The Night She Disappeared starts out with dual viewpoints which was a little hard to get used to but once you do the story really takes off. It's a quick read with a surprising ending. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lisa Jewell is one of my favorite authors -- and her newest book certainly keeps her at the top of my list! At its core, The Night She Disappeared is part-whodunnit part-mother daughter love story that revolves around the disappearance on nineteen year old Tallulah. "Lula" and her live-in boyfriend go out for a night, leaving their one year old baby with Tallulah's mother Kim. When Lula isn't home the next morning, Kim knows there is foul play because Lula would never abandon her baby. Someone knows something -- but no one is talking.

One year later, a writer moves into a cottage in the same town where Lula went missing and stumbles upon a note that simply reads: "DIG HERE." Could this hold the clue to where Tallulah is?

Told from multiple perspectives and timelines, Lisa Jewell did an exceptional job of weaving together the narrative. She creates such compelling characters that you simply MUST continue to read to know what happens. I could not get enough of The Night She Disappeared!

Two young parents, Tallulah and Zach, disappear after a night of partying at a college friend’s English country estate. Tallulah’s mom is babysitting for their son so the pair can celebrate the end of the school year. When they never return she starts the search knowing Tallulah would never leave her son behind.

A year later, a novelist, Sophie, and her boyfriend move into a Surrey cottage, a house that has been provided by his head teaching position. Hoping to find an inspiring place to write, Sophie explores the woods that border the mysterious country estate and stumbles upon what may be a clue to the couple’s disappearance.

Jewel’s use of varying perspectives throughout the novel, constant twists and surprises create an engaging novel that keeps you guessing. Readers of Ruth Ware’s A Dark, Dark Wood and B.A. Paris’s The Therapist will love this newest novel from Lisa Jewel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to review this book.

I enjoyed this thriller. Although it was a bit long, I was very invested in the story and the fate of Zach and Tallulah (mostly Tallulah). I liked how the POV jumped around to three different times and felt that it kept the plot interesting. There were no huge twists but I was pleased with the ending. Definitely one of Lisa Jewell's best novels. Highly recommend for someone who is interested in reading something suspenseful without a lot of violence or triggers.

A little slow in parts but Lisa Jewell keeps you turning the pages to see what's to come. Stories that are told with multiple POV's can be tricky to follow, but not the case in this book. Fans of Jewell's other books will not be disappointed.

Tense and suspenseful, this thriller hits all the high points for a thoroughly satisfying read.

It's finally summer and Tallulah Murray and her live-in boyfriend, Zach, are out at the local pub for an evening of celebrating after a long school year for Tallulah and to relax after the daily grind of caring for their new baby. Tallulah's mom, Kim, is watching baby Noah and knows that Zach has something planned to top off the night. She waits for them to return but they never come home.

Sophie Beck and her boyfriend have just moved to Maypole House in Surrey Hills as he is taking the job of head teacher there. She's a novelist, writes cozy mysteries, and hopes this change of scenery won't be so bad though she misses London already. Soon after their arrival, she finds a strange sign on the back gate fence and follows the instruction to dig where she discovers a ring box. Of course, the nosy writer has to find out why she got the message and what it all means.

What happened to Tallulah and Zach that night? No spoilers.

I was glued to the pages trying to guess what was going to happen next and to find the answers to the mystery. The writing is excellent and the multiple points of view reels you in and keeps you hooked to the story. Even though I was able to predict with some accuracy what had happened, the big reveal and the conclusion were both worth waiting for. Although not really a main character, I felt drawn to the pain that Kim was experiencing and liked her best. Enjoy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend.

Jewell’s twisted characters will suck you into the story from the very start. She throws enough surprises along the way that the end is definitely not what you expected. Perfect for fans of diabolical thrillers.

While this was my first Lisa Jewell book, it definitely won't be my last. Told in dual timelines that eventually meet up, and from the perspective of several different characters, this was a darkly twisting thriller that, above all, tugged on my heart strings as it told the tale of motherly love across generations. This book kept me guessing until the very end, and I will absolutely be checking out more of this amazing author's work!

3.5 stars!
Tallulah is a teenage mother who leaves her baby with her mom for the night so she can have a date night with her live-in boyfriend and baby daddy, Zach. They never come home from the pub and they are never heard from or seen again. The case goes cold but it’s reopened years later when someone who has recently moved to the area digs up a clue in their backyard.

I love Lisa Jewell normally but this was a meh read for me. I just liked it, didn't love it. I found the length to be a bit much and I thought parts of the plot could have been sped up. The slow building of suspense was great but I wanted some more action in between. I found Kim’s ignorance about Zach a bit frustrating considering they were all living under the same roof. It touches on that she suspected he was manipulative, but yet every time Tallulah interacts with Kim, she is encouraging of their relationship. The character building of Scarlett was quite intense and well done. I did find the ending a bit of a letdown as I just didn’t see it as being realistic. Not my fave by Lisa but still entertaining!

Thank you NetGallery for sending me this book to evaluate. Story moved quickly from chapter to chapter but also seemed to hold back too much to get to the conclusion of mystery. You felt for the missing girl’s mom with her grief over her daughter’s disappearance which was written with compassion but the rest of the characters were nothing more than cookie cutter college students. Halfway through you could guess the outcome. I think this novel would be better for older teens than adults.

Lisa Jewell never disappoints! This story begins with the mysterious disappearance of a young mom and her boyfriend. This planned date night seemed like a perfectly respectable evening after the birth of their son but it ends as unexpected as you could imagine.

Talula and Zac, high school sweethearts now young parents to Ollie seem happy now after a rough patch. Zac seems to be planning for their future together but as the story unravels, readers learn quickly that Talula has different plans and Zac is pretty much a jerk.

When they didn’t come home after that date night Kim, Lula’s mom, panics and begins calling around to see if anyone has heard from them. But one day turns into weeks tunes into months. Where are they? What happened that night?

Like every good thriller, each and every character harbors secrets. But, whose secrets ultimately lead to Zac and Lula’s unfortunate disappearance that night? Are they alive? Will Kim get to the bottom of thud mysterious night?

This thriller was everything. It had secrets galore. Twists. Turns. Crazy moments. Crazy characters. When you think you have figured it out another insane tidbit comes and blows up your theory. Yes - some parts were a bit unrealistic but I think that was part of the allure of it. Check this out for a ridiculously wild ride.

I am a huge fan of Lisa Jewell and this book did not disappoint. I loved the variation in the timeline and the fact that the three timelines were only 3 years apart total was unique and fun. It showed how much can happen in a year. I enjoyed the dynamics in the various relationships between mother/daughter/son/live in boyfriend/estranged friend from school...all seamlessly woven together to create just the right amount of mystery. The one thing that bugged me was that the author didn't realize the "dig here" clue came from one of her own books. That was quite unbelievable. Otherwise, I liked this book and will recommend!

In typical Jewell fashion, you are met early on with multiple POVs and storylines. The mystery was intriguing from the jump and both main characters, Kim and Sophie, are likable prime armature sleuths piecing together what the police did not. Unsurprisingly, the third POV from Tallaulah, the missing girl, gave us the most insight into what really happened that night. Jewell seemed to write all of these characters with real depth and raw emotions. The writing was suspenseful and I felt equally interested in each individual timeline/plot.
Most of the real action takes place in the second half of the book and the chapters speed up as we get closer to the truth making it impossible to put down. This may just be in the running for my favorite Jewell novel yet!
Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for my copy!

Well, this was another great story from Lisa Jewell! I always find myself thinking that it's such a slow-burn when I start one of her books, and this one was no exception. Then, all of a sudden, it gets so fast-paced! This was filled with twists and turns that really kept me glued to the story!

Once again Jewell get me all twisted with her plots. I love the way none of it ever is clear cut until the final chapter. I’m not even sure how to write a review for this one, I don’t want to give away any clues. I adore her stories, and the English countryside was picture perfect for this one . Lost children, scary woods, disappearing people, this book had it all.

*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.*

Kim is watching her grandson Noah. She doesn’t mind watching him. She does it often for her daughter Tallulah, who is still a teenager, but she’s very responsible. She is raising Noah and going to college, studying social work, to make a better life for her and her son. Noah’s father, Zach, left Tallulah when she got pregnant, but now he’s back, trying to be a good boyfriend and father.

In fact, on this night, Zach had taken Tallulah for a night out. Kim wasn’t sure what was going to happen. She had found a ring box in Zach’s jacket pocket, but she’s not convinced that Tallulah is ready to marry him. Kim gives Noah his bath and puts him down, and then she waits for Tallulah to come home to find out what happened.

Kim wakes up the next morning to find that, aside from Noah, she’s alone in her home. Tallulah and Zach never came back the night before. As the hours go by and Tallulah still doesn’t appear, it’s obvious to Kim that something bad happened. She knows that Tallulah would never abandon Noah. So what happened that night?

A little over a year later, Shaun and Sophie move into the village. Shaun is the new head teacher at a boarding school in Lewisham. They’ve only been together for six months, meeting when mystery novelist went to Shaun’s old school for a talk. But when he suggested that she come to the country with him, she pictured writing her novels in the garden, taking long walks through the woods, living a simpler life than she has in London.

But then she sees the sign.

Written on cardboard and tacked up in their garden, it simply says, “Dig Here.” So she does. And what she finds is the first clue in the disappearance of Tallulah and Zach that anyone in the village has seen in a long time. Sophie and her internet skills team up with Kim and all the information she’s been able to discover about the last night she saw her daughter. But will that be enough to get the police to open the investigation and find out the truth of what happened the night she disappeared?

Lisa Jewell is back with another amazing thriller. Diving into the struggles of the family with questions and no answers as well as the mind of an armchair detective armed with little more than a laptop and curiosity, Jewell shows how crime can touch anyone, in small towns as well as big cities. The Night She Disappeared is another deftly plotted story with an amazing twist of an ending.

The more I read Lisa Jewell, the more I love her books. There are a lot of phenomenal thriller writers out there, but I haven’t noticed anyone writing the types of endings that I find in her books. She ends her books with hope, which doesn’t often happen in this genre. But I have so much respect for for what she’s able to accomplish, and I love to read her books for that very reason. It’s not a saccharine ending, tacked on like whipped cream on a piece of pie. It’s honest and organic, and it reminds me that there are good writers who can chart their own course and still craft a compelling story with characters that feel as real as those you see in your neighborhood. In other words, I really love this book.

Egalleys for The Night She Disappeared were provided by Atria Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

I’m giving this book 3 stars because I think anyone who is a fan of Lisa Jewel’s or likes a good thriller will like this book. I personally couldn’t finish it because it wasn’t my cup of tea. I thought the story was good for what part I did read but I just couldn’t get sucked into the story liked I hoped I would.

Compulsively readable, like most Lisa Jewell novels. This one hit me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

I discovered Lisa Jewell’s books in the spring of 2017 and was instantly hooked. She writes psychological thrillers that delve deeply into the intricacies of human, especially familial, relationships. The Night She Disappeared, her latest novel, is a perfect example of all the things Ms. Jewell does right, and I found myself captivated from start to finish.

Kim Knox doesn’t like babies, but that doesn’t keep her from doting on her one-year-old grandson Noah. He might disrupt her nights with his sleepless grumblings on a regular basis, but he brightens Kim’s days. She’s proud of how her daughter Tallulah has risen to the challenges of being a teen mum and how Tallulah’s boyfriend Zach has stepped up as well, proving to be a sweet, devoted father. They are all living with her and her seventeen-year-old son Ryan. The house has been a bit full, but Kim has enjoyed the feeling of being a large, happy family.

When Tallulah and Zach ask to have a date night, Kim doesn’t mind. She’s a young grandma and it is normally her going out of an evening and the teenagers staying home to care for the baby, so it’s not like they ask often. She winds up falling asleep on the couch with Noah lying on top of her, secure in her arms. But when Kim awakens at four in the morning, Tallulah and Zach are still gone. She tries calling both their cellphones, but they go straight to voice mail.

Kim spends the next few hours anxiously awaiting the arrival of the morning so she can contact their friends. Tallulah is an extremely responsible, devoted mother and she would never leave Noah this long without at least checking in on him. Every instinct tells Kim something has happened, but looking for Tallulah turns out to be a futile effort, even when she gets the police involved later that day. Kim’s bright, beautiful girl and Zach have seemed to disappear without a trace.

A year later, Sophie Beck moves with her boyfriend to Upfield Common in the Surrey Hills. This is the location of the school, Maypole House, at which he will be working, a place for sixteen- to nineteen-year-olds who’ve flunked their GCSEs and A levels and whose parents can afford to give them additional years of private education to get it right. It’s also a spot for those kids who’ve been expelled from other schools and have nowhere else to go.

Sophie doesn’t concern herself much with the school and its denizens. It’s the lovely, dark woods that surround the place and the spooky old abandoned estate called Dark Place that sit at their edge which she finds so fascinating. As the author of a mildly popular set of mystery books, she’s convinced the locale will prove deeply inspirational for her work.

When she learns of the missing Zach and Tallulah from the villagers, she becomes deeply intrigued by their case and finds herself desperate to learn the truth of what happened the night they seemingly vanished into thin air. And someone seems determined to help her discover just what occurred because a mysterious note appears on her garden gate that reads, “DIG HERE.” When Sophie does, she finds the first clue to the mystery, a small piece of information that will lead her down a dark and dangerous path.

One of Ms. Jewell’s greatest strengths as a writer – and she has many- is her ability to show how unusual events can disrupt ordinary lives. There is nothing really special about Kim, Sophie, Tallulah and Zach – they are average and rather unexciting, although the author turns that into relatable and endearing rather than mundane and boring. But as the story unfurls, she shows us the layers to each character and the complexities of their relationships, revealing that even in these everyday folk, some serious shadows lurk.

The crime centers on one of my favorite themes: simple decisions which shouldn’t be wrong but turn out to be. A person caught up in a moment of passion, a few choices that aren’t mistakes but that turn out to be calamitous – that is all it takes for these two teens to disappear. The tragedy could have been averted if one character in particular had trusted their instincts but the choices they make turn out to be serious errors.

Another positive is the way Ms. Jewell displays the difficulties for young people in drawing the lines on their entanglements. What do you owe a previous partner? How do you handle someone aggressively pursuing you? When does looking out for you cross the line into controlling you? These are tough questions to answer as adults, and for someone just taking their first steps into grownup relationships the boundaries can seem near impossible to understand.

I thoroughly appreciated that Sophie and Kim aren’t super sleuths but that someone is very emphatically feeding them the clues that lead to the denouement. They go to the police with all their discoveries and the proper authorities do the follow through, which made the solving of the crime seem very believable.

I also just loved our two sleuths’ personalities. Kim is perfect as a mother and grandmother facing an absolutely horrible situation with grace, tenacity, and dignity. She is a warm, generous, thoughtful, and committed mother and I found how she cares for Noah while still being thoroughly involved with the search for Zach and Tallulah, and keeping the missing teens very much in the public’s mind absolutely wonderful.

Sophie is terrific as well. She has some handy skills for putting clues together to give to the police, but she isn’t Wonder Woman and doesn’t see this as her case to solve. She is very supportive of however Kim chooses to handle each piece of the puzzle they’re given and very much takes a backseat to the mum and cops running the show.

There are gay characters in this novel, and as in real life and with all people, some are good and some are less so. One of the issues the narrative examines is how complicated falling in love, and being in love can be, and the mistakes we make trying to get it all right. The author does a good job showing that love stories can be minefields, especially for the young.

My only quibble with the tale comes at almost the very end and because it is in deep spoiler territory, I will have to discuss it in only the most generic of manners. Let’s say a happy result that takes place seemed completely unbelievable. It felt more likely that the people who had gone such lengths to keep their secrets would have dealt with this particular loose end in a different, more severe manner.

Other than that tiny criticism, I thoroughly enjoyed the lovely prose, fascinating characters and complex mystery of The Night She Disappeared. If you are looking for a character driven suspense novel with some surprising twists and turns, this may be the perfect book for you.