Title: The Night She Disappeared
Author: Lisa Jewell
Release Date: September 7, 2021
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Rating: ★★
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’ . . .
Review
I heard about this book on the Books and the City podcast and had been looking for a mystery/thriller and figured why not? I’d never read a book by Jewell before and I’m not sure if her style meshes well with me. You truly had to WANT to read this book. Between the multiple timelines that constantly pulled you out of the story and the slower than molasses pacing, it was a challenge to keep reading it.
The mystery of what had happened to these young parents is what truly kept me reading, but the story was way too long. I understand why we needed this fully painted out backstory for our characters and for the two years leading up to the discovery of what truly happened that night. I slightly wish I had DNF’d it and just looked up the ending. If you have the time to commit to it, it was interesting but if not just spoil yourself because the ending wasn’t worth it to me.
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