Good Half Gone by Tarryn Fisher
Pub date: March 19, 2024

I loved the premise of this book and then parts of it but whoosh it took a deep dive into really out there.

As an RN – someone who worked in a state-run mental institution, and it was no picnic there - I really had to suspend my belief to follow through on this – and trust me, I’m good at that – easily entertained and all. But the storyline just really took a nose dive with the characters at Shoal Island Hospital. It kind of reminded me a bit of that movie with Leonardo Dicaprio - that I can’t remember the name of -only that was fictionally fiction.

It did wrap up nicely and didn’t leave me hanging; I appreciate that.

Sorry, this one just didn’t work for me.

3.5⭐️ This was an interesting story about twins- and 1 twin goes missing and hasn’t been found in almost a decade.

Her sister has not ever stopped looking for her. Even if she feels she’s no longer alive she must find out what happened to who- who happened to her. And who was involved.

This was a gripping story. It was a little slow to get into and didn’t pick up until the last 15% of the book.
I guessed the plot twist almost instantly when the plot revealed itself.

Overall it was still a good read. Lots of trigger warnings in here. So please be mindful.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

This one didn’t work for me. I wish this was more twisty and suspenseful. Chapters didn’t leave on a cliff hanger, which caused a disconnection for me wanting to know more.

This switches back from past to present points of view. The past story line was solid, enough to hold my attention. But the present story line was choppy, random and not suspenseful enough. There were tons of plot holes, things didn’t make sense.

I wasn’t a fan of the ending and the big twist. Not only was it was highly predictable but it felt extremely rushed, unrealistic and incomplete.

🙄


****SPOILERS****






Look, I know a lot of people like Tarryn Fisher - hell, I’m pretty sure I have enjoyed one before. But this one just reminded me that CoHo is her bestie and sometimes birds that write trash flock together. Don’t @ me on that. I said what I said.

Where do I start on this? Besides the fact that none of the math in this book was mathing at all. Twin kidnapped at 15 - she’s now 23 but has a 9 year old? Or is he 8? Because it went back and forth about 8/9 times on that one. And this child of her sisters was delivered to them a year and a half after the sister was kidnapped so she was still 16 at a minimum but possibly 17 so MATH IS HARD. And Iris said after Cal arrived that she did online school and graduated 4 years later - ok, so that makes her 19-20 at a minimum but how she’s 23 and IN A FUCKING GRADUATE PROGRAM?!?

And the whole actual plot twist at the end? Jesus fucking Christ on a cracker - the inmates literally running the asylum and the main baddie having John Travolta’d the actual shrink’s face to trick the employees?

I’m glad this was a free ARC and I didn’t spend my own dollars on it. I’m going to go bleach my eyes so I don’t get pinkeye from the shit I just read.

This year after reading The Wives by Tarryn fisher she quickly rose to the top as one of my favorite authors. Good half gone is the story of a twin whose sister was taken from a movie theater right before her eyes. Iris will go to any length to find her sister Piper but what will it cost her? This is a good read but prepare for it to be a bit of a slow burn

Good Half Gone has a very intriguing plot and I was hooked at the start even though the plot felt scattered at times. I’d hoped that things would become more clear when the twists started getting revealed. While the resolution of the plot felt so incredibly unbelievable, I was still entertained and would say this book is worth a read if you can suspend your belief about certain plot points.

This book was okay. I was initially intrigued by the storyline, Iris’ twin goes missing and eight years later she begins an internship at Shoal Hospital: a private facility for the criminally insane in hopes to get some answers. This is where I thought Good Half Gone was going to suck me in and take me for a ride. Sadly for me the excitement ended there. I just could not get into it. I would get bored and put it down. It felt as though not much happened through the course of the book then I was at the end. The ending though had some twists and turns that I did enjoy and did not predict. Overall I give this book three stars.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Tarryn Fisher and NetGalley for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This book was a roller coaster! Written past and present it does take a minute to get situated in some scenes, but overall good plot and delicious twists.
Iris search for answers about her sister kidnapping keeps you clued to your chair every page.
Topics
- PSTD
- Woman trafficking
- Psychological trauma

Many thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! I enjoyed this book - I usually always enjoy Tarryn Fisher's books. The concept of this book was really interesting to me. I loved the twin trope, the mystery that surrounded her twin's disappearance and the hospital for the criminally insane. I will recommend this to others. I was hooked the whole way through!

Captivating from start to finish this book was incredibly good. The character and plot development and execution was crazy good. I absolutely loved being able to be given the opportunity to read this book

Iris will find her twin. Piper was taken from her several years ago, the police effort was minimal. It took precious days for them to believe she wasn't just another runaway. Iris knows they, she has made it her mission to find out what happened to Piper at any cost. When pieces start to fall into place, a job at Shoal Island Hospital for the criminally insane, is the next step to the truth. Piper was her twin, the good half. Iris will risk her life to know.

This was a slow burn for the first two hundred pages. There was lots of building and fitting pieces together. The last fifty or so pages was all the action. Some extra information was included that was really necessary, but solid plot line. It fell kind of short though on the twists and turns. Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.

Tarryn Fisher is one of my favorite. I recommend her books often to others. This specific book was not my favorite. To be fair, I know ARCs are unedited electronic copies, but this version was very "messy" and hard to tell where the chapters started and ended which matters because the timeline jumps. So my reading of it might have been influenced negatively by that and a hardcover, finished copy could have been a much more enjoyable read. That said...

Positives:
Strong, female main characters-I especially loved the character of the grandma
The premise of a missing twin, a sister who will stop at nothing to find out what happened, and the setting of an insane asylum on a remote island were all very intriguing

Negatives:
There was so many extra details added to this book that I did not feel were necessary or enhanced the plotline
SO many twists-and so many of them incredibly implausible and border-line ridiculous, including a spontaneous romance with the boss of the insane asylum she has dedicated and worked her entire life to get to work at.
A couple of the storylines were left hanging or just didn't matter to the novel's progression
Choppy and condusing (see note above)
I wish it had been more streamline focused on missing Piper and exactly what happened to her.

I will try Tarryn Fisher again, but this one was just not for me.

I loveddd this book. Could not put it down. Blown away by the twists and turns. I have always been a Tarryn Fisher fan and this book is up to par with the rest, 5 stars!!

Good Half Gone is a building climax that never really reaches its boiling point with an ending that is done often and leaves you dissatisfied and questioning what the purpose was of "the twist".

The book is about two sisters.
One of them gets kidnapped and never found again.
Our protagonist, Iris, makes it her mission to find her sister.
The beginning was very strong. Piper getting kidnapped and Iris unable to do something. No one really believes her when she seeks justice and answers. Her support is her grandma - a witty woman with a fierce character.

The whole book you try to figure out what happened to her sister; Piper.
It makes a decent read. It is atmospheric and tense. The protagonist is edgy which I presume is the Tarryn Fisher way.
Somewhere along the way she interns at Shoal Island Hospital, a hospital for the criminally insane and Iris hopes to get her answers and revenge there.

After that the story picks up side story after side story and it's really a decent read thus my 3-star rating, but it isn't great either.
I missed Tarryn's usual pace and the way she uses her words to break your heart, again and again.
I missed the cleverness and the twist that would have blown me away. I think this story could have been so much more, but it remained a decent thriller that you pick up and finish in two days and after that you probably never think about it again....

ARC received by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This is the first book I have read by this author and I really enjoyed it! I always love dual timelines, and Good Half Gone executed it perfectly. I did think some of the "twists" were predictable but there were others that were not. That being said the ending, was a little out there. Overall I thought this was a great book, and will be reading more books by Tarryn.

So thankful to have been given a chance to read this ARC.

This is absolutely my all time favorite book of this author. The story unfolds chapter after chapter and the ending will leave you speechless!

If you loved THE WIVES, add this to the top of your TBR immediately. Fisher has done it again, the emotions are high and all-encompassing, the tension is thick, and you're practically stuck on an island, but when things do flood over into Iris' real life, they effect not only her, but her family as well.

As I mentioned, emotion is high but not just one singular; you feel them A.L.L. Fear, anger, despair, love, craving. Through various challenges and moments, Iris is more than a character, she's a person and everything she experiences, the reader experiences, too.

I have been a fan of Tarryn Fisher for a long time. Good Half Gone may just be my favourite book of hers, ever.

Good Half Gone is the story of Iris. Years ago, Iris was out with her twin sister Piper when she was kidnapped right in front of her. From the very beginning, Iris was not believed by the cops. Iris and her grandmother's lives change quickly after the kidnapping. They both try to keep the case open, continue to investigate, and get hit by many challenges along the way. As an adult, Iris continues to investigate her sister's disappearance and eventually gets a job at a high-security hospital for the criminally insane - where she believes Piper's killer is imprisoned.

This book had lots of twists and great characters. It kept me interested and wanting to know what happens next.

I didn't love the ending, but since I enjoyed the book overall, it gets a strong 4 stars.

** Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

When she was 15, Iris’s sister Piper was kidnapped. She tries to convince the police to do something, but sadly they don’t believe Iris. With no honest witnesses, and no cameras, the case grows cold. But Iris will never stop looking for her sister.
Told in the present, and in the past by Iris, this was a sad tale. Iris has managed to figure out what she believes happened to Piper. She has carefully planned to go to school and get an internship at Shoal Island Hospital (a place where the criminally insane are housed). She wants something from someone there,but who? A staff member or a patient perhaps. Only time will tell.
I loved everything about this story until the final twist. Somehow it just didn’t seem realistic and usually I can put that in inner voice aside and remind myself that it’s just fiction that I’m reading. Still overall I enjoyed Good Half Gone. 3.5 stars.

This wasn't my favorite of Fisher's novels. The premise seemed up my alley - it's set in a Victorian-era mental institution on a secluded island and focuses on a sister attempting to get justice for her kidnapped sibling. There's very little suspense, an unnecessary romantic entanglement, and I saw the (icky) twist coming from a mile away. Easy skip.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.