Ugh! I wanted to like this book so badly. I loved The Wives and hated The Wrong Family, so this was another shot to see where I stand with this author. I actually started off really invested and was intrigued and creeped out by the premise... maybe even the first 50% (thus the middle of the road rating). But then it went so off the walls bananas that I can't in good faith recommend this nonsense to anyone with that ridiculous ending. Not only was the ending bad, it was pretty predictable, but then you're like not that can't be it BECAUSE IT MAKES NO SENSE.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing | Graydon House for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very interesting. I wouldn’t say that it had twists and turns throughout but when it did they were really good and suspenseful twists and turns. When the narrator finds herself at Shoal Island, she has to figure out how she got herself into her situation but more importantly how to get herself out.

This is my third novel from Tarryn Fisher. It was not my favorite of her novels. The novel centers on Iris, the surviving twin, her sister Piper was kidnapped when they were teens. Iris is focused on finding information about what happened to her sister after she was taken. This leads Iris to the Shoal Island Center for the Criminally Insane. The book is told through alternating narratives between the past and the future in Iris's voice. While I liked the premise and the alternating timeline, I found the story slow at times and hard to really grab my interest. At times I would read a few pages and have to go back and wonder what I had just read. Not as gripping as some of her other novels. I did find the setting of Shoal Island interesting and engaging, as well as some of the flashback scenes. It was just sort of blah for me most of the time.

Thank you Harlequin for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Iris Walsh has a twin sister who is kidnapped right in front of her at the movies when they went together. No one will believe her! When Iris reports her sister missing to the police, they question the validity of the situation, suggesting that her sister may have simply run off.
The book is structured across two distinct time periods: the time when Piper goes missing and nine years into the future, where Iris is caring for her son while also holding down a job and going to school.

This is the kind of book you can breeze through in an afternoon, constantly questioning where the story is headed. I was particularly intrigued by the backstory and curious to see where the author would take us on this winding, adventurous journey.
Overall, I found this book quite enjoyable. In fact, I liked it even more than 'The Wrong Family.' I didn't expect to be as engaged as I was. While I was able to anticipate some of the twists, I remained unsure of how everything would come together. It was a thrilling ride on a speedy roller coaster.

I tried so hard to get into this one but I just couldn’t. I didn’t feel connected to the characters, or invested in what was happening. I felt the investigation side of the story was unbelievably incompetent. It all fell dull and flat for me. I ended up DNFing around 50% because I couldn’t be bothered to care about anything. It wasn’t great, it lacked in depth and complexity and didn’t add anything new or fresh or exciting to the genre. The transitions were jarring and difficult to follow. It was all rather disappointing.

Good Half Gone by Tarryn Fisher
My rating:
3/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iris and Piper are twins. Iris was with her Piper when she was kidnapped. No one will listen to Iris and she will not stop fighting for justice for her sister until she finds out what happened to her.

Have you ever seen those videos where someone is reading and accidentally skips to the end of the page they were reading and all of the sudden a “bomb explodes” and you’re like omg how did that just happen so fast!?

That was what happened to me in this one…. The pace was very slow and then all of the sudden at the end it was so action packed and rushed and confusing I was like wait what did I just read?!

This one was not my favorite which was a bummer because I really enjoyed The Wives by this author. I was very excited to read it but the original plot seemed to veer in a different direction with a bunch of other plots that just really make you have to try to piece it all together.

I liked the idea of this book and I enjoyed the setting of a mental hospital, but this was just a little too far fetched for me!

Thank you HTP publishing and Netgalley for the ARC! This is available to read now.

Thank you, Harlequin Trade Publishing for this advance copy in exchange for my review.

Tarryn is the queen of twisty characters, and she never disappoints.
I absolutely tore through this book and did not want to put it down.

Good Half Gone was the absolute best twin thriller I have ever read.

I have been a fan of Tarryn's writing since I read The Wives. Her writing style is so unique & pulls you in immediately. Good Half Gone is twisty and full of suspense. I loved the dual past/present timelines. 4.5 stars.

Twins Iris and Piper are at the movies meeting a group of boys. When Iris returns from the bathroom, Piper is missing she reports to police, but they don’t believe her and label her a runaway. Years later Iris is still determined to find Piper and/or what happened that day. She believes her answers are at Shoal Island Hospital and so she applies for an internship. I enjoyed reading the first half with the dual timelines, not so much the latter half. Thanks to Harlequin Trade Publication and NetGalley.

Tarryn Fisher can write screwed up characters. Every character in this book is flawed, most a little malicious. It makes for a very intense atmosphere, and a whole lot of unease.
The story never veers away from finding Piper. Piper was kidnapped, and her sister, Iris, won’t let her go. This leads to Iris working at a hospital for the criminally insane, which just happens to be on an island. The book changes from investigation mode to locked room thriller, pretty quickly. But going into that half of the book, knowing what we know, helps. Well it should… but things go terribly wrong.
A couple crazy twists take to til the last few chapters that definitely blow your mind. I absolutely loved the big blowout of a reveal, even if it is incredibly unbelievable. Normally that bothers me, but this story is so crazy it works. Also, Tarryn Fisher does crazy really well.

Nine years ago, Iris saw her twin sister get kidnapped, the only problem … the police don’t believe her. Iris has spent those years trying to find Piper. Is there a chance she’s still out there somewhere, or is she dead? Iris is just about to start an internship at a mental hospital for the criminally insane on a remote island in Washington. Iris has ulterior motives, she believes that she will get the answers she seeks on Shoal island. Unfortunately, everything is not what it seems on the island and soon Iris doesn’t know who to trust and is questioning much more than what happened to Piper. While Shoal Island did have the creep factor, the island mental hospital plot is nothing new, and somewhat tired. This book ended up being just an OK read for me. Thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Thank you HTP Books, Graydon House, & Netgalley for an eARC of Good Half Gone by Tarryn Fisher!

Tarryn's books are always so twisty - And I truly never know what to expect when I pick up one of her novels. This book alternates chapters between past and present from the point-of-view of Iris Walsh - As a teen she saw her twin get kidnapped in broad daylight, but nobody believes her - Piper is presumed to be a runaway by the police. Iris has never stopped trying to find her, even though the case went cold years ago.

In present time, Iris becomes an intern at an isolated psych hospital on an island - And she gets a whole lot more than she bargained for.

The setting is CREEPY - atmsopheric - and I felt a sense of unease with each chapter. The audio on this book is an A+, too. As always, can't wait to see what Fisher comes up with next - The ending was great, but felt slightly abrupt (Could've used some more in my opinion, I was super invested in Iris!)

First line: “911, what is your emergency?”

Summary: Iris has spent the last eight years searching for answers about her twin sister’s disappearance. With the police not believing that Piper was taken but rather a teen runaway, it becomes an obsession for Iris. Using her degree in criminal psychology, Iris takes an internship at the one place where she might find the answers. Shoal Island houses a psychiatric hospital and housed there is the person who may know more than he has revealed. As she begins searching she finds that maybe there is more to the hospital and its staff.

My Thoughts: This book was a wild ride from the very beginning and I was all in for every bit of it. Iris has seen her sister taken by several men, right before her eyes but the police do not believe her. She then devotes the next several years determined to learn what happened to her sister and prove that she was telling the truth.

Having just visited Seattle, I liked that the setting of the book was in one of my favorite cities. I could easily picture Iris traveling via ferry boat, the library where her Gran works and the waterfront where she eats fish and chips. And the setting of a psychiatric hospital on one of the islands surrounding the city is the perfect location for what transpires there. While the hospital seems to be a state of the art facility there are hints that something is not quite right there.

The story flashes back and forth between the past and current times. Iris slowly learns more about her sister’s fate through her research and police information. There was a point during the story when a big reveal happens that I had to literally stop the audio playback and think for a minute. It shocked me so much. But then the ending was absolutely scary. Everything comes to a head with a bang! The last chapter is a heart racing ride as Iris finally learns all she has been longing to find. This will be a book that will hold you from the beginning to the end. Definitely one of my favorite Tarryn Fisher thrillers.

From the dark and twisty mind of @tarrynfisher we follow the seedy underbelly of society regarding human trafficking.
👯
When they were fifteen, Iris Walsh saw her twin sister get kidnapped and nobody cared. Iris and her grandmother try everything they can to get the police’s attention, even investigating themselves, but by the time figure out she’s been trafficked, it’s too late. Now years later Iris has made it her life’s mission to track down the man responsible for taking her sister. It leads her to Shoal Island Hospital for the criminally insane where even more secrets lie…
👯
I can always count on Fisher for a good #thriller and honestly the ending was not at all what I thought it would be so she definitely did a great job of providing that twist that no one but Fisher could have thought of. This showed how easily young teens can get taken before someone even notices or tries to find them. Go into this one blind and enjoy it!

CW: vomit, fire, human trafficking, ped*philia, kidnapping, sexual assault, drug use, addiction, parental neglect & abuse, verbal and physical assault, forced institutionalism, panic attack, grief, hospitalization, stroke, death

GOOD HALF GONE had a great set up but ultimately fell short in execution. I loved the concept of the island hospital and the quest for justice, but there were too many indistinguishable characters and the plot was overly complex.

Thanks to NetGalley and Graydon House for the opportunity to read and review GOOD HALF GONE.

Iris witnesses the kidnapping of her twin sister, Piper when they were fifteen. This singular event changed her life forever and gave her a goal at the same time. Iris spends her life after that working to find where Piper is. As events unfold over the years, her specific goals change but the overall goal remains the same - - what happened to Piper. Iris will form new theories and will create plans for how to prove what she think happened.

After receiving minimal help from the police over the years, Iris decides to take things into her own hands as an adult. She takes an internship at Shoal Island which is a high security hospital for the criminally insane housing some of the most evil and notorious murderers. Once Iris arrives there, she finds that the environment feels uncomfortable continually. The guards and employees are harsh and sometimes unforgivingly cruel themselves. Yet she carries on, determined because she thinks she can find answers there.

This book starts strong and does feel a little sluggish in spots here and there but for the most part, I felt it was a pretty strong entry. Ms. Fisher has a talent for catching me by surprise with some of her twisty writing and this was a very well thought out plot that I thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

I appreciate the opportunity I had to read an e-ARC of this novel provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I have been a fan of a handful of Tarryn Fisher novels before. Even when not the best, I always was entertained and enjoyed them.

This book is a mess. The story is dull and nonexistent until the last 20%, the plot twists nonsensical, the characters all mostly one-note and unmemorable.

Huge swaths of this story feel so half-baked and jerky that I questioned at times if the book was actually complete. I did use my Spotify subscription to finish out the last 20% of the novel at well over 2x speed, and my e-ARC matched the final copy. This book almost certainly needed at least one more round of a developmental edit.

It was a struggle to push myself through this one. Some of the early chapters in the past kept things somewhat interesting but quickly fizzled out. The resolution we wait for comes so quickly at the end that it’s completely numb and unsatisfying.

I genuinely can’t identify a single thing I enjoyed about this one, which is a real shame. I likely would have DNF’d this around the 30% mark had I not been provided a copy for review.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #HarlequinTradePublishing for the book #GoodHalfGone. This book is about a twin that was abducted years earlier and the search her sister is doing to find her. I loved everything about this book-the abduction, the baby, the lengths he sister is willing to go to find her and the amazing plot twist at the ending. Highly recommend.

When Iris & Piper were fifteen, Piper was abducted fr0m the movie theater that they were both at, and never seen again. The police wasted precious time, time that should have been spent looking for Piper, instead chalking her up as just another runaway. By the time they decided to believe Iris, it was too late. Even though the case went cold, Iris never gave up. In fact, it became an obsession with her. She even went so far as to use her criminal psychology degree to intern at the isolated psychiatric hospital on Shoal Island, where secrets lurk in the shadows and are kept under lock and key. But Iris soon realizes that something even more sinister is simmering beneath the surface of the Shoal, and that the patients aren’t the only ones being observed…

This started out as a bit of a slow burn, but it really started to pick up the pace once Iris started her job at the psychiatric hospital, where she was convinced Piper's killer was. It ended with a dramatic conclusion with a twist that I did not see coming. There were several big reveals at the end that kept me on the edge of my seat. The first half of the book was more of a mystery, with what happened to Piper and was she still alive or not, while the second half was definitely more of a thriller. This is perfect for anyone who loves a good mystery or thriller.

Intriguing!
This mysterious psychological thriller was an emotional twisted journey of getting justice for a loved one. In this case, we have twin sisters who we learn have not had the easiest of lives.
I was really excited about this story and overall I enjoyed it.
Iris’ raw determination to stop at nothing to find her sister Piper was truly gut wrenching and that premise was well executed. Nothing is what it appears, and the answers will surprise you.
However, some of the plot twists and certain elements of the story that took place in the story made it unbelievable.(I’m talking from professional experience in similar facilities.)
However, the creepiness and the mystery surrounding what she was up against made up for it.
You decide.
3.5 stars!