Review: Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

What I thought:

Having read, and loved, I Found You, not too long ago, I was ecstatic to see that Lisa Jewell had another book out and dived straight in. Another good’n!

Fifteen-year-old Ellie Mack disappears one day on the way to the library. Ellie is pretty, popular, clever, has a boyfriend and is just about to sit her GCSE’s – she has everything going for her and everything to live for, and that’s how her mother Laurel knows she hasn’t just run away. The story hops between the time that Ellie went missing and 10 years later when Laurel is only just starting to pick up the pieces of her life (now divorced from Ellie’s father and emotionally detached from her two remaining children). When she meets a charismatic stranger, Floyd, Laurel dares to hope for some sort of future – until she meets Floyd’s 9-year-old daughter, Poppy, who bears a striking resemblance to Ellie.

While harrowing in places, it’s never gratuitous and Jewell gets it spot on in terms of pace – speeding up when mystery and intrigue are at play and slowing it down in order for the reader to fully understand the impact Ellie’s disappearance has had on everyone.

Verdict:

Gripping and heartfelt, Then She Was Gone has plot and characters with depth which is something of a rarity in this genre. Big thumbs up!