Secrets after secrets, after secrets...
A mixture of a who-dunnit and a psychological thriller, this book certainly explored a lot of issues, and the reveal at the end, although I worked out the "who", the "why" was a shock.

Not sure if the genre is my forte, but it kept me entertained and was well written.

great read and easy to follow story line. look forward to reading more from this author.

After She’s Gone is the third book I’ve read by Maggie James so going into this I had an idea of her writing style. I made a point of not reading the blurb again to refresh my memory before I began reading. I often find this helps as I have no prior expectations when picking up a book to read.

This book is a psychological thriller of sorts. There is also a crime element, as well as a touch of domestic noir. Not necessarily a mish-mash as they all probably fall under a similar umbrella when it comes to describing the genre, but enough of a mix to keep the reader guessing…

And there’s the rub. I guessed, correctly, very early on. For no other reason except that I read so many of these books that usually I can figure it out fairly quickly. This didn’t bother me while I was reading though. There are plenty of things going on in After She’s Gone to keep the reader turning the pages.

As per usual, no plot dissection here. After She’s Gone is an interesting tale of family secrets and the damage that they can do. I think if you’re new to the genre, and want to get a feel for a psych thriller, then this is a good introduction.

Lori is devastated when her sister Jessie is raped and murdered - the one person who she has always been able to turn to. To make matters worse there is a serial arsonist on the loose and he seems to be targeting their rental properties. Is it personal or just random and will they end up burnt in their beds!

Lori suspects everyone and is struggling to come to terms with the loss of Jessie and more and more secrets come out so she doesn't know who to trust

I have to say I was a bit disappointed in this book - I had seen great review for previous books by this author so will maybe give her another go and read one of those

Local club owner Patrick Sullivan and police inspector Matthew Adams go back a long way. As children at school Patrick bullied Matthew and the animosity they have for each other is still as strong now they are adults.

Patrick is all all round nasty piece of work. He’s inherited his father’s club, he’s involved in drugs and prostitution and doesn’t shrink from killing those who annoy him or get in his way. Matthew’s long term goal has been to use the full force of the law to put him where he belongs – behind bars. Patrick, however, is very slippery and has so far evaded any form of prosecution. Patrick’s hatred for Matthew pushes him to exact punishment every time he feels he has interfered in his life. The last example of this was when a hit and run driver claimed the life of Matthew’s daughter Lily. As a result his wife lost the baby she was carrying. Matthew, who has always done everything by the book is driven to take drastic action to prove Patrick’s guilt.

Matthew’s wife Becky is a strong character who has survived the loss of Lily and her unborn baby. Matthew is now her focus and she constantly worries about him, in particular his asthma which has returned since the hit and run. As the story begins they are about to foster Matthew’s sister Kirsten’s daughter, abandoned in a childrens’ home by her alcoholic mother. Ashley is a great character who through her life experiences is both resourceful and streetwise; something that comes in very handy when we get to the edge of your seat moments during the abduction.

Patrick’s character is brilliantly written. The physical and psychological abuse he received as a child from his violent father has been instrumental in turning him into the monster he is today. During the abduction, Sheryl gives you breathless moments as you wonder what he’s about to do next.

And Matthew, the all round good guy, coping not only with his own personal problems, but still feeling responsible for his sister’s situation: booze and drug dependent and living on the streets. He knows Patrick Sullivan is guilty and needs to be put away, but no one seems to be listening. And when he’s pushed beyond breaking point it all goes horribly wrong…
Sheryl Browne had me on the edge of my seat all the way..... a great read.

3+ out of 5 stars to Maggie James‘s novel, After She’s Gone, a new thriller and suspense novel released on March 16, 2017. I was tempted to give it a 4, but since it’s the first read by this author and left a few open concerns, I’m settling on a 3.4999… still a very good read. Many thanks to the author, NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC in lieu of an honest review.



Why This Book


As part of my focus on reading NetGalley books this year, I selected a few new thrillers and suspense novels, mostly based on their cover and the short paragraph provided in the overview. I decided not to look at anyone else’s reviews, as a few people I know on Goodreads had already received and read this book. The NetGalley summary hinted at it being a psychological thriller, with a full cast of potential family members responsible for killing a 16-year-old girl. I sent in a request, thinking it had potential (I do like a little gore and family-type suspicions)… and was awarded the book by the time I woke up the next morning. Downloaded via Kindle onto iPad and began reading over the weekend. Took about 3 days to complete, given I only had 90 minutes each day to focus on books, despite it being Saturday and Sunday.





Overview of Story


Lori Golden, 22, lives with her mother Dana, sister Jessie (16), step-father Jake, and step-brother Spencer (23), in a small English town. Lori’s and Jessie’s father sees them from time to time, but they aren’t too close. Lori’s dating Ryan, who dotes on her constantly. But she’s got a sort-of-new-bestie in Aiden, who seems to be a nice guy, but is definitely keeping secrets.

One night, Jessie doesn’t come home. Dana, who is suffering from kidney disease and soon needs a transplant, is freaking out that her 16-year has gone missing. Lori tries to find her, but cannot. Spencer wakes up from a bad drug episode in a strange house and sees Jessie dead on the floor right near him, naked from the waist down. Though Spencer’s her step-brother, and recently decided to experiment with his bisexual side, he’s worried he might have killed Jessie and immediately goes into hiding with his friends.



As the cops track down evidence, it looks like Spencer’s guilty, and he’s arrested. Dana throws her husband out and goes off the deep end, getting sicker and sicker. Lori tries to keep it together between Ryan, and her growing concerns over Aiden. When several fires start burning down Dana’s rental properties, Lori realizes Aiden lives with his fire-fighter friend, Damon and one of them may be involved. She’s concerned Aiden may have killed her sister and set fire to the house to try to hide it.

Spenser confesses to seeing Jessie dead on the floor, but claims he didn’t do it. No one believes him, but Lori is starting to. Meanwhile, Lori reaches out to her mother’s brother to try to see if he can donate a kidney, as Lori isn’t a match, and the only person who was a match, Jessie, is now dead. As the plots thickens, Aiden reveals his secrets. Lori turns to Ryan for support and tries to get to know her new uncle, but Dana doesn’t realize what Lori is doing. It seems Dana’s brother has a lot of problems and should be avoided at all costs.



Everything collides in the last few chapters when someone kidnaps Lori, revealing (s)he’s gonna finish getting revenge on Dana for her past indiscretions. And since I won’t reveal any spoilers, it’s an explosive rage of secret revelations that suddenly jump out one-by-one until readers are left shocked at what has really been going on all along.



Approach & Style


The story is actually told in present tense, as opposed to past tense. I haven’t read many books like this, but it actually lends itself well to this story. It’s an omniscient narrator who focuses mostly on Lori’s point of view, but several chapters focus on several other characters to round out the story and help with the suspense and secret-keeping.





Strengths


I found the dialogue to be particularly strong, especially given the secrets hiding beneath the surface. It was punctuated with good people and action descriptions, compelling drama and strong innuendo.

The plot is interesting and a little intense. While I don’t want to read about a 16-year-old being attacked and potentially raped, it was handled with appropriate care, minimal detail and the right balance of etiquette. As it unfolds, pyromania, abuse, family history, adoption and secrets play a major role in all the relationships. You know it’s gonna be 1 of 4 potential people, but you’re not exactly sure why until the very end.





Open Questions & Concerns


I guessed the culprit too early. I think some attention might have been focused here to make it harder.

A lot of coincidences, but it does make for good drama.



Had I not read a few things about the police department’s approach, I’d have had no idea this took place in England. It could have used more description on the setting and locale. But I understand it was a plot and character book, so background could be minimal.





Final Thoughts


It’s a good read. Nothing too scary. Nothing incredibly suspenseful. But it’s an even spread of being slightly unnerved the entire time, especially with it being in the present tense and you reading things exactly as they are happening. Not an easy task to pull off. I’m fairly happy with the ending, too. I’d recommend it to others, and I’d definitely read another book by the author.





About Me


For those new to me or my reviews… here’s the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you’ll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I’ve visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by.

Wobeer full and I enjoyed this well written book. I reviewed it and it is up on Amazon under my name Kimberly-Aisha Hashmi

A fantastically well written story that follows a family through some traumatic times . It is my first by this author but it will not be the last

After She's Gone is a story of a family post the traumatic and sudden death of a loved one in a heinous crime.

The emotional upheaval the family goes through is very well written but it is the who-dun-it part of the book that becomes a bit of a let down.

Personally I find it is extremely important for a thriller to be crisp and gripping - it is when the author starts to ramble, the story begins to drag and as a reader you just want to flip the pages to get to the end - that you realise something is amiss!

This is exactly the core issue with this book - after the initial 100 pages, you just want the author to start getting to the point - plus the amount of skeletons in the closets and issues with the Golden family (or those surrounding them) made After She's Gone a bit too melodramatic for my liking.

Overall - a good story idea that drags and meanders!

NOTE: Received an advance complimentary copy of the book from Netgalley for an honest review.

*Actual rating is 3.5 stars
The book is set in Bristol with themes of loss, secrets, betrayal, cover-up, suspicion, blame and searching for the truth screaming out at the reader at various times throughout the story.

A complex plot-line draws the reader in from the start – I was totally intrigued as the finger of suspicion was pointed at nearly everyone I came across, at one point, I wondered if I did it! The main POV was Lori Golden and all is definitely not what it seems. Despite guessing the ending fairly early on (of course, I didn’t know my detective skills were on top form until the end!), I really enjoyed the story-line and scribbled lots of notes and questions as I turned the pages! (That would be my Detective skills on high alert!) I didn’t, however, understand why full names of characters (first & last) were used throughout when their part had already been introduced. So when Lori’s mother was introduced to the story, rarely was she called mum or mother. That threw me a little bit, but I soon got over it once the pattern was established.

There were many diverse characters in this story and so much going on with them, I was gasping with the revelations! A few stood out more than others to me, so I will give them a mention. Lori Golden was a brilliant character- despite the fact that she annoyed me alot of the time. She came across as determined and assertive, yet other times she kept her mouth shut when I thought for sure she was going to do something. I found myself making many assumptions and jumping to conclusions the same way Lori did – we were both immersed in the trail of secrets, I wondered where we would end up! Spencer Hamilton was another great chracter. He finds Jessie’s body (Lori’s sister) and does himself no favours. His father Jake, is in a relationship with Dana (Lori’s mum) and there are a lot of unspoken feelings between this trio that make the reader question everything. Aiden and Ryan are two other characters who you will either love or hate. Both wanting to be equally supportive of Lori but each left me wondering what their motives were. That is what I like about this book, it keeps you on your toes!

As I mentioned earlier, all is not what it seems in After She’s Gone. I have read a few of this author’s books and will certainly be reading more! If you like psychological thrillers with a twist, Maggie James is definitely one author to put on your radar.

Absolutely gripping read full of many twists & turns. Highly recommended read

After She's Gone is the first book I've read by Maggie James, a book I got via netgalley.

This book follows Lori Golden who's family is shattered after her younger sister, teenaged Jessie is murdered in a brutal fashion. She is raped and left in a building owned by their mother, a fire set upstairs.

Lori and Jessie's pseudo step-brother, Spencer, (the son of their mother's boyfriend) wakes up beside Jessie's body and he has a history of lighting fires. Is he the one who did it? Lori's mother, Dana, thinks so.

Lori has other idea though. There's Jake, Spencer's father who Lori has always thought looked at her younger sister oddly. Her friend's roommate, Damon, who is a firefighter and has always acted oddly around Lori. Finally, Lori's friend Aiden acts oddly to the news of Jessie's death.

Dana, like one would expect, is devastated by the death of her daughter and has a pretty extreme reaction to it, leading Lori to have some fairly deep moments of jealously. James does a good job of exploring how a horrific death has an effect on every member of a family and in different ways.

This book is fast paced full of twists though after a certain point is was fairly obvious who it was behind it all. It was my first by Maggie James but I don't think it will be my last.

I have been wanting to read a Maggie James novel for quite some time now, so I was over the moon when I was asked to feature on the After She’s Gone blog tour.

So I guess the most important question is, did I enjoy my first experience of a Maggie James novel? I most certainly did. I found Maggie’s writing style very easy to read which meant that I breezed through After She’s Gone in two short days (that’s quick for me). I found her characters interesting, particularly Lori Golden who I instantly warmed to. Saying that, at times I did find Lori a little too naive which was frustrating, but then I’m a die-hard crime fan and tend to read the very worst of people which makes me overly suspicious of everyone! I went through different emotions when it came to Dana Golden, Lori’s mother. At times I really liked her, felt for her with her ongoing treatment for kidney failure. At other times I’m afraid I despised the woman.

I found the sections about becoming a living donor very interesting and found this particular sub-plot really held my attention. So much so that I was able to have a conversation with a lady at my son’s preschool who is considering becoming a living donor for her sister. The investigation into Jessie’s death was also very compelling reading, but I’m afraid I worked out who the killer was quite early on. This tends to happen to me sometimes but it rarely spoils the story. It just proves what an ace detective I’m becoming after all this time (ha!). It certainly didn’t spoil the story for me on this occasion. The author does a stellar job of trying to wrong foot you and made me question my decision at several turns along the way.

Would I recommend this book? I would. I found After She’s Gone a compelling read and I wouldn’t hesitate to read another book by Maggie James. In fact, I have added Blackwater Lake to my #terrifyingTBR and I’m looking forward to it. Interesting plot, strong characters and tons of suspense.

Three and a half out of five stars.

After she's gone was a very convoluted story which I had a hard time being invested in, especially once incest was introduced into it. It was creepy, but then suddenly wrapped up in a pretty bow in a matter of the last few pages. Just seemed a bit too far-fetched for me.

This was a gripping book. The characters were all perfectly rounded and sympathetic and it really sucks you in.
There are a number of story threads running simultaneously and, whilst complex enough to be interesting, they never get confusing.
The 'whodunit' part of the novel is gripping yet it is so much more than that - ultimately it is a story of secrets and the far reaching consequences of them.

I really look forward to seeing much more of Maggie James!

After She's Gone is a terrific psychological suspense. Great plot and well developed characters.

This is the second book that I have read by Maggie and I have to admit that I have really enjoyed them both, there were a few bits in this book I wasn't a huge fan of, but the content is really strong, the plot is good and well paced and I enjoyed the majority of the characters.  I thought Lori was a great character, just wasn't a huge fan of her mum!  There were quite a few twists and turns and a couple of times I was certain I know who was responsible, only for there to be a sudden twist!  4 stars from me for this one - its out now so worth grabbing your copy when you can!  It's a great psychological thriller.

A psychological thiller that I found hard to put down. For all its difficult subject matter - 16 year old Jessie is found murdered at the beginning - it was easy to read. Most of the book comes from big sister Lori's point of view, and we see her relationships develop alongside the murder investigation and we wonder if there is a connection. We see the girls' mum struggle badly about losing her baby, and we are happy to see Lori's relationship with her father strengthen. I thought I knew the murderer, and I was right, but I didn't get to the motive - that came as a real shock. A big twist at the end. Great read.

There is a LOT going on in this one. Everyone is a suspect, everything is a possibility. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Blackwater Lake by Maggie James, and would give it a 3.5. There's a lot jammed into this relatively quick read, almost too much. I found the story to be interesting, but didn't connect much with the main character, who struck me as pretty selfish.

Sisters Lori and Jessie have always been close. Adult Lori still lives with her and their mother, along with her mother's boyfriend and his son. They all seem to get along relatively well, and band together to support mom, who is waiting for a kidney transplant. ...Until Jessie doesn't come home one night. She's found murdered not long after, and Lori is forced to reevaluate her relationships with almost everyone. Who would want to murder bright, bubbly, fun Jessie? This is a family with a lot of secrets, and they all start to bubble to the surface in the wake of tragedy.

I received an ARC of this book from Net Gallery and Lake Union Publishing, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.

This came out today (March 16) and got this from netgalley as an ARC. SO.....I do like a good thriller once in awhile but not psychological thrillers idk why and have NEVER heard of Maggie James until this.

This book sounded one of those "okay read" and thought of giving it a shot and uh.....I seriously don't know what to say about this book if I'm being brutally honest here. One thing you need to know is that I DESPISE and have a hard time skimming. But this book was the very first book that got me doing some serious skimming in 3 days so "record time" for once ;) it wasn't even a thriller or psychological for that matter for me. It was BORING, lacked from page 1, and yes clever story and did have a little fun I guess trying to figure out the crime but once the BIG huge family secret came out which was more towards the end....uh....I wasted all that time wanting to skim the rest of this just to find out about that? Wow okay. Seriously?

EVERYTHING lacked for me: storyline/setting, characters, style EVERYTHING! I'm sorry but not sorry for being way too honest about it and being brutal too but I'm just saying what's on my mind. I may be the first 1 star or hey maybe only idk but I have to be truly honest on this one and have no clue as to why it was published. I was NOT at the edge of my seat more like wanting to throw this off a cliff. Not worth the reading time in my opinion.