While there are a few key plot twists, there weren’t any that really caught me off guard. There’s a few instances of plot points where seems like the book is pointing in a specific direction, but since it’s a mystery, I kept expecting to be wrong about it. When it turns out it’s exactly what you think it sounds like, that’s a little disappointing. Even though most parts and big twist are predictable, it was well written, breathtaking, fast pacing, captivating reading which ended in 5 hours. My heart truly hurt for ... yes the readers know which character I’m talking about. That character’s heart wrenching story will haunt me for a long time. Jake's girlfriend, Blue, calls Laurel after the dinner. Blue says that she thinks Floyd is hiding something and that his aura is dark. Laurel is dismissive. Blue tells a critical statement related to men and their concept of love in this book. This shows the importance of mutual love. Love is about putting equal effort into relationships. If a person who beholds the concept of unconditional love falls in love with a Narcissist, then the first person's life will be totally destroyed. Even though unconditional love is one of the ideal forms of love, it will be practical only with ideal individuals. Otherwise, we will be able to love unconditionally while others are only ready to accept that love and not to give anything in return. It will turn into a toxic parasitic relationship in no time. Hanna sighs, Laurel sighs too, realizing she has just done the thing she always promised herself she would never do. When the children were small, Laurel's mother would occasionally make small, raw observations about gaps between phone calls and visits that would tear tiny, painful strips off Laurel's conscience. 'I will never guilt-trip my children when they are adults,' she'd vowed. 'I will never expect more than they are able to give.'"

I believe in bad vibes and listening to your instincts but why include a stereotypical hippie dippy character to warn Laurel? Ellie thinks she knows who it might be. But she cannot bring herself to crystallize her suspicions. She’s known something was about to happen, that something was about to change. She’s known it for weeks. Floyd has been less attentive, spent less time with her. She’s heard footsteps overhead, the vague outline of a female voice. There’s been laughter in the house. And when Floyd did come to visit, he was serious and thoughtful, and more concerned, Ellie had felt, about her predicament. As soon as their relationship become serious and she forms true bounding with Poppy, she surprisingly finds out the birth mother Noelle of Poppy who left her is the same woman who has tutored her daughter Ellie. And Ellie wrote at her diary that woman gave her creeps and she didn’t want her tutoring anymore. Thank you so much to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Lisa Jewell for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and Lisa Jewell for an ARC to read in exchange for an honest review. Gripping and heartbreaking, I shed more than a few tears as the book came to an end with a gut-wrenching epilogue.

Laurel takes Poppy to meet Joshua and see her old house. Poppy is hesitant, but then eager to meet her relatives. However, she refuses to enter the basement, saying she was told never to go down there. Her mom had told her there was a monster there. This is the third Lisa Jewell thriller that I have read and she has penned another winner! After finishing this book I really had to wait a few days to sort of “SETTLE ME DOWN” as this mystery touched some very delicate feelings in me, more so than her first two books. Call me a snob but in my experience with thrillers, it has been hard to find many with the combination of great writing, past and present POV’s that flow seamlessly together, and create emotions that well up inside of you and really stay with you.The more I read - the more I wanted to keep reading. Lisa Jewel wrote a ‘jewel’ of a great suspenseful- book with terrific fantastic characters. His constant praise of how gorgeous and stunning and amazing Laurel is is nearly just as creepy as him keeping silent about Poppy. From Laurel's perspective, in the present) Laurel calls an old number she has for Noelle. Joshua Donnelly answers. Noelle is his aunt, but no one has heard from her in a while. He's never even met her, even though he lives in her old house now. Joshua shows Laurel the basement, where there's a sofa, tv and a bunch of hamster cages where they found a bunch of dead hamsters. Laurel also finds a tube of lip balm that matches ones Ellie had. From Noelle's perspective, in the past) Noelle grew up with two older brothers, two younger brothers and a younger sister who died when she was eight. Noelle comes upon Floyd's book, and goes to a signing. It turns out they both live in the same neighborhood (Stroud Green), a few roads apart. They run into each other later, and eventually go to dinner at a Eritrean restaurant. They see each other for over a year. Noelle does not get along well with SJ.

While on the way to the library— a child is never to be seen again. It gives me chills thinking of the missing children I still remember from years ago. Right here in the Bay Area. It sort of feels like I've read a hundred different variations of the missing daughter/grieving mother plot, and Then She Was Gone doesn't really do anything new with it. The writing is strong, but it's disappointing when you figure out all the major reveals in the first few chapters and even get the reasons behind them. As soon as certain characters are introduced, I was thinking “ah, got it” and, unfortunately, I was right. I kept hoping something exciting would happen to prove me wrong, but it really is as obvious as it seems. A jewel. A treasure. And even though I had an inkling about where this was going, it didn't diminish my pleasure in this read at all. The police thought Ellie might have run away. But Laurel knew that wasn’t possible. The years went by and although Laurel kept pushing the police to do more…there was only so much they could or would do. Thank you to NetGalley, Ariele Friedman, Atria Books and Lisa Jewell for a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I love strongly character driven novels, including thrillers and that is what Ms. Jewell does so so well. I became invested in the feelings of Eliie’s mother, and as a mother of four daughters, I wanted so badly for things to somehow turn out that this poor woman didn’t have to continue without knowing what happened to her missing beautiful, intelligent, golden girl! This is not a cliched version of fiction with a bunch of peripatetic perfunctory characters with a mandatory twist at the end to consider it as a thriller. I was able to predict the ending by around 30% in the book. This book is the tragic life story of Ellie, which will bring tears to your eyes if you are a compassionate human being. The way it was written wasn't meant for me. It was dull, lifeless and slow paced. The characters didn't appeal to me. The way they expressed themselves was just so monotonous. There was no emotion to them, despite being in such an emotional situation. Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.