If you are like me, you will read anything that Lisa Jewell writes! I don't even care what the book is about. I see her name and add the book to my Goodreads list then anxiously await the publishing date.

In this case, her new book comes out in September and here is the plot:

"On a beautiful summer night in a charming English suburb, a young woman and her boyfriend disappear after partying at the massive country estate of a new college friend.

One year later, a writer moves into a cottage on the edge of the woods that border the same estate. Known locally as the Dark Place, the dense forest is the writer’s favorite area for long walks and it’s on one such walk that she stumbles upon a mysterious note that simply reads, “DIG HERE.”

Could this be a clue towards what has happened to the missing young couple? And what exactly is buried in this haunted ground?"

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Couldn't put it down. Interesting twists and turns. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

*sigh*

I had high hopes. I truly thought this was going to be remarkable based upon the reviews and high ratings.

But man, what a letdown.

The majority of the characters are dull. No depth to them. The only exception was Kim, Tallulah‘s mom.

I did appreciate the way the story was told. I thought the reveal was well done. But as for what happened to Tallulah and Zach…well that was obvious from around the 30% mark.

But the “hostage” situation was absolutely ridiculous. It made no sense to me. Either kill her from the jump or let her go. Especially if you’re trying to keep your daughter (and your own family) safe. Pin everything on the girlfriend. The fact that Scarlett’s family help her captive for a year was stupid. STUPID.

Also, they were able to find the hiding family based on a few Instagram posts uncovered by a novelist? Ummm, ok. I’m sorry, I know technology can be amazing, but I guess it should’ve been mentioned exactly HOW the location was discovered. IP address? Small markings in the pic? Someone saw their boat? WHAT?!?!

The only part of the ending I truly enjoyed was Liam’s revenge.

Anyway, underwhelming in almost every way. It definitely had potential. I just wished the ending wasn’t so over-the-top and absurd. I wanted to love this and am sad I didn’t.

How much do I love Lisa Jewell.....she keeps you turning the pages and always has an ending that is satisfactory yet you don't see it coming.

This mystery has three different timelines and narratives. 2017: Twenty year old Tallulah and Zack have a child and they live with Tallulah's mother Kim in an English suburb. You read this from Tallulah's perspective and learn she isn't in love with Zach anymore. Zach had abandoned her after she told him she was pregnant. After months of handling things alone her feelings have changed when he insinuates himself into her life again. This tension charged situation is well written. One evening when the two are out on a "date" Scarlett Jacques appears at their table and invites them to a party at her house.
Tallulah contacts her mother Kim and asks if she minds watching the baby longer as she has been invited to a party with college friends. By morning there is no sign of them. Tallulah and Zach have disappeared into thin air.

In the 2018 timeline Kim is still frantically trying to find her daughter with zero help (or concern) from Zach's mother Megs. A year passes and the disappearance of the two becomes a cold case. You read about Kim's life handling her grandson, always sad and hoping someone will come forward about her daughter's disappearance.

In 2019 thirty-four year old Sophie, a mystery novelist, moves into the head master's quarters at Manton College with her boyfriend Shaun. While Shaun is dealing with the responsibilities of his new position at Manton college, Sophie explores the wooded area around their living quarters. She comes upon a cardboard sign with the message Dig Here and a downward arrow attached to a post. Sophie does dig and comes up with an engagement ring still in the box. This is the thread which starts the naturally curious Sophie to research the missing couple and leads her to Kim.

There are many supporting characters in this novel and the author fleshes them out so you can visulaize them quite clearly. As you turn the pages and chapters lands you back into 2017 a dangerous game of deception is revealed.

The ending - it all comes together and it most certainly was not what I expected. Well done.

Publication date September 7, 2021 by Atria Books. Genre: Mystery, Thrillers.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book. I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.

Sharing with Joy for British Isles Friday.

As always, Lisa Jewell fails to disappoint me. The Night She Disappeared was thoroughly enjoyable to read, absorbing your interest with every fleeting chapter. Set in three different timelines and narratives (a classic Jewell-style of storytelling) we follow the disappearance of two young parents, Tallulah and Zach, in the summer of 2017, and the ripple effects this has over their community a year later. Jewell is an expert on delivering real human characters, even ones without a narrative, and I especially loved hearing from Tallulah’s perspective before she disappeared. Best part of the book? Every little piece of the puzzle matches up perfectly near the story’s end, and yet Jewell still finds a way to conclude her newest thriller with a head-spinning shock of a finale. Loved, loved, LOVED!

Great book! Definitely one of my new favourites of Lisa Jewell...she is also becoming one of my favourite authors. This is part rich girl/bad girl story mixed with mystery, coming-of-age, and a bit of darkness all in one. I do wish it was a bit twistier at the end but I still thoroughly enjoyed it!
Already looking forward to her next one! Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!

I want to go on record right now stating that Lisa Jewell can absolutely do no wrong! I don’t know how she cranks out hit after hit, but she can not miss!

The Night She Disappeared is classic Jewell and will have you questioning and second guessing until the very last page. Everyone knows that I’m a sucker for a plot I can’t predict and a twist I don’t see coming. This delivers faster than Domino’s!

It is whip smart, strategic, and will have you propping your eyelids open for just one more page! Add another stone to her crown because Lisa Jewell is a queen!

5/5 ✨

Thank you to @atriabooks and @netgalley for advanced copy!

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for this ARC.

Lisa Jewell is an auto-buy for me, so when I saw she was coming out with a new book this gal was ON. IT.

Jewell did not disappoint with her latest who-dun-it mystery. This is a quick read and Jewell does a great job with the dual timelines and different POV.

I felt some things at the end were superfluous and didn't add much to the story. For this reason, this is a 3.5 star read for me, rounded up to 4.

Wow. A gripping mystery you can’t seem to put your finger on in classic Lisa Jewell fashion! Between multiple timelines, POVs, & characters- you aren’t quite sure you’ll know how this will end up. My head was swimming with a few possibilities of how this mystery concludes, but there were a few times I definitely couldn’t quite guess how a certain clue or character were going to play out.

From the beginning to the first quarter of the book or so, I got the feeling that this book was going to be darker & a bit scary. This didn’t transfer throughout the rest of the novel as the story unraveled. I was hoping for a story/ending a bit scarier but I did truly enjoy the mystery as Jewell wrote it!

The ending is satisfying & ties up loose ends as Jewell is so proficient at. However, the rest of the book chapters end on cliffhangers which I love & it makes you read through so much faster to find out what is happening! I gave this 4.5/5 stars.

P.S. - loved the epilogue! Was gripped to this story until the very end.

Lisa is a terrific writer and I have loved all her books, including this one. A great beach area that will keep you turning pages all afternoon

⭐️Review⭐️
Title: The Night She Disappeared
Author: Lisa Jewell
Pub Date: 9/7/21
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Thank you to the publisher for a free Netgalley!
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Loved:
- This mystery, that used dual timelines, kept me wondering how this was going to end!
- LJ’s writing is on point as always!
- This one felt believable and there weren’t twists that made me roll my eyes.

Didn’t:
- Sometimes the over description of certain events or things slowed down the story a tad. I may or may not have skimmed over a couple longggggggg paragraphs!

Lisa Jewels already guaranteed her place at my top 5 favorite thriller authors list a long time ago.

This smart, mysterious missing people story is like an enigma: she divided it into puzzle pieces and told the story between three time lines and you gotta gather all those pieces together to solve how 19 years old teen mom Tallulah and her boyfriend Zach go missing after they attend a house party at a mansion located Dark Place/ Upley Fold.

Kim Knox, 39 years old, single, who is the mother of Tallulah, cannot believe she could run away by leaving her little baby Noah behind. And her story intercepts with 34 years old thriller author Sophie, who recently moved to Maypole House with her elder boyfriend Shaun who is assigned to teach in private boarding school. She finds a piece of cardboard at the garden of their new house. A piece of cardboard, flap torn from a box, scrawled on it in marker and with an arrow pointing down to the earth, are the words: “Dig in”! And guess what she finds when she digs!

As I told before, there are three time lines to piece the entire story together and solve the mystery:
Chronologically the first time line is 2016:
Tallulah’s life before her missing- her school activities-her struggles to learn how to be a teen mom-her second thoughts about getting together with her boyfriend Zach who is also their baby Noah’s father- her secret friendship with Scarlet who is rich, magnetic, having her own circle of popular friends.

Second time line is 2017: the time Tallullah and Zach’s date night which ends at pool party and nobody heard from them at the exact night. We see Kim’s efforts to find both of them, conducting her own search, a few steps ahead from police officers. As she digs more she realizes there are so many things she doesn’t know about her daughter’s life.

Third time line: Sophie and boyfriend Shaun’s moving to Maypole House. Sophie starts digging her garden and finds something connected with the case of missing young adults. She is already intrigued by their matron Kerryanne’s implications about how the town got affected by the missing people’s case. She connects with Kim and finds herself help her to dig out more to find what happened to Tallulah and Zach.

Overall: Kim is my favorite character who is easily relatable one of the story. The complex, smart storytelling was remarkable as always.

This is not my favorite work of the author and in the middle of the story I may have lost my interest a little bit but the conclusion and epilogue were well wrapped up. It was still shocking, sad, powerful.

So I’m rounding up my 3.5 stars to 4 motherhood, lies, secrets, there’s something dangerous in the woods stars! Actually I couldn’t give less than 4 stars to one of the most brilliant authors’ work, even if I could. I’m looking forward to read her next book!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

If you like page-turners, this is it. A well crafted mystery that keeps the reader enthralled with both the back story and the careful unfolding of events, leading to an unexpected climax.

The catalyst is the disappearance of a young mother, Tallulah, after a night of partying. Unlike others in her group, she is actually the mother of an infant, living with her own mother. Many people share secrets about that night and the strange family who live in Dark House, a mansion nearby. It is Scarlett who is in the center of the ongoing narrative of the story.

I really enjoyed this book, loved the way Jewell pulled all the loose ends together and gave the reader a good sense of closure.

Thank you Netgalley for this really satisfying book.

Where could Tallulah and Zach have gone after they left a party at the mansion called Dark Place?

Tallulah had a baby, and her mother, Kim, knew she would never leave him.

Kim checked with friends, and they had stories that didn’t match up about when and where Tallulah was and where she left the group.

After waiting twenty-four hours, Kim called the police and the search began.

Tallulah and Zach were never found, but as the book moves forward in time, we meet Sophie who moved into a house close to Dark House.

On the property where Sophie and her boyfriend are staying, she finds a sign that says: DIG HERE. Being curious about what that means, Sophie walks in the woods and finds Dark House abandoned and neglected.

Could this sign be a connection to the cold case?

Could this lead to clues about the disappearance?

Could it be a story for her to write about or to turn into her new novel?

The story of the missing teenagers is something Sophie couldn’t forget about and kept investigating.

THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED goes back and forth from the year Tallulah and Zach disappeared to present day as we find out background information, how little the investigation team did, and how finding the sign that says DIG HERE brings back the nightmare of the missing teens for Kim.

Ms. Jewell keeps her readers as curious as the characters about what happened.

The house seemed to be a character in itself and definitely added to the suspense.

So many possible suspects, but who is the right one?

Ms. Jewell has given us another tense read with an ending you will be talking about.

You won't want to miss THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED if you are a fan of Lisa Jewell, spooky houses, and multi-layered characters. 4/5

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

This is another fabulous addition to Lisa Jewell’s repertoire of outstanding psychological suspenses. The English countryside school setting and the historical house with an abundance of ambiance, including an underground tunnel from centuries ago that was used during England’s civil war give this a very creepy gothic feel. The story centers around the disappearance of a teenage couple who are the parents of a young boy. There’s much speculation that the two up and left for a break from parenthood, but the girl’s mother, Kim, knows that the two would never leave their baby. The story is narrated by both Kim a year ago and Sophie, a young mystery writer living at the school who uncovers clues to solve the mystery a year later.

Everything about this is outstanding. The characters are multilayered and fascinating. As the story progresses, readers learn that everything is not what it appears to be at the beginning. This and the dual time periods will keep readers hooked and on the edge of their seats for the entirety. This will be a fall favorite for fans of psychological suspense.

Tallulah and Zack leave baby Noah with Tallulah's mother Kim. It is unusual for the nineteen-year-olds to have a night out, and Kim is happy to see them have a chance to enjoy themselves.

Unfortunately, they don't return home. Kim is frantic, but no one seems to have a clue about what happened. The young couple have disappeared, and Kim insists that her daughter would never willingly leave her baby. The police find no trace that would lead them to an answer--one way or another.

A little over a year later, Sophie Beck arrives at Maypole school where her partner has been appointed the new Headmaster. When she sees a sign saying, "DIG HERE," she assumes it is part of a scavenger hunt.

After learning of the missing teenagers, Sophie is curious--she is, after all, an author of cozy mysteries, and she returns to the sign and digs. What she finds makes her even more invested in discovering what happened the night Tallulah and Zack went missing. She takes her find to Kim, who recognizes the ring as the one Zack intended to use when he proposed to Tallulah.

Multiple POVs and two time lines, allow Lisa Jewel to unravel the plot at a pace guaranteed to give just enough information at just the right time. And it doesn't always lead where you might expect.

Read in July.

NetGalley/Atria Books
Suspense. Sept. 7, 2021. Print length: 416 pages.

Lisa Jewell is the queen of writing fast paced and interesting mystery and this book is no different! The pacing is well done and any mystery reader will surely enjoy this book!

I'm going to echo other readers in saying this was exactly the book I needed right now. It's well paced, with nice pitch, and a pleasant overall outcome, most importantly, none of th o characters pissed me off royally, so.

Lisa Jewell has done it again. The Night She Disappeared is exactly the thriller I needed, and absolutely my new favorite Jewell book! I couldn't put it down!

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

Multiple points of view and three timelines, that are presented to us throughout the story, make for an interesting and confusing "who done what" mystery. The story revolves around the disappearance of nineteen year old Tallulah and her nineteen year old live-in boyfriend. They have a one year old baby and there is no way "Lula" would abandon her baby so her mother knows that Tallulah is missing due to foul play. As the story progresses from one timeline and POV to the next, we see that all is not as it seems and one or more people know a whole lot more than they are telling.

At the same time that I really liked the way the story was presented, because it racked up the tension and the mystery, the impatient side of me wished we could have the story in chronological order. But I'm sure getting the story in the order that it happened would have ruined the suspense. It was hard to figure out what had happened to Tallulah and occasionally I'd wonder if she was at fault for her disappearance and then I'd feel bad for thinking such a thing. Tallulah's relationship with new friend Scarlett, rich, entitled, spoiled, and selfish, can't be a good thing, can it?

The 2017 timeline allows us to see stressed out Tallulah trying to juggle a baby, a college workload, and a very controlling boyfriend that she would like to distance herself from. The 2019 timeline shows us Sophie, a writer of a fictional cozy detective series. Having just moved to the same town from which Tallulah disappeared, Sophia is immediately thrown into the midst of the cold case when she sees a cardboard sign on a tree near her new backyard. The sign says "Dig Here" and what Sophie finds opens up Tallulah's missing person case again.

It's best to go into the story knowing no more than possible so I'll say no more. The mystery was intriguing for me and I was torn between all the possibilities of what could have happened to both Tallulah and Zach. All the while, Kim's mother is at their home, heart broken because she knows her daughter's body is somewhere, and having to take care of a 'terrible twos' grandbaby that she loves dearly but that is trying her patience. All the parts come together in a very satisfactory way for me and now I'm on the look out for the next Lisa Jewell novel.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this ARC.