Margo reluctantly returns to her hometown to help her father. She investigates what happened to her friend Jesse with a former classmate and documentary maker, Austin. In a twisty plot, the cold case investigation throws up numerous anomalies and suspects. The suspense builds with every discovery, and a sense of foreboding prevails.

I enjoyed the intense atmosphere of the town full of secrets and the believable characters. The ending is impactful.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

Some interesting & very complex characters in this Book, how ever some sections seemed to drag which then made me wonder whether or not to finish the Book. Then when it picked up again , it became clear where the story was leading but again bits dragged along & the ending was a real let down ! Hence why I have only given a Four Star Rating! #FB, #Instagram,#NetGalley,#Goodreads,#Amazon.co.uk, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/358a5cecda71b11036ec19d9f7bf5c96d13e2c55" width="80" height="80" alt="100 Book Reviews" title="100 Book Reviews"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>.

The opening of this book grabs you from the start and sets the scene well. The suspects are numerous and the red herrings and twists and turns keep coming. The character and life of the dead girl Jessie is revealed more as the book goes on.
I was happy to read this book to the end but there was something about the main character, Margo, that I didn't gel with and I found myself frustrated by her. I predicted some of the twists at the end but not all and the book did a good job of throwing suspicion on one person and then another.
So overall an ok read with some intriguing red herrings but I like all ends tied by the end of a book so I felt the ending was a little abrupt for me.

Margo's childhood friend Jessie disappeared just before high school graduation in 2004. The shock of Jessie's disappearance coupled with her mother's tragic death has kept her away from her small mountain town of Lake Moss for 15 years. Now she's back to take care of her dad after his knee surgery and by coincidence, Jessie's body is discovered inside a cooler in a secret swimming hole just as she arrives in town. Determined to find out what happened to her friend, she teams up with an old classmate who is working on a documentary about Jessie's case

This book has the true-crime feel that's so popular in the thriller genre nowadays, and I enjoyed the setup of the story. The discovery of the body was truly harrowing and set the tone for the dark mystery. An interesting premise at first but I figured out who the killer was very early on.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

Frustrated grumblings from this reviewer!!! This story unfolds and reveals like the dance of the seven veils. Tantalising glimpses as old childhood friends Margo and Austin set out to find what happened to Jessie 15 years ago tying nicely into a tv documentary "into the air" Many characters, many red herrings but then you find out who, what, why and when. The guilty party thinks they have covered their tracks, protected their family. Until Austin says "there was a car that night" and all bets are off.

When She Disappeared is an atmospheric thriller that I couldn’t put down, I’m not really into little town mysteries but this one grabbed me from the start.
Margo has returned to her hometown of Lake Moss, she hasn’t been back here since her best friend, Jessie disappeared back in May 2004. This coincides with some teenage school kids finding a cooler dumped at the bottom of the swimming hole they use, inside the cooler is Jessie or what remains of her after being missing for fifteen years.
I enjoyed this book, there were some interesting characters and they seemed believable. I liked how Margo met up with her old school friend, Austin, to help on his tv show that tries to unravel murder mysteries and the suspects they interviewed and how they were tantalising brought to your attention making you think that they were the murderer and then finding out about someone else and the same happening again. There were a lot of twists and turns to keep the book interesting which really helped.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

I have read a couple books by the author and just struggle now with the unlike ability of the main character. I understand the age can make somebody more immature but I personally just prefer to read a more well-rounded main character who is not so whiny. I thought that the descriptions and atmosphere were really good in this book and I also enjoyed the cover and the title. I think maybe with time this author could really spin out some successful psychological thrillers but right now they just seem a little juvenile to me. I will continue to read more by this author and hope down the line that I end up liking the main characters more but overall I enjoyed the story .

When She Disappeared is dark, disturbing and unpredictable. The disaapearance of Jessie Germaine, a popular high school student in 2004 is the unsolved mystery of a small town in the USA and then in 2019 her body turns up. Margo was Jessie's best friend and had a tough childhood after the death of her mother, she returns to her hometown at the same time the body is discovered. A cold case TV crew come to town to follow the case and suspects, original and new are interviewed to find out what really happened - but will they?

The intrigue captures you right until the very end.

I was given a copy of When She Disappeared by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

This book is about a young woman whose life is imploding and she returns home to take care of her dad after knee surgery. The body of her best friend who disappeared in high school is found and she is thrown into the investigation. This wasn't an edge of the seat mystery but it also wasn't predictable.

Thank you net galley for this ARC

I will give three stars because I really couldn’t get into the book and ended up skimming through. It seemed like a book more for young adults as the way the main characters behaved didn’t seem to have moved on since they were all at high school.

Margo hasn't returned back home in nearly fifteen years, returning home to help nurse her dad back to health following an operation. She left following the death of her mother and disapperance of one of her close friends. As she returns, a body is found at the bottom of a local swimming pool that is assumed, and later confirmed to be the body of her close friend, Jessie.

Margo's world is rocked, and as she is trying to process all of these changes, her old friend Austin shows up with his true crime show, and asks for her help to investigate this unsolved crime. Margo drops everything and puts her all into it, but then starts receiving threatening notices to back off. This only fuels her desire to find answers, but at what cost?

Thank you Avon and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I love thrillers, and this one was no exception. I did guess "whodunit" fairly early on, but did not even comprehend what would lead up to discovering that. Highly recommend!

I was anticipating a nail biting thriller after reading the prologue, however, I didn’t feel any connection to the MC so I couldn’t get immersed into the story. Margo seemed to me a bit delusional. She kept remembering herself as best friends with the dead girl, Jessie, who was the All American popular high school cheer leader while Margo was the mousy bookish introvert. I just couldn’t wrap my brain around that one. And her insistence of this belief kept getting repeated ad nauseum. I ended up skipping through most of the book to find out whodunit which was a surprise.

Wow! Amazing! Be ready for surprises...I guessed one of the ending surprises, but the other one totally wowed me. Never figured...these authors are amazing. I could not put this book down. This book was sent to me Electronically by Netgalley for review. I can’t wait to read more from these authors and hopefully a sequel. Spellbinding. Although the story moves somewhat slowly Witt the interviews. The ending makes up for that. The characters are believable and memorable.

This book has a then and now theme which is quite usual, especially in mysteries, so that potential clues can be dropped in for the reader. Margo is the lead character who returns to her hometown when her father needs help following surgery. She had left home following the tragic death of her mother and the disappearance of her school friend Jessie who was widely believed to have run away, but when a gruesome discovery is made this theory is turned upside down. Margo teams up with an old friend Austin as he is making a documentary about the case, giving her access to try and uncover the truth of what really happened. Many red herrings keep you guessing on who was really involved and I actually did guess who our potential villain was. Quite a good storyline but I found the book so long and protracted that I was wishing it would end.

I tried very hard to like this book but I found it predictable, filled with unlikeable characters and unbelievable scenarios.
I guessed who had committed the crime very early on in the book and none of the red herrings convinced me to change my mind for even a moment.
I did manage to finish the book but it was a struggle to do so.

When She Disappeared is an excellent example of collaborative writing from Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry.It is a well-paced, enthralling read just like The Family Tree.

Margo hasn't been to her hometown of Lake Moss since 15 years previously when her best friend Jessie went missing. Margo has returned to look after her father after an operation and to flee her failed marriage. Not long after arriving back into town Jessie's body is discovered by some teens diving in a local swimming hole.

"Lenny looked at his fist and his stomach contracted into knots. Blonde hair draped over his arm, a dirty red bow holding its loose strangs together, a gel-like substance clinging to the ends of the strands, near the bow - the remnants of a scalp."

Lake Moss has a very small town feel and it doens't take long for the inhabitant's secrets to be unearthed like Jessie's body and for the suspect pool to increase. Who killed Jessie? Was it her rich ex-boyfriend who was known to be violent, her jealous best friend, or one of the other characters who once found themselves in Jessie's orbit.

"Jessie weaves through the fabric of her DNA, and as she imagined her dead friend's body being pulled from the water after all these years, every inch ofher was blazing on fire from the pain of it all. Would Lake Moss finally uncover the truth? "

This was a nail biting read and I highly recommend it.

📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚

When She Disappeared By Steph Mullin & Nicole Mabry
Publication- 3rd March 2022
Avon Books

Jessie Germaine went out on her bike, never to return.

Margo comes back to her hometown Lake Moss after many many years, to help with her dad after his operation. Just as she arrives, it comes in the radio that her friend Jessie had been found after all this time.

I’m going to hold my hands up and admit, I wasn’t sure about this book when I started it BUT I kept going and so glad I did. I really like the character Margo. I could tell she was a bit ‘broken’ but that made you feel sorry for her and warm to her.
We get to know more about Jessie, the more the story continues.

#netgalley #stephmullin #nicolemabry #avonbooks #thriller #bookstagramshaz #bookstagam

https://www.instagram.com/Bookstagramshazs

I struggled with this book. I found it very hard to get into . In May, 2004, Jessie Germaine disappeared. As her old friend Margo comes back into town all those years later her body is found. The children of the town had been close to her all the time.
Margo teams up with a local tv crew to discover what happened all those years ago.
I struggled with the characters and found none to be particularly likeable. The narration was also pretty dry. I gave up half way into the book. I even tried with the audiobook but still didn’t get on with it.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to see an arc.

I honestly really enjoyed this book and how the majority of characters you read about could definitely be guilty. I liked the interviews with different people as it made the writing style completely different, intriguing and well written meaning I could fly through this.
The characters were interesting, wouldn’t say I necessarily warmed to them at the start but I enjoyed the character development. I also adore the front cover I think it’s so eye catching. Would definitely recommend this for psychological thriller fans!

Jessie Germaine, a pretty high school senior disappeared one day in 2004 and has not been seen since.

Lake Moss in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina is the setting for this story.

June 2019

Margo has returned to Lake Moss after living for some years in Wilmington, North Carolina. Her marriage has broken up, she has resigned from her job as a court stenographer, and she is moving in with her father for awhile as he recovers from knee surgery. Her mother died when Margo was 12-years-old. She had driven off the road and hit a tree, killing her instantly. Her mother had been a troubled woman and Margo wonders if she has inherited some of her paranoia.

Back in Lake Moss, Margo is shocked to hear that Jessie’s body has been found and the town is in an uproar. When Margo runs into an old classmate, Austin, she is intrigued to hear that he is with a group called “Into Thin Air” which investigates unsolved crimes like this and makes them into documentaries. Margo is pleased when Austin invites her to be a part of interviewing people who knew Jessie and using her stenographer skills, taking notes.

Margo’s interaction with her old school mates, many of whom never cared for her, leads to some difficult times. The more they interview people, the more they realize they really don’t have a concrete suspect. Who killed Jessie and why?

This was a really good thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat and chewing my nails at times. I wondered about the ending but knew that I must surely be wrong - but I wasn’t. Don’t miss this one. You won’t want to put it down.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.