Member Reviews

Every parent’s worst nightmare comes to light in this dual timeline thriller. Full of atmosphere and excitement, two abductions, decades apart, have an eerie connection. The feeling of a mother’s despair in both timelines left me gutted with emotion yet I appreciated the determination in Cora’s character to find the devil in the details!

The narrative alternates between the life of a young gymnast and her present-day role as a mother, delving into the dark side of competitive sports and the extreme lengths some will go to achieve success. Packed with twists, red herrings, and a haunting Halloween backdrop, this book will keep you turning pages late into the night!

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When She's Gone by Rea Frey ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this fast paced thriller by Rea Frey.

The story is told in multiple timelines. Cora Valentines was kidnapped as a teenager one terrible Halloween night. She survived and tries to make the most of her life along with her 4 year old daughter. When she is kidnapped, Cora must uncover what truly happened to her on the night she was taken before her daughter pays the price.

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Rea Frey writes out the box kind of books. I love them. This one was no different. I had no idea where it was going. Cora was kidnapped when she was a teenager. She survived. She's now grown with a daughter of her own. When her daughter is kidnapped on the same night years later, she knows it's connected. As she looks for her daughter, she finds she can't trust anyone. It's a parents worst nightmare, and Rea Frey writes wonderfully.

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Wow, wow and wow. This was an excellent book. It had me from the very beginning where she talks about being taken on Halloween and then shortly after her daughter also being taken on Halloween. You know there’s a connection but you don’t know what the connection is. I didn’t see the ending coming, which is rare for me and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire book. And side note…i will not be entering a haunted house any time soon haha. Bravo Rea Frey!

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A big fan of Author Rea Frey, I’m so excited to share her most recent novel, “When She’s Gone”! A thriller filled with suspense, secrets, lies, hope and transition.

The topic grabbed me immediately since I’ve always loved watching gymnastics, especially in the 90’s. The familiar names brought familiarity, a page turner I read in 2 days.

On one horrible Halloween night, a kidnapping of a young gymnast, Cora, shook the world. Her life told in dual times lines of “Now and Then”, keeping me riveted to each page. A nightmare, a lifetime of fear took over Cora’s young life until she is rescued and able to try out for the Olympics. Despite her success, she had questions never answered. Later in years, on one horrible Halloween night, Cora’s 4 year old daughter, LuLu is taken! Cora’s nightmare continues as she is sick out of her mind with worry why all of this is happening. Still wondering why it all happened in her young childhood, she remains so distraught to this day, even worse now with it being her own child.

Author Rea Frey did such an amazing job with character development and a compelling plot, it kept you guessing til the end. A puzzle and question of trust, history and deception kept me intrigued and praying for Cora to have answers!

I highly recommend this thriller! I recommend reading “A Note to readers” and “Acknowledgements” at the end, it explains so much. After reading a challenging storyline, it provides hope in what can sometimes seem a despairing world.
Thanks to @thrillerbookloversthepulse and @netgalley @amazonpublishing for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

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Rea Frey has done it again! Immediately this book starts with a punch and never lets you go for the whole read. A fabulous page turner that had me wondering who was truly the victim and who was the villain. Anything with the rivalry and psychological distress that being an Olympic athlete pertains will plays pique my interest.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

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Cora Valentine hates Halloween, but that evening, she needs to take her daughter to join the Halloween Festive of trick or treats and Halloween parade. Any parent's worst nightmare happened to Cora that evening, her four years old daughter is nowhere to be seen and she gets a note from a kidnapper not to call police and follow the instruction given to her.
Cora used to be a gymnast and had unforgettable experience on the Halloween day. What happened to her daughter is like a dejavu to her, and it makes her face a couple of friends from her gymnastic era. Who took her daughter, and what the motive behind it?

This book was inspired by the author's love of gymnastics, the 90s, and Halloween. It's a slow burn thriller, but if you love easy read popcorn thriller, this is a must grab for you.

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This book was a tense and twisted ride from start to finish. Years earlier, Cora Valentine was kidnapped on Halloween, and the culprit was never found. She hasn't gotten over the experience, and her terror is magnified when her daughter is kidnapped on Halloween. Cryptic notes and calls force her to pause and consider just how far she's willing to go to appease her daughter's kidnappers. I enjoyed the setup with the secondary characters meant to keep you guessing who the kidnapper is and what their end goal could be. Fans of tense, faster-paced thrillers will enjoy this book.

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This book was a thriller with a few
unexpected twists and turns. The
characters were likeable and I enjoyed
the nostalgia of Olympics womens
gymnastics. If you like a quick read with
the ending resolved pick up this book. I
hope to read more books by this author.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher
for an ARC of this book,

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This is my second Rea Frey book that I have read, but it will not be my last! I thought the first book I read by her was just a fluke, because how can a book be that good? This book just so happened to blow me out of the water as well. I was hooked from the very first page, and was on the edge of my seat all the way until the end. I didn’t want it to end!

I went in blind with this book (didn’t read the synopsis), Rea will forever be an ‘automatic buy author’ for me from now on.

Not to sound crazy, but you will be yelling at your e-reader, or throwing this book across the room a few times - sometimes, the characters will just bring it out of you because you get so invested. The suspense in this book happens right away, and it’s there throughout the whole book. There are no ‘boring’ parts at all in this book. And did I mention the twists and turns that are in this story? I thought I was on a roller coaster and I am pretty sure I had a slight case of whiplash by the end! Excellent way to tell a story Rea!

Thank you to NetGalley, Rea Frey and Thomas and Mercer for allowing me to read this book before publication in exchange for my honest review! Now, on my way to pre-order this book!

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Cora Valentine is a teen gymnast with Olympic aspirations. She's living just outside Atlanta right before the 1996 Olympics are to be held there. She's trained for them all her life only to be kidnapped a week before qualifying trials are held. Cora was kidnapped on Halloween and then her own daughter gets kidnapped on Halloween many years later. Are the two kidnappings related? This book has many twists. I really enjoyed this thriller. Thanks @NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

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Wow! My first area Frey book but definitely not my last! I went in blind and totally loved it. I will say that I might’ve wanted to yell at my kindle, or talk out loud to the characters. Action starts right away and just never lets up. A wicked web was spun and it was a great ride of not knowing who to trust. Excellent storytelling!
Thank you NetGalley, Rea Frey and Thomas and Mercer for the opportunity to read and review this book.

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When She Is Gone had moments of tension and emotional depth, but it didn’t fully resonate with me. While the premise was intriguing, the pacing felt uneven, and some twists were predictable. I struggled to connect with the characters, especially the protagonist, whose decisions sometimes felt inconsistent.

That said, Rea Frey’s writing kept me engaged, and the themes of identity and resilience added a thoughtful layer to the story. It’s a decent domestic thriller, but it lacked the spark to make it unforgettable. A solid 3-star read for me.


Thank you to the publisher for the Arc. This Arc was provided in exchange for my honest review.

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As a teenager, gymnast Cora Valentine was kidnapped on Halloween night, right before the Olympic trials. Although she was found safe, her captor was never caught. Now, Cora is a mother and her little daughter gets abducted while trick or treating. Obviously someone out there still has it in for Cora – even though it’s been years, there’s no way it can be coincidence that both girls were kidnapped on Halloween.

Rea Frey has done a masterful job of crafting a twisty thriller set in the cutthroat world of competitive gymnastics. Frey’s own gymnastic chops are on full display as she writes Cora into the 1996 US Summer Olympics women’s gymnastics team, making the blockbuster real-life Magnificent Seven into the Magnificent Eight. On top of that, the prose is beautifully crafted, injecting a lot of atmosphere, emotion, and trauma into this fast-paced, dual-timeline suspense novel. No wonder all of my friends at Thriller Book Lovers: The Pulse have been loving this one!

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Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Jan. 14, 2025
As a young teenager, Cora Valentine was training to be an Olympic gymnast and was well on her way to becoming part of the U.S team. One Halloween, Cora is out with her teammates at a haunted house where she is abducted and held against her will for days until finally being discovered by police. Now, decades later, Cora has returned to her hometown with her young daughter, Lulu, after putting her Olympic dreams behind her. Then the worst happens and Lulu is taken during the Halloween parade. Cora knows that it can’t be a coincidence but can she figure out who has taken her daughter (and why) before it’s too late.
Rea Frey is one of those authors that I am perpetually scanning shelves for and I have done my best to keep up with her, reading most of the books she has released (I’m only missing a few, which I will rectify one day). So, it was no question that I would read her new novel, “When She’s Gone”.
“Gone” is a dual timeline novel, narrated by Cora “then” (when she was abducted) and “now” (when her daughter is). Written this way, readers can slowly grip the connecting strings of both abductions as they try to solve the mystery.
I have never been an athlete, but the viciously competitive world of Olympic-level gymnastics rings true (Frey also speaks to her athleticism and training in the “author’s note”, for extra realism), pitting young girls against each other in order to achieve a lifelong dream. This has to leave a mark, whether successful or not, and the jealousy and bitterness can easily trickle into adulthood. Whether it’s Frey’s writing or her experience, the plot does not seem far-fetched, and the novel flows with believability and honesty.
There are inevitable twists and turns, of course, with the final twist being the biggest of all. Although I was able to figure out the “who”, due to my excessive exposure to this genre, the “why” and the “how” were just as interesting and I loved hearing all the gripping details.
“Gone” is a tense and suspenseful story about what happens after your childhood dreams come true, and what happens when they don’t. Frey delivers another one of her twisty-turny, high-octane thrillers and, as usual, she did not disappoint.

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This was a great book. I couldn't put it down. I loved all the gymnastics references, especially to the Olympics.

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Oh my what a book! My heart was racing from the first page and continued until the last word!!!

Told in a “then and now” timeline both stories flowed perfectly and kept me guessing until the end. This is my first thriller by Rea Frey and definitely won’t be my last!!!

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Cora Valentine, a gymnastic Olympic hopeful, escaped a Halloween kidnapping. Three decades later, her daughter disappears on Halloween. Cora must confront her buried trauma head-on. Is it a mere coincidence, a copycat, or could her daughter's disappearance be linked to her own past?

I rapidly swiped through the pages on my Kindle - such a fast-paced read! The story unfolds through dual timelines, exploring Cora’s past kidnapping and Lulu’s current disappearance. This intertwining of timelines enhances the overall pacing and tension of the plot. I empathized deeply with Cora, as Lulu's disappearance compels her to confront her own traumatic experiences, forcing her into making decisions that no parent should ever have to face.

The list of suspects is extensive. But I had an inkling about the kidnapper's identity from the very beginning, even though I couldn’t quite put my finger on the reason. That "why" turned out to be more shocking than I ever imagined!

Frey dives into themes that draw you in, such as the complex dynamics of mother-daughter relationships, the intense world of competitive sports, and the extraordinary lengths a mother will go to safeguard her daughter. When She’s Gone is a gripping page-turner that you won’t be able to put down—prepare to binge it in a single day!

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When She’s Gone is a thriller involving a retired Olympic gymnast a generation after the Olympics. Cora is grown up with a little girl and at the beginning of the book we know she’s not a fan of Halloween and is very concerned that her daughter does not run off. In the first chapter her fears become true as her daughter is missing. Cora quickly finds out that to get her back she will have to follow instructions and question how far she will go to keep her daughter safe.

Told in the Now and the Then the author skillfully tells Cora’s story in a way that had me guessing what would I do in the same situation. I read this book in 1 day because I could not put it down. I’m a mom if a gymnast (although recreational vs Olympic track) so I fully related to Cora’s dilemmas. Any parent of a competitive athlete will relate to this book. The writing style is vivid and I was right next to Cora the whole time as if I were in the story. Highly recommend this thrilling read!!!

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🫣 T R A U M A T H U R S D A Y review 🫣 featuring “When She’s Gone” by Rea Frey!

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

At 14 years old, Cora Valentine is a talented gymnast with a bright future ahead of her … until one night changes her life forever. On Halloween night, Cora and her gymnastics team are literally TERRORIZED inside a haunted house by a bad group of people. The team captain gets her knee shattered and Cora gets kidnapped and held prisoner inside an abandoned house.

“Panic riots in my chest like a swarm of bees, and with my hands tied behind me, I start to hyperventilate and buck my legs. It feels like drowning. Or suffocating. I literally cannot breathe”.

Thirty years later, having survived her kidnapping, Cora has moved on from being in the spotlight as a survivor. Now she has a daughter of her own and will do anything to protect her. On Halloween night Lulu goes mysteriously missing and Cora’s past has come back full throttle to haunt her. Cora receives a threat that in order to save her daughter she must take someone else’s child. Are Cora’s captors back for revenge after all these years??

OMG this is the perfect Halloween thriller and I literally could not put this down! A similar idea to “The Chain” by Adrian McKinty (which I also loved), that is jam packed with nonstop action, shocking plot twists and ricocheting tension! The characters are sketchy, the time crunch is nerve wracking and the whirlwind of events will put your brain in a tizzy!

Thank you kindly to @reafreyauthor @amazonpublishing @netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review. This book releases on January 14, 2025!

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