Lots of twists in this story to keep you guessing. Very well presented, it was easy to follow all the twists and turns. Some great characters and a compelling storyline. What a conclusion!!

I absolutely loved Mullin and Mabry's first book, so I had very high hopes for this one, and enjoyed it. There were definitely twists, turns, and edge of your seat excitement. I definitely recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A joint authorship, this crime thriller by Steph Mullin Nicole Mabry, When She Disappeared is their first novel. Margo’s best friend disappeared in 2004 and fifteen years later she returns to her home town to care for her recuperating father. A body is discovered by a group of celebratory students and the mystery that affected so many lives is back. Struggling with her demons, Margo assists a documentary crew returning to update their original broadcast that the Sherriff declared unsuspicious and voluntary. The locals all have opinions on what happened and the reopened investigated causes much angst. The narrative includes diary flashbacks and a nice tension build up to the sudden final revelation. With lots of twists and turns, this is an enjoyable three-and-a-half star read rating. With thanks to Avon Books UK and the authors, for an uncorrected advanced copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given, without obligation.

When She Disappeared was a little predictable. The authors had a great plot line for this story, but I felt like it was very obvious on whodunit from the beginning. Also the characters were all a little unlikeable and hard to connect with. I did however, enjoy the author’s descriptions of the setting. They painted the scenery in Lake Moss so realistic and beautiful.

Thank you to the authors, Avon Books UK and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The premise was intriguing, but unfortunately the writing killed any interest I may have had - that was within the first 35 pages, but I did slog through the rest due to my sense of obligation. Amateurish and stilted dialogue, way too many adverbs, lots of long-winded descriptions of completely unnecessary details, and no real sense of the personalities of the characters - they all read flat, the whole plot felt off and in effect it was boring. I could also have been influenced by the fact that the "huge plot twist" at the end was very foreseeable, and also by the fact that when this earth-shattering moment came, the character treated it as though it was a neglible detail that had no impact on her life.

The story begins in typically dramatic fashion…kids are partying at a remote spot, daring each other to jump into the lake and one of them ends up discovering human remains. Pretty gruesome, but the remains are of a young girl called Jessie who went missing years ago.
Margo, who claimed to have been a good friend of Jessie at the time, has just gone back to her hometown when the remains are discovered. We don’t know why, but she doesn’t like returning home and is having nightmares since her return.
As the story progresses we learn more about Margo and her past. We also see her reacquaint herself with Aidan, the boy she crushed on at school who is now part of the tech team working on a true crime programme featuring the incident.
I found myself quite absorbed in the interviews but it was very obvious that a few characters were hiding things. Once one of these secrets was revealed it felt like there was little option in terms of the bigger picture and, sure enough, the big reveal was something of an attempt to blindside us.
I was convinced this would be an easy 4 star read but I’m afraid the ending was so frustrating. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this in advance of publication.

I wanted to love When She Disappeared but I found it really frustrating. It lacked pace, was predictable and the ending was a disappointment. Sorry but not one for me. Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books UK and the author for the chance to review.

In 2004, just before her high school graduation, Jessie Germaine disappeared. Her grave is discovered 15 years later, just as Margo returns to Lake Moss, the small mountain town where they both grew up.

Margo left her hometown partly due to Jessie’s disappearance & partly due to her mother’s tragic death. She has returned to help her dad, who has had knee surgery, but also because her marriage has broken down.

A TV documentary crew is investigating the original crime & subsequent discovery; Margo knows someone on the crew & agrees to help him - a decision she lives to regret.

Told through interviews with Margo’s old classmates, it is a cleverly written book. Slower paced than I was expecting, nonetheless it is an intriguing story. However, I did feel a little let down by the ultimate conclusion. Recommended.

I really enjoyed When She Disappeared. It had plenty of twists and turns and lots of red herrings. I thought I had it figured out but then came the shocking and very surprising ending.

Fantastic!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for my ARC.

15 years ago Jessie Germain disappeared without a trace, one day in a secret swimming hole where kids go to hang out and party her body is finally discovered...it looks like she didn’t run away after all.

Margo hasn’t been back since but her father is recovering from surgery and needs her, Once she arrives her nightmares reappear and strange things begin to happen is it all in her head or is someone really out to get her?

The ending was surprising and I was definitely not expecting it, I wish there was more as we are left in a sort of limbo. I still enjoyed the book nonetheless and loved the development of each character and their connection to the case.


Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books, Steph Mullin & Nicole Mabry for allowing me the opportunity to read this intriguing novel!

When Margo returns to her hometown after bring away for fifteen years she thought that she left the past behind her.
What happened on that fateful day in May 2004 after riding her bike home from a bike rally changed everything.
Her friend Jessie went missing that same night and nothing stayed the same since.
But after returning home the discovery of Jessie's body is found they soon realised that she didn't just disappear but was murdered!
Once the media take hold of the storyline everyone is a suspect.
Who killed Jessie and why?

When teens find a body while swimming, they are horrified to realize it's the body of a girl who vanished years before. Margo happens to arrive in town just when her friends body is discovered, bringing back memories from their friendship 15 years earlier. When a TV show decides to do an update, Margo is asked to help an old school friend with the interviews of witnesses from days gone by.
I found the story a good read and most of the characters seemed to work but I found it to be a bit long in spots.

I saw the ending for this one coming a mile away. Even still, I made myself read through it. Jessie goes back to her small hometown, where she is haunted by the disappearance of her friend, whose body had just been found. I have mixed feelings about this one, because I wanted to like it, wanted it to suck me in, but it just fell flat for me.

When She Disappeared is written by two kick butt female authors, Nicole Mabry and Steph Mullins. This to me was undebatable. What organ could I sell to get my hands on this book? Having read The Family Tree, by these two standouts this summer I knew that When She Disappeared, could never disappoint and boy oh boy was I right.

This book right here... bestseller!

I was hooked from page one. I love the writing style that transpires between this dynamic duo. The flow is executed perfectly. The character development is on point. The twists and buried secrets that reveal themselves throughout the book keep you begging for more. There was not one thing that I did not love about this book or the two women behind it.

The story is narrated between a dual time line, jumping between present day and journal entries from 15 years ago. This was such a great touch!! There were so many twists that I was unable to anticipate that I was on the edge of my seat as each chapter concluded.

The end ties everything together and has major shock value.

Are you ready for this one folks? You do NOT want to miss this! Due out March 3, 2022. If you have not already pre-ordered, you should do so now!

Long held secrets,lies and murder in small town America.
Well developed characters each with their own story of how they ended up back in their birth place or had never left and the event that changed their lives.
An absorbing and engrossing read,I did not guess the perpetrator at all.
An excellent read

3.5 stars rounded up.
Margo is forced to return to the childhood home she left many years ago, after the death of her mother and disappearance of her friend Jessie. She doesn't want to but her father is recovering from a knee operation and needs her.
Literally as she rolls into town, the news breaks that kids at a watering hole have discovered a body. I say body, I mean remains. They appear to be years old. Could they be Jessie? Well, if they are, that'll put paid to the rumour that she just ran away... And they are, sadly...
Teaming up with her old classmate Austin who is in town to produce a cold case documentary, Margo starts to investigate the death of her friend. I mean, the police did a bang on job before, so I guess they'll not have much luck now even though there's a body, so someone has to stick up for Jessie...
And so it goes on, with Margo and Austin using the excuse of the documentary to interview/interrogate all the usual suspects from back in the day. With varying success and failure along the way. We have the usual secrets, lies and duplicitous behaviour thrown in for good measure as well as a healthy slice of dysfunction.
Now, this book would have coasted to all the stars had the ending not been what it was. I'd love to explain that comment but it would spoil things, so I can't. And it may be just that the ending wasn't what I expected. Wasn't what I wanted. It fits the story, just not MY version of the story if that makes sense! I really wasn't expecting that and, if time allowed, I'd love to go back and re-read to see if I missed anything.
I also really can't be sold that Margo went home reluctantly to help her dad when he didn't really seem to need her help all that much. She was so bust gadding about with Austin! So that irked me a tad too...
But, prejudices aside, it was a solid enough read that I never thought of quitting. It also isn't irksome enough to put me off this author combo either. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Thank you Netgalley and Avonbooks for my gifted e-arc. I read Steph Mullin's The Family Tree last year and really liked it so I was thrilled to get her newest book to review. The book was a real page turner for me. It took me only 2 days to finish. I love small town murder/mystery and this book was perfect.

We meet Margo who has gone back to her small town to take care of her dad. Unfortunately around the same time her childhood best friend's body has been recently discovered after missing for years.

As I was reading the book, I thought I had it figured out. I was so sure I was right and I was floored when I read who the killer actually was.

I'm excited to read more books by this author!

📖BOOK REVIEW📖
🌟🌟🌟🌟

I’m a sucker for a beautiful cover. And if it’s written by an author I like, reading the book blurb is optional! “The Family Tree” was one of my favorite reads last year, so I took the leap with “When She Disappeared”.

My review may or may not contain spoilers?? Read at your own risk.

Margo returns to her hometown just as the body of her childhood friend is discovered. Jesse disappeared into thin air one day and was never heard from again. Did she run away? Was she kidnapped? Murdered? No one knows. Now, after fifteen years, her body has been found at the bottom of a popular swimming hole. And one thing is certain, she didn’t stuff herself into a cooler.

My suspicions regarding the suspect proved correct, although I would never have dreamed up the motive! My only issue is the ending. Is there another book coming or are we left hanging?

Thank you to Steph Mullin, Nicole Mabry and Avon Books for providing this complimentary ARC through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

#whenshedisappeared #avonbooksuk #nicolemabry #stephmullin #inexchangeforreview #justfinishedreading #bookreviewer

Margo Sutton is a troubled young woman. Her mother’s death in a car crash when she was in her early teens turned her into a near recluse, isolating her from her peers who, in any case, had always treated her as an outsider because of her quiet demeanour. Her former BFF, Jessie Germaine, had teamed up with the “In Crowd” centered around Charlie Abbott, son of the owners of the brewery which provided the main employment and source of income for the small town where they lived. Charlie was a privileged bully, who had always taken pleasure in tormenting Margo. Her only real friend, strictly platonic, was Austin Hughes, her lab partner. However, after a couple of years of psychotherapy Margo had started to recover and by the start of their senior year she had re-established her friendship with Jessie. And then, just after their final exams, May 2004, Jessie disappeared. Some thought she had run off; some thought Charlie was involved; the town rumour mill ground on but nobody knew anything. After graduating from High School, Margo had moved away, got married and is now in the process of getting divorced. Her father has injured his leg and so she moves back to help him as well as to escape the toxic atmosphere surrounding the divorce. Just after she returns, Jessie’s body is discovered in a sealed cooler that has lain for fifteen years at the bottom of the swimming hole where the High School Seniors regularly hang out. A TV company which had produced a documentary at the time about the disappearance has returned to make a fresh episode. Coincidentally, their chief sound engineer is Austin and he and Margo team up to do preliminary interviews with anyone connected with Jessie, helped, or hindered by their own links.
The authors both work in TV and this gives a lot of authenticity to the interviewing and filming scenes. The rest is a bit overwrought, although it does get a bit tighter as it progresses. In some ways it is a bit like a procedural whodunnit, with TV replacing police; in other respects, it is clearly a psychological mystery as Margo comes under pressure from unknown persecutors – or is that all just her own paranoia. The mystery of who killed Jessica and why is not particularly difficult to resolve.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

*4 Stars!!

15 years ago Margo's best friend disappeared into thin air, with no leads and the police messing up the case, the case was quick too close. Now 15 years later as Margo finally returns to town to help her father after his operation news breaks that Jessies body has been found in the local watering hole by a group of high school kids. Margo teams with a documentary crew who have come back to carry on with the story to help find Jessie's killer but with every turn they take it quickly becomes clear that the case is full of lies and with Margo receiving threatening messages clearly someone doesn't want the truth to be out.

I really enjoyed this book defiantly didn't see that ending coming but I liked how it was left as an opened ended story so we found out who killed Jessie and the events leading upto it which I think was done really well I did guess some of the reason why but wasn't expecting the killer to be who it was. I liked the relationship blossoming between Margo and Austin. For me it was a quick read and kept me on my toes wanting to know what was coming next.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for a copy of this book in return for my honest review.*