The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

Brenda’s thoughts

3 Things I loved about The Night She Disappeared

The cold case, an abandoned mansion, family trauma, and dark secrets lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell’s remarkable new novel. She delivers us again a modern out of the box, not what you might expect psychological suspense by creating compelling multidimensional characters while staying away from expected gender roles. She weaves an exciting, well-layered absorbing story while playing on overused tropes like gone/missing girl, poor/rich girl, and victimizing women. At one point, I thought, here we go again with those tropes, and then reminded myself this is Lisa Jewell, and I had nothing to worry about with those tired tropes going where I expected them to. I knew she would have something unexpected in store for me. My mind was racing with how she would pull the story together, and I was not disappointed.

The not what you might expect characters ~ Tallulah is not your typical poor girl; she embraces her responsibilities as a mother while attending school. Rich girl Scarlett is not your regular mean queen bee sporting the latest fashion. Through Kim, we see how devastating the effect missing person cold cases have on the lives of families. The story centers around Kim’s grief over the disappearance of her daughter. She is determined not to give up on Tallulah, and we see her struggle with that grief while caring for her grandson Noah. Noah is not your typical perfect baby but a realistic one with all the challenges to go with it. I loved the dynamics between him and Kim that added a heartwarming natural feel to the story.

The creepy exciting settings like that combines two of my favorites mansions and boarding school

3 Things I didn’t love as much

Like any good psychological suspense, the story is slowly built while creating a suspenseful gripping plot and tension between the characters; however, it was not as tightly woven as I would have liked and I wanted the story to move forward faster

I was not that invested in Sophie and her relationship with her boyfriend. I didn’t think her involvement added much to the story and felt her character was convenient.

Hmm, I can only think of two

Lindsay’s thoughts

Another winner from a favourite author of mine!

I loved everything about this book! The school campus setting, dual narrative timelines, an old crumbling mansion, secret tunnels, complex and unique characters, long buried secrets and a multitude of clues that kept my curiosity piqued from start to finish.

I’m a huge fan of Lisa Jewell and I’m happy to report she created another brilliant, thrilling, mysterious, suspenseful and unputdownable story. I always find myself hanging on every word she writes – this novel was even better than I had hoped!

I loved the atmosphere, the tension-filled sense of foreboding and suspense. It took me a few chapters to get into the groove of switching between narrative timelines because they are only 2 years apart, but it wasn’t something that took away from my enjoyment.

Needless to say, this is a must read! Run and grab your copy now!

3 reasons to read this one

If you are looking for a compelling story with elements that move beyond the standard of what you might expect, thriller and characters.

A well-layered, slowly building not what you might expect story with enough suspense and tension to keep you invested in the story and characters with exciting twists and turns.

You are a Lisa Jewell fan, or you want to read something from an author who is moving forward with our times.

We received copies from the publisher