This is a book designed to keep you gripped from page one. The lead character,a former family friend now a journalist is very well conceived. The tensions between loyalty and her career are an important part of the book. There are several strands to the story which gradually come together to a climax that is probably unexpected by the reader. Just as it looks as if the culprit has been identified,it all changes. The story has joy,pathos,disloyalty and mystery. It is hard to believe that some of the characters can be complicit but they are proved to be. This will keep you reading! I strongly recommend it.

Gripping and enjoyable. A believable plot, which unravels at a satisfying pace. It was such a relief not to have to cope with parallel narratives, which have become so prevalent nowadays. The simple ploy of interlacing occasional chapters of Flora’s infatuation and disappearance is far less taxing on the reader. This made it a relaxing book to read, with a very satisfactory denouement. I appreciated the ties of family and friends, the conflicting loyalties and the complexity of the relationships, all of which added depth to the mystery. I definitely recommend this book.

I have just read And Then She Vanishes by Claire Douglas. Many thanks to Penguin & Michael Joseph for the special invitation to read this exclusive ARC and to Netgalley. Available to pre-order now.

A brilliant read, it was unputdownable!!!! A real page turner. Jessica Fox is a journalist who returns home to Bristol with her boyfriend after a scandal in London forces her to leave. On her return, she finds her best friend Heather has just been arrested for murder. Now working for the local rag, Jessica finds it hard to report on the story and family. Also finds it hard to believe that her best friend is a murderer! Memories and secrets that Jessica holds about her best friend does not help and also there is Jessica's boyfriend Rory, who is not happy with things between them. You can feel Jessica's pain on how much to reveal as she does not want to break confidences to get a good story in the newspapers. Claire Douglas is a brilliant story teller and this is a must read.

#AndThenSheVanishes #NetGalley

A very good book and well worth reading. The story line appears to provide a 'fait accompli' but you know this can't be the case as there would be little point in the book!
I didn't quite get totally involved with the main characters - something missing.
The story itself is very good with each main character having chapters in their names intermixed with sections gradually revealing what actually happened in 1994
I'm sure most readers take a breath when progressing through a book and try to work out the ending. This book had, for me, only limited endings but the ending in the Epilogue chapter is the right one!
Not a five star read for me but nevertheless a very good book

Here's a thriller you won't to put down one i loved and want more of the same.
Jess Fox former hotshot journalist in London now working in Bristol in a twice weekly paper after a hiccup at her former paper, well a phone hacking hiccup that cost several others their jobs to and rightly so.
Now she is sent to get the low down on a double murder in one of her childhood home towns Tilby a sleepy seaside town well until now. Jess and Heather Powell were relatively new to Tilby when they meet both without a Dad bonded in a art lesson at school becoming almost inseparable. Heather's Dad was dead, and Jess's had done a runner plus her Mum was hardly there for her either so when she was welcomed into Heathers family by Mum Margot and sister Flora its a dream come true, for a couple of years anyway.
However the night Flora vanished everything changes and that brings us back to the present as Jess heads back to Tilby hope upon hope that this is not another bad chapter in the unfolding life of the Powell's. But it is her childhood best friend and only real friend she ever had is under Police guard in Hospital after apparent failed suicide attempt after a double murder of a mother 76 and son 58 in there home.
There are plenty of twists in this gripping page turning thriller that i loved from page one and every page after that as well. Believable and unexpected turns as there should be characters some you love some you will hate and others you will get completely wrong so you will never know who to love or hate till the very end. It's a tale of drama that others face and you hope you never will but then we all have some drama and no one knows the truth behind another's curtains unless you get drawn in, and then you discover who your friends are and those you truly love.
But before i get too deep and meaningful sending you to sleep get this book it will keep you awake till the very end no matter how late it gets.

Claire Douglas has gone from strength to strength , and a new book from her is always something to relish.

And Then She Vanishes (I don’t like the title at all, I’m afraid) opens in really quite jaw-dropping fashion as a woman armed with a shotgun strides into a quiet house in the early morning and shoots an elderly woman and her son, before calmly leaving.

For local journalist Jessica Fox, it appears
the crime may have a more personal connection than she could have expected - can the killer really be her childhood friend, Heather? And what on earth could have brought Heather - now in a coma after suffering a gunshot wound to her own chest - to such terrible lengths?

The story unfolds through the eyes of Jess and also Heather’s mother Margot - both characters I really liked. Margot has been through the mill, having experienced both the never-solved disappearance of her elder daughter Flora many years earlier, and now facing a barely imaginable, out-of-the-blue nightmare. Jess has to balance the needs of her job with a sense of loyalty to Heather and Margot.... and a driving need to find out what really happened both now and in the past.

A remarkably compelling read with an intriguing and unusual plot which kept me completely engaged throughout.

The story starts with a murder and a young woman Helen in a coma after she try’s to take her own life. Jessica is asked to write a piece on the incident only to find that she knows the family from childhood and is torn between her job as a reporter and her old friendship with the family. There is a history as Helens sister flora disappeared from a fairground when she was young and had not been Seen since. Is there a connection between the past and the present. The book goes between the past and the present but is really easy to keep pace with. A page turner as every page leaves you with another question. Brilliant and engaging 💜

A book where the past catches up with the present. Jess and Heather were inseparable as teenagers, Heather's sister Flora just a couple of years older. When the fair comes to town, 16 year old Flora is smitten with one of the fair workers, Dylan.
Flora goes missing that Summer and has never been found. Twenty years later, Heather is in hospital for attempting to commit suicide with a gun after killing two people in their beds in an unprovoked act.
Jess is now a reporter and happens upon the case, realising it's the same Heather she was once best friends with.
There are plenty of twists and turns as Heather comes around from the Coma she is in, and Jess is being watched but by who? What ever happened to Flora? This was an easy read despite switching backwards and forwards in time with a great twist at the end.

I absolutely loved this book and couldn't put it down. It's a clever. twisty tale of two sisters, one who appears to have murdered two people, and the other who disappeared many years ago. Jess is a journalist who knew them both well, but the secrets everyone is hiding make the truth difficult to establish. It is nice to read a book set in my home area of Bristol and Somerset, and Claire Douglas conjures this up well.

A clever plot that kept me guessing. Spanning back to when the main characters were young in the midst of what was happening in the here and now AND from the perspective of various characters was sometimes confusing but eventually all made sense. I decent reads that held my attention.

Heather and Flora Powell and their mother Margot were more like family to young Jess when she was growing up than her own mother ever was. That was until everything went wrong in the summer of 1994,Heather and Jess's friendship was never the same after Flora mysteriously disappeared whilst on her way home one summer's night.

Twenty five years later their sleepy seaside town is rocked by another shocking tragedy when Heather tries to kill herself after the loving wife and doting new mother kills two people in cold blood.

Jess,who is now a reporter is sent back to her hometown to report on the case. Can Jess find the key to both mysteries ? Or will her search reveal a darker side to the place she grew up - and put her in danger.

This gripping,enthralling thriller is written in chapters that alternate between Jess and Margot in the present day and Heather and Flora in the chapters set in 1994. In the chapters set in the present we follow Jess's search for the truth behind the deaths of the couple and her struggles to do her job diligently whilst staying loyal to Margot and Heather. In the chapters set in the past,we learn about the events leading up to Flora's disappearance and what happened on the night she vanished. The details of that fateful summer are drip fed to the reader,building up the tension and anticipation until Flora's fate is finally revealed. The cast of this thrilling story are a mixed bag of vivid, realistic personalities. Some likeable,some not so likeable,some very shady and untrustworthy and some were not who they appeared to be. I liked Jess,really liked poor Margot,didn't like Adam or Heather and for various reasons felt so much sympathy for poor Flora.What happened to Flora on that summer's night so many years ago? Did Heather kill the couple and if she did,what was her motive? And why does Jess constantly feel like she is being followed?

And Then She Vanishes is a exceedingly,well written,mesmerising thriller that had me hooked in from the very first page. The reader is drawn in by a chilling prologue and kept guessing throughout as the many layers of the story are revealed. This is Claire Douglas at her best,her words flow with ease,drawing the reader into her characters fictional world and making you care about some of their fates. I loved this book and couldn't put it down. Worth far more than five stars and highly recommended by little old me.

This is a story of family secrets and drama.

As a child Jess spent alot of time with Flora and Heather - Now shes a journalist looking into the accusation that Heather, her ex BFF, the sweetest girl she knew walked into a house and killed two people, for no apparent reason. Its a fine line between friendship and career for Jess, she needs this story, it could be big for her but this family was like her own. Can and will she use that to her advantage? How well do we really know our friends?

I loved this book, it flicks between now and then, when the girls were friends and everything was okay and now. Jess has her own demons, despite what seems like a perfectly happy life and its interesting to see if and how they come into play. The book slowly takes you through a short period of time, step by step, dropping hints and clues to make you think and question all the way through. I loved it!

Absolutely brilliant. I whizzed through this - it was paced so well and really kept me guessing. The characters were well written and well rounded. Highly recommended read.

I'm a huge fan of Claire Douglas, so I was thrilled to receive this ARC of her upcoming novel. And wow, what a fantastic novel it is. It has everything a good crime thriller needs - woman returns to hometown, where secrets from her past are lying in wait. A teenaged girl went missing 20 years ago, and now her sister is in a coma after shooting herself, accused of the murder of two apparently innocent people. But nothing - and I mean nothing - is what it seems.

The twists are drip-fed to the reader, constantly changing what you think you know. And when you think it's all over, Douglas manages to smash everything to pieces once again. An excellent thriller, perfectly paced and expertly written.

To begin, I’d like to thank Penguin UK for sending me an ARC of this book, and to NetGalley for facilitating. And a huge thank you to Claire Douglas for yet another amazing page turner!

No spoilers as usual in this review.

I don’t even know where to start without gushing about this book. It was so exciting and had me totally hooked from the beginning! I know the terms “gripping” and “un-put-downable” are thrown around a lot nowadays but I mean this in the most literal sense - I couldn’t stop myself from reading this book. I read it right through the night because I was so hooked.

It was tense, complicated, dramatic, funny, nerve wracking, confusing, full of twists... everything you would want in a thriller was there.

The characters were so well written that I managed to connect with each of them. None of them perfect, none of them stereotypical, all of them felt real to me.

I was really pleased with how well everything came together in the end and everything made sense. But I was so sad that the book was over. When I read books I want to be completely sucked in and unable to stop thinking about it, yet there are far too many that fall short of my high expectations. This is not one of those instances. I KNEW I would be woken by my children at 6am, yet I stayed up until 3am (when I’d finished the book) to read it because I was so sucked in that I couldn’t/wouldn’t get out. Brilliant, brilliant book!

Flora, Heather and Jess did everything together while they were growing up. Flora and Heather were sisters by blood, but Jess felt like she was part of the family too. Then one day something snapped in Heather and the former good girl became a killer. Years later, Jess has returned to try to understand what really happened. If you haven't read a book by Douglas yet, you're missing out, big time. I couldn't put this book down and the ending blew me away

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

Twists and turns so frequently it keeps you hooked. Not my favorite from this author but still quite enjoyable. 3.5 rounded up

This is my second book by this author and just as , Once I started this book I really couldn’t put it down it had me from the start. The story had me trying to guess what was going to happen it kept me turning the pages I really didn’t have a clue how it would end a few twists and turns alone the way and then when I thought I had it figured out I was so wrong. Great characters, you feel like you are right there with them. going through this story with them.
I loved the writing style of this author and I can’t wait to read more of her books. If you like a book that will have you guessing and trying to work out things then this book is for you.


Three girls.
One missing.
One a murderer.
One trying to find the truth.

I am already a huge fan of Claire Douglas' work, I have read and enjoyed all of her other books, so I wasn't expecting anything less exciting and gripping!

I was not disappointed in the least, another story full of surprising twists and secrets, that cause as much trouble not telling them, as to them coming out in the open.

Jess is the main character, a journalist who has had her own fair share of troubles, but decides to start over near where she grew up. This in itself brings truths to the surface, only for her own past to be engulfed by her best friends.

From the terror of thinking someone is following you, to the unknown of how much you trust your friends and your own judgement.

Jessica is a hardcore journalist but wants to earn her reputation, but how far will she go to get this, does she want to know what really happened!?

The twists and secrets to this story continue throughout, the story goes back in time, each character giving their point of view to the story, this is so well written that it jumps throughout, so you think you know what happened, then something else becomes clear which places doubt in your mind.

The ending was not expected (no spoilers) and I feel for the family deeply, as a situation of secrets, lies, along with some characters only caring about themselves, contributes to the finale.

Another triumph by Claire Douglas, of course I would definitely recommend this book to read, her writing has perfect imagery for the reader, enough twists and gripping moments to make you want to read to the end, as usual I read this within 24 hours of receiving it! My only problem is that I need Claire to write more!