Book Review – Then She Was Gone

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?

Where do I begin? This is probably the most disturbing and sinister book that I have read this year and quite possibly my favourite. From the first chapter I found myself drawn into the story, wondering what would unfold as I got further through. Don’t get me wrong I had my ideas on what the end result would be but that didn’t stop me from enjoying this story.

The story is mainly told from the POV of Laurel but we meet lots of interesting characters along the way and learn about Ellie before she disappeared. I knew from the minute that Floyd entered the story that he wasn’t as he seemed and I even found his daughter Poppy slightly disturbing with how sweet she was. Poppy is not the only disturbing character though, Noelle takes disturbing to a completely different level.

This book shows you how a family copes with a missing child, it is filled with emotion, mystery, suspense and left me reeling at the end. There may be a dark feel to this book but that doesn’t stop it from having happy moments too and I genuinely felt that Floyd really loved Laurel and a part of her loved him too.

This is the first of Lisa Jewell’s books that I have read so I will be adding her to my author list and be on the look out for any of her others. I thank NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book. This one definitely gets a 5* from me, don’t forget to order your copy now!