Great page-turner from Janelle Brown. Stayed up till one in the morning finishing this book. Highly recommend!

Sybilla (Billie) Flanagan disappeared a year ago while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail alone. Her body has never been found but her husband Jonathan is going through the legal process to have her declared dead so that he and his daughter can get the life insurance money and move on. To make money in the meantime, he has accepted a publishing contract to write a book about their love story entitled, "Where the Mountain Meets the Sky: My Life with Billie Flanagan."

His sixteen-year-old daughter Olive suddenly starts having hallucinatory visions of her mother which make her think Billie is still alive and is trying to reach out to her. Billie has left them before, so it's entirely possible. Jonathan learns something on his own that makes him think she might be right, so he starts digging into Billie's past actions. What follows is a fascinating trail of clues: one thing for certain, he didn't really know his wife of seventeen years; he is finding she was a woman of many different personas.

The story is told from both Jonathan's and Olive's point of view, with chapters from the book he's writing interspersed. There is also a surprising twist at the end which was very satisfying. I enjoyed the steady pace of the story, the way in which the layers of Billie's personality were slowly revealed. Interesting plot, well conceived and executed!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read an arc of this book for an honest review.

The second half of this book was far superior to the first half, so I'm glad I kept going. Overall I enjoyed her writing, and the basic story, but I didn't really connect to any of the characters and I found the first half dragging and started just skimming pages to get to the good stuff.

This book gave me whiplash. Just when I'd think I had things figured out, WHAM - went another direction. The writing is page-turner-worthy and the story is compelling. Plenty of mystery, lots of twists, and some real insight on how nobody truly knows everything about those they love.

A great beach read!

This book went in very unexpected Int directions. The many tosses and turns keep you engaged and excited waiting for the outcome. Janelle does a great job with character development and by the end of the story you are in love a very complicated family. I wasn't sure what to expect and it wasn't until the end that you were anywhere close to knowing what happened. I enjoyed the book immensely, it was a page turner.

Billie Flanagan is an exciting woman. She lives for the moment. On the other hand, her husband, Jonathan, and her daughter, Olive, are a little more reserved. When Billie goes missing after a hike in Desolation Wilderness, her family is sure she is dead, but when Olive starts to have visions of her mother, she is unsure. Together, Jonathan and Olive embark on a quest to find Billie, and in the process discover secrets she kept and a bit about themselves as well.

Thank you to NetGalley, Spiegel & Grau, and Random House for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Sybilla "Billie" Flanagan is the type of character you're not sure if you love or hate. She lived her youth free and reckless and now as a wife and mother, she's your typical "room mom" always there for school activities, to help where needed, snacks for Olive after school, and a home cooked meal on the table every night. But this is not the life she envisioned for herself, she misses the days when life was much more carefree. After spending time with her husband and daughter at the beach, Billie decides to take a weekend hike to sort out the thoughts that are going on in her head. Unfortunately, she never makes it home. Much to the devastation of her 16 year old daughter, Olive, who was going through enough as a teenage girl in high school. When she starts having visions of her mother at every turn, and Jonathan finds things hidden amongst Billie's belongings, they question whether she is really dead, or if she has just left them. Together, they will try to find the answers to the questions they have.

This is the first book I have by Janelle Brown, but it will not be the last. This was a totally enjoyable book. You felt like you were sitting with Olive in the Subaru searching all over for her mother. This was a great summer read. There are a couple of twists you don't see coming, but it fits with the character of Billie. The more you learn about her, you're not sure if you want to be her friend and go along for the ride, or hate her for all the secrets she keeps from the ones she loves. I wasn't sure if I was routing for Olive to find her mother, or to just accept the fact that she was dead.

Highly recommended!!

This is a well-written book that deals with the fallout of a mother disappearing. Her husband and daughter go through a range of emotions as they begin to question whether she is truly dead.. People from her past and present provide more and more unsettling information. Descriptions of the California coast and mountains are very vivid, while some of the characters are a little superficial. The ending(s) provide a mixed bag of emotional satisfaction and wonderment. I found the book hard to read, but was pleased I persevered to the end.

Billie Flanagan, oh what a messed up selfish person you are! Even is death she is monopolizing peoples lives and driving them crazy. I cannot decide if I feel sorry for her or for her husband and daughter.
This was definitely a page turner for me but the only character in the whole story that I truly liked was Olive, the daughter. Both her parents were a bit messed up; Mom for her selfishness and Dad for his obsession/love for her mom. I felt that Olive was overlooked and as a teenager struggling with her identity and mourning her mother she should have been a lot more lost than she was!
There's not much I can say without spoilers but I will say even though I did guess the "big twist" this was still a compelling thriller with interesting characters. I just wish Billie had been a bit more likable and that through her backstory we could have seen her grow a bit more. 3.5/5 stars

Well written story, grips you right from the beginning and holds your interest. Suspenseful enough to be a page turner, but more psychologically intriguing than tense. All in all, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it as a relatively quick mystery read. Thank you to NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau!

This book was quite suspenseful, about the time you thought you knew everything you get another surprise. Well written, a book you don't want to end. I highly recommend this book!!

Billie, Jonathan and Olive appear to be a perfect family. The beautiful and quirky mom, Billie, dotes on her family and is the perfect mom. Except for her tendency to disappear for the weekend, to spend time alone hiking in the wilderness. Husband Jonathan is blind to her faults, seeing her need to be alone as a minor quirk in an otherwise perfect personality.

Then, Billie disappears while on a solo hiking trip. Her body is never found, but her hiking boot is found in a river. She is presumed dead, but with the absence of a body, her family must go to court to declare her dead. As the one year anniversary of her death approaches, Olive begins having "visions" of her mother, that cause her to believe Billie is alive. Jonathan begins to learn disturbing facts about Billie's life before him. And the court date to declare her dead is coming up fast.

The book muses on how well we know people. Do we ever really know anyone? You can only know as much about a person as they are willing to open up to you. And apparently Billie did not open up to her family.

I enjoyed reading the book, and trying to decipher all the clues. Is Olive really having visions, or are they just her subconscious wishes? They seem to lead her towards Billie, but how real are they? I felt for Olive as a character, a lost child trying to find her mother. Jonathan is a less likable character. He falls too easily into the arms of Harmony, Billie's BFF. And Harmony is the shadiest character of all. I spent the whole book wondering what Harmony was up too.

The progress in the book was steady, but slow. Things do not happen quickly here, but unfold slowly. This is more a character study than a mystery. I was interested enough to keep reading, but I can't say it was exciting. I would have liked more of a suspense/mystery atmosphere. I give this book 3.5 stars.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown is a recommended mystery about a missing woman and the family she left behind.

A year ago Billie (Sybilla) Flanagan went on a solo hike in the wilderness and never came back. Her shattered cell phone and a boot were discovered, but a body was never found. Now the family she has left behind are looking for closure and maybe some answers. Jonathan, her husband, is close to getting a declaration of death in absentia so he can collect the life insurance on Billie. They desperately need the money. At the same time he is writing a memoir about his love for Billie and their life together. Olive, their daughter, begins to have strange visions of her mother in which Billie is still alive. Olive is seeing her in different situations where Billie is talking to her daughter, telling Olive to find her.

As the two try to come to terms with Billie's death and absence from their lives, Jonathan begins to uncover secrets from Billie's past and lies she told him. Suddenly their lives together don't seem as clear as he once though they were, and maybe Billie was having an affair. Jonathan's stories about Billie become darker. Adding to the tension is Harmony, Billie's best friend and an old friend. What does she know about Billie's past and why is she always around. And then there is a coming-of-age moment for Olive.

This is a well-written but rather slow paced novel that keeps turning the same questions over again and again, with a few new details each time and little advancement of the plot until you are well into it. Alternating between the chapters detailing Jonathan and Olive's lives are excerpts from Jonathan's memoir about Billie. The excerpts aren't quite as successful in Watch Me Disappear as they have been in other novels.

Admittedly, I didn't find any of these characters that appealing, especially Billie. She's supposed to be independent and a force unto herself while also being whimsical and unique, but I can't believe that Jonathan didn't notice some of the discrepancies in her travels along with her darker nature. I also think that when authorities were looking into Billie's disappearance while hiking, they would have likely look into her background much more closely and talk to some of the people that later Jonathan and Olive talked to. Olive's visions were presented as supernatural at first and it might have been a better choice to leave them at that and not present an explanation that never provided any true clarification.

The ending is satisfying, but, no matter how good the writing is, for me it felt like it took too long to get there. This is a much more subtle mystery that explores how well we know family members than a tension filled drama.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the Penguin Random House Group.
on 7/14/17: http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2058329000

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC for my Kindle.
A mother makes decisions based on what she thinks is best for her child/children OR makes decisions based on what she thinks is best for her own self. Before anyone judges the decisions, take a walk in her shoes.......

Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown is about a mother, Billie, who disappears during a solo hike at a nature reserve in Northern California. Her teenage daughter believes she is alive, while her husband is trying to get some closure by having the courts recognize her death in absentia. As they come to terms with her disappearance, it becomes clear that enigmatic Billie was a woman with a lot of secrets, a sketchy past and a serious independent streak – but was she troubled enough to abandon her family? While this is being marketed as a thriller, I would say it is better described as a domestic drama – a gloomier version of Where Did You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple.

I can often judge how much I'm enjoying a book by how long it takes me to finish it -- and this one seemed to take an eternity.

One the surface it seems like the type of book that I'd enjoy -- a beautiful, active Berkely, CA mom goes out for a hike and never returns. Nothing but a hiking boot is found. She's presumed dead and her husband and teenaged daughter are left to grieve, and to ponder how much they really knew their wife/mother.

This is much more of a character study than a who-dunnit. The elements of a good book were there, but something was definitely off. The book was a painfully slow read for me, the characters were largely unlikeable, and their actions often times seemed inauthentic.

Thank you to Spiegel & Grau and NetGalley for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When you get a story that you just have to read to the end....this is it. Billie Flanagan decides to go on a solo hike and just disappears from the trail. There is evidence of a struggle, but no body was ever found. Her family moves on the best they can, but then Olive her daughter, sees visions of her mother. This causes concern by her father Jonathan, and together they start to dig into Billie's past. This story shows you that, you may not know someone as well as you think. There are many twists and turns and questions. A very good thriller! Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to read this book and give a review of it.

When I first got the opportunity to read this novel, I was a bit unsure how I would feel about it. I tried to read another novel a few years ago by Janelle Brown, All We Ever Wanted was Everything, and I was unable to get through it. Watch Me Disappear is so different--in a good way! I really enjoyed the story, characters, pace, writing flow, just about everything with it really. The ending was not all that surprising, but it was still good and the whole story could be realistic. I love that it alternates between the different characters and each of their voices are clearly distinct. The only thing that I didn't feel like that fit was Olive's "visions" but it isn't something that really bothered me--more puzzled on how it related.

It takes a bit to really hook you, but keep reading it and you will not be able to put it down!

A mother disappears and you want to find out everything about it. This has so many twists and connections and missteps that you won't want to put it down until the very last word. This is the new Gone Girl: Mom edition which means better!

Billie, both a wife & mother, goes missing on a hiking trip and disappears. The assumption is that she is dead; they find her car in the parking lot of the trail head and one of her hiking boots, but they never find a body. Her husband, Jonathan and her daughter, Olive struggle to move on with their lives; Jonathan begins drinking and Olive pulls away from her father. Around the 1 year anniversary of Billie's disappearance, Jonathan is awaiting the death certificate for his wife from the court, however his daughter seems to not be entirely sure her mother is really dead. Olive decides to start searching for her mother herself and eventually her father agrees to help.

This book sounds really interesting to me when I read the synopsis, however it fell a little flat for me. Basically, as you would expect, once they start searching for Billie, they discover that she has been lying and things aren't exactly as they seemed to be. I never really connected with any of the characters and generally when that occurs, I don't find myself as interested in the actual story. I did find the second half of the book a bit more interesting when Jonathan starts digging into his wife's past. The writing is alright, but nothing that really grabbed me and pulled me into the story. The story is told mostly in the present, with some flashbacks to the past. I do have to say I found the ending to be pretty impressive, it wasn't what I expected after we find out everything else. I know that is a bit vague, but I don't want to give anything away. An interesting story, just never really grabbed my attention the way I expected it to.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC.

Awesome book. Loved it. Well written with great characters. Full review on Goodreads.