Book: The Night She Disappeared
Author: Lisa Jewell
Pages: 464
Read on: Kindle
Read in: ~5 hours
Plot Summary: Mum, there's some people here from college, they asked me back to theirs. Just for an hour or so. Is that OK?'
Midsummer 2017: Teenage mum Tallulah heads out on a date, leaving her baby son at home with her mother, Kim.
At 11 p.m. she sends her mum a text message. At 4.30 a.m. Kim awakens to discover that Tallulah has not come home.
Friends tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a pool party at a house in the woods nearby called Dark Place.
Tallulah never returns.
2018: Walking in the woods behind the boarding school where her boyfriend has just started as a head teacher, Sophie sees a sign nailed to a fence.
A sign that says: DIG HERE . . .
___________________________
A cold case. An abandoned mansion. A family hiding a terrible secret.
Things I Liked:
1. We've read several books by Lisa Jewell and have had a mixed experience with them. Here are some previous reviews- The Family Upstairs and The Girls. So, it was with some scepticism and trepidation that we bought this book, hoping that it would be as interesting as its premise. A girl gone missing for over a year and then, a woman new to town keeps being sent clues as to what could've happened to her. Makes me very happy to report that the book does stay true to the promised level of interest and engagement!
2. Missing persons cases are so heartbreaking because the family is left in this awful no-man's-land between hope and dread. On the one hand, you hope your loved one is still alive. On the other, you are petrified of thinking what condition they must be in if they are still alive! So, it is a horrible Catch-22 situation that one wouldn't wish upon their worst enemy. In this book, single mother- Kim- is left raising her grandson after her daughter- Lula- went missing one year ago after a casual night out with her friends. Kim has chased every lead, gone personally to look for her daughter as much as possible and has not given up hope that Lula will be found alive.
3. We get to see events from two timelines- from one year ago before Lula went missing and present day when Sophie starts finding clues around her new home hinting at what could've happened to Lula and her boyfriend that fateful night. I found Lula's life- her relationship with her "baby daddy" and the new, posh friends she'd made- especially interesting. You can see in those relationships the seed of future disaster. However, since her controlling partner also went missing, you wonder what could've caused both to vanish together since they were hardly getting along! In the present day timeline, the multiple clues left on the grounds of the school, where Sophie's boyfriend is the new Head Master, and which was attended by the new posh friends Lula made, are also very interesting.
4. The book is pretty fast-paced. There are various interesting sub-plots and characters and there is never dull moment. There is no space and time wasted on tangential plots and characters, which is a huge pet peeve of mine in crime/thriller books.
5. The denouement is interesting and only sort of guess-able. The events of the night Lula and her partner went missing, the identity of the leaver of clues and, finally, what became of Lula and her partner are all very interesting. You won't be disappointed.
Rating: 4/5
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