A good psychological thriller living up to the standard of other Lisa Jewell books. Some aspects were perhaps a little predictable but the plot was woven well and kept my interest.

Laurel's daughter Ellie went missing 10 years ago. It left the family broken, leaving a strained relationship between Laurel and her remaining daughter. When Laurel meets the charismatic Floyd, she is shocked to discover his 10 year old daughter is the image of Ellie. So begins the unraveling of the mystery of Ellie's disappearance. Wow, I loved this! A tense, well plotted psychological thriller; I couldn't put it down. Told from multiple perspectives, I had no trouble distinguishing between the different voices and I raced through the pages. Yes, you can see the big reveal a mile off, but I enjoyed the journey and unfolding of the mystery. This is Lisa Jewell's best book. Fab.

This book was incredible. Dark, twisty and sometimes horrifying, but incredible. I loved reading it and flew through it in a single day. My heart was thumping in my chest throughout and I'd absolutely recommend it to everyone – the fact that it's so believable makes it all the more shocking.

Solid psychological thriller with intriguing characters. I had to suspend a fare amount of disbelief but nevertheless I enjoyed it.

Actual rating 3.5 stars.
This was an interesting story, told from multiple view points. I really enjoyed how the author portrayed family relationships and dynamics, but the phycological thriller side didn't really work for me - I found it more of a dark domestic drama than a tense thriller. There's nothing wrong with the domestic drama genre, of course, but it just wasn't what I was lead to expect from the blurb. I haven't read any other Lisa Jewell's books before but will certainly try another one.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Then She Was Gone was another fab book by Lisa.
I could not put it down, great holiday book that will hook you in until several hours have passed, you will just want to keep on reading.
Lots of twists and turns and although I guessed one of them it did not spoil the rest of the story and I was still hooked.
Laurels 15 year old daughter Ellie disappeared 10 years ago, her marriage then breaks down and Laurel meets Floyd, she is then introduced to his 10 year old daughter Poppy who is the image of Ellie........
Have a read you will not be disappointed.

I received a copy of this in return for my independent honest review.
At first I thought "oh no, not another psychological thriller where a child goes missing" However shortly after I started reading this,Lisa Jewell's excellent writing style and experience of providing suspence thrillers at their best kicked in.
Fifteen year old Ellie goes missing whilst visiting the local library to study for her exams, and never arrives home. Every patents nightmare! Her mother has never got over her loss and it has affected her relationship with others ever since, even with her other children.
There are several time narratives provided by Ellie,her mum and two other characters. This gives us a better understanding of the back story and its likely impact.
It is a slower paced family drama than some psychological thrillers, however this does allow you to become emotionally involved whilst drawing you into the bizarre plot lines.
It is a very emotional read with the usual twists and turns to keep the suspence flowing. Highly recommended

I loved this dark, creepy, latest novel from one of my favourite authors. I was hooked from the first page right through to the last.

What I love about Lisa Jewell’s books is the way she writes and develops such believable characters and scenarios. I feel that I could be reading about my neighbours, ordinary people that I past on the street everyday who I know nothing about. Her world building is so strong that I can see everything so clearly in my mind’s eye as I get slowly absorbed into her books.

Then She Was Gone, was slightly different in that I got into this book so fast that I was quite surprised by the speed of the plot. I enjoyed the telling of the story from the different characters, and the flitting between the past and present definitely added to the tension throughout. The mystery of what happened to Ellie is slowly but surely revealed with a such a force that I felt emotionally overwhelmed by the last page.

It’s a book that will definitely stay with me for sometime and I will be reading again in the future.

If you like a creepy, dark read that’ll you make your flesh creep, then this is a book for you.

I received an Arc through NetGalley, Random House UK, Cornerstone but actually read my own copy that I’d pre-ordered from Waterstones.

Firstly, a truly despicable antagonist you'll loathe with your whole being; then a naive man trying to do what he sees as the best in the situation he finds himself in (although his character is likable and much more complex than just that), and also a family you truly care about and mourn for, for ’what could have been…’

Ellie Mack a very normal and talented 15 year old about to take her GCSEs for which she has totally prepared, suddenly vanishes. She’s a highly intelligent individual with a promising future and a lovely boyfriend. All this stops one day while on the way to the library for more revision.

Sheer horror is revealed later and you mourn for the lives split apart and for Ellie’s situation. I veered between suspicions for various characters, I was not sure who was ultimately the most evil until the author chose to tell me. I was suspicious of relationships, had a feeling of paranoia - Are there coincidences, or is there something more sinister going on with the main characters? Some of those characters are decidedly ‘odd’, with reactions that don’t seem ‘normal’.

This is a very unusual thriller. You get into the mind of the antagonist (and you’d really rather not be there!) I was gripped, I could not stop reading even though it made me incredibly sad. I wanted to cry and couldn’t see how this could get any happier – at one point I also most gave up. But I couldn’t – it’s compulsive. And very, very sad. And the end section.... I don't even know how to put how that made me feel, into words - this stays with you - I re-read it 3 times.

Ellie Mack went missing ten years ago just before her GCSE exams. The majority thought she had run away due to exam stress but her family never believed that. Now a body has been found. Shortly after her funeral her mother, Laurel, meets Floyd and starts a relationship with him. Floyd has a ten year old daughter, Poppy, and Laurel can't help but notice that she looks remarkably like Ellie. The story is told from the point of view of Ellie, Laurel and two other characters. Unfortunately I had worked out what had happened after reading a third of the book.

Thanks to Netgalley, Random House and Lisa Jewell for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Ellie was a happy bright teenager, a golden girl, expecting to get all A's in her GCSEs, happy with a lovely boyfriend and the apple of her mother's eye.....until one day aged 15 she just disappeared without trace.

Ten years on Laurel has never come to terms with the loss of her daughter - she has split up with her husband Paul as she had nothing to give to him and has not had the best relationship with her two remaining children - but then sitting in a café minding her own business she meets Floyd.

Suddenly life seems worth living again, especially when she gets to meet his nine year old daughter Poppy and she is the spitting image of Ellie....can this really be coincidence!

As the story unfolds between then and now we gradually hear the full story of what happened to Ellie and it is quite spine chilling in places but the book is one that you cannot put down, and will Laurel ever find peace and more importantly make peace with the family that she has left behind - another great book by Lisa Jewell

I knew this book wouldn't disappoint as I'm a big fan of Lisa Jewells novels. This is one of her best. From the first page I got into the story and it had me guessing at every corner. A bizarre storyline but fantastic , I could not have foreseen the twists and turns it had in store.
As a mother myself it made difficult reading at times but was also equally touching.
I will be recommending this book to friends and family. An excellent read.

I read I Found you by Lisa Jewell a while back and absolutely loved it. Needless to say, I was excited to find out that the author has a new book. Then She Was Gone tells the story of Laurel who lost her daughter 10 years ago. Laurel’s life has since changed then. She is no longer married and is now distant with her two other kids. However, one thing that hasn’t changed is her longing to find her missing girl or at least get answers on what happened to Ellie.

Unlike the previous book, this wasn’t fast paced with lots of action. I thought it was much slower though the pace worked out well for the story. There was something unsettling about the story that had me turning pages to find answers. I kept trying to solve the mystery of Ellie’s disappearance. Throughout the book, there were hints but I couldn’t connect the dots until the final chapters.

The book is told through multiple POVs. Laurel’s is the prominent voice though as a character, she is the one that I didn’t like very much. She was sympathetic but there were instances when she got on my nerve. There are other chapters told by Ellie that give details of what happened to her. There are also a few chapters narrated by a really twisted villain. Other characters also help in putting the pieces together though the chapters. I think my favorite character was little Poppy. She was sweet, awkward and quite endearing at the same time. Her words fascinated me and I wish we could have seen her more in the book.

As I have already mentioned, the pace was slower although that doesn’t mean that it dragged. There were twists along the way that kept the story moving. In addition, this ended up being quite an emotive read. I found myself going through different emotions. I didn’t expect it to be that poignant but it was, especially towards the end. If you like domestic noirs, suspenseful reads then I think that you will enjoy Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell.

Gripping read that kept me entralled for the most part. A really moving ending, but one that I felt I could see coming. The variety of narrators were convincing and varied, and the plot contained enough twists to keep me reading on. An enjoyable, immersive read.

Loved this book. Grabbed me from the off. Could not stop reading this page turner.

This was a heart breaking but also uplifting psychological thriller. I was gripped from beginning to end and was desperate to know the conclusion. Great characters and descriptive writing which brought the story to life. The conclusion was all I had hoped for and tidied up all the loose ends. Excellent read.

It's been a few years since I last read a Lisa Jewell book, and the previous ones were very different to this. However, 'Then she was gone' was a totally thrilling read which kept me reading into the early hours (not wise with a small child!) I would highly recommend.

This is my 3rd Lisa Jewell novel and the one I have enjoyed the most.
Going into the plot is something I really don't want to do since the whole book is about the suspense. It's about a missing daughter, a mother, a family and all that can be left 10 years after the daughter has been gone. And more.

I've been reading quite a few crime/thriller/suspense novels this year and many are too predicable or just poorly written, books I read but almost forgot the second I finished them.
Jewell's novel isn't like that though. It kept me guessing.
If you're looking for a good and very unexpected suspense novel, this is a great one to pick up.

Then She Was Gone is a fairly different novel to the one I was expecting. Having read The Girls and hugely enjoying it, and also seeing many reviews for the much-loved I Found You, I was expecting a thriller/ mystery-style novel which focussed more on the investigation. This was not at all that type of novel - but I really enjoyed it!

The novel focuses much more on the characters and family dynamics between Laurel and her son and daughter in the years since the disappearance of her other daughter, Ellie. There are parts which are quite sad and emotional and there's definitely still the element of mystery - it just didn't feel like the main narrative in this book. I did, however, really enjoy finding out what had happened to Ellie.

The characters in this novel cover a wide range of personality types, from the weird and annoying through to those lovely, helpful people - and everything in between. Some people I wanted to scream at Laurel not to trust. There are various parts of this novel which seem, as Lisa Jewell says in her introduction, pretty crazy. You have to suspend your disbelief slightly for some elements, and I saw some parts coming a mile off, but I didn't feel it impaired my enjoyment of the book and I found myself racing through this novel, finishing it in a few hours. I have to say I absolutely love a good police procedural/ thriller, but in Then She Was Gone I enjoyed reading more about Laurel and her family, and their experiences, instead of just focussing on the investigation - it felt like something a little different, too.

Then She Was Gone is my first Lisa Jewell read. I know, I know, how have I not read any of her works before? But I’m telling you this, it will not be my last for sure. The missing person trope never fails to catch my interest, especially those that involved mysterious disappearances. It fascinated me how authors spin the story of how a person goes missing and add a surprising twist and turn to keep the readers engrossed. Such is the case for Then She Was Gone, at least for me. I am hooked from start to finish. The mystery surrounding Ellie’s disappearance is enough to keep me awake for a few nights and turn page after page to answer all the questions I have in mind.

Early on, it is easy to work out the plot twist as there’s a lot of clues thrown in the way. It is just the question as to what happened that leads to such twist that remains a mystery. Which I am okay with, as revelation time, things still come as a surprise and just…sad. The pacing is just right though told in the point of view of different characters, but mostly Laurel. The story switches from the past to present, and paired with changes of narrator, it can be confusing at times. But it is what makes everything work in this book.

Then She Was Gone is one well-written and enthralling read about obsession, lies and deceit, betrayal, and mother’s hope of finding her lost kid. Heartbreaking, at the same time disturbing. Something that will stay with you for a while after finishing it. A brilliant work from Lisa Jewell that I recommend for those who are looking for a good mystery novel.