Book Review - Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Title: Then She Was Gone
Series: -
Author: Lisa Jewell
 
Description: She was fifteen, her mother’s golden child. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.
 
It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter. And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet. Before too long she’s staying the night as his house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter. Poppy is precocious and pretty, and meeting her completely takes Laurel’s breath away. Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age. And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back. What happened to Ellie? Where did she go? Who still had secrets to hide?
 
Review: “Then She Was Gone” is a story in which everything revolves around the missing Ellie, a family tragedy one would not wish on anyone.
 
Laurel and Paul Mack have an average family with three children and lead a happy life until their daughter Ellie disappears. After that, no day is ever the same and the marriage is suffering. It eventually ends in divorce.
 
The family members each deal with the loss of Ellie differently and each tries to pick up life in their own way. The storyline is overall very predictable and doesn’t feel original. There are many red flags for characters, that eventually turned out to be correct and many things that happened, I expected to happen. This book didn’t do much for me.
 
Lisa Jewell’s writing style is pleasant to read though. Short chapters from different character’s perspectives. But in general, I don’t think Jewell’s stories are for me. I somehow never really got into this book, it never grabbed or captivated me fully. And it was way too predictable for my liking.
 
Rating: 2, 5/ 5