Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

    When I first started this, I almost gave up on it. It starts incredibly slow, but as you get closer to the end, you can see just how crazy all of them got. For once I let go of not being hooked right away and was able to get all the way through the book. And I’m glad I changed my mind.

     Back then, Laurel’s daughter Ellie went missing. Ten years later, Laurel is still looking for signs of what happened to her. But then a man named Floyd walks into her life and she is smitten. He brings with him his daughter, Poppy. She is the splitting image of Ellie at her age and Laurel can’t shake the likeliness of her. But as the story unfolds, Laurel gets so much more than she bargained for.
     I have NEVER read anything by Jewell before, but as a thriller reader, I found out she was an adult thriller staple. So I tried it. And I’m glad I did. At the beginning I wasn’t really that into it. But I was glad I read it via CD audio because it forced me to keep reading. Because I read it that way, I was able to stick with it and I slogged through enough to the “good stuff.” Which also happened to be the super weird stuff.
     As for the plot, it starts a bit slow, but being honest, it’s just that way as a set up for the rest of the story. Jewell carefully sets up the stage and introduces all the characters to make you trust them all. She gets you comfortable, which in a thriller you know you shouldn’t be. Jewell is a great storyteller and knows how to get her readers to look in one direction, when in fact, everything is happening right under their nose.
     As for the characters, I was not a fan of any of them. But I’ve realized that’s how I am with most thrillers. I don’t trust anyone. But everyone in this one was on the level of Joe from You by Caroline Kepnes creepy. Even the younger ones. They were all weird and all played a major part in the disappearance and the ending.
     Last but not least, I was not a fan of the ending. I really wanted to know what happened to a certain character. There needed to be a prologue or something. Did they ever wonder what happened? Did they ever feel the need to do something? I just felt like it was too loose of an ending. For thrillers, I like the endings to be more clean and tidy. I don’t like to have to make up my own ending in my head.
     This was not what I was expecting, but it was still such a great story! After reading this one, I will definitely be reading more by Jewell to experience more of her storytelling and super strange characters.