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A review by bookedoc
The Day She Disappeared by Lisa Hall
4.0
“The Day She Disappeared” is a clever, who-dun-it mystery set within a small island town. After leaving her home to pursue a successful writing career, Becky returns home from London to her isolated island community for the funeral of a loved one, only to be pulled back into the shadows of a dark past she thought she left behind. As a true crime writer, Becky starts to investigate a recent case of a young woman who disappeared from that very town, which is eerily similar to the case of a missing girl from Becky’s past. As Becky starts to draw parallels between the two cases, she questions the familiar faces from her past as well as the newcomers to the island, and suspects someone is more sinister than she realized. Are her enemies closer than they appear?
I love thrillers that derail your guesses at every turn and keep you stumped until the end, and I have to say I really was caught by surprise at the ending. The circumstances around each character are revealed slowly and I felt as though I was putting a puzzle together one tiny piece at a time and couldn’t wait to see how the story ended. Becky is an interesting and flawed character with her own demons. While Becky’s mysterious past is mentioned early in the story, the actual circumstances are not revealed until later in the book. This built up her character for me as a reader; I didn’t know how to feel about her as a protagonist until digging into the story. It’s another thing that keeps you guessing!
The quiet seaside town and small population gives the story a somewhat “sleepy” mystery feeling, but enough of the characters are suspect that the story never seemed boring. This gave the story an eerie feeling reminiscent of reading true crime. (I could just picture the fog rolling in off the water as I read!). Overall an enjoyable thriller to read.
(Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book for review!)
I love thrillers that derail your guesses at every turn and keep you stumped until the end, and I have to say I really was caught by surprise at the ending. The circumstances around each character are revealed slowly and I felt as though I was putting a puzzle together one tiny piece at a time and couldn’t wait to see how the story ended. Becky is an interesting and flawed character with her own demons. While Becky’s mysterious past is mentioned early in the story, the actual circumstances are not revealed until later in the book. This built up her character for me as a reader; I didn’t know how to feel about her as a protagonist until digging into the story. It’s another thing that keeps you guessing!
The quiet seaside town and small population gives the story a somewhat “sleepy” mystery feeling, but enough of the characters are suspect that the story never seemed boring. This gave the story an eerie feeling reminiscent of reading true crime. (I could just picture the fog rolling in off the water as I read!). Overall an enjoyable thriller to read.
(Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book for review!)