Book Review: Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Ellie was her mother's golden girl. At just 15, happy and intelligent, she had her whole life ahead of her, but one day Ellie was gone.

A decade later Laurel has never given up hope of finding Ellie and when she meets her boyfriend's confident young daughter she is left speechless. Because she is the image of Ellie. All those unanswered questions come flooding back, unraveling Laurel's world. What happened to Ellie? Is she still alive? And who is hiding the biggest secret?

I have been a huge Lisa Jewell fan ever since I read Ralph's Party when I was at uni and her style has changed along with mine and she now writes a damn good thriller.

The story of Ellie's disappearance is mainly told from her mother, Laurel's, point of view. She never believed the police's theory that Ellie ran away and is stuck, unable to move forward with her life. We are quickly plunged deep into intrigue and you really feel her frustration, loss and sadness radiating off the page.

The story isn't too complicated so there is no fear of getting lost in complicated plots, and it is a fast, if at times disturbing, read. I felt a lot of emotion and genuine sadness for a lot of the characters which is often lost in thriller books as you are too busy trying to keep up to with details.

This is at heart a mystery which slowly unravels as Laurel pieces together the new clues to an old story and there is a bitter sweetness to it which will stay with me for a long time.

This is definitely a book you won't forget.

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