Then She Was Gone: Lisa Jewel

Title: Then She Was Gone
Author: Lisa Jewell
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: April 17, 2018

THENShe was fifteen, her mother's
golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her.
And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie
disappeared, but Laurel has never given up
hope of finding her daughter.And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.
Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.
Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away.

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age.And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?
Who still has secrets to hide?

Ratings 

Hello Fellow Readers,

I purchased this book for my book club, and to be honest I wasn't sure I was going to like it. Most everyone in my club loved it and couldn't put it down, while I did not feel the same way, I did end up liking it. Jewell has a great way of writing her stories realistically and somehow defecting what your thoughts away from whodunit to how could that happen? 

First, let us talk about Laurel, I had such mixed feelings about her. On one hand, I was sympathetic because one of her children was taken away and she didn't get any closure. No parent should ever have to go through the pain of losing their child. On the other hand, Laurel was not likable. The way she treated her family, especially Paul and Hannah bothered me so much. I could understand why she felt that way with Paul, but I could not excuse how she treated Hannah. There was this one sentence that pretty much cemented my dislike of her early on. While she became much more tolerable as the book progressed I still couldn't completely shake my dislike.

Jewell wrote this story beautifully. The great (and sad) thing about this story is I can see this happening to a family in real life, she paints this crumbling and heartbreaking picture that you know could pop from the pages into the real world. Like in most mystery books I try to find clues that tell me who the "bad guy" is on what is going on. I gotta say that I did figure out who took Ellie, as soon as the person was introduced, but I could have never guess as to what actually happened to her. 

My favorite chapters were Ellie's chapters, they were so heartbreaking. You just wanted to reach into the book and hug the poor child. While she was not perfect the fact that she blamed herself broke a small piece of me because no victim should ever blame themselves, especially if it was a child.

In the end, it was one heck of a ride and I do think you should take a peek at this book and tell me what you think.