Then she vanishes

Amazing opening scene (nothing like getting straight into the action! )as a young woman dispatches a mother and son whom she has just rudely awoken by shooting out their lock. The shotgun is later found beside the unconscious body of a woman in a barn who is hospitalised and placed under police guard.

Everything indicates an open and shut case but as journalist Jessica Fox starts to report on the case, she uncovers more and more details that might be relevant. Then another body is found and finally connections start to be made.

The plot contains a fair few twists though I was expecting the final outcome. However, I did start to doubt my conclusions before having them confirmed. A well written book. I would definitely seek out more from Claire Douglas.

Thanks to Penguin UK (Michael Joseph) and NetGalley for the invitation to read a free ARC.

Oh wow, what a tense thriller. The plot just deepens and deepens. Good idea to have a journalist as the main character, worked much better than a police officer would have done. Dark and gripping.

This is the first book I have read from this author and it won't be the last. I really enjoyed it and I found it to be a great book with an excellent plot, a gripping page turner with a satisfactory ending.

If you like a good, hard to put down read then this is the book for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin UK (Michael Joseph) for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 - 4*

With thanks to Michael Joseph for this weekends invitation to read Then She Vanishes by Claire Douglas.
Written from Jess and Margot POV with each section headed up.
Jess - a reporter now working on a bi-weekly paper. When she was younger Jess was best friends with Heather and a constant visitor to her home it was like she was part of the family. But time has moved on and they haven't seen or spoken for eighteen years. She’s with Josh now, he uprooted and came out to Bristol with Jess after she lost her job in London, he’s supply teaching. Jess has a couple of secrets they could shatter her world. When she tells Jack, the papers photographer and her good friend, one of them he urges her to come clean. She knows he’s right, life’s never easy. She was lucky to be taken on and now she’s got a possible break but can she really be the hard-boiled journalist, can she be impartial?
Margot - mother to Flora and Heather; she looked on Jess as another daughter but then, when Flora went missing, Jess distanced herself from Heather. Margot didn’t understand but she was so devastated over Flora and time has passed. What will she think when Jess comes back into their lives? Under such circumstances? And, now, Jess is a journalist! But Margot needs someone to talk to, can Jess really be that person or will she just take the story and leave - again?
Heather - now married to Adam with an 18 month old son, Ethan. She and Jess were best friends then Flora went missing. It’s been eighteen years. Now Heather’s in hospital believed to have attempted to commit suicide after killing two seemingly innocent people!
There's a lot to this story - missing persons, drugs, jealousy, need, murder, mystery, secrets and more. You will think you know what happened but do you really? It's a book that will keep you reading, wondering and guessing until the end. I liked the ending but you are also left with a lingering sadness of what might have been, a heart-rendering sadness for what was. Still hope for what will be.
This is the first book by Claire Douglas that I have read and it’s a cracker! I recommend this book and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I’d like to thank Penguin UK-Michael Joseph and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘And Then She Vanishes’ by Claire Douglas in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Jess Fox is a reporter with the Bristol & Somerset Herald and learns there’s been a double shooting near the Tilby Manor Caravan Park for which Heather Underwood is thought to be responsible. Heather and Jess were best friends at school and she always remembered Heather as being a warm and caring person, so what’s happened to turn her into a killer? As Jess was at one time very close to Heather’s family, her mother Margo, and sister Flora who went missing many years ago, she hopes to get an exclusive story to keep her editor happy. But as Jess starts digging around for the truth, someone leaves a message on her car windscreen warning her to ‘back off’.

This is a chilling psychological thriller that has a strong and complex plot which moves between the 1980s and the present time. It took me a while to get into the story which was promising at the beginning but slowed down somewhat in the middle, but as I continued reading I was gradually drawn in as the plot became sinister and full of menace. There were twists and turns, some devious characters who I thought could be involved, but when I reached the conclusion I was shocked by the outcome which wasn’t what I’d expected. This novel is thrilling, very easy to read, and I have no hesitation in recommending it.

Another great page turner from Claire Douglas.
If you are looking for thrills, twists and great characters then you will not be disappointed. From the opening chapter to the final twist I was captivated.
Highly recommended.

A complicated and unusual story set in and around Bristol. Good characters and lots of twists right up to the end.

Couldn't stop reading this book. Brilliantly written with with amazing twists and turns.
Can't recommend this book enough.

A story based on two sisters, one who vanishes and the other who is found with a severe head injury after possibly shooting a man and his mother. There is also Jess, who was a friend of the sisters whilst they were growing up and now happens to be a journalist. This was very slow to start for me in comparison to Claire's earlier novels, however it builds layer upon layer to an amazing crescendo. Keep on reading... To the end. Loved it!

'Then she vanishes' is a captivating and well written psychological thriller that hooks you from the minute you start reading.

We are immediately thrown into the action when you mother Heather is accused of shooting and murdering a local pensioner and her son. Heather cannot defend herself or give her side of the story as after shooting herself in the head she was left comatose. But for those around her and her family circle they are left wondering how this apparently stable and caring woman could be responsible for something so shocking and out of character.

Her childhood best friend, Jess, who is now a journalist is asking the same questions. Tasked with getting the exclusive story Jess has to reexamine the past and try to draw some conclusions from her new found friendship with Heather's mother Margot.

Margot is also going through hell as this nightmare unfolds. After losing her husband and her eldest daughter Margot cannot take anymore heartache despite an overriding need to find out the truth of all three events.

This book is full of twists and turns that will leave you shocked right up until the very end. I hope to read more from Claire Douglas soon.

Full of twists and turns Claire Douglas never disappoints! I would highly recommend this book to fans of this genre I couldn’t put it down.

I really enjoyed this book, the story was interesting and I really wanted to know how it was going to end up - I read it in 2 sittings. It was a great holiday read - better than the average fun read by the pool. The only criticism would be the husband, he seemed off kilter for the rest of the characters, unnecessarily full of angst which didn't seem to be resolved.
Overall though it was a great story that I would recommend,

I did enjoy Then She Vanishes. The synopsis piqued my interest. The opening to the book is explosive but then the pace seems to completely slow as the book goes between past and present and events slowly unfold. It was billed as a twisty, compulsive thriller but I felt there was something missing.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin UK Michael Joseph and the author for the chance to review.

This is a complex novel with so many different elements. It is the third novel by Claire Douglas which I have read.

Once again it didn't disappoint. It begins with a dramatic prologue in a fictional town in the South West of England, near Bristol.

Whilst the places are fictitious, there are enough geographical links to the region to give the story a realistic feel.

The strength of this story I will lies in the way that the characters are slowly developed and revealed.

I must take care not to spoil the story. All I will say is that there are some bodies and that all the loose ends come together eventually. The final twist is worth waiting for. This book should appeal to those who like a psychological thriller which has a few carefully concealed twists and turns.

I give my thanks to Netgalley and Penguin UK (Michael Joseph) in return for this review.

This is my favourite Claire Douglas book. It starts brilliantly and keeps up the pace throughout. It's very tense and twisty and I couldn't put it down.

Thanks to NetGalley for my copy.

Another cracking book from Claire Douglas with twists and turns aplenty. Almost twenty years previously Heather’s sixteen year old sister Flora disappeared, now Heather is lying in a hospital bed with a self inflicted gunshot wound and is suspected of the murder of a mother and son in their own home. Their friend from their teenage years, Jess is now a journalist and is told to report on the crime. However, she is conflicted between being a friend to their mother and being a ruthless reporter who can advance her career or even save it. What secrets does she discover and who can be trusted? Guilt, loyalty and friendship all play a part in this complex tale that unwinds in dramatic fashion with final satisfying twists.

This really was a great read; thoroughly enjoyed and was kept guessing as to 'who done it' all the way through.
One of the best endings I have read for a long time. A book that stays in your mind after it is finished.

I have read all of the books written by Claire Douglas and this one is just as good as her previous titles. The story is primarily set in the sleepy seaside town of Tilby in Somerset and starts with the apparently motiveless murder of two people in the town. Jess is a journalist with a second rate local paper in Bristol who is sent to report on the story by her moody boss. The problem is that Jess is was incredibly close to the family of Heather who was her best friend as she was growing up and has since lost touch with. This is an incredibly gripping psychological thriller worthy of the 5 stars that I have given it. There is a brilliant twist at the end of the book and I guarantee you will be hanging on to the edge of your seat from the beginning.

Many thanks to Penguin UK, Michael Joseph and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC in return for an honest and fair review.

A well written psychological thriller. I was hooked from the start and was kept guessing all the way through.

Jess and Heather were best fiends until the night Heather's sister Flora disappeared. Jess told a lie and has felt guilty about it since.
Many years later she is a reporter on a local newspaper when she hears about a double murder and that Heather is the main suspect.
Is this connected to Flora and her disappearance? Jess returns to the village of her childhood and tries to make amends with Heather and her family but what secrets will she uncover and what will the outcome be?
This will have you guessing to the end but there is a twist!!