Then She Was Gone - 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?

Blurb taken from Goodreads.

*

I was lucky enough to be given a huge pile of thrillers from a friend; books they'd read that they were getting rid of, and that they thought I might enjoy. One of those books was Lisa Jewell's Then She Was Gone. 

I decided that for October, I wanted a few spooky reads, and I wanted to include one from this pile of thrillers. I knew Lisa Jewell was popular, and so I chose their novel for my pile.

I actually surprised myself by absolutely racing through the book. It was slightly predictable and has already begun to fade into the back of a million similar plots, but it was far easier to read than I expected, and I quite enjoyed the story. 

Rating: ✫✫✫

The Story

I often feel that many thrillers kind of just melt into one. The stories are all very similar, and there are only so many ways that an author can push the boundaries of such fiction. I have to be honest, a few weeks after finishing Then She Was Gone, it has already begun to fade into the endless other thrillers that I have read. However, that isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it. 

The story was intriguing, and as soon as I started reading it I was interested to see what happened to Laurel, and to find out what was to become known about Ellie. I think one of the interesting parts of this story was that the characters cannot be divided into 'good' and 'bad'. They all form varying shades of grey, which I think made the whole make-up of the plot so much more interesting. The point of a thriller is to make you question everything you think you know about what has happened, and these characters really played on that in a successful way.

That being said, I do think the story was a little predictable. From the very beginning, we're given pretty much everything we need to work out the bare bones of what happened, and it was a little obvious to me. Maybe this wouldn't be the case for everybody, but I wouldn't be surprised if many other readers felt the same. However, I think the real charm of this book is just how it plays on the emotional side of the story. These characters, and Laurel in particular, have been through a very traumatic time, and the emotional consequences are pretty severe. In lots of thrillers we don't really get to see much of these lasting effects; many authors avoid this as a way to propel their plot forward more easily. I think Jewell's choice to dwell a little more on this emotional side was a really good call. It made the story stand out for me amongst other, similar books.

The Verdict

Then She Was Gone was your typical easy-to-read thriller. Gripping, interesting, and fairly unoriginal. 

However, I genuinely enjoyed the book, and think it did have some particular merit. The characters were made to feel more real than those in a lot of similar stories, with the emotional side of their lives being given more attention. When considered with the sheer ease of reading, this made the novel a far more enjoyable read.