Then She Was Gone

Several years ago, I read the first thriller that really grabbed me. I had read a lot of hype about it, rolled my eyes, and tucked in. That was it. Gone Girl officially got my attention, and made me eager to read more thrillers that would have me truly stunned; quickly devouring page after page. If you read thrillers, you probably have that one that really got you on them in the first place. Since then, I have read so many. I still enjoy them; but, they have become fairly predictable after so many years. You'll still find the ones that throw you off, or have you second guessing those finely honed thriller-reader instincts, but you're generally reading for the writing. For the characters.

My best friend and I exchange books every Christmas. A tradition I love and look forward to. I supplied her with a list ages ago, to ensure I wouldn't read the books she was purchasing. In exchange, I would read thriller after thriller in an attempt to find one that she loved as much as I did. (I discovered Riley Sager this way, and we both cannot wait for his next book.) This year, she gifted me a copy of Lisa Jewell's Then She Was Gone. After reading a lot of heavier reads for the year, I figured it would be the perfect time to settle in with a thriller. She had told me she read it, that it was predictable, but that the writing was good.

In all aspects, she was right. Jewell's characters seemed incredibly realistic. Like people you would meet in your day to day life. (Which does make you wonder if everyone is as nice as they play themselves off to be!) Although predictable, I raced through this book in a couple of days to see exactly how all the pieces would come together. How precisely did Ellie Mack disappear? How did her demise come about?

In a way, this novel is a twisted love story. The killer doing nearly anything to be loved. Actually. I suppose, do anything to hang onto the person they loved. At the beginning of this novel, golden child Ellie Mack simply disappears. The police assume she is simply a runaway. Her mother, Laurel, refuses to believe that Ellie would just walk away when everything in her young life is going so well. She clings to the life that could have been; twisting her relationship with her remaining children, destroying her marriage. Then she meets Floyd. Suddenly she feels alive again. When she meets Floyd's daughter, she is reminded of her own missing child, and questions she has not quite laid to rest resurface regarding her own daughter's disappearance.

Although this novel unravels in the way you would assume, the portrayal of Laurel as she rediscovers herself, and her relationships with her family through her relationship with Floyd and his young daughter will keep you turning pages.