Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell (5/5)

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell follows the life of Laurel Mack ten years after her daughter Ellie Mack's disappearance, along with the days leading up to the disappearance. Ellie mysteriously disappears after talking to her math tutor on her way to study for midterm exams. Neither surveillance nor people could recall what exactly happened to Ellie after she entered her former math tutors house. The police investigate for 12 weeks, only finding certain bones, and give up when they can’t find a body. Ten years later, Laurel Mack buries what's left of her daughter. Her daughter's disappearance has led her to stray away from her two other children and divorce her husband. Suddenly, she meets a man named Floyd. Floyd has an ex wife and two daughters, one named Poppy and the other named SJ. Poppy is specifically noticed by Laurel as having many qualities that Ellie had. She begins to feel suspicious, having desperation overtake her and think that Poppy has some sort of connection to Ellie. While not at peace, Laurel embarks on a series of mysteries to truly understand what happened to Ellie that night. Lisa Jewell constantly shifts between “then” and “now,” which is helpful for the reader to slowly interconnect the past and the present, so they can feel the sense of urgency to keep reading to find out what happened to Ellie. Then She Was Gone disturbing in some ways, having violations of privacy to an innocent girl. I advise discretion, as some aspects of this book are disturbing, but can be seen as intriguing to some. I personally thought the book was enticing, with a mysterious disappearance and a random appearance helping Laurel have closure about her daughter and her whereabouts. I thought the book’s ending came full circle with the beginning, leaving many readers with a sense of closure, just like Laurel. While it is not a happy ending, you can feel Laurel’s motherly instincts finally calming through the end. Lisa Jewell does an excellent job at keeping readers on edge, with every new chapter constantly releasing new information about Ellie Mack.