My Rating
Trust Lisa Jewell to give you a headache trying to figure out where her story is going!
The Night She Disappeared has all the staple ingredients that make it a compelling intense read. Multiple POVs, dual timelines, a gothic mansion complete with secret passageways and tunnels, a most complex family, and a conniving manipulator who I couldn’t hate completely, you know, all that nature vs nurture coming into play. Well, if you have someone more concerned about the damage to a figurine rather than the person, what else can be expected.
The present timeline with Sophie dragged the story a bit, other than being a mystery author, her thought process and motives regarding the mysterious disappearances of the two teenagers didn’t seem convincing. It was thrilling to read how the author seems to mention a random event related to the school and somehow it becomes a thread that has to be wound tightly to form the complex web. There are red herrings throughout the story and I had guessed all the twists in this even though getting to the end was a roller-coaster ride which I didn’t wanna end.
Kim and Lula are both characters that were easily relatable especially Lula, being a new mom, attending her classes, dealing with a double-faced boyfriend, and the spark of hope that lures her to Scarlett. Kim though had my heart. The terrible grief she conveys, never letting go of her hope, caring for her grandson was painful to read about.
The Night She Disappeared may probably rank lower compared to Lisa Jewell’s other thrillers for me but she’s one author whose published works I would love to read completely.
2017: 19 year old Tallulah is going out on a date, leaving her baby with her mother, Kim.
Kim watches her daughter leave and, as late evening turns into night, which turns into early morning, she waits for her return. And waits.
The next morning, Kim phones Tallulah’s friends who tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a party at a house in the nearby woods called Dark Place.
She never returns.
2019: Sophie is walking in the woods near the boarding school where her boyfriend has just started work as a head-teacher when she sees a note fixed to a tree.
‘DIG HERE’ . . .
A cold case, an abandoned mansion, family trauma and dark secrets lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell’s remarkable new novel.
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