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!!

A breathtaking opening chapter with an equally shocking ending! And Then She Vanishes is a terrific thriller. Has it all. A claustrophobic, page turning, slow burner - when two bodies, thought to be local businessman Clive Wilson, 58, and his mother, Deirdre Wilson, 76, are found in a cottage in the seaside Somerset town of Tilby. They had been shot. A third person, Heather Underwood, was found unconscious at a caravan park less than half a mile away, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest... Heather, whose sister Flora disappeared in 1994, never to be seen again. Everything points to Heather being the murderer. But why?! There is no apparent motive, yet....

Jessica Fox is a journalist in Bristol where she lives with her boyfriend, Rory. Could Heather be the friend she fell out with back in 1994? She works with Jack, the photographer for the Bristol and Somerset Herald, a twice weekly publication. Looking for any kind of exclusive the layers are slowly peeled back. Jessica has a dark past that saw her leave The Tribune in London, for reasons she has never fully explained to Rory. And all the time, the question that pervades this whydunnit is: What really happened the night Flora disappeared?

I will not say any more about this thrilling story - don't want to spoil it for future readers. I can say that you will love it!

My thanks to Penguin UK-Michael Joseph, NetGalley and Claire Douglas for my ARC. Wonderful!

Heather hasn't seen her best friend Jess for years, not since Heather's younger Sister Flora went missing. Heather has now been accused of double murder but currently lies in a hospital bed, in a critical condition.
Jess returns to her home town and opens up old wounds. It was where she spent most of her childhood, at her best friend's home, with Heather's Mum being more of a Mum to her than her own Mum. Being a reporter, Jess begins to investigate the murders and makes some shocking discoveries.
I found this book was a little slow paced for me and it took me a long while to get into. Once I did, it was enjoyable, you just keep peeling back the layers to more shocking discoveries. It had a very unsettling end that tied the plot up nicely.

WOW! Just love a good Claire Douglas book, one of my favourite author's that I always make a point of looking out for.
This is a gripping read, easy to follow and really well written with plenty of twists.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this gripping novel

oh my word this book grabs you from the very first chapter, from the very first gunshot to the second gunshot and as the would be murderer walks calmly out the house...

flora and heather have been bought up by their mother with their friend jess,they spent many a happy time in each others company...until the fair came to town...

now years later with flora who has never been found and heathers attempted suicide by shotgun its left to jess to unearth the truth as much as she can for the newspaper that she works for...but jess and heather parted ways years ago acrimoniously

i love how this author has written this book with each chapter about one of the sisters or jess or even the sisters mother...and we are lead through past and present until the amazing finale....that you just dont even suspect of happening...

this is an author to keep an eye out for...move over martina cole someone else is after your title...

Then She Vanishes captivates right from the start with a double murder. The book then alternates between flashbacks and present day as the story unfolds. Twenty years ago Jess and Heather were best friends. One night Heather's sister disappeared and the two friends lost touch. Now, Jess is reporting on the double murder and Heather is in a coma accused of the crime. Are the events of the past and present connected? It's up to Jess to find out. Highly recommended to readers who enjoy crime fiction.

Following a shocking opening that sees a young woman shoot a man and his mother to death in their own home at 6:45am, the book takes a slower, more gentle approach to the story, going back and forth in time to tease out the back story. I have to admit that it took me some time to get into the story itself. I enjoyed it in the end but it was a little too slow moving for me and I found myself struggling at times to continue with it. Overall, a good story 3/5

Ooooohhh! This book is a game of two halves. The first chapter is shocking in its brutality. A woman drives into a residential street, chooses a house, seemingly at random, blows apart the lock to gain entry and then kills a middle aged man and his elderly mother. Hours later a woman is found in a early barn without shotgun wounds and it looks like a suicide attempt.
Enter Jess, journalist and one time friend of Heather, who is in a coma suspected of the shootings. And the book becomes quite gentle, quite rhythmic, quite low key. Jess slowly pieces together the past and the present to come to the final conclusion....but you will have to read it to find out what that is....

Loved reading this book. It took me a little while to get into it but it was a fabulous story. It tells the story of childhood friends Jess and Heather and Heather’s sister Flora and their mother Margot. The story starts with Deidre Wilson and her son Clive being shot dead and Heather being found having tried to shoot herself. Flipping between current and and flashbacks to the past the story unfolds, piece by piece, until the gripping finale.

One of this years best psychological thrillers.
This novel revolves around 2 sisters Flora and Heather and Heathers best friend for a mere 2 years Jessica, there story revolves around the farm they lived on that Jess spent all her time on due to her own mums busy life.
Jess leaves them under a bit of a cloud but years later is thrust back into their life as a double murder takes place in Tilby the place they live.. Jess is now a reporter back in Bristol after leaving London and her editor insists she goes to the farm to speak to the mother Margot
Jess is torn as she loved Margot as a mother and feels wrong to talk to her under false pretences
Heather is in hospital after shooting herself in an attempt at suicide after shooting a couple who had just moved to the village. Why would she shoot them ? What was her motive? She was a married woman with a child to what end would she do this?
Jess has to turn investigator to find out the truth but what and whose truth would it be

When a woman drives into a quiet residential street and shoots dead a middle aged man and his mother before being herself being found later with gunshot wounds and a head injury everyone is sure that she has tried to kill herself. So when a journalist turns up who just happens to be an old friend, secrets from the past start to unravel. Who is the killer?

Absolutely gripping. Keeps you guessing right to the very end.

This book hooks you from the start
and I ended up getting up early as I was desperate to finish it.
When Jess was 14 her best friend's sister disappeared, now her friend is in a coma accused of murder. Is there a connection? What really happened to Flora?
There are plenty of twists in this beautifully plotted book.

Riveting and wonderfully tense, I adored Claire Douglas's new psychological suspense novel. I was particularly impressed as the story is more a why-dunnit than a who-dunnit, and these can be tricky to pull off. But Douglas manages to set up a double murder, one in the past and one in the present, so smoothly that I couldn't stop flipping the pages to find out what was going to happen.

Set in a small seaside town with a deftly woven cast of characters, the story starts with a woman murdering a man and a woman, then neatly explores the story behind why. When local journalist Jessica Fox gets wind of this story, and finds out it was her childhood best friend who committed the murder, she begins a balancing act between the job she loves and her sense of loyalty to her old friend.

I highly recommend this compelling, wonderful novel.

Heather and Jess are best friends. Jess spends all her time with Heather until something bad happens. Flora is Heather's sister and one night after a day out with her boyfriend disappears. Twenty five years later Jess is a reporter and is covering the case of her long ago friend who has been suspected of murder.

This is the third book that I have read by Claire Douglas, both of which I have found to be average thrillers. This book I also feel is just average.

The book did have some positives. I found the story itself quite engaging. There was enough for me to keep going and not give up. The book was a very easy read and I got through it quite quickly. The story goes back into the past so the reader gets to eventually find out what really happened to Flora. In the present the story follows Jess and Margot, the sisters mother.

I did however find the overall ending predictable and for a long time through the book guessed what was going to happen. At one point I thought I was wrong but then it turned out I was correct all along.

The book wasn't a bad read by no means but because of it's predictability for me it was an average read. Again I wouldn't dismiss this author but the book didn't wow me.

Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review the book.