On paper this one should have been right up my alley, it has many elements that I enjoy but somewhere along the way it lost me. I’m wondering if maybe it’s just me because so many trusted sources loved this one but I’ll definitely give the author another try. I

Note: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Isabel Lincoln is gone. But is she missing? It's up to Grayson Sykes to find her. Although she is reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, Gray's search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated and dangerous with every new revelation about the woman's secrets and the truth she's hidden from her friends and family. Featuring two complicated women in a dangerous cat and mouse game, And Now She's Gone explores the nature of secrets -- and how violence and fear can lead you to abandon everything in order to survive.

As a reader I was really intrigued by the mystery of what happened to Isabel and who she really was. I also liked how Hall incorporated Grayson's backstory into the narrative.

This was a DNF for me at 75 pages. The plot was taking ages to develop and I didn't care about the main character. The writing was loose and messy and I didn't feel the need to continue.

Since I did not finish this book I will not publish my review to purchasing sites. In fairness to the author it might have a fantastic ending that justifies the messy plot and writing

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title.

I wanted to love this one, I really did. It just felt too over the top. Gray Sykes (almost Gray Skies but not quite....) was not your average P.I. Just moving up in the company she works for, she has her new office and her new caseload. Her first case is of a girl gone missing - by choice or by malice is what she needs to figure out.

I found the history of abuse to be a distraction from the story - it's almost every other chapter (but not quite). There were so many characters between the dog, the girlfriend, the mom, mom and...uhhh mom, the friends (photo'd and not) and the co-workers (with one getting married) from two different people that adding a third with a separate timeline just felt like too much. I found the boyfriends, the crime and the additional layers to be completely over the top that gave the story an improbable slant I just couldn't seem to get over.

Grayson Sykes is working hard to be a private investigator. Her boss /mentor has given her the first case of her new career.

Isabel Lincoln has gone missing. Abducted? Or did she leave on her own. That's what Grayson has to determine. At first glance, it seems to be easy enough ....

What Grayson discovers is that no one seems to be who she thinks they are. The missing woman's boyfriend absconded with his dog. He's not too worried about the girlfriend, but he definitely wants the dog back. There's Isabel's best friend, Tea, who seems to know more than what she's telling. To top it off, Isabel has been in hiding from an abusive partner. Another person that's suspect.

Grayson isn't who she says she is, either. She knows firsthand how domestic violence and fear can lead someone to abandon everything they have and know.. just to survive.

There are twists and turns aplenty. It's a tightly woven, complex plot, featuring characters that are strong and intriguing to follow. This is a page turner to the very last page.

Many thanks to the author / Macmillan-Tor/Forge / Forge Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction/thriller. A special Thank You to Macmillan Reading Insiders Club. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Grayson (Gray) Sykes is a private investigator hired to find Isabel Lincoln, the missing girlfriend of a cardiologist. It doesn’t take her long to question whether Isabel wants to be found and if she’s trying to escape her boyfriend. The more progress Gray makes with the case, the more it intersects with her own past and present.

This was one of the more complex stories I’ve read in a long time. Chock full of quirky and sketchy characters, it seems to shift with every new revelation. At the center of it is Isabel who emerges as the enigmatic character of them all, which unleashes Gray’s own disturbing and heartbreaking past. She’s the most interesting of them all who works tirelessly on this her first real case while she recovers from recent emergency surgery. Gray also is grappling with her own identity issues, struggling to not let them overlay into Isabel’s reality.

I really liked this story, a lot, but reading it was made more difficult to get through by the endless bizarre metaphors and outlandish product placements. I’m not offended by them (after all, I’m obsessed with a series that shamelessly drops them) but they began to overpower a challenging mystery and bogged down the story so much that I kept putting the book away. When I decided to just skim over all that “stuff,” I flew through the pages and was highly intrigued.

This needs to be a series and, indeed, if it becomes one, I’ll definitely sign on. I’m hoping, however, the author decides to write more nimbly and eliminate all that product name dropping and ease up on the metaphors. Her characters are brilliantly designed and don’t need them and the bones of her story are iron strong and shouldn’t have to compete with distractions. I do recommend this book but be forewarned that its vernacular will need to be dealt with.

And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall is a new thriller that falls more into the crime fiction genre with a new detective on a case. The story is told in an alternating timeline style with Grayson Sykes in the present on a case to find a missing woman and looking back into the past with Natalie Dixon in an abusive relationship.

Grayson has been handed a new assignment of looking into the disappearance of Isabel Lincoln. Quickly Grayson sees that the man that has hired them to find Isabel may not be all that he tries to seem to be. Before long Grayson is wondering if Isabel simply has a reason to want to not be found which has Grayson looking back into the past rembering Natalie and her relationship with her husband Sean.

And Now She’s Gone was simply one of those books that seemed to never really gain the ‘thrill” side of the book to me. As I was reading the pace seemed incredibly slow and the idea that we quickly see that Isabel may have left by choice sent me to think why then are we still looking? I also thought that the story seemed to spend more time in the past that the present which sort of buried that side of the book to me. Perhaps it was the length or the pacing but in the end I just found that overall I wasn’t invested the way I should be and simply turning the pages to get this one done and off my shelf. 2 1/2 stars.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

<b>A missing woman with a past as puzzling as the PI hired to find her...sounds like my kind of twisted thriller! Unfortunately, this story didn’t flow smoothly and I wasn’t able to settle in. Not to diminish the author’s talent, but her writing style didn’t do it for me.</b>

The storyline, the twists and the complex plot should have made for a fantastic read. But I agree with other reviewers who labored through the metaphors that became annoying.

Many others enjoyed this one, so I’m chalking it up to my inability to appreciate the author’s work.

I received a free ARC of “And Then She’s Gone” from Macmillan, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.”

<b>My Rating: </b> 3 ⭐️’s
<b>Published:</b> September 22nd 2020 by Forge Books
<b>Pages:</b> 384

@rhowzellhall @forgereads @MacmillanUSA
#NetGalley #readinginsidersclub #psychologicalthriller #NoRulesJustThrills #justfinished

After publication, my reviews can be found:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AFWS5Q63ZHOHGTHHCWSA7TFIZLRA?preview=true
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/takemeaway21
BN.com, BookBub, Pinterest

I really wanted to love this one! An interesting premise with a missing woman and a new female PI trying to track her down. I struggled with the writing, full of metaphors and a plot that seemed to take forever to develop.

Grayson Sykes is the new PI hired to find a missing woman, the secrets keep piling up in the case and Grayson seems no closer to finding her. Full of intrigue, but I didn’t get invested in the characters or the story.

I see lots of 4- and 5-star reviews for this one, so maybe it just wasn’t my time to read this one.

Grayson Sykes has just been handed her first case as a PI. A case of a missing woman. A boyfriend looking for his girlfriend and dog. But does she want to be found? Grayson doesn’t think so. “Probably because she smelled the crazy on him and didn’t want it to get in her favorite coat. Hard to get the stink of nuts out of wool. Gray had lost many old outfits that way.” The problem is, it’s the nut job that's hired her.
I just loved Grayson. She’s got her own past, her own dark secrets, her own abusive husband. We’re given glimpses of her past in alternating chapters. She’s still looking over her shoulder, waiting to see if her husband manages to track her down. She’s still learning the ropes and I appreciated that she’s not painted as some PI savant. Although it did frustrate me that she was so stupid when it came to her health.
I love when I think I know where an author is going and they just throw a big old curveball right in my face. Because that’s exactly what happened here. And not just once. This is a fun, fast paced mystery. I haven’t read any other books by Hall, but I sure want to now.
Warning - there are a lot of descriptions of domestic violence.
My thanks to netgalley and Macmillan Publishing/Forge Books for an advance copy of this book.

And Now She's Gone deals with brand new Private Investigator Grayson Sykes, on her very first case, searching for missing Isabel Lincoln. It appears that Isabel is missing by choice and her cardiologist boyfriend might not even care to look for her if she hadn't taken off with his dog, Kenny G. The boyfriend may have been abusive and once Gray knows that Isabel is alive, she's conflicted about how to proceed with the case. Gray knows abuse well, as we see as the story progresses, and she's not going to betray a fellow woman running from a brutal relationship.

Gray was likable enough, nervous about her first solo PI job, having trouble finding a working pen, losing major coolness points as she accidentally dumps out her entire purse, while interviewing the boyfriend. Gray is a smart woman, trying to find her rhythm with her new job responsibilities, worthy of good women friends, and willing to look out for the safety of other women. But Gray seems to think and speak in metaphors, way too many of them, and it got tiring, even early into the story. Still, the attraction of this story will be the strong women who tire of abusive relationships and are willing to do something to change that part of their lives.

Thank you to Macmillan Publishers/Forge Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

Isabel Lincoln is gone.
But, is she missing?

Grayson Skies is put on the case.
It may be her first as a P.I. but she knows a thing or two about disappearing.

Excerpt:
Natalie Dixon, a woman Gray knew once upon a time, had disappeared like that. Unlike the men who disappeared, women left their egos behind along with their keys, photo identification, and unpaid electric bills. These women may have wondered about their past lives-What are they doing back home? How are they living without me? Did somebody finally wash those damned dishes? -but they rarely did more than wonder. They never visited old haunts, They never searched their names on Google or checked their Facebook pages. Unlike most men who vanished, women rarely got caught. They just wanted a new beginning."

There were one or two passages like the one I just shared that made me hopeful that this would be a 5 star read for me.

BUT, unfortunately, MOST of the authors descriptions, and metaphors did NOT resonate with me, and I found myself losing interest in the story, and NOT connecting with her prose or dialogue.

This cat and mouse, cross country chase did go in an unexpected direction.

BUT-despite that-this book was just not a good fit for my personal taste.

I received a free ARC of "And, Now She's Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall from Macmillan in exchange for an honest review."

Available Sept. 22, 2020

This was a DNF for me.

Although the premise was promising, I couldn't connect with the writing.

I can see from the many great reviews that this is a case of me not having the same thought patterns as the author. I continually felt like I was missing pieces of information and spent too much time back tracking and attempting to piece information together.

I don't do well with stream of conscious narrations and I'm not positive that I'm describing this correctly, but it seemed like that type of book.

I rated three stars while trying to be fair and hope that others will enjoy the book.

Thank you to the publisher, Macmillian for my advance electronic copy and to NetGalley for facilitating.