Member Reviews
This is my one of first reviews of an ARC from Netgalley & not a a bad start! Here’s my honest review.
I read this book in just over two days & found the storyline intriguing. Girl goes missing & one year later mysteriously starts texting her mum to say she’s been abducted... queue mystery & intrigue.
The book is told from two perspective, the mum Jessica & the daughter Wyn. The timeline covers the two perspectives using an event at a pep rally as the crucial event & moves back & forth from that date. I found the timeline & the way it was written easy to follow which is definitely a plus when there are multiple characters. I wouldn’t say it helped build suspense but I definitely kept me reading until the end...
I thought the story was paced well & every chapter or so ended in a nice ‘plot bomb’ almost like a truth bomb that kept you going!
Probably the point that will have the most mixed reviews is the ending. It was believable but also it wasn’t! I personally enjoyed the ending of the book. I picked up a few suspicions throughout the storyline of what had happened but ultimately didn’t guess the twist at the end which is exactly what you want from a thriller/mystery. Overall a fairly easy read that was easy to stomach. 3.5 stars
A year ago, Jessica's teenage daughter Wyn disappeared. Local police are convinced she's simply another runaway, but Jessica never let herself believe that her daughter would abandon her like that. And finally, she is proven right, when she receives a flurry of desperate text messages from her daughter: 'mom. please help. i think he's going to kill me'. But Wyn also warns her mother not to contact the police, because her kidnapper is one of them. Determined to discover the truth but in fear for her own life, Jessica is forced to decide just how far she'll go to find out what really happened to her daughter...
Wow. What a book! I've had a few bad ones recently, and after enjoying Bishop's previous book when I read it last year, I was confident that I'd love One Year Gone. And I did! It alternates between Jessica now, trying to solve the mystery of what happened to her daughter, and Wyn in the lead up to her disappearance, so it creates a really strong sense of tension as information is slowly revealed, leaving you frantically guessing who did what!
Bishop writes in a really unique style, combining elements of adult fiction with those of YA, which results in a writing style that I find really easy to engage with. However, it does mean if you don't like YA, you're probably better avoiding this one: if you're not fussy, give it a go! Both of her books that I've read are thrillers, and while they are very different to anything else in the genre, I find them to be really quick to read, easy to get into, and definitely the sort of book that you race through to find out the final reveal. Full of twists and turns, One Year Gone is a gripping thriller that will have you staying up all night to finish it.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
Disclaimer - I was fortunate enough to be provided with an advance reading copy of this book by NetGalley. This has not affected my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.
I couldn't put this book down. So many twists and turns. Gripping plot. Highly recommend. I'd challenge anyone to guess how it concludes.
I lived the premises of this book. It’s every parents nightmare .... I had a hard time connecting with the characters and it seemed to be longer than it needed to be.
If you like mysteries this may appeal to you.
A book full of twists and turns but unfortunately a little too predictable for my tastes. A fun, easy read.
Imagine your daughter disappearing without a trace. This is the premise of the novel, One Year Gone, by Avery Bishop. Jessica Moore’s teenage daughter, Bronwyn, vanished a year ago. The assumptions of many in the town, including the police, are that Wyn is a runaway. Jessica is not convinced. A year passes with nothing new to report, until Jessica begins to receive text messages from Wyn’s telephone. Suddenly, there is hope. It appears as if Wyn has been a prisoner all this time, and a member of law enforcement may be responsible. After receipt of these text messages, a new search evolves, with surprising twists and turns and inclusion of new characters in the story. This story is told from multiple points of view and provides insight into events that occurred prior to Wyn’s disappearance that may have been a contributing factor. Wyn’s character is difficult to decipher. At some points, it appears that she has friends, but at others, she appears to be an outcast and a victim of bullying. It was hard to determine if she had friends, and if they may have been responsible for her disappearance. While I enjoyed this psychological thriller, at times, it was hard to navigate between the different point of views expressed and the increase in characters at the end. While I enjoyed the character development, at times, there seemed to be too much information expressed which took away from the action of the story. I was surprised at the ending and wanted to keep reading until I discovered what truly happened. I do recommend this book. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC for my honest review.
This was an okay read for me. The premise is intriguing and the storyline was very engaging. The story was well written but the characters were a letdown for me. Narrated in dual POVs and timelines. we meet Jessica a bar owner and her daughter Bronwyn (Wyn) a seventeen-year-old high school who dreams of becoming a songwriter/singer.
There are some surprising twists in the end although I find some of the plots were unbelievable. A story that deals with alcoholism, bullying, teenage identity crisis, and deception, this book will keep you reading until the end.
My thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review the ARC of this book.
This book is a 'thriller' from the author. It read from differing points of view, alternating throughout the book. At times I found this repetitive and confusing to follow. There were twists and turns in the book however I felt the twist at the end was slightly unbelievable. I did try to enjoy this book but found it hard to keep up at times.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed Girl Gone Mad so I was excited for this one! It had a lot of the same themes - and frankly I am so over the Mean Girls trope - but took an entirely different turn. It seemed like there was two dueling twists to the same scenario and it felt like overkill. Otherwise it was a fun read and I'm looking forward to her next!
This book dove straight in, and from the first chapter I was hooked. Starting off with the messages from Bronwyn was such an intriguing start to the book and I enjoyed the mini cliffhangers throughout that made me want to keep reading.
I also thought the way in which the story was told worked well, and it was interesting to see Bronwyn’s point of view, from the day of the pep rally, along with Jessica’s view now. It was also great to get other character’s points of view, for one chapter, later on in the book when we needed certain pieces of information and this was much better than long, drawn-out conversation. However, I don’t think the third point of view, Jessica just after the disappearance was necessary. It was confusing and I found that there were often very repetitive scenes where there were similarities between then and now which just didn’t need to be included. It would have worked better if these important moments were included in Jessica’s ‘now’ point of view.
There also seemed to be a few inconsistencies throughout the book. Like when Joe made an assumption that Wyn was taken by a cop yet there had been no evidence to suggest this. I also found that characters seemed to be jumping to conclusions that weren’t particularly natural and either I have missed some important pieces of information throughout the story, or it didn’t quite work.
I was impressed by the twists and turns at the end, I didn’t see most of it coming and I was led astray by a number of well-executed red herrings, however I don’t feel like I fully understood the motivations of most of the characters involved in the cover up. It just didn’t seem as if this would be everyone’s natural response to the situation. At times it felt messy and I wonder if there were just a few too many people involved or a few too many things going on when a simpler story would have been more impactful.
Regardless, I was entertained throughout and I thought the epilogue was truly beautiful. It was such a lovely way to end the book, having come full circle.
Definitely not what I expected! It was a little hard to keep up with all of the characters and the parts they played, as well as the way the story kept jumping around in time. But all in all, it was a good read and I wasn’t expecting the ending at all, even though it was a little too much to really believable. I enjoyed it though, a good read with an unexpected twist at the end. I can usually predict what’s going to happen, but this one took me by surprise.
Wow! Avery Bishop has crafted another thrill-a-minute masterpiece. I really liked reading girl gone mad and was excited to get a copy of this book to read. The story of Jessica and her missing daughter Wyn did share a lot of typical story elements and tropes featured in other “missing girl thriller” books but the way Avery put everything together worked well to make this an entertaining read. Yes there were some scenes that could have used editing (like all of the text messages for example...we all know how a phone works..no need to go into some overly long explanations about it.). It definitely kept me guessing (always wrong guesses!) until the very end. The ending I completely did not expect. It was an unusual choice but I think it made for a very surprising ending. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to provide an honest review.
“One Year Gone” is a thriller by Avery Bishop.
When Wyn, a teenager disappears, she is assumed to have run away. Yet, her mother, Jessica, believes something much worse has happened. Who knows Wyn best—her mother or everyone else? Jessica never loses hope and after a year passes, she begins receiving texts from Wyn. Is Jessica right and that someone else has been holding her daughter this entire time or are the texts just a dead end?
I thought Ms. Bishop did an excellent job in building suspense while keeping the reader guessing. Was Wyn truly in harm’s way or was she in on the game? The author masterfully peppers clues throughout the prose and more important, I did not want to put this novel down, even when Jessica came across as a little two-dimensional. I highly suggest you look for this novel when it becomes available August 10, 2021.
Thanks to Netgalley, Lake Union, and the author for the ARC to review.
dnf at 30%. was having problems following along with the change of perspectives. like the premise of the story and I really like to see the result, but right now I'm struggling to keep going, would try again at a later date.
Jessica Moore’s teenage daughter Bronwyn (Wyn to her friends) goes missing shortly after a pep rally at her high school. Jessica is living every mothers worst nightmare and does not believe her daughter ran away from home, which is the conclusion local police have arrived at. When, a year after her disappearance, Jessica’s cell phone goes off in the middle of the night, she never expects it to be a series of text messages from Wyn, but that is exactly what she sees on her screen. Her daughter is reaching out after all this time and lets her mom know she has been abducted and needs help. Jessica launches into action and this time she won't let anyone get in the way of her finding her daughter.
This story is told in alternating timelines and from both Jessica and Wyn’s points of view. I did like the changes between present day and the past, as well as the perspectives of both mother and daughter taking center stage. I thought Avery Bishop wrote the character's dialogue particularly well. The switches between now and then and Jessica and Wyn were well paced and as the book progressed towards its conclusion I found the ramping up of these perspective changes suited to the more frantic pace of the story.
What I did not care for in this story was the ending. Mysteries with a twist ending are often great, especially when they are truly unexpected but also believable after you think over what you had previously read and see the connections and clues you missed. I found the ending to One Year Gone to be a bridge too far. I just could not get there or find it the least bit believable, and that brought this book down to a three star read for me.
This is a quick page turner, with a good premise. The characters had a bit of depth, although a fair bit of emphasis upon the main character and her relationship with alcohol was I felt a bit unnecessary. The plot was thick and kept me guessing until the end. I’d recommend as a great holiday read.
Very difficult book for me because I have a daughter. The whole time I was reading I was imagining her in this position. Unfortunately I was unable to finish because of my imagine running wild.
If you enjoyed "Reconstructing Amelia", you will love this book.
Told in alternate view points between mom Jessica and daughter Bronwyn (Wyn), it works from both ends from the present when Jessica wakes up to a text from Wyn asking for help back the night Bronwyn disappeared. This is a thrilling, intense and captivating read.
Wow what a page Turner, it was an easy free flowing story but with all the suspense and twists you could want, it’s not predictable and I didn’t guess anything, very clever writing especially when there was hidden hints but they weren’t noticeable (if that makes sense) I did think “how did he know that?” But it was so cleverly done. Loved the writing and the story, I won’t say much more as I really don’t want to give anything away but everyone should read this.
This book was almost a did not finish, but I pushed through. on one hand it was a fairly interesting mystery, on another it was very jumbled. the different time lines made it almost impossible to follow and gave me a headache. my first by this author and most likely the last