Review: Then she was gone by Lisa Jewell

THEN
She 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?

Review

I read I Found you by Lisa Jewell a while back and absolutely loved it. Needless to say, I was excited to find out that the author has a new book. Then She Was Gone tells the story of Laurel who lost her daughter 10 years ago. Laurel’s life has since changed then. She is no longer married and is now distant with her two other kids. However, one thing that hasn’t changed is her longing to find her missing girl or at least get answers on what happened to Ellie.

Unlike the previous book, this wasn’t fast paced with lots of action. I thought it was much slower though the pace worked out well for the story. There was something unsettling about the story that had me turning pages to find answers. I kept trying to solve the mystery of Ellie’s disappearance. Throughout the book, there were hints but I couldn’t connect the dots until the final chapters.

The book is told through multiple POVs. Laurel’s is the prominent voice though as a character, she is the one that I didn’t like very much. She was sympathetic but there were instances when she got on my nerve. There are other chapters told by Ellie that give details of what happened to her. There are also a few chapters narrated by a really twisted villain. Other characters also help in putting the pieces together though the chapters. I think my favorite character was little Poppy. She was sweet, awkward and quite endearing at the same time. Her words fascinated me and I wish we could have seen her more in the book.

As I have already mentioned, the pace was slower although that doesn’t mean that it dragged. There were twists along the way that kept the story moving. In addition, this ended up being quite an emotive read. I found myself going through different emotions. I didn’t expect it to be that poignant but it was, especially towards the end. If you like domestic noirs, suspenseful reads then I think that you will enjoy Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell.