I was intrigued by the title and the description offered by the publisher but have found it difficult to stay engaged in reading the book long enough to see where it really goes.

Billie Flanagan decided to go hiking alone and it has been almost a year since she has disappeared. Her body was never found. The only thing which remained was her hiking book. There appears to have been no foul play - she just disappeared leaving her husband and daughter to mourn her loss.

Almost a year after his wife's disappearance, Jonathon is struggling financially and has decided to write about his wife's disappearance and life without her. He is in the process of having his wife declared legally dead. He begins to drink a little more than he should and also begins to worry about his daughter Olive. Olive has been "seeing" her Mother. Olive begins to believe that her Mother is not dead but just "missing". Does Olive have psychic abilities? Is her grief causing her to see things that are not real. Is it wishful thinking that her Mother is still alive?

How much do your really know your spouse? After her disappearance Jonathon begins to find things and learn things about his wife. Things she had kept from him, things he never knew, things he did not want to know. As Olive and Jonathon go on a journey to learn the truth about Billie's disappearance, they learn about themselves, others and of course about Billie herself.

I went into this book with high hopes. The description sounded very promising. I started this book a couple of times and would put it down to read other books. It just didn't grab me as I had hoped it would. That is not to say that this is a bad book. I liked it - I just didn't love it. I wasn't too shocked by the ending. It did not shock me. I actually expected it.

The writing is solid in this book. The author did a good job describing this dysfunctional family. Jonathon busy at work doesn't notice the money coming out of the bank account, in fact, he really doesn't pay much attention at all. Their daughter attends a pricey private school that Jonathon struggles to afford after Billie's disappearance. Their "perfect" family isn't so perfect after all.

I really wanted to like this book more. As I already stated....I liked it - I didn't love it.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau in exchange for an honest review.

Every once in a while book comes along that you debate with yourself whether you should read it or not. Well this is one of them. I have never read this author but I am sure to put her on my top 10.

I really enjoyed this story! All with a great storyline the characters are interesting and complex. A woman goes missing and is presumed dead, but no body has been found. This story involves her husband, daughter and friends as they try to continue life without her. There are things that are found on her computer which surprise her husband. On the other hand her daughter starts to 'see' her in little hallucinations, making the daughter, start to believe that she psychic. There are many changes the family goes through. I was liked the direction that story went even at the end when the truth was told. The author told a story that was smooth.

Billie Flanagan was an eccentric and captivating woman, who frequently went against the grain, so to speak, so when she went for a solo hike in the mountains her husband Jonathan and daughter Olive thought little of it. Until she didn't come back. After search and rescue find one of her boots and a cracked cell phone, the search is called off and Jonathan and Olive are left to piece together their lives without her. However, Olive begins having visions of Billie in which she urges her daughter to please find her. Jonathan is not convinced, but as he begins to consider moving on and accepting a life as a single father, secrets and clues start to surface that can't be ignored.

A taut psychological thriller that will have readers turning the pages till the explosive end. Perfect for suspense and thriller lovers!

After my mother died, I would have a recurring dream that she was still alive and only gone off to take a break. It was a bit disconcerting reading this story about a young girl trying to prove her mother was not dead after her disappearance. The evolution of this story and the reactions of the characters is well crafted. Everyone has secrets and everyone decides what is the most important secret and what to do about it.

This was a great, page-turning mystery. It reminded me a lot of "The Girl on the Train" and "Gone Girl" but with more likable characters. I found myself not wanting to put it down because I wanted to find out whether the mother was really missing or dead. It might have been a bit predictable in spots, but it was a great read overall.

"Watch Me Disappear" by Janelle Brown is an intriguing story about the aftermath of a tragedy that envelopes a family. Billie Flannagan is a wife and mother who goes on a solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail in Desolation Wilderness and inexplicably disappears. One of her hiking boots is discovered in a riverbed and she is presumed dead after a exhaustive nine day search for her comes up empty. In the wake of this catastrophe, Billie's husband and daughter must try to make sense of this tragedy and move on with their lives.

The story takes place a year after Billie's disappearance. Jonathan, Billie's husband, is plagued by questions rgarding how is wife actually died in the wilderness. Initially, he clung to the misguided hope that she would miraculously turn up. There is no closure because there was no body to bury thus he is left with an emotional and legal nightmare to untangle. He quits his job and starts a memoir about his life with Billie.

Billie's daughter, Olive, attends Claremont Prep school and floats through each day in a state of despair. She has recurrent dreams and visions of her mother and believes she is trying to reach out to her. She is convinced that Billie is still alive. She gets her father to promise to investigate her mom's disappearance.

As Jonathan goes through Billie's personal effects, he starts to piece together facets of her life that he did not know about. He then questions how well he really knew her. This is a compelling story that shows how tragedy can uproot a family. I couldn't put the book down because I was intrigued about Billie's disappearance. What actually happened to Billie? You'll have to read the book to find out.

My thanks to NetGalley, Janelle Brown and Random House for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The story moved too slowly for me and lacked excitement. A mother/wife disappears while hiking and a year later her husband/daughter try to find out what happened to her.

Janelle Brown has written a very readable, fast paced novel entitled "Watch Me Disappear". Filled with twists and turns that keep the reader intrigued from the first page to the final sentence. Don't read this book if you're crunched for time. You won't want to put it down. Would be a great summer beach read.
Ms. Brown has given us a host of flawed, but interesting, characters. You will find yourself changing your opinion on each of them many times during the course of this novel.

A nice family, Jonathan, Sybilla and Olive. Jonathan is a writer, Sybilla loves to hike and Olive is still in high school. Then one day when Sybilla, or Billie, as she is called, goes out for a hike she doesn't return. A search party only finds a hiking boot in the remote area. She is presumed dead and the husband and daughter try to cope best they can. Olive is still trying to find herself and Jonathan seems to have writer's block. Olive starts to have hallucinations and thinks she sees her mother. She is convinced that she is not dead. Jonathan tries to convince Olive that she is wrong, but during his attempts to prove her wrong, he starts to uncover some things he did not know about his wife. It seems one thing leads to another and the more he finds out, the more questions he has. This mystery novel does keep you guessing and flows quite smoothly. I would have given it 5 stars, but the writing seemed to be more suited for a Young Adult. I do thank the publisher and author for giving me an advance copy for my honest review.

A very unusual story that keeps you guessing. The characters seem real and the relationships are very complex as is life.

I loved this book! It kept me guessing, then made me think I had it all figured out, then totally surprised me! I got sucked in to the character study of both Billie and Jonathan and the inner workings of their marraige. This was really well written and while some of it was a little far fetched, it was fully entertaining which is just what I was looking for on vacation. An enthralling escape!

Very suspenseful novel. The characters were very well developed, and my opinion of the outcome kept changing every few chapters.

A mother with a troubled past vanishes while hiking, leaving her family to piece together her secrets, in this keenly observed novel from the bestselling author of All We Ever Wanted Was Everything.

Billie Flannigan has been missing for almost a year after she left to go hiking. No body has ever been found and as the one year anniversary is coming up, Jonathan and Olive are doing the best they can do get through their pain.

Olive begins having visions of her mother begging her to come and find her. Jonathan is stuck trying to begin a book about their life together, but the bottle and memories get in the way.

I liked the premise of the book. A woman disappears, assumed dead and normally that would be that. But Olive isn't going to let it go. As she and her father dig into Billie's past they find more questions than answers.

Did anyone really know who Billie was/is? The pace was a little slow for me in spots. I didn't feel like I had a handle on any of the characters. Everyone was just giving their version of who this woman was in their eyes. The idea of this woman who kept reinventing herself is very intriguing.

Unfortunately I thought the characters needed a lot more authenticity. I would give her writing another read however because she is a good writer.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random House!

A mother with a complex past and complicated secrets disappears on a solo hike...one year later, her husband and daughter are coming to terms with her almost certain death...but is she really dead?
This premise sounds like yet another venture into a family drama slash psychological thriller, but it pleasantly surprises by weaving in richer themes of loss, adolescence, love that is true but but flawless, of parents and children and spouses. As Billie's death is questioned by husband Jonathan and daughter Olive, their relationships with Billie, along with their own personal journey with grief, are laid bare.

I enjoyed the characterization, plot, and general momentum of this story. The "is she alive" bit drew me in, but the relationships in the story is what holds interest and elevates this book.

Watch Me Disappear is one of the most thought provoking and entertaining books I have read in a while.

Well developed, complex characters that you grow emotionally attached to through the story

The story is magnetic ... drawing you in ...
We often wonder how we will be perceived when we pass away. What little secrets will come to life when we aren't there to tell the story from our perspective. Do we have the courage to live a life we choose instead of the box we keep climbing into every day? This story shines a light on the dark corners we hide from the world. We are able to explore the fantasy of truly living our own life and being free to explore and independantly choose our path.

Janelle was masterful in creating deep believable characters ... it is easy to relate and fantasize about being them ... breaking through our own walls of boredom and routine that we created.

This one is worth reading at least once. Great epilogue, Masterful story telling, Deep characters, and a story that will be hard to forget.

What an amazing thought provoking mystery about the disappearance of a mother and wife!! This book takes you through the life span of a young free spirited ecoterrorist with huge dreams to change the world. Due to a very strict religious life with a Pastor as a father, she eventually runs away, only to become involved with a drug dealer in LA. Her name is Sybilla or later known as "Sparrow" and finally "Billie." Knowing that this person could be very dangerous, she eventually separates herself from Sydney and later becomes involved with Johnathan. She thinks she has finally found her safe harbor to begin her new life. The family unit is made of up Johnathan Flanagan, Billie's journalistic husband, and her young daughter Olive. Everyone thinks that Billie is such a super spirited super Berkeley Mom, and that she's very happy with her life, but things start to unravel for her. She begins to go on hiking trips with a female friend and is gone many weekends. Johnathan can feel her pulling away and her own daughter is having issues with her. On one if these hiking trips, Billie never returns. There is a smashed cellphone and one hiking boot that is recovered, but no body has ever been found. There is a memorial service conducted, but the family flounders for a year before Billie can be declared legally dead. In the process Johnathan begins writing a memoir about his dead wife. Bills are piling up, and he's trying to be a father and mother to his teenage daughter. Olive is having such a difficult time in the private school she attends, and her life seems to be unraveling as well. He starts finding all kinds of clues in his wife's laptop that are very baffling. He thought he knew everything about his wife, but there seems to be so much more he didn't know. So many questions and no answers. Is she really dead or did she just walk out on the family? What will Johnathan find from the clues? Will he ever be able to finish his book? Will Olive be able to wade through life without her mother? What a great and enthralling book about life and the twists it throws you! The characters were so real and raw with their feelings that the reader could definitely relate to their turmoil. The plot was very well throughout and really kept the reader on its toes. The book kept me reading and guessing until the very end and what an ending! Definitely not what I expected. I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to reading more from this author.

Just when you think you have it figured out the story takes another twist. Would a mother really just up and walk away from her family and how would they handle that truth. Unsettling.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an impartial review.

Billie Flanagan - wife, mother, and solo long-distance hiker - is gone. Nearly a year after her disappearance on the Pacific Crest Trail, readers see the devastation of her family. A lengthy search of the trail turns up few clues. Without a body, Billie's family is in a kind of a limbo, financially and legally caught between two worlds.

Husband Jonathan, once a busy tech writer, quits his job to write a memoir of the love of his life. The memoir should be a chance to process his grief but it turns into a diary of questions and second guesses. Daughter Olive, a young teen and only child, finds she no longer really fits in anywhere. School and friends become secondary as Olive begins to have visions of her mother wondering why Olive isn't looking for her. Olive's visions propel the story forward, but they were a rather distracting device.

Billie's past is secretive and enigmatic. Her few stories about her history include religiously fanatic parents and a former drug dealer boyfriend. She had run away from her past and all that appeared to matter was her present with Jonathan and Olive. Now that she has disappeared, Jonathan realizes how little he actually knew his wife.

Brown effectively establishes the character of Billie without the use of Billie as narrator. Everything is seen through others' eyes which adds to the mystery of Billie. Presumed dead, many authors would present someone like Billie as a sweet and gentle victim, gone too soon; Brown allows her to appear selfish, forcing readers (and her family) to question the veracity of memory and family.

This was a very complicated story of a teen whose mother disappears after going hiking. After a thorough search, no trace of her is found, and she and her father are on the verge of giving up when Olive begins to have visions of her mother inviting her to come and find her. It was a well-told story of how little we know our loved ones, those we are closest to, and how much one may find out when searching for them. Is she dead, are these unbelievable stories they are hearing about her true, and did she just leave them for someone else? It's a heart-rending mystery that presses you to find out what will be revealed next and all along the way. I was totally enthralled from the first vision until the end, and still, questions linger and beg to be answered. I loved it. I wonder if another novel will follow this one.