Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

This is my fourth book in the recent months with a strong taste of weirdness. It was clearly written this way so it’s a feature, not a bug. I read None of This Is True earlier and liked it very much. These books are told in a way that we have a central awful and terrible event that’s uncovered through eye witnesses who live their normal lives. So it’s mostly ordinary stuff that happens but then here and there we have extremely unsettling and definitely not ordinary events and problems. Like horror story red flags randomly thrown in innocent conversations.

The plot goes around the disappearance of a highschooler and the devastation dealt to her family. The mom doesn’t give up on trying to find what happened to her daughter but does she even have any contribution to the story? And what really is the story here? It’s not at all that clear.

I gave the book 4*/5. Similarly to the books by Freida McFadden, I do not feel particular satisfaction reading weird books but at the same time appreciate the ingenuity. So I’d be happy to check another book by Lisa Jewell but may need a gap of a few months or years before I do so. This book was exhausting.

I finished it last week and damaged the book a bit. I hope the library doesn’t mind and accepts it as a donation. I would not like keep it on my shelves or remember about it.

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell, Book Review

This is such a good book title. You can hardly come up with anything better than it. It can apply to anything. Get a speech or a news announcement or even a billboard, you say the title and it gets a new meaning.

In our case, the book is an unusual thriller. Think Freida McFadden but with a very different tempo. Radical show, don’t tell.

Alix is a podcaster who thinks she found a hidden gem. Josie is a mom of two and in the middle of some kind of a tragic situation, living with a probable elderly molester. Josie is the gem Alix found. Josie will reveal a career-defining story. But what part of the story is true and what will be the consequences?

This summary sounds pretty ordinary. This book isn’t ordinary. The story doesn’t follow any familiar or common patterns. I can give you some cringe or rare examples of similar books but don’t want to as I don’t want to spoil anything. It is weird and a bit slow, or at least has a slow start, but it will not disappoint if you give it a chance and stay with it long enough.

On my records, it gets a full 5*/5, a rare jewel in a genre, dominated by strong law enforcement people, tricking the evil.

Print and translation were also great.

I already purchased another book by the same author.