Meh....that's my true opinion of this book. It wasn't the most exciting read but it also was not the worst book that I have ever read.

RJ Jacobs does have an ability to keep my attention with his prose however this tale brought nothing new to the table and was somewhat predictable to boot.

I don't know why almost every psychological thriller coming out lately seems to feature a drunk/bipolar/unreliable female lead. The entire world doesn't consist of addicts and the mentally ill. This story is unremarkable enough that I also have already forgotten the MC's name.

And please don't even get me started on the plot. It's just as annoying for too many twists to occur as it is when a movie/book ends abruptly without resolution.

However if the author comes out with a sophomore effort, I will be willing to give him another chance.

📖I received this copy from Netgalley, Crooked Lane Books and RJ Jacobs in exchange for my honest review.📚

#AndThenYouWereGone #NetGalley

My rating 3.5 rounded up to a 4.

The writing and use of words throughout this book are amazing. A quote book could definitely be made out of this book. I enjoyed the authors observations on mental illness and his descriptions of it.

The plot itself was a pretty straightforward mystery for me. It kept me entertained enough to keep reading, but not on the edge of my seat rushing to finish. Some parts were a little slow.

It was hard to connect with Emily as much of her in this book she was described in her manic state. I understand why this was done, but her poor choices had me shaking my head like I was watching a horror movie.

The ending didn't add much to the story, it seemed too rushed and open which really didn't fit in with the rest of the book.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book starts off with Emily going out on what's suppose to be a fun and relaxing date on a boat with her boyfriend, Paolo. A day/night full of laughter and drinking ends with Emily waking up the next morning alone on the boat. With Paolo's disappearance, Emily is the main suspect. Throw in the fact that she's an unreliable source since she doesn't remember the whole night, oh and the fact that she's bipolar. She faces some difficult times after the boat incident and then becomes obsessed with trying to figure out what happened to Paolo, since she's convinced he's not dead.

Once I was about 25% through, that's when things started to get boring and random. The other characters that are introduced, the theories Emily comes up with, and the way the story goes is not at all what I expected. This book started off so promising at the beginning and there were a few parts where I couldn't put it down. But for the most part I felt like the book was just so random and moved too slowly for my liking. The author kept circling the big mystery of what happened to Paolo and why. The ending wasn't what I expected and it seemed like Emily was a completely different person by then (even though it was only a few months later). I didn't feel any connection with any of the characters and I think the science lab part of it was another factor that I didn't connect with.

Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC.

Emily and boyfriend Paolo are off on a short boating trip on a lake near Nashville. They have a few drinks and when Emily wakes up the next morning she finds Paolo gone. I had expected her to be stuck on the boat, but no, she sails it back to safety and the search for Paolo starts, police involved. Not much happens for a while apart from Emily's life throwing her one setback after another.
It's a pleasant read so far, but nothing too exciting.
Until finally some clues into Paolo's vanishing appear. Suddenly the story picks up speed, accompanied by Emily's manic episode. More characters enter the trail, all well developed and likable and we are on a fast track to discovery. The reader is kept in suspense until the very end.
Kudos to the writer for letting us in on Emily's darker introspective moods. The descriptions are tragic, yet almost poetic in writing. The final scene is just beautiful.
"And then you were gone" definitely surprised me and I would recommend it to anyone in for a good mystery.

Okay, lots of good and some bad elements in this book that made me give this a solid 3.5 rating.

The good: It was easy to follow and read with a strong plot. All the plot points made sense and there were no loose ends at the end of the book. I may be in the minority here but I really enjoyed Cal’s character because of how put-together he was and for being in for the ups and downs of Emily’s quest for answers.

The bad: First person POV books are so difficult for me to read if I don’t feel a connection with the narrator and in this instance, there was a real disconnect between Emily and my own reading experience. She was just so unlikable. I tried - I really did try. I get that she has so many problems in her life, a lot of which I empathize with, but I just wanted to scream “GIRL, GET IT TOGETHER!” so many times that I lost count. She was a hot mess at the beginning of the book and a hot mess until the end - sort of redeeming herself in the epilogue but there wasn’t enough context for me to figure out if she really did keep it together or if it’s only because of Cal. Second bad: The plot twist I saw coming a mile away but I think I just read too many of psychological thrillers that I’ve spoiled and ruined the surprise element for myself.

Overall, a good book. Didn’t love it but I did enjoy reading it.

I found this to be an interesting thriller. It was a quick read with good characters and a good story. There were plenty of twists for me to get lost in. I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

This had a promising start but unfortunately for me the book didn’t quite do it. Emily was a like-able enough character, but in the end I thought where the story ended up was a bit silly, and there was nothing particularly original that set this apart or above any of the other thrillers I’ve read of late. That being said, I do feel that the book was decently written and I would consider reading another work by this author.

This is a psychological thriller with a little bit of mystery and adventure thrown in to the mix. I thought this one was very well written and kept my attention all the way through. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, there was an unexpected twist that I did not see coming. I love when books keep me guessing.

Emily and her boyfriend Paolo are going to have a nice romantic weekend away. Emily can't swim, but she has put aside her fears to be able to enjoy some quality time with Paolo. They are renting a sail boat and Paolo is showing Emily around and showing her how to fish as well. Emily falls into a deep sleep the first night. When she wakes up the next morning she can't find Paolo anywhere on the boat. She knows that he is a good swimmer so the likelihood of him drowning is pretty much nonexistent. Emily figures out how to start the boat and works her way back to the marina where she is hoping to find Paolo. To Emily's horror, Paolo is no where to be found and the police are called in. What in the world could have happened to Paolo?

Emily is forced to go back to her normal life without Paolo. This is just something Emily can't get over though. When she is accused of doing something to Paolo and is let go of her job, that is pretty much the end of Emily. Emily suffers from bi-polar disorder anyway and for her to be able to balance it all with Paolo missing and loosing her job, it is just not working out too well for her. She is determined to find out what happened to Paolo though!

As time goes on and Emily has to learn to live with her new normal, she is given some clues to follow to find out what is going on with everything, including Paolo. You won't be able to put this one down and will feel like you are on the same chase right there with Emily.

I will definitely be looking for more from R.J. Jacobs. The characters were all well developed and the story flowed well.

I read and reviewed this book voluntarily and all opinions are my own. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an advanced copy.

You can find this review and all of my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com

Emily can barely hold together most days, but she's getting better. Paolo helps with that. Yes, he works long hours at his lab, and she spends most of her time waiting for him to finish work so that they can spend time together, but she also spends the rest of her time helping children. She's a child psychologist. Being able to help children gives her a purpose. So when Paolo has declared that they will be taking the weekend and renting a boat, Emily should be over the moon. However, she has reservations. Her Bipolar disorder is under control for the most part, but she still has bad days, and the water makes her incredibly nervous. She hasn't told Paolo directly that she can't swim, and she's hoping that she doesn't have to and they can just spend a relaxing weekend together. After a wonderful first day, Emily wakes up with the regret of drinking wine the day before. Feeling sick and really not enjoying the rocking motion of the boat, she calls for Paolo but he doesn't answer. After slowly pulling herself together Emily wanders up to the deck to find out what Paolo could be so enthralled with, only to find herself completely alone. No Paolo. No nothing. Alone. Panic sets in and it's all she can do to barely hold herself together to get back to shore. What happened to Paolo? Where did he go? Why did he leave a woman who suffers with mental illness and the inability to swim along on a boat in the middle of a lake? A story of secrets, sorrow, and a woman, who completely breaks down while trying to find out the truth of what happened the day that her beloved boyfriend disappeared, who is pulled into the investigation and thought of as a suspect. Emily feels like she is the only one who can discover the truth and finally give herself closure. Can she do it? Can she survive it?

So I've gone on a bit of a psychological thriller jaunt the last few books. I've really taken a shine to this genre. I've always loved a good mystery and these ones give me that plus a little bit extra that I struggle to put into words. I was really looking forward to this book when I requested it, though I felt that it was a little bit lacklustre. The premise was SO interesting. A woman wakes up on a boat alone, with no clue as to what has happened to her boyfriend, while also trying to navigate the stress and anxiety of the whole situation living with Bipolar disorder. But it just didn't grab me the way I'd hope that it would.

First off, Emily was, to me, incredibly unlikable. Yes she suffers with bipolar and yes she's going through a traumatic experience, but I just found myself becoming increasingly annoyed with her throughout the story. I find that some of the terrible choices she made wasn't because of her disorder, but because she's an idiot. It sounds harsh, but that's the only way I can describe it. It felt like every slightly inconvenient thing that she did, or bad decision that she made, she blamed on her disorder. And I feel like that's not very accurate. Yes us people with mental illnesses can make bad choices or say stupid things during episodes, but not every single bad choice or stupid comment can be BLAMED on our mental illness, regardless of what that mental illness is. I feel like Emily didn't take enough responsibility for herself and liked to fob everything off as "oh I have bipolar, I do this kind of thing often." No, I think sometimes she's just a shitty person, and it's not always her bipolar's fault. I do like that her profession was a psychologist. Yes this isn't real life, but I have often wondered about whether people with mental illness can make successful psychologists. Not in the way of 'can they actually help people' because I believe having a mental illness may help connect to patients easier at times, but in the ability to compartmentalise and let go of what your patients are telling you and confiding in you with. I feel like being a psychologist, one takes on SO MUCH from their patients, that it must be hard to just let it roll back off you and not impact you or your daily life in any way.

Emily's bipolar. I've read books that have centred around mental illness before, and I find myself drawn to them, for obvious reasons. I felt like the representation of Emily's disorder in this book was a bit stilted. It felt too clinical. Other books that I've read about mental illness have had a way of dragging you in and letting you experience this for yourself, in a small way anyway. I felt like this book didn't do that. I had no empathy toward Emily and her illness at all, which is very strange for me. The super clinical feel may be because the author is/was a psychologist by trade, I'm not sure. I feel like if this was written by someone who lives with bipolar, the feel of the book might have been different. I'm not sure if the author has bipolar or not, but it just didn't feel authentic to me.

Cal. I hated him at first, but the more that we got to see him and get to know him, I really enjoyed his character. One thing I did like about this book was how real the characters seemed. They all had flaws and issues and that's great. I hate a book that the characters are very one dimensional and there's no depth there. They don't feel real because they're so damn perfect. The characters in this book were incredibly well written.

The story itself was okay. As I said earlier, I was SO intrigued about this story, but I still feel like it fell a bit short for me. To be honest the only thing that kept me reading was the fact that I just really wanted to know what happened to Paolo, I just needed that question answered and I was done. I couldn't really care about the rest of the story that much. I was interested in seeing what happened to Emily in the end, but it was kind of secondary to WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO PAOLO?!?!?! The pacing was a bit slow for me, and it felt like it dragged at times. Most of the time it felt like nothing was really happening, Emily was going through her day to day life, well, trying to at least, with this big cloud of uncertainty hanging over her head, but that was it. The story did pick up again when we started finding things out, but it felt a bit all over the place. After Paolo's disappearance, the story felt like it jumped a fair bit and I found myself having no idea exactly how much time had passed since the disappearance itself.

The mystery side of it was interesting, until I worked out half of it about 60% through. This would have been okay if it was happening the same time as the big reveal, but it didn't, I had worked out the culprit before the characters and that irks me. I still had no idea what had happened to Paolo, but honestly after the half way mark, it felt like Paolo's story took a backseat to other things that were happening. Then we find out what happened to Paolo right near the end. It just didn't feel that greatly constructed to me.

All in all, a pretty mediocre read which was disappointing, I was really hoping I'd love this one. Don't let my review put you off though, these are just things that I found didn't work for me, but you might love the story :) If psychological thrillers are your thing, give it a go, it might surprise you. I think I was focusing so much on the mental health side of it and that's why it didn't quite work for me.

This is the first book that I’ve read by the author and it didn’t disappoint. The start and end of the book was good but I found the middle slightly long. The book did keep me guessing on what happened to Paolo and I loved the twist

This was an interesting book. The main character, Emily, is a child psychologist who takes an overnight boat ride with her boyfriend, Paolo. She wakes up in the morning to find that Paolo is missing. She contacts the police onshore and an investigation is initiated. They never find a body but do recover a shoe which leads them to believe that he fell in during the night. Emily has Bipolar Disorder which is exacerbated by the accident and the police who seem to suspect her of wrongdoing. There are some plot twists as she investigates what really happened to Paolo. It kept me interested in finding out all the pieces would fall into place. It was an enjoyable read.

Where to start? Emily (the heroine) goes on a romantic boat trip with her boyfriend, Paolo. She's scared of being on the water - Paolo takes to the water like a fish. Their schedules: her a psychologist - him a microbiologist - make it difficult to just go on this short vacation and just relax. They have earned it.

Now, in my mind, Emily's biggest problem (which was "kinda" addressed) is being an alcoholic. Yes, she is bipolar - but only on Ativan? Is she self-medicating? Anyway, Paolo drowns (we suspect!) during this trip and Emily becomes the most likely suspect. After all, she mentions to the reader, "...I felt his heart was not entirely mine".

The story then becomes chaotic - Emily must think that she is the Chief of Police!!! Yes, she had performed psych evaluations for a year for the police, but this does not qualify for a detective badge. Emily angered me. I relied on other characters to help me through.

Yet, overall a fast read

Many thanks to Crooked Lane books and NetGalley for the chance to read this and evaluate!!!

And Then You Were Gone.... where do I start? This book was excellent. I loved the main character Emily right from the very first page of the book. She’s the kind of character you want in a book, strong, smart, well spoken, bipolar, interesting, and extremely likable. Her reactions to her boyfriend disappearing and her subsequent spiral downward (before she got back up) were so well written and honest. She was the flawed hero, and every step she took was believable. This entire book was well researched (from the plot, to Emily’s mental condition). By the time it unfolded and ended, all I wanted was for it to keep going because I liked the characters so much.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick read. Kind of a crazy story. I never felt that connected to the characters. I think it would have helped to maybe have more backstory on them. Didn’t feel totally compelled to find out what happened.

Wow... this was a tough book to put down! I just wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen next. I could not see how it was going to end at all... and I love that in a book. The main character was far from perfect and the story had me hooked from the very start.

Emily Firestone... her life is finally starting to come good. After years of living with bipolar she has finally learned how to live with it. She has a great job and a fantastic new boyfriend Paolo, who adores her. When Paolo suggests a Sailing weekend away she jumps at the chance. They spend the evening drinking far too much and when Emily wakes in the morning Paolo is missing without a trace. The police believe that he has drowned, but she knows that he is a strong swimmer and refuses to believe it. Before long she becomes a person of interest in the case no she needs to stay well enough to prove her innocence.

A fantastic read and an author to keep an eye out for in the future. Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for giving me a chance to read this book for my honest opinion.
I was really looking forward to reading this. It is about Emily and Paulo who are out on their boat. They plan on spending the night out in the harbor just drinking some wine and having some dinner. They enjoy one another's company and love having some quiet time. Each one has such a busy schedule that they cherish times like this.
But when Emily wakes up Paulo is gone with no sign of struggle. Then the story is predictable, then it drags on, then it becomes boring.
The ending is dumb. And comes out of nowhere. I was dumbfounded and disappointed.

I love the plot behind Paolo "murder"/"drowning"; however, I felt like the storyline was mainly focused on Emily and her ventures to find the murderer while crossing the boundaries with the police. Then, the mystery behind the drowning is explained in a expediated manner towards end of the book. I personally do not like Emily character and wanted the story to shift from Emily to solving the mystery of her boyfriend's drowning. Therefore, I give it a 3 star.

Yes! Yes! And more yes! My absolute must read thrillers are those who star a completely unreliable narrator! Are they crazy? Am I crazy? Who knows?!

Our main character has bipolar but it’s under control. On a romantic getaway with her boyfriend he disappears and it looks as if he’s been murdered... she wouldn’t kill him? Would she?

These are my favorite type of books and I always cross my fingers in hopes that they are done beautifully and brilliantly. This book was phenomenal. Can we trust our sweet narrator? Or has she done something terrible that she will regret for the rest of her life? Read this! I don’t want to spoil the surprises!

RJ Jacobs has hit my must read list!

I always wonder if the first book I finish in a new year will foretell what's to come in that year, at least where reading is concerned. I 70 percent loved this book. I identified with the main character and liked how she had what seemed almost like superhuman capabilities because of her mental illness. I know most people will not see it that way; even the other characters around her didn't see her that way, but that's how I felt. I enjoyed the voice, the writing style. It had an easy flow.

The twist wasn't hard to guess for me, and in my opinion, there were some actions and motivations that didn't seem quite right. Some things were unbelievable, and there were some inconsistencies. But overall, I liked this one.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to review an ARC.

The premise of this book sounds SO good, doesn’t it?

Sometimes I love an unpredictable, unreliable narrator. She can keep you guessing until the very end. Except that for some reason I just could not connect with Emily at all. It’s not even that she made me mad, it was almost like she was a little too two dimensional for me. She didn’t jump out. I didn’t really care about her one way or the other.

I did like the story. I wanted to know how it would end. But as I’m writing this review I’m realizing that I don’t even completely remember how it ended. Like, I know who the killer was. But I can’t exactly remember what became of Emily. It’s as if I cared so little about her that literally a few days after I finished the book I just don’t care at all what happened to her.

As I said, the story itself was a good one. So maybe this book wasn’t for me because I had a hard time connecting with Emily. I won’t say don’t read this book because it just may not have been my cup of tea. So read the premise and approach it at your own risk.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.