Review of Then She Was Gone

I may have to officially declare the Summer of 2026 as the year of British thriller authors. Between Ruth Ware (check her out HERE) and Lisa Jewell I'm beside myself trying to decide which book to read next. So many to choose from!

More about Then She Was Gone

THEN

She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW

It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter.

And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.

Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.

Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away.

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age. And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?

Who still has secrets to hide?

More about Lisa Jewell

Lisa Jewell was born in London in 1968.

Her first novel, Ralph's Party, was the best- selling debut novel of 1999. Since then she has written another twenty-three novels, most recently a number of dark psychological thrillers, including The Girls, Then She Was Gone, The Family Upstairs and The Night She Disappeared.

Lisa is a New York Times and Sunday Times number one bestselling author who has been published worldwide in over twenty-five languages. She lives in north London with her husband, two teenage daughters and the best dog in the world.

Meet the author

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LisaJewelloff

Twitter: www.twitter.com/lisajewelluk

Thoughts about Then She Was Gone

What is happening?!

That was the question running on an endless loop in my brain as I read Then She Was Gone. I was initially drawn in as a mother, watching the horror of a mother trying to survive after her daughter goes missing. But that was the normal part of the book. Or is it that everyone seems so normal, which makes it even more creepy? Things get crazy as coincidence after coincidence is piled on and you're sifting through an endless number of What if...scenarios.

Is the daughter dead or alive? If she's dead, who killed her? If she's alive, where is she? So many possibilities! Are people as nice as they seem? Is anyone a...robot? Did her daughter's disappearance cause her mother to break with reality?

This is the type of book you read in one evening, unable to close your eyes until you unravel all the crazy pieces of this world. I was equally fascinated and horrified by these characters. I think I still have goosebumps.

There are so many specific details that bring this horror (and possibly your nightmares) to life. I'll leave you with one thought....the hamsters. Yes, I did a whole body shake just thinking about them.

A Little Extra

Slather on the sunscreen before you head to the beach with this one for the July 4th weekend because I'm sure you'll get lost in it and lose all track of time!

It was the night she almost died.

Jane Trevally, newly divorced and feeling a little lost, agrees to accompany a man she doesn’t know to his house in the darkest corner of Hampstead Heath. She’s offered a drink, goes in, and then – a scream and the sound of something falling upstairs – Jane senses she’s in a bad place. She runs.

Twenty five years later, Jane finds herself outside the same house, this time to return a small white dog who’s been found near her home in the country; a dog whose owner has just been reported missing.

A fleeting glimpse of a haunted looking woman through the window sends Jane on a mission to uncover the house’s secrets – secrets more terrifying than she could have ever imagined, especially when she realises it could have been her …