The Night She Disappeared, By Lisa Jewell ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: September 07, 2021

416 Pages

Synopsis: 

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. (Goodreads)

The Night She Disappeared is a perfect example of why Lisa Jewell is one of my go-to authors when I masochistically want to be kept up all night. The story unfolds through multiple POVs and timelines, which never devolve into confusion because of Jewell’s detailed yet precise prose. Along the way to discovering what happened the night Tallulah and boyfriend Zach disappeared seemingly into thin air, there are quite a few twists, some that unexpectedly take you down a different path, and others involving the characters themselves. I often find when reading books with dual timelines, that I prefer one over the other, but that wasn’t the case here as I connected with both Sophie, Kim, and Tallulah. Although I began to surmise some of what might have occurred on the night in question midway through the book, I was ultimately still surprised by some of the reveals. In the end, The Night She Disappeared proves once again the storytelling prowess of Lisa Jewell. While there may be some aspects that defy reason, these don’t truly get in the way of the otherwise tightly woven mystery. This latest book will not only please her legions of fans, but undoubtedly win her new ones.