Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I thought this was a very well written twisty psychological thriller that kept my interest from page 1.
I highly recommend this book to everyone.

I thought the description sounded interesting but I thought the book was just ok. I just didn’t care for the main characters. I think the last third of the book was the best part

Best thriller full of twists and turns! I love the portrayal of mental illness, very spot on, and realistic. Exciting and not so crazy you were lost. Couldn't believe this was a first novel, look forward to more.

This book read more like a cozy mystery, to me, than it did a psychological thriller. I happen to be a fan of cozies in addition to thrillers, so it did not bother this reader.
The amateur sleuth, Emily, struggles with bipolar disease and this is front and center to the narration. While I have little personal experience with this condition, I thoroughly appreciated the unreliability of the narrator due to her own questioning of her sanity and interpretation of events. During a romantic overnight trip on a boat, Emily's boyfriend mysteriously disappears. She becomes suspect number one, and sets off on a self-destructive quest to clear her name. Due to some poor personal choices, she loses her job and ends up living at her mom's house, so she has plenty of time to conduct her own investigation. She finds a willing sidekick in a friend of her missing boyfriend.
The majority of the violence happens off-screen. A boyfriend disappears, a body is discovered, and Emily hears secondhand about a potential serial killer in her area complete with some of the violence that has transpired.
For a plot-driven novel, there was a lot of inner monologue presented. These thoughts provide a lot of the background to the story. I did not find these to be very distracting, but neither did I find them showing growth in Emily.
I liked the solution to this mystery. I felt like it was a little rushed at the end, the final solution being sprung on the reader with fewer hints/clues than I would have liked. There was a lovely red herring though!
Overall, I thought this was a well-done debut novel. I read somewhere that this may be the beginning of a series, I hope that means we will get to see more of Emily in future installments. I will absolutely read the next book this author publishes.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

Great mystery with wonderfully like able characters.
Quite a few twists and turns. The author has a great style of writing
and I was guessing quite a lot throughout this book .

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

I had hard time reading this book. It was slow and monotonous. The flow of the story was painfully slow. Emily’s inner thoughts were drawn out and boring. For a psychologist she was making very stupid mistakes. I was not invested in the story the slightest. It just wasn’t interesting to me.

A very exciting psychological thriller. Emily copes with her biopola very well. Loves her boyfriend and is living a good life. Then her boyfriend disappears. Emily now has to cope with her illness and find out what has happened to her boyfriend. This book takes you on a very rocky ride with Emily.

Ok book lots of suspense, twists and turns. Not a good representation of bipolar but more highlighting its stigma and the way people do not believe it. Sad.
The plot itself was good and the way they find the truth.

The premise of this book sounded thrilling and reminded me a little bit of the movie, Double Jeopardy with Ashley Judd when I first read the description. R.J. Jacobs draws us into an interesting plot from the beginning with characters such as main character, Emily, a psychiatrist who battles bipolar disorder. Emily wakes up on a boat during a sailing trip with her boyfriend only to find him missing.
While the plot twists were engaging, I unfortunately didn't quite connect with the characters the way I wanted to. The story could have used a little more character development, and at times the plot was a little vague, but overall it was a fast-paced read and entertaining read.

I enjoyed the elements of mental health woven in alongside the mystery element of the story. It felt different from the usual books that I read, as it had a science/laboratory element to it but it is good to read something different. I was able to guess some of the 'twists' of the story but sometimes I think that comes from reading so many books. Good practice! However, I would be interested in reading future books by this author.

Psychological and well-written, this book drives the reader through from page to page. It’s a mystery that engages and grips.

he cover of this book caught my eye. Did someone drown? Is it about a swimmer? What is happening? And Then You Were Gone by R.J. Jacobs appeals to me thanks to an intriguing plot that combines mental illness with a mystery surrounding a death.

After years of learning how to manage her bipolar disorder, Emily Firestone finally has it under control. Even better, her life is coming together: she’s got a great job, her own place, and a boyfriend, Paolo, who adores her. So when Paolo suggests a weekend sailing trip, Emily agrees—wine, water, and the man she loves? What could be better? But when Emily wakes the morning after they set sail, the boat is still adrift…and Paolo is gone.

A strong swimmer, there’s no way Paolo drowned, but Emily is at a loss for any other explanation. Where else could he have gone? And why? As the hours and days pass by, each moment marking Paolo’s disappearance, Emily’s hard-won stability begins to slip.

But when Emily uncovers evidence suggesting Paolo was murdered, the investigation throws her mania into overdrive, even as she becomes a person of interest in her own personal tragedy. To clear her name, Emily must find the truth—but can she hold onto her own sanity in the process?



I am anxious to read this and see how the author weaves bipolar disorder into a murder investigation. I like a flawed, potentially unreliable main character with issues that may complicate things. This one looks so good, I can’t wait to read it.

Due out in March 2019.

After years of learning how to manage her bipolar disorder, Emily Firestone finally has it under control. Even better, her life is coming together: she's got a great job, her own place, and a boyfriend, Paolo, who adores her. So when Paolo suggests a weekend sailing trip, Emily agrees - wine, water, and the man she loves? What could be better? But when Emily wakes the morning after they set sail, the boat is still adrift... and Paolo is gone.

A strong swimmer, there's no way Paolo drowned, but Emily is at a loss for any other explanation. Where else could he have gone? And why? As the hours and days pass by, each moment marking Paolo's disappearance, Emily's hard-won stability begins to slip.

But when Emily uncovers evidence suggesting Paolo was murdered, the investigation throws her mania into overdrive, even as she becomes a person of interest in her own personal tragedy. To clear her name, Emily must find the truth - but can she hold onto her own sanity in the process?

This is a great example of a thriller or mystery that delivers on the promise of keeping you guessing. I would review this book and recommend it completely. It was a book I wanted to read in one sitting, but forced myself to span out my reading.

The characters felt pretty developed, the bits and pieces strung together well. The characters were crafted and I felt like I could relate to these characters in a way some of the other books I’ve read didn’t deliver on.

I felt like the first forty pages or so were fairly slow, but the pace picked up as the book progressed with several twists and turns. The formatting was also a strong and successful component as well.

And Then You Were Gone follows Emily as she comes to grip with the loss of her boyfriend, Paolo. After years of managing and controlling her bipolar disorder, this loss threatens to throw Emily completely off balance. She will not believe that Paolo could have drowned, and struggles to understand what could have happened until she discovers evidence that may suggest that there has been foul play. Emily fights to find the answers before she falls victim to her bipolar.
A great thriller/mystery that keeps you guess. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a good thriller/mystery!

*I received an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I would give this book 5 stars!!!
This book begged to be read in one setting but life has a way of not allowing that to happen. I think this is best book I’ve read in a long time.
The character of Emily was spot on. Her feelings on being bi-polar are explored during the story. Manic episodes are sometimes an issue when meds are nit taken and she explains her struggle throughout the story. By the end I think my heart was beating faster than normal as I related to her fear. Definitely a book I would recommend to anyone who likes suspense and thrilling books

#And Then You Were Gone# NetGalley #

Thank you to NetGalley for a advance copy of this book for a fair and honest review.

I just finished reading this book by R. J. Jacobs and I absolutely loved it! I’ve always heard that you should write about what you know, and that is exactly what Mr. Jacobs has done and it shows in his writing. The setting is in Nashville, the plot involves psychology and of course, murder. Emily is a very likable character, although she is really pushing the boundaries on most of her interactions with other characters. She is bipolar and somewhat manic in all she does, but that is what makes her so likable. I failed to mention that there is also romance between Rachel and her boyfriend Paulo. He disappears from a yacht, and the police suspect she has murdered him. She spends the rest of the book trying to prove she is not guilty. Her sleuthing takes her through many venues and she is always a step ahead. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who was guilty of the murders. I must admit that I had two characters in mind and I was wrong on both. It does end well and all the loose strings are tied up. A pleasing ending. I was so into the book that I read it in one sitting. The author’s writing goes very smoothly and it is easy to read and keep up with. I hope there will be other future books from this author. A solid 5 stars.

This book was different and fun! There were lots of twists and turns. I thought the beginning was slow, but as i read on, all tied together. I love books that keep me up at night! Thanks netgalley for an a copy in exchange for honest review!

This book began as quite the page turner - they started us off with wondering what had happened to Paolo and progressed into us wondering what would happen next, which is a sign of a good novel, in my opinion. It held my attention and despite having somewhat predicted the ending by the halfway point, it didn't make me want to finish less.

The writing itself was also great, allowing me to picture each scene as if it were familiar to me. But mostly, I genuinely appreciated a mentally ill/unstable female lead portrayed in an accurate and honest, but not victim, sort of way. I looked up the author after reading and learned that he's a psychologist, which explains the accurate portrayal of bipolar disorder. Regardless, it's a great thing, as people typically misunderstand these disorders or see them as purely negative. In the story, while suffering, the main character is able to use her disorder to her advantage.

Overall the book was a page turner and definitely captivated my attention and I"ll certainly look for further works by this author in the future.

Nothing memorable. Nothing special... a decent writer but the story was predictable and nothing surprising....

At the start of this book I really didn’t know where it was going to go, how the plot would unfold and there’s no way I could have guessed how it ended. I was on the end of my seat through the last 15% of the book, I couldn’t read fast enough as everything came together for the ending. There was suspense, a little agony, some “why did you do that” thoughts ... all things that make for a good book. This was my first book by R. J. Jacobs and I throughly enjoyed it!