THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER! Ellie Mack was the perfect daughter. She was fifteen, the youngest of three. She was beloved by her parents, friends, and teachers. She and her boyfriend made a teenaged golden couple. She was days away from an idyllic post-exams summer vacation, with her whole life ahead of her. And then she was gone. Now, her mother Laurel Mack is trying to put her life back … Mack is trying to put her life back together. It’s been ten years since her daughter disappeared, seven years since her marriage ended, and only months since the last clue in Ellie’s case was unearthed. So when she meets an unexpectedly charming man in a café, no one is more surprised than Laurel at how quickly their flirtation develops into something deeper. Before she knows it, she’s meeting Floyd’s daughters–and his youngest, Poppy, takes Laurel’s breath away.
Because looking at Poppy is like looking at Ellie. And now, the unanswered questions she’s tried so hard to put to rest begin to haunt Laurel anew. Where did Ellie go? Did she really run away from home, as the police have long suspected, or was there a more sinister reason for her disappearance? Who is Floyd, really? And why does his daughter remind Laurel so viscerally of her own missing girl?
“Jewell teases out her twisty plot at just the right pace, leaving readers on the edge of their seats. Her multilayered characters are sheer perfection, and even the most astute thriller reader won’t see where everything is going until the final threads are unknotted.” —Booklist, starred review
“More than a whiff of The Lovely Bones wafts through this haunting domestic noir…Skillfully told by several narrators, Jewell’s gripping novel is an emotionally resonant story of loss, grief, and renewal.” —Publishers Weekly
“Sharply written with twists and turns, Jewell’s latest will please fans of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, or Luckiest Girl Alive.” —Library Journal
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I’m intrigued by mysteries with a smidge of bizarre mixed-in. This one fits nicely into that category. The writing style is smooth and immediately grabs the reader, pulls them into the story.
I experienced the sinking tummy when characters didn’t seem quite as perfect as they portrayed themselves. And when the protagonist knew something was amiss but talked herself out of her suspicions. But the writer stopped short of making her characters come across off-the-chart naive.
Throughout the read, I had the underlying sense all would turn out well. I was not
disappointed. The middle drags a tiny bit, but by then, I was invested and wanted to know how the story would end. And really, what else should a reader expect from a well-told story?
A page-turner with well-developed, flawed characters. I loved the way the story unfolded. My first Lisa Jewell book. Not my last.
Just read this front to back in one sitting. A chilling story about obsession, resentment and a mothers love for her children.
I really liked how this was written and cared about the characters. There were only a few times where I skimmed from boredom but I think that’s because it’s currently 3 AM so I was slightly drowsy while finishing this.
Jewell painted a clear picture of the characters and scenes. This story made me care about family dynamics, the lost girl and everyone’s suffering. It was creepy at parts because it switches perspectives sometimes and the obsessive, almost multi personality disorder really made me nauseous but it was written VERY well.
A great story for October, that’s for sure. It should make you tear up. It’s about a lost child so I mean it’s sad.
Subtle spoiler on whether or not this book has a happy ending:
I mean, not everyone lives, but yes it has a happy ending.
THEN SHE WAS GONE
BY Lisa Jewell
Lisa Jewell is becoming or might I dare say…has become my favorite Author. Her books are psychological thrillers and it doesn’t mean they are filled with murders and serial killers or blood and gore. She writes with so many twists that play with and trick your mind. She absolutely is a genius. She writes stories that aren’t far fetched and can happen in real life but it is pretty darn screwed up. You are never bored, she gets you connected to the characters with all the information and detail about each one. And it makes you either love or hate the character; but wait…those feelings can be flip flopped at the end because you can never get inside someone else’s mind and know exactly what they are going to do. You can only predict through their personalities from what you know. That’s what I love about her psychological game play she adds to her books. There are really messed up people out there. Some that need help, are receiving help or are beyond help; not all are psychotic but when you’re reading a good thriller, I guarantee there is a psychopath hidden somewhere in between the pages and may seem as normal as you or I.
Now for “The She Was Gone”, I couldn’t put it down. I couldn’t walk away from, Ellie Mack, who was a beloved daughter and sister in her family, that just disappeared one day.
Laurel Mack and her husband Paul change as people and their marriage cannot survive the death that distanced them and even their other two remaining children as a whole.. Laurel cannot move ahead with her life and in reality is just existing. That is until she meets a man, Floyd that she never thought would make her feel like loving, living or moving on again. He has two daughters, the youngest daughter named Poppy bears many striking similarities to her daughter that disappeared 10 years ago. But, that’s all in her head, right? What about all the other coincidences and strange happenings that begin to occur from the moment Floyd just so happened to sit next to her in a diner when they first met offering her a bite of his food? Was this staged?
Where is Ellie, did she run away, taken, is she still alive?
Buckle up
This is a story of a mother named Laura. Laura’s 15 year old daughter died mysteriously 10 years ago, and in the past decade, Laura has tried to rebuild her life without her child. Divorced with two other children she is basically estranged from, Laura knows she needs to put her life back together. A man has come into Laura’s life and he changes everything. He and his little girl – Poppy – are just what Laura thinks she was missing in her life. Seeing Poppy, who reminds her so much of her deceased daughter, Ellie, it opens things up again for Laura to try and figure out what happened to Ellie. Did she really run away? Or did something terrible happen to her? As Laura starts to dig for answers, the mystery of Ellie’s death come to light. Laura feels that soon she will receive the closure her family desparately needs.
This was a great book. I liked it so much more than I thought I would. It is well written and the story flowed well. I found myself searching for time to listen to it so I could see how it would end. It is a disturbing book and the details about Ellie’s disappearance and death are hard to read/listen to. Just as a warning. You will probably figure out how it is going to end by about 3/4 of the way into this book, but that didn’t bother me. Sometimes it does, but it truly didn’t take away from me wanting to see how the story was going to wrap up. There was good character development and I liked almost all of the characters in this book. It is a good psychological thriller that makes me want to read other books by this author. She is a gifted writer. Highly recommend.
Love ,love, loved this book. I was on edge the whole book! I have given it to everyone i know who loves thrillers!
Audio Version
Jeeezus! This was my first Lisa Jewell book and holy smokes, definitely not the last. Then She Was Gone was absolutely unputdownable…I mean I couldn’t stop listening and wasn’t happy when I had to put it aside. It sucked me in from page 1 and my lord it was amazing! So much depth to the characters, so many twists and turns. Helen Duff did a phenomenal job narrating this book, so much emotion! If you are looking for edge of your seat suspense, go get this book now!
WOW- what a book! Left me a blubbering mess as I come to end of this incredible story…. SO many feels!! Laurel Mack has been searching for her missing 15-year-old daughter Ellie for 10 years now. One day she is here, happy and studying hard for her exams, and the next she was gone without a trace, never to be heard from again. Now Laurel is trying to continue with her life as best she can and meets a wonderful man – but his daughter bears a striking resemblance to the Ellie that Laurel just can’t let go of. As bits and pieces of an untold story are unearthed, the truth is even more unbelievable and horrifying. Incredible read, I could not put it down! This is my second book by Lisa Jewell and I’ll surely be back for more!!
Ok, that was totally freaky!!! Even though I figured out a lot of it as I went along, it just kept getting freakier and more bizarre. The scariest thing about stories like this one is that there are actually people like this out there in the world wreaking havoc.
I have to admit, I bought this book for the cover, but I am glad I did. 15 year old Ellie Mack disappears and the authorities chalk it up to a runaway. 10 years have gone by and Ellie’s mother, Laurel is getting her life back together. Enter Floyd, a handsome man whom Laurel’s falls for. Floyd’s 9 year old daughter Poppy bares a striking resemblance to Ellie. Oh, and then there is a Noelle, Ellie’s math tutor and Poppy’s absent mother. The way this story is woven together brings a whole new level of insanity (in a good way!). I liked all of the characters. Laurel didn’t do any of those stupid things that make you go, “Why would you do that?” that I have seen in so many other books. My copy has a quote from People “An acutely observed family drama with bone-chilling suspense.” I don’t really agree with the “bone-chilling suspense” comment, but it was a great read. I have read two book previously by this author and this is my favorite.
OH MY GOSH!! This ending is sick and twisted and you don’t start to put anything together until the author gets close to dropping that bomb that will haunt you for days after reading. This book was just… wow… Lisa Jewell, you must be one creative twisted mind Kudos.
Wow! What a great read! It was quite a roller-coaster. Wonderful story-telling from the author. Although it is fiction, I could imagine this happening to someone in real life. I bought it at Target one evening and was definitely not disappointed.
I was a bit sceptical at first as it all seemed a bit far-fetched. But it didn’t take long to have me hooked. I was totally gripped and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. I read it over a couple of days, mostly when I should’ve been doing other things. But I couldn’t put it down. Very clever.
THEN SHE WAS GONE by Lisa Jewel is a PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER at its best that made me acutely aware of life’s tenuousness and the importance of heeding one’s intuition. This well-written novel is told in MULTILAYERED POVs―the voices of the main character’s Laurel, Ellie, Noelle, and Floyd, seamlessly interwoven from past to present, illuminating the disturbing and tragic disappearance of fifteen-year-old Ellie. A disappearance that ended her parent’s marriage, and created a rife between Laurel and her other children.
“And then one morning, her girl, her golden girl, her lastborn, her baby, her soul mate, her pride and her joy, had left the house and not come back… What had filled her brain…Terror. Despair. Grief. Horror. Agony. Turmoil. Heartbreak. Fear…”
Ellie Mack vanished without a trace. Ten years later, her bag, containing a passport and clothing, was found by the police.
“…nobody had seen Ellie that morning…No one had seen her walking…toward Harlow Road…the house with a flowering cherry tree…No one had seen Ellie walk through the door…”
One day she was full of hope and promise, the next a CAPTIVE at a MADWOMAN’S mercy. Mrs. Jewell has created a loathsome antagonist, a SOCIOPATH with no empathy for her victim or anyone in her path. Thrown into her worst nightmare, Ellie has to use her wiles against her unpredictable captor. What does she have in store for Ellie? Will she make it out alive?
With a single basement window view of CHERRY BLOSSOMS, Ellie longs to be home, to see her family again. Will she ever leave that room?
“Ellie heard one lock click into place. And then she heard another. And then one more…”
What if Ellie had told her mother her math tutor, Noelle Donnelly, creeped her out. What if she’d simply said no that day and walked away. But Ellie didn’t HEED her INSTINCTS, Instead, she ignored the nagging intuition she’d felt the first day Noelle stepped into her home. As I continued to read, I wondered if the antagonist were a man would I have felt as disgusted. Ms. Jewell’s use of a FEMALE ANTAGONISTS made the story even more troubling. But as in real life, evil doesn’t discriminate by gender.
Ms. Jewell’s novel is a CHILLING and EMOTIONAL PAGE-TURNER filled with numerous twists and turns. The pace is perfect, never a dull moment, and suspense builds to a conclusion that will make you smile and cry simultaneously. Art imitates life or life imitates art. I’m sure in this story it’s both. Then She Was Gone is a BRILLIANT and SUSPENSEFUL thriller I recommend highly. Mrs. Jewel, thank you for the emotional ride and well-written story!
https://edenisebillups.com/2019/08/02…
I read this book in TWO DAYS…I could hardly put it down! Lisa got me hooked from the beginning, and now I’m on a mission to read all of her books. Just when you thought you had the mystery solved, it took a twist you weren’t expecting! It was such a page turner!
Gah I haven’t felt so sad at the end of a book for so long, my heart hurts. Wonderful characters, beautiful prose. Loved this and read it in 2 days, quite an achievement on the weekend with two little people vying for my attention!
This was my first Lisa Jewell book, but it will most definitely not be my last. 15 year old Ellie Mack disappeared one day on her way to the library, never to be seen again. My heart broke for this family. The grief consumes her Mother, Laurel. The strain breaks the family apart. This is the story of what happened to Ellie and is absolutely riveting. It is bizarre and twisted. I was absorbed by this book and couldn’t put it down. So much is going on. Some things you figure out, but that’s okay, because in the end it all comes together and it left me in tears. Incredibly well written, it will keep you turning the pages well into the night. This is psychological suspense at its finest. I could feel the pain, the grief and the fear. It kept me on the edge of my seat till the bitter end. I could go on and on about this book. If you like psychological suspense then grab this book. Filled with flawed characters that are utterly believable. I loved it!
First off, I really enjoyed Lisa Jewell’s writing style. I’ve never read anything from her before, but enjoyed her usage of alternating POVs and bouncing between present and past day. Added a lot of depth to the story and pushed me into reading more of the novel.
That said, I feel this is more of a drama than a thriller. If I had started this book knowing that, I think I would have enjoyed it more. But I didn’t, so I’m left feeling kind of meh about it all. I guessed the entire plot line extremely early on in the novel and kept waiting for a shocking twist or something crazy (apart from the known crazy characters) to happen. But the plot line was consistent with what I had guessed and that kind of ruined it for me. I know the point was to guess everything early on, and see more of why things happened, but I just didn’t really care for that approach. I also found a lot of this to be really far fetched and thought the epilogue was too corny.
Ellie Mack is a smart, lively fifteen year-old with a loving family, a great boyfriend, and a bright future ahead of her. She leaves for the library one day and Then She Was Gone. Jewell’s latest novel starts strong and then sputters. It’s a story with lots of mystery and plenty of twists and turns that kept me turning the pages. But it all comes together at the end a bit too neatly. A solid 3/5.
I read a Lisa Jewell novel last year and connected immediately with her writing style, tone, and voice. When Then She Was Gone showed up on NetGalley last month, I immediately requested it and added it to my reading queue for April. I really find myself enamored with Jewell’s characters, plots, and settings, so much that I’ve added ten of her other books to my TBR and hope to read a few more later this year.
Domestic drama is the best sub-genre to describe this book. A 15-year-old girl goes missing, resulting in her family falling apart. Ten years later, her mother finds new love (divorced her ex-husband though they still remain friends) and slowly learns of connections to her missing child who was feared dead. The description in the Goodreads or Amazon summary says it all, so I don’t need to add to it here. The book alternates between “Then” and “Now” to tell the story of what happened to Ellie, who kidnapped and hurt her, what the new love interest for Ellie’s mother, Laurel, has to say transpired over all the years, and where things really fell apart.
This book read itself. I intended to spend 90 minutes reading on a weekend afternoon to have a relaxing break from some outside chores. Three (3) hours later, I’d finished it. The book was so good that I lost track of time and read so quickly, everything just disappeared, but I was absolutely connected and attached to every part of the story and characters. Jewell clearly knows how to lead readers on a path where investment is deep and shock is wide. I’m sure a few readers will sideways glance at a couple of plot twists, and I can understand it. You have to suspend a tiny bit of your disbelief or questions as to how the kidnapping was truly pulled off. But it’s fiction and it’s part of a story and that’s why it worked — the writing supports it and carries you off into a world you cannot leave.
I normally figure out what’s really going on. But Jewell uses some clever disguises regarding timing that make it complicated, and when you do figure it out about 2/3 of the way thru, you have to stop for a few minutes and think about all the repercussions, Then, it all adds up. How did I miss it??? But for me, that’s what makes an incredibly gifted writer. One who transports you into the story that you forget to try to solve it because you’re just so stunned by its beauty. I can’t wait to pick up another Jewell book this summer. So many to choose from! But this one gets at least 4.5 stars.