Celia has had a very difficult upbringing, with her parents being extremely religious, and forcing that religion on their three children. She is a rebel, and vows to leave home at the first opportunity. When she does, she is caught, and severely punished.
She elopes with her bosses son, and does not contact her family at all.
Over 20 years later, her sister manages to track her down.
Celia's husband throws her a huge 40th birthday party, and afterwards, when Celia opens her gifts and cards, she finds a message that says "You don’t deserve any of this."
She has no clue as to who has sent the message, and goes for a drive to clear her head. She finds herself buying a ticket to New York and disappears.
Her sister, Genevieve, does her best to track her down, convinced that Celia's husband, Rob, is not doing enough to find Celia, and is suspicious of him, convinced that he has something to do with Celia going missing.

I really enjoyed this book, I was engaged from the beginning. I have not read many of Minka Kent's books, but have found each one riveting. I started this before I went to bed, and could not put it down until I had reached the end. I am currently searching for more of this author's books!

Thanks very much to the publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about this author so I jumped at the chance to review this book. It drew me in at the beginning and I finished it in a day.

Celia is the oldest sister in an extremely religious family. Her father is a police officer, a pastor in the church and an abusive patriarch. Her mother goes along with her father’s abusive ways in the name of religion. As soon as Celia is able to, she escapes to a different life, no longer under her family’s rule.

22 years pass and we learn that Celia has recently begun forming a relationship with her middle sister. This new relationship is rocky, especially because Celia does not want to reunite with her youngest sister, Celeste.

The night after her 40th birthday, Celia can’t sleep. She begins going through her birthday cards and finds a disturbing message. For some reason, she then decides to take a train into the city in the middle of the night. Due to a number of unfortunate circumstances she is unable to tell her husband where she is and is attacked.

The rest of the story alternates between the past and the present search for Celia. There are tons of red herrings along the way that seemed to serve no purpose other than to add some substance. I found the attacker to be silly. Why go straight to attempted murder rather than just trying to talk? I don’t want to say more for fear of spoiling something but I was disappointed in the way this turned out.

Thank you to Net Galley for the opportunity to read a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book I've read by Minka Kent, I devoured Unmissing and was keen to read more.

Gone Again centres around Celia Guest, happily married, plenty of friends a pillar of the community. The morning after her big fortieth birthday party she leaves, vanishing without a trace.

As a child Celia was once of three sisters, raised in a brutally disciplined extremely religious household. Celia tried to escape back then, what or who is she running from now?

I was gripped at the start, it's set up very well. The 'Past' is very well done, as young Celia attempts to stay human and hopeful in her domineering family home. There are twists and dark secrets and it all comes together well in the end.

I didn't find it as fast or propulsive as Unmissing, my attention wandered a little in the middle, when Celia is missing in the middle and her husband is reaching out to her family. It could be that I would have been more engrossed if I'd had the time to read it cover to cover, instead of over a few days.

I look forwards to reading more from Minka Kent.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer

I can always count on Minka Kent for a fast-paced, crazy thrill ride! This book starts out strong and the suspense stays with you right up to the big reveal, which was a real doozy. I did guess part of it but that didn't even matter. I was still very surprised. Unfortunately, the rest of the ending just fell flat for me. I did not like it and wanted a little bit more. I really needed the answer to whodunit. I believe I know and that it's assumed in the writing, but I am not 100% sure. Gone Again would have been a 5-star read for me if it had a better ending.

Synopsis: Celia and her two younger sisters, Genevieve and Celeste, are raised in a very strict, religious household. Worn down by the rules, the suffering of severe punishments at the hand of her father and a mother who doesn't even show her love, Celia has had enough and decides to run away when she turns 18. Fast forward to her 40th birthday, where her husband and friends are gathered in celebration. She finds a disturbing note mixed in with her presents that threatens the peace and happy life that she has created for herself. Later that night, Celia vanishes. The majority of the story is told in the POV of Genevieve who is investigating Celia's disappearance, even though she kind of hates her for leaving her all those years ago.

Ok, so this book will definitely keep you guessing! And who doesn't love a God-fearing, religious fanatic that doesn't practice what he preaches?! Not me, but the character makes for an exciting addition to any story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and the author for allowing me access to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I dropped everything when I saw there was a new Minka Kent novel. She's one of my favorite authors and this book did not disappoint! She even surprised me again, in that way where it totally makes sense and yet I missed it.

I really enjoyed this book by Minka Kent. I like how her writing style pulls me right in from the first chapter.
Celia is the oldest of three sisters. On the outside they appear to be the perfect family, her father even being a deacon in their church. But things aren’t what they always appear. Her father has high expectations, strict rules and fierce punishments. Once Celia can, she escapes. For 20 years she has no contact with them, even her sisters whom she’s always felt guilty for leaving. When her mother passes away her sister, Gen finds her and they attempt to start a new relationship. But Gen didn’t go through everything that Celia did nor does she know anything about their fathers dirty little secret but Celia knows and so does someone else. 4.5⭐️

Thank you NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and Minka Kent for letting me read “Gone Again” in exchange for an honest review.

Minka Kent, what shall I do with you. I enjoyed most of her books until “Unmissing”, which was just ridiculous. But I wouldn’t be me if I did not jump at the opportunity to read a book by one of my comfort to-go authors. So I snatched it up.

My initial thoughts at the beginning was alongside “meh” and “boring. But the story did pick up. I did not particularly like any of the characters but the story line kept me going.

Celia grows up in a household of a religiously fanatic family. The church goes over everything else. If any kind of not respectable behaviour is shown, the kids are punished with beatings, devotions and the hell shack. Also Reformation camp from hell was in her cards. Something happened when Celia was 14 years old, but that’s only revealed at the end and I had my suspicions about it from the start.

Celia can be called the rebellious type.
Celia leaves her family aged 18, with a 14 years older man who becomes her husband. The relationship seems perfect. Money, a doting husband and an abundance of friends. She even moves her younger sister to the same city, to help. Gen always felt guilty and also unloved by her sister. Being the good girl she is, she stuck with the rules of the parents.

After he fortieth birthday Celia disappears. She finds a card that says she does not deserve her life. She keeps on driving and ends up in New York and all were are left with us a scene of her attack.
Gen takes it onto herself to investigate as the husband dies not seem too worried.

What’s up with “adopted” sister Celeste?
Will the sisters be reunited?

I liked the concept of the story. I had no idea where this was going and how it ends up. It’s a shame that all the characters felt unlikable to me. Gen tries, but I felt no connection to her or any of them.
The ending was meh…. While “Unmissing” was over the top crazy, this was too tame for her usual style. The story was good right up until the end.

But…. Pepper pot soup? It sounded so good until I looked it up. Mistake. 🤢

I am a fan of the author, but not psychological thrillers. Still, I gave this a try and am glad I did, The disappearance of the main character and the subsequent search for her draws the reader into the story of her childhood and possible suspects in her disappearance. Overall -- this was a fast and interesting read.

This is the second book I've read by this author and I loved it! Fast paced, had me flipping the pages to know what would come next. Suspenseful in parts and I did not expect the ending. Highly recommend for thriller lovers.