This was a really gripping story. It starts out slow, but once the main conflict is introduced, the story picks up. I am on the fence about whether or not I like the main character. I found her to be at times really interesting and sympathetic, while at other times to be frustrating and passive. I could sort of predict the conclusion, but is a small twist at the end that I think really works and made the ending worth it for me.

The historical fiction part is pretty cool. I liked the setting being in Alaska since that's not an area that I'm very familiar with, so it was interesting to see this environment and the indigenous people included there as well. I like that the war is not a super important factor in the plot. I tend to dislike world war-focused historical fiction. In this book, it's mostly a factor of lending distrust to a couple of characters and for setting purposes.

I also enjoyed the back and forth between the past and the present. Sometimes this technique doesn't come across well, but I think Fleischmann was justified in his use of it and employed it well. Getting to see Else as a child and her relationship with her sister helps justify why she's so desperate to find her and provides a bit of a clue to what might have happened to her.

Overall, I think the book is well written, the characters are really well-formed, and I enjoyed the mystery/thriller element of it.

Living in rural Alaska, Elisabeth is lonely. Soul crushing lonely. A plane comes once a week to deliver supplies and mail,but other than that human contact outside her family is infrequent. Then a stranger arrives....he's a substitute pilot for the supply plane. Alfred Seidel says he has a secret....but he will only tell her if she agrees to three demands. The secret? He knows about the disappearance of Elisabeth's twin sister 20 years before. Elisabeth has been haunted by thoughts of her sister since she vanished....and the obsession Seidel creates will lead to murder and an unraveling of Elisabeth's life and relationships.

I think I liked the setting and the emotional vibe of this book better than I liked the mystery portion of the plot. I can't imagine the mental stress of living isolated in the middle of nowhere....then add in a creepy guy with a very very dark secret. Yikes. Double yikes, in fact. I feel like this book was more about Elisabeth sliding into obsession and a very dark place, rather than about the mystery of her sister's disappearance. Elisabeth changes from a woman dedicated to her child who is trying to make a difficult marriage work into a changed person....pretty much a hot mess....by the end of things. A stranger and his strange secrets and actions upend her life. The vibe and emotion was heavy and dark, and I ended up really not liking Elisabeth or any of the characters.

I've been mulling over this book for more than a week as I tried to decide how I feel about it. The story is good....but, for me, the emotion/darkness of it was difficult to read. Heavy stuff. But in my opinion, a book that leaves me thinking heavy thoughts for several days because I'm having to come to terms with events, character's actions, and the ending.....deserves at least four stars from me. This book left me thinking about how fragile people can be, and how I might react in the same circumstances.

A bit distressing for me....but, all in all, a good story. Excellent debut novel! I will be reading more by this author!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Berkley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

Somehow these characters in this novel never matured into anything believable. Perhaps because of that, all of them behaved irrationally when faced with decisions in their lives. I did enjoy the setting but was not sad to see this book end.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the ARC to read and review.

How Quickly She Disappears was a quick DNF for me. It seemed interesting based on the description but it didn't meat expectations.

How quickly this disappeared - DNF at 40%. A lot of promise, especially with the sun not going down and the mix of whites and Inuit, but the characters were so unlikable it didn't matter.

eARC provided by publisher.

Elizabeth Pfautz lives in the wilderness of Alaska and has isolated herself for one big reason, when she was 11 years old her twin went missing and there were no clues to be found, but Elizabeth always felt as if she was still alive. Now as an adult she still feels the pull to find her twin and despite many people warning her, she still looks for clues for her twin all the time.

For me this was not a book I enjoyed and I was completely surprised throughout the reading that I just wasn't enjoying it. The story felt like it wasn't moving anywhere and kept having those hints of "I will tell you the secret, but not yet" and I just wasn't enjoying the tease.

Throughout the book there were chapters sprinkled in that take the second person point of view and for me these chapters were hard to read and distracting from the main story. I understand that they were there to help take the story back in time to when Jacqueline was alive, but changing the tense for me wasn't the right way to do it.

Usually I try to find a reader for every book that I review, but this one could be the one that will be hard for me to recommend as the plot was just too slow for me.

How Quickly She Disappears is an engrossing, twisty story with excellent atmosphere. Twenty years ago, Elisabeth's twin sister Jacqueline disappeared. Now, she lives wondering what became of her sister when a stranger shows up in town who seems to know what happened twenty years earlier. The catch is he wants Elisabeth to fulfill three requests. Is it worth it and can she trust this stranger? How much is it worth to her to find her missing sister? Highly recommended to readers who enjoy thrillers with disappearances.

Elisabeth Pfautz and her family live in a tiny town in Alaska in 1941. Her husband works for the Office of Indian Affairs, and she spends most of her time home-schooling her daughter and waiting for the weekly mail delivery, until a stranger appears one day. He seems to know a lot about Elisabeth’s sister Jacqueline who went missing 20 years earlier. He offer information to Elisabeth but wants something in return – can she trust him?

This is a quick read and I was very interested in the time and place (rural Alaska, right before Pearl Harbor). However, I would have liked more character development, and the ending just sort of falls flat - I found myself wondering if the author didn't know how to end the story or is planning a sequel. It's unfair to compare this thriller to The Silence of the Lambs or The Dry, both of which are gripping thrillers, since this one isn't in the same league.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC in return for a review.

This historical mystery set in Alaska paints the atmosphere so incredibly. I was pulled into the story straight away and the tension built so well. Nice book

This book is a twisting tale following the disappearance of a beloved twin sister.. The remaining sister lives her life wondering what what has become of her precious sister; fully believing that she still lives and desperate to find her. If you like a surprising ending, this one could be for you. I was totally taken by surprise.

Living in Alaska was isolation enough, but having a total stranger show up one day and tell you that he knows where your sister who disappeared twenty years ago is was unreal.

Elisabeth and her sister Jacqueline tell their tale in alternating chapters of when they were children together and then today where Elisabeth tells her tale of being alone and without her sister even though she has a husband and daughter. She never got over losing her sister.

Looking for her sister for twenty years was an obsession for Elisabeth and also someone else.

Her sister Jacqueline went missing when they were young and was never found. The news this stranger had was unbelievable.

Could Elisabeth believe this stranger when he had just killed a man?

Could Alfred be the man who took Jacqueline?

Could Alfred be the man who lured Jacqueline with his gifts of money and travel tickets?

Could Elisabeth really be wasting her precious time with her daughter and husband while looking for clues and listening to Alfred's story that he knows where Jacqueline is as he drew her into his schemes and away from her family?

Elisabeth made me nervous with her obsession with Alfred and how she was pulled into what he asked her to do to find her sister. Alfred was a manipulator.

Someone was hiding something, and Elisabeth seemed to be ruining her life for something she really wasn't sure of.

HOW QUICKLY SHE DISAPPEARS was very well written with words that pulled you in and that had a gripping, mesmerizing, menacing tone.

HOW QUICKLY SHE DISAPPEARS will be enjoyed by historical fiction and mystery fans, readers who like secrets, readers who enjoy not really knowing the background of the characters and what makes them "tick," and trying to figure it all out.

Will you be able to figure it all out?

Will you be able to handle the tension?

Will you be able to stop turning the pages? 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

How Quickly She Disappears is an interesting debut with promise - but ultimately falls a bit flat. The overall plot is interesting and eerie. Elisabeth's character starts off strong but I found myself growing more and more frustrated with her as the book went on (this may have been intentional!) The villain does have an underlying creepiness but I thought he could have been a bit more fleshed out.

I did find it tough to determine if the flashbacks were memories or dreams at the beginning (again, this may have been intentional, it's not necessarily a negative). I did think that through the flashbacks, Elisabeth and Jacqueline seemed older than 11 (Jacqueline especially) so sometimes it was hard to buy that it was the dialogue, thoughts and actions of children.

Elisabeth's daughter was interesting but there's a shift in her personality that isn't much accounted for or explained and seems very abrupt.

It doesn't seem like setting the book in WWII was really necessary to the story. It did provide challenges that wouldn't exist if set in modern-day, but the background of the war starting wasn't important enough of a detail to make a difference.

However, there's a lot of good bits of writing in this book and I think that with more time and experience, Fleischmann could produce a very compelling thriller. (Also, I cannot give half stars but I would put this solidly as a 2.5)

Solid mystery but you find yourself questioning the choices the protagonist makes. At times she seems to actually be falling for the questionable criminal. I am not revealing the end, and in the end you will decide if indeed she made the correct series of choices that she deemed necessary

Elisabeth Pfautz is isolated in a small town in Alaska in 1941.  She spends her days teaching her young daughter at home and tiptoes around her husband John who is often gone.
At night, she's haunted by dreams of her twin sister, Jacqueline, who disappeared twenty years ago.  Struggling with loneliness and an unhappy marriage, Elisabeth holds on to the belief that her sister is still alive and she'll find her some day.

There is a routine to life in a small town and it is upended when a German pilot arrives to deliver the mail and murders a local man.
The man is Alfred Seidel and he wants to speak to Elisabeth before he'll discuss his crime.
Alfred claims he knows what happened to Jacqueline; that she is, in fact, alive and well.  Alfred is admittedly enamored with Elisabeth and wants to keep her attention as long as possible but promises he'll lead her to her sister if she'll fulfill three requests.

Elisabeth's hope of finding Jacqueline turns to obsession as her neighbors place some blame on her for the death of one of their own.  When John is offered a teaching position in a less isolated area of Alaska, the family finds themselves closer to the prison where Alfred Seidel is being held.

An uneasy game begins between Elisabeth and Alfred as each tries to win the upper hand.  Elisabeth uses Alfred's obsession with her to her advantage while Alfred uses Elisabeth's obsession with her sister to his.

As Elizabeth begins to fulfill Alfred's requests, readers see her willingness to sacrifice everything to learn the truth.  How far will she go?  Is this even a game she can win?

How Quickly She Disappears is a fantastic mystery/thriller told in alternating time periods.  We learn pieces of the puzzle leading up to Jacqueline's disappearance in the past and watch Elisabeth spiral toward the truth in the present.
The tension between Elisabeth and Alfred is odd and often palpabale at times.  The atmosphere and isolation of Alaska play an impressive role.  The mystery had me completely involved in finding the truth.  Elisabeth's character arc is dramatic.

I'm reading a lot of mixed reviews on this debut novel and the trending negative seems to be that Elisabeth goes from a woman devoted to her daughter and attempting to make her marriage work but by the end of the book she seems to have lost herself completely.  This is actually what I appreciated about the book!  I love that we meet a woman isolated from the world and see what she focuses on in that isolation while learning about her internal struggles.  Then we see who she develops into when the possibility of changing her situation occurs.

If you enjoy atmospheric thrillers with a game of cat and mouse, this is one worth picking up!

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.  How Quickly She Disappears is scheduled for release on January 14, 2020.

A slowly-building thriller about a woman struggling with isolation, her marriage, and her history in 1940s Alaska. A satisfying but rushed resolution to the big unanswered question looming over her.

I really wanted to love this book! The premise has so much promise, but the execution...meh. Honestly, it started out and I was hooked. Toward the middle it lost me. I'm still shaking my head and wondering what just happened. Underwhelming.

Set in 1914, against the harsh backdrop of a remote Alaskan community, How Quickly She Disappears is the story of Elisabeth, a wife and mother living a very quiet life in the far northern reaches of Alaska. Elisabeth is at a point in her life where she is isolated, geographically and emotionally, from her husband, her community, and family. In addition to her isolation, Elisabeth is still coping with the disappearance of her twin sister Jacqueline. Twenty years ago, when the girls were young, Jacqueline disappeared without a trace. Now, a strange man named Alfred has flown into town and manipulates his way into Elisabeth’s house, her life, and her past. Elisabeth’s life is turned upside down when Alfred commits a heinous crime in her small town, and then offers clues to her sister’s disappearance, clues that are entirely too detailed to be wrong. Before long, Elisabeth is pulled into a deranged cat and mouse game in the hopes of finally discovering what happened to Jacqueline all those years ago—and maybe even directly to the sister she’s always believed is still alive.
How Quickly She Disappears is a stark, haunting novel. I found myself wanting to disbelieve everything Alfred was telling Elisabeth but being drawn into this madness right alongside her.
My one complaint is that it wasn’t wrapped up in this novel, it left an opening for a sequel and it felt as forced and manipulative as Alfred was. This really felt like a standalone novel the entire time I read it and to be left like this at the end kind of ruined a lot of the experience for me.
How Quickly She Disappears will be available January 14, 2020.

*I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of How Quickly She Disappears from Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Eh... this one just did not do it for me. The descriptions were well written but I found the story very slow and ended up putting it down. Disappointed because I was looking forward to this. Maybe next time!

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really don’t like when a novel is compared to another. The comparison to “The Dry” which I really enjoyed is puzzling to me, I don’t see the comparison. This was a 2 and ½ which I'm rounding down to a 2. The two are for the Alaskan atmosphere and what originally sounded like a good premise.

This novel was one of those books that you end up asking yourself “what exactly was the plot of this novel? I would say it was the disappearance of Elizabeth’s sister, but then the entire story about Albert Seidel and his relationship with Elizabeth is a strong part of the plot.

The characters weren’t very well described or perhaps it was that their personalities changed so often it was hard to describe them. I truly didn’t care about any of them with the exception of Mack who I felt I could like, he was the one truly good friend and neighbor to Elizabeth. I think he was a kind soul who wanted to protect Elizabeth and her daughter, unfortunately Elizabeth never listened to his advice. He is definitely my favorite character.

“ Elisabeth’s twin sister disappeared without a trace twenty years earlier, and Elisabeth’s life has never recovered. Cryptic visions of her sister haunt her dreams, and Elisabeth’s crushing loneliness grows more intense by the day. But through it all, she clings to one belief: That her sister is still alive, and that they’ll be reunited one day”. She is already sounding mentally unsound if she is dwelling on the disappearance daily and dreaming about her nightly.

Early in the book Elizabeth is portrayed as a wonderful mother and teacher and we see how much time and thought she puts into her daughters lessons. She seems to be very close to her daughter but then later in the novel she is an entirely different person, with no morals, no care for the well being of her own daughter or her husband. Her daughter also morphs quite quickly from a fun loving, excellent and happy student to a “screaming brat” who hates everything, including her mother. She wants to get out of Alaska and makes an attempt at running away, but again this seems to come out of nowhere.

I enjoyed the descriptions of the local landscapes and how it felt to live there. The winter season is the most difficult for most of the people as they feel even more isolated and the weather can be brutal. The part of the plot that takes place in a blizzard were really the only tense parts of the story for me.

Albert Seidel appears in Elizabeth’s life when their usual pilot is out for the week. He is a bush pilot delivering the mail but is stranded because he tells everyone that there is something wrong with the plane and it will take a few days to get it fixed. Elizabeth feels obligated to offer her extra room because their house is the largest in town and they have hosted others.

Albert is a sociopath and it would tell too much of the plot to get into this character. We do find out that he has been searching for Elizabeth because he has a "secret" to tell her.

There were some things that I liked, I thought the story flowed pretty well from past to present regarding her relationship and life with her twin sister. That relationship was not a healthy one, she was clearly obsessed with Jacqueline. She thought she was the “fun” sister even though many people said she was the “bad” sister and Elizabeth the “good” sister. At only eleven years old Jacqueline was into some really unhealthy relationships and shared everything with Elizabeth who knew it was wrong but still didn’t tell her parents about what was going on.

There are many higher star reviews out there so read a variety and see what you think, or just go in blind, sometimes that’s best!

I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley. This novel is set to publish on January 14, 2020

This was a Traveling Sister read.

Will post to Amazon upon publication

The story started out okay, and then quickly became confusing...I had to reread section several times to figure out what the author was trying to get across. While the story line was interesting and intriguing...the actually writing was stilted. I was also a bit disappointed in the ending...left me hanging.