A highly enjoyable read, which kept my attention well and was entertaining throughout. I did guess the majority of the twists before they were revealed, but that didn't spoil the book for me in any way.

I found the characterisations to be strong, and although many of the characters were flawed in varying degrees, this served to make the narrative more believable and I felt able to connect greatly this way.

I have not read many of Lisa Jewell's books so far but I will definitely be adding multiple books from her back catalogue to my TBR after this, as well as looking out for her new releases going forwards.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review - for a full review check out my YouTube or Goodreads account

Very good plot, keeps you interested. I liked the mannerism the book has been written in. Approachable language and style. Well defined characters. Strong 5 stars.

A sad and twisty of the disappearance of a child, a broken family, a devastating discovery and the moving on of a grieving mother who is about to uncover more unsuspecting truths. More drama than thriller, it's a slow and ultimately satisfying burn of a read.

My aim this year was to read some of the books that have been on my Kindle for ages and this one stood out. Released in 2017 it was time I gave it a try and with such good reviews I had high hopes. The story starts by introducing us to Laurel who is after ten years of her daughter going missing desperately stuck in her own grief. Laurel's daughter Ellie had gone missing ten years prior just before her exams and Laurel still had no answers. Her remaining daughter and Son struggle to maintain a good relationship with Laurel along with her ex-husband Paul. However, she finally begins the journey of moving on once she thinks she has some answers. That is when she meets Floyd who sweeps her off her feet.

The first thing I will say and the reason that I didn't rate this a 5 star read was that both Floyd and his daughter Poppy gave me serious ick vibes! To the point it left a sour taste in my mouth reading about them. Don't get me wrong it's a serious show of just how talented Lisa Jewell is as an author, but it still left me with a bad feeling. The story unfolds as we find out more about Ellie and the lead up to her disappearance. We also get to see Laurel's relationship with Floyd progress and with it relevant parts of the story are revealed. I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it reminded me of how much I enjoy this author's books. I can see why it was a bestseller and am pleased I made the time to read it.

I must admit I have avoided reading any of Jewell's thrillers. I'm of an age where her romantic comedies were favourites of my teens and I couldn't face the thought that she had a dark side.

I mean come on, how could the author of books like Ralph's Party or Vince and Joy write anything other than lovely, funny, romantic books?

Well what an idiot I am.

What an absolute idiot!

Then She Was Gone is frigging amazing! One of the BEST psychological thrillers I've EVER read!

When Ellie went missing almost ten years ago, Laurel's life fell apart. Now she's moving on, finally. She meets a wonderful man in a café one day and he sweeps her off her feet.

He is everything a woman could possibly want in a man but when Laurel meets his daughter, rather than seal the deal of the new relationship, new questions are raised around the disappearance of Ellie.

What on earth could the connection be? Laurel is convinced something dodgy is going on, but what?

That's all I'm saying about the plot.

Brilliantly told from the points of view of several characters, we seamlessly jump from past to present as the mystery surrounding Ellie's disappearance unfurls and my god, you will blown away as the details start to become clear.

I lost count of the number of times I gasped, or shouted at the book, or shouted WTF at what was going on – in a good way, obviously! There was a moment where my stomach lurched and I felt sick. Physically sick as the realisation of what was happening hit me, WOWSERS!

I fell in love with Laurel, what a wonderful character she is. She has been through so much and is on the verge of finding happiness again. She is so well written you will struggle not to love her too. She is the kind of person you want to know and who you'd love to have a coffee and slice of cake with. My heart broke for her all the way through the book and at points, I was sobbing into my knitting while listening to her story.

The villain, my god, what a villain. Terrifying. Utterly terrifying. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw them on a villain of the year award at some point.

There's a team of supporting characters who all have a place in the book. There's no one who doesn't belong here, just a perfectly balanced cast who all play a vital role in creating the thrilling ride that Then She Was Gone is.

I was completely gripped to this one, it is beyond brilliant. It is everything you want and need in a thriller and I wish I'd read it sooner, a lot sooner! 

My only saving grace for waiting so long is that I now have all her thrillers to look forward to!!!

I listened to Then She Was Gone on Audible UK and the narrator, Gabrielle Glaister, was bloody scary! There's a switch up in the narrative later on in the book and the character she takes on is terrifying. I mean, seriously! I actually had a nightmare that her voice kidnapped my kids! WOWSERS! She made this book so much more for me, what a brilliant actress!

I would highly recommend this one to any crime thriller fan, it is frigging awesome! Don't make any plans before you open the book or press play on Audible, you will not be in a position to do anything other than read until it's finished.

I found this book really predictable, especially the ending, it just didn't keep me hooked at all, such a shame

Then She Was Gone is a captivating mystery thriller, bound to keep you on the very edge of your seat!

The timeline within the book swaps between 'then' and 'now', helping to uncover the mystery of what happened to Ellie Mack. It also features several different narrators, each telling their own portions of the story and revealing important clues - and plenty of twists and turns, too! In other hands, this could be confusing and disjointed, but Lisa Jewell pulls it off expertly, effortlessly combining all the different plot threads to weave an utterly engrossing novel.

At points heart-wrenching and at others shocking, Then She Was Gone focuses on the emotions of the characters as much as the action. As the story progresses, more and more is revealed about each individual - their history, their motivation, and their secrets. This is a cast of flawed characters; no single person is perfect, yet each seems as real as any stranger you might encounter on the street.

This adds an extra element of realism to the story, drawing you in and keeping you engaged throughout. The book is very well-paced - a slow-burner, yet still full of shocks and surprises at every turn. This makes it very hard to put the book down once you start to read - you might just find time escaping you once you delve into this book!

Thrilling, unexpected, and truly captivating, Then She Was Gone is an unputdownable five-star read!

I was provided with a copy of this book by Net Galley in return for a fair and impartial review.

I am sorry but this book was not for me. I found the plot distressing and upsetting because of the subject matter.

I was not able to finish this book.

Another brilliant book by the author Lisa Jewell, like the rest of her books, Then she was gone doesn't disappoint. Fast paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat to the very last page.

I found this novel hugely compelling. Though the plot is difficult to believe at times, the way that Jewell makes such a unique approach to a missing daughter premise had me hooked. I will definitely be reading more of Jewell’s work!

I’d never read a Lisa Jewell book before but I knew she was a popular women’s fiction writer. The premise of Then She Was Gone very much intrigued me -the mother of a missing girl falls in love with a man whose daughter is the exact image of her lost daughter. So I was very happy when I was approved for it on NetGalley.

Laurel’s youngest daughter Ellie went missing ten years before but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her girl alive and well. Then one day in a cafe, a charming American called Floyd invites Laurel out for dinner and she is smitten. One night, Laurel goes back to Floyd’s house and meets his nine-year-old Poppy. To Laurel’s alarm, Poppy looks exactly like Ellie did at that age. All of her questions from ten years ago resurface and Laurel becomes more determined than ever to find out what happened to her daughter.

I really enjoyed the way Jewell was slowly feeding us pieces of information through little glimpses into Ellie’s life before she vanished. Told in two time periods -the few months before Ellie went missing and the present where Laurel is dating Floyd and trying to figure things out-, the story is gradually told and we really become attached to Ellie. Therefore her fate and her story is even more harrowing than it would have been, had we just had a final reveal at the end.

The similarities between Ellie and Poppy strike us as much as they strike Laurel. They have a shared innate love of books and both see reading as their version of reality. There are several little hints as to the truth scattered in the book and as they’re slowly uncovered, it makes the worst conclusion you could come up with seem the most likely.

Alas, just as I thought I’d got it sussed, it turned out that it wasn’t quite what I imagined. Jewell still somehow managed to wrangle a twist on me painting a certain character in a much better, albeit tragic, light than I had them in. I didn’t fully understand the necessity for a certain event at the end and it may have been thrown in to contrast the eventual happiness with some sad. However, it didn’t wholly make sense to me.

The book also explores other family dynamics, namely Laurel’s relationship with her ex husband and her children’s father, Paul. It was really lovely to read about an ex couple who are still a united front in the face of justice and fairness for their children. So often in women’s fiction, former spouses are at war with each other but it was refreshing to read about divorcees who were still friends. We also see a lot of Laurel’s relationship with her older daughter Hanna. It seems strained at first as Hanna keeps secrets from her mum and never really wants to converse with her but we soon learn the reasons for it.

At the end of the book, you realise that everything that is less than perfect within the family comes down to Ellie’s disappearance and the fact that they all miss her hugely. It seems that Ellie really was the glue that held them all together and it gives her absence an extra shade of tragedy.

Overall, Then She Was Gone is a great mystery that will keep you guessing. Some incredibly dark harrowing themes are explored and I dare you not to be emotionally affected by Ellie’s story.

A great read! I liked how this story panned out, the mystery of what happened to Ellie and what this new seemingly perfect man might have to do with it, I couldn’t wait to read it and find out everything! I guessed some but not all of the mystery which is how I like my fiction!

Then She Was Gone - Lisa Jewel

I always enjoy this authors work, she manages to tell your almost typical story but with a lovely little sting in the tail for us readers.

I have and will recommend this to my friends and family that love a good tale.

Read for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone Arrow

Well what a crazy ride this book took me on! The plot for the most part is fast paced and had some unbelievable twists and turns so I could definitely imagine this being made into a film the way some of the story turned out! I’m not quite sure how best to describe this book because Then She Was Gone isn’t an outright thriller but it does have tension and twists. There is a mystery element that unfolds at a good pace with snippets of information dropped at the right time that kept my interest at a high. One day Ellie disappears, one minute she’s there the next she’s gone leaving her family with the shock and unanswered questions over her disappearance. We see the impact on Laurel, Ellie’s mother and how ten years on everyone seems to be getting on with life except her. This all changes when she meets Floyd and his daughter Poppy, at first everything seems perfect but niggles begin to form and Laurel can’t seem to shake off the idea that something isn’t quite right.

I actually found myself going through a range of emotions while reading this book from anger right through to sadness. It isn’t a book with massively surprising twists as some you will easily see coming. However there is a dark thread running throughout showing how devious and dangerous some people really are all adding an extra shocking edge to the book. If you don’t mind plots that are slightly outlandish then I think you will get on well with this book. For the most part this book kept my attention other than a dip here and there I was eager to see how far this story would go and of course how it would all end! By the last section of the book I was reading as fast as I could to get to the conclusion.

Then She Was Gone is addictively dark with an emotional edge!

A quick and easy read that you may well guess what is going to happen next, but even so it is still a great read.

I've just been going through m reviews sent and can't think how I missed reviewing this one, because it was brilliant. Truly lived in my head for days after I'd finished reading. Jewell really brings the characters to life, and I was totally drawn in.

What a perfect and a brilliant read! It was part thriller and part family drama, with endless twists and turns. The storyline was so gripping that I finished the entire book in a single sitting.

Can't recommend this book enough!

This story was creepy. Lisa Jewell is a very good writer and knows how to weave a disturbing story together. I'd read another of her books in a heartbeat.

This is one of those books that when you finish reading it you keep thinking about it and wanting to read more, but then recalling that you finished it lol! I raced through this book, desperate for time to get to read it, wondering when I would be able to fit in some more pages, it really was that good.

The book begins with Laurel narrating - she has arrived at her daughters flat with no sign of her having been home. Her mind begins racing and we find that 10 years before her other daughter disappeared and has never been found.

We then get Ellie narrating the time line before she went missing - her life, what she was up to as a teenage girl. The book then continues with a flip flop of the story mainly from Laurel's viewpoint in the present day, and her first foray into a romance since Ellie disappeared.

Her romantic encounter introduces her to the man's daughter, a young girl who looks like Ellie. After this point I began to feel like I had in my hand one of those magic squares with a tile missing. Somehow I felt I should know the answer to what was happening, but it was just out of my grasp, however what followed was a real roller coaster I needed to stay on until I got to the end.

A couple of other characters narrate the story towards the end and so you get a feel of the story from different perspectives which I found really interesting. There are a few loose ends which are maybe too neatly tied off at the end of the book, but I could live with that. The very end of the book is rather moving and not what I was expecting.

I loved the accessible writing - so easy to read and felt so real and earthy. I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. I have never read a Lisa Jewell book before but I think I need to read more now.