The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell Book Review

Reason For Reading This Book:

Just like Celine by Peter Heller, my best friend also recommended The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell. She recommended this book and said it was crazy but good. I have also read None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell for The Readheads. I was not the biggest fan of that book primarily because of the characters, but I was willing to read another one of her books because I did enjoy the plot of None of This Is True.

Content of This Book:

A young couple go missing on a summer night out. A year later a writer moves into the cottage at the edge of the woods bordering the estate, Dark Place, where the couple went missing from. Upon arriving the writer discovers a sign that says, ‘Dig Here’. Intrigued, she digs and uncovers a possible clue to the case of the missing couple. Kim, the mother of missing teen Tallulah has been looking for answers to solve her daughter’s case and Sophie a mystery writer and the girlfriend of the new head-teacher at the boarding school, just might be the one to help Kim get the answers she is looking for.

What I Liked About This Book:

Something that rarely happens to me when reading is that I change my opinion of a character as I read the book. I usually make a quick judgement and then stick with it. To my surprise I changed my opinion of Kim from first being introduced to her and as I got to know her character more. As I have found with the other Lisa Jewell book I read, it has lots of twists and sends the reader on an emotional rollercoaster, that was certainly the case for this book as well. I believe it is telling that the author can captivate the reader in both the 2017 and 2018/2019 timeframe. This is not always the case, and of course at times one section was more intriguing than the other, but overall, both were entertaining throughout. The author was able to connect the two time periods and narrator’s chapters so that the plot flowed from one chapter to the next. As someone who’s age is between some of the character’s ages, I liked that I was able to relate to different parts of each character due to this. Going along with this, the author was also able to capture the tone of voice and word choice that accompanied each narrator depending on their age. The descriptions in this book were phenomenal. Even though I figured/guessed certain parts of the plot I was still entertained and anticipated reading it.

What I Disliked About This Book:

One thing that bothered me was that I never completely figured out Sophie’s intention behind wanting to solve the case for Zach and Talulah’s disappearance. I have concluded that is was both for personal reasons that morphed into wanting to help Kim. As a reader it can be frustrating to not fully understand a character, but that is what leads to plot twists because you can’t predict the actions of the characters if you fully know them. There were a few things that I found unbelievable, for example Sophie not remembering the reference to the book she wrote. Even though I praised the character development of the main characters, I felt as though the author would put more effort at a certain point to developing a supporting character and then leave their section on a cliff hanger or not fully conclude their portion. I specifically feel this way about Sophie’s boyfriend. I could never get a clear read on him because the author only gave insight into him through Sophie.

Would I Recommend This Book?

I can totally see this book being produced as a movie or a show. I might even watch it if that happens. Overall, I enjoyed my time reading this book and found it very entertaining and agree with my best friend’s description that it is crazy but good. I would recommend reading this book.

When I Should Be Studying