obviously i ended up being right about him being an unwitting 'accomplice', which just solidifies the fact that this is really more of a family drama than a thriller novel; everyone here tried their best and it just didn't work out. floyd probably didn't need to kill himself, that admittedly felt like a lot, like his whole spiel about not understanding how other people interact with each other in normal social situations? babe you might just be autistic! like maybe just go to therapy and it would've been fine, poppy and laurel would've been on your side. the possibility that floyd wasn't even poppy's father did catch me off guard actually, that was an interesting choice to leave it so open-ended, i like the ambiguity of it.
anyway i really enjoyed this, i sped through it in a day and it was a good read with a lot of heart. if you want a heart-racing thriller, this book isn't for you, but if you want a cold case with a happy(ish) ending, then give this a try.