A moral dilemma. What should Norma do? She knows that Jake did not kill Jill but he certainly did abuse her, Jill's disappeared but she's definitely alive but Jake's life is hanging on the balance. He's not a good guy not at all. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Catherine Ryan Hyde has a long track record of writing emotional thoughtful novels that usually feature some sort of trauma that is helped by animals and good people- this is no exception. If you have not read her, know that she's a good storyteller, that there will be a tug on your heartstrings, and that what you've read will linger in your mind.

I'll answer the bookclub questions as long as I can. For me of course I'll do anything for the sake of my children. It's newsworthy probably because of abusive relationship that has been the top problem these days. I really didn't think Jill was looking and wanted a future relationship. But right now she knows how to leave that kind of involvement. I agree with Norma, we always seek help with the police then they let us down.

When one lie is good, then it's good. But if the consequences was a lot of lie, I rather tell the whole truth. Killing Jake is a little unfair for me by a man whose I really don't think was necessary in the story. I don't believe in Karma, it just the result of what we do in the long run. Hurt people, hurt people. Hurt others also because they hurt you, is a bad behaviour. It's a fuckup way of life.

Norma's advice to Owen was good. Only if he is willing to let go of the anger for something he can't control. I honestly don't think Norma has a transformation of character in the story. None of this will happen if she didn't help Jill in the first place. She do that out of sympathy. Helping her escape leads to another heartbreak for Wanda. Probably Farley will not kill Jake if he knows that Jill was alive. And they didn't need to lie forever.

This is deep. I really like the way you narrate this. My mind was going haywire and sometimes I really enjoy this kind of story. This is a good read.

A Different Kind of Gone is the latest contemporary drama by the Queen of compelling character creation, Catherine Ryan Hyde. This one tackles the troubling topic of domestic abuse, and raises the question of whether it’s right that a violent man faces prison for a crime that he might’ve, but didn’t commit. I’ve read about fourteen of her books, including the last ten, and adored most of them, so if this gets four stars it’s only because I wasn’t quite so engaged in this one compared to some of the others - but it’s still a great story - she sets a very high bar for feelgood fiction.

Middle-aged divorcee Norma Gallagher lives with her faithful dogs and horse in the small town of Sloot, works in a bar and volunteers for her local search & rescue team. When a young woman disappears from a campsite, Norma is afraid of finding her dead, but not prepared for the reality of a frightened teenager desperate to escape her abusive boyfriend Jake. Despite her misgivings, Norma keeps Jill’s secret, but then Jake is arrested five years later for the attempted murder of his wife, and also charged with Jill. Can Norma allow a miscarriage of justice to proceed if silence might save two lives?

Unusually for this author, the story is told from the perspective of an older character, and it features young adults rather than children for a change, but they are still extraordinarily kind and thoughtful. There are of course loveable animals - and don’t worry, nothing sad happens to any of them! As ever, the focus here is on inter-generational friendship and unconventional relationships rather than romantic love. I liked misanthropic Norma’s gradual embrace of her new “extended family” and the way she opens her mind to different points of view, without sacrificing her own moral principles. I didn’t predict how the plot would turn out, but did like the resolution even if the ending did peter out somewhat. Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily. A Different Kind of Gone is published on December 3rd.

When you pick up a novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde you know it’s going to make you consider different perspectives. In this story our main character is a strong independent wise woman. When she is put in the situation of helping another woman she struggles with what is right. Five years later her life changes yet again and she once again questions what is the right course of action. I enjoyed the thought provoking perspectives and the well detailed characters.

I thought this was a different author, and I realized it wasn’t but wanted to try anyway. It’s just not my thing. I was looking for a thriller.

After reading what the story was about, I just had to read it. I couldn't imagine where this would go, but it intrigued me. It reeled me in, and took me to unexpected places, and was a surprise at the end. There are serious issues involved, but ones that need to be talked about. I learned a few things, and I have a better understanding.
I received an ARC from Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley.

When nineteen year old Jill Moss goes missing on a camp site in the Arizona Utah border Norma Gallaher is on the search and rescue team. Norma was told that Jill was camping with her boyfriend when neighbors saw her leave and her boyfriend forcing her to go back to the camp site. When Norma goes to look for her she finds her in a cave scared and abused. Norma begs her to not tell anyone where she is because she knows if he finds her, he will kill her. Norma says she will sleep on it and come back later that night. Norma decided to go get her and bring her to her parents where she can start over. However, there is always a chance the lie will come out. Jill promises she will never tell anyone what Norma did for her. 5 years later Jill is considered legally dead and they are now going to bring the boyfriend up on murder charges. What will Norma do? Will she break her silence? Will she try to find Jill and have her make the decision. This is a very enjoyable moving and thought provoking book. What would you do in this situation. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Such a great and versatile author. The first half of this book is much more compelling than the second half. The story starts to get a bit wordy/preachy, and the dialogue was corny. Everything that happened was too convenient. This wasn’t my favorite book by this author, but I still enjoyed it. On another note, I found the synopsis a bit misleading.

3.5 stars

I received an ARC of this outstanding new novel, due out next month (December, 2023), through NetGalley.

This has all the characteristics of this phenomenal author's abundant collection of works: a compelling story, intriguing characters and an effective treatment of real life issues. In this case, the issue is domestic violence.

The three main characters in this book are all women who were domestic violence victims. For Norma, now an older and wiser woman, her experience was many years before the story being told in this novel. For Jill, she disappears (or left for dead) after she is victimized. Wanda, the third woman, falls for the same guy Jill did and, predictably, becomes a victim herself.

To avoid spoiling the story, I won't go into all the complexities that become this novel's plot. But oftentimes the characters find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Speaking the truth can have dangerous consequences. But so can remaining silent.

The men is this novel are poor excuses for human beings. That includes the abusive men and a district attorney that ignores the truth at one point when he is more interested in winning a case than in seeing justice served.

Another hard book to put down by this amazing and prolific author. Here's hoping she can keep churning out these thoughtful and intelligent human interest dramas.

I love Catherine Ryan Hyde's ability to create characters that instantly connect with her readers. I also appreciate very much her willingness to write about relevant social issues. Domestic violence is at the heart of this novel and as a retired Social Worker, I think the author did a good job of exploring the fear, shame and guilt experienced by victims and their families. This was a thoughtful, story.

A Different Kind of Gone might look like another book about an abused and missing young woman. However, Catherine Ryan Hyde has given the reader a book filled with philosophical thoughts and reason to look beyond this story. This is a well crafted and emotional novel.

I am a big fan of this author and I knew this book was going to be a good read from the very first page. The story takes place in Sloot, a small town on the Arizona/Utah border. Norma Gallagher is a middle-aged, divorced, woman who works nights in the local bar and also volunteers on the search and rescue team. Nineteen year old Jill Moss goes missing from the local campground after an argument with her boyfriend Jake, and Norma joins the search team riding her beloved horse and accompanied by her two dogs. The dogs alert to something and Norma finds Jill hiding among the rocks. Jill begs Norma not to report her as being found.

I loved the dynamics between the characters as well as the complex storyline that kept me captivated until the very end.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC of this very thought provoking book.

A Different Kind of Gone is just what I would expect from Catherine Ryan Hyde. It is well worth five star.s I loved it.

I usually enjoy Catherine Ryan Hyde’s books but A Different Kind of Gone was not a favorite of mine. It is well-written and deals sensitively with the subject of domestic abuse in a thought-provoking way. However, I had a hard time connecting with Norma, the main character, and I found her interaction with the other characters to be stilted. The dialogue was contrived, detracting from the flow of the story. The theme that “most abusers were abused” is brought out from varying perspectives in a meaningful way. Overall, while this novel didn’t quite cut it for me, it’s still well-worth reading.

A Different Kind Of Gone is a novel by award-winning American author, Catherine Ryan Hyde. Fifty-eight-year-old Norma Gallagher works nights at a bar in Sloot, a small town right on the state line between Arizona and Utah, a place very popular with canyoning enthusiasts. Norma also volunteers with a search and rescue team when those canyoners or campers get lost in the surrounding forest, riding her steady quarter-horse, Fred, assisted by her hounds, Gracie and Lonny.

The day after nineteen-year-old Jill Moss goes missing from the camping ground, the team is warned that her boyfriend Jake Willis was seen behaving in an abusive manner at the campground: they might find Jill injured or worse. When Gracie and Lonny locate Jill, she’s without food or water, but hiding from searchers. She dreads returning to Jake, afraid he will kill her. She begs Norma not to reveal that she has been found.

Norma doesn’t doubt Jill’s fear: “there are a lot of men who hurt women. Especially the women they’re supposed to love. Not most men, but enough that probably every day somebody dies at the hands of someone who promised to love her. And if a woman tries to tell us she’s in danger, and we just pass that off as a woman being emotional, or see her as an unreliable narrator, then that makes the way awful damn easy for those men.” Norma is surprised to find herself sharing her own experience with such a man.

Finding Jill safe ought to be cause for celebration. Concealing that fact, so that Jill can be secreted away to a safe place by her parents, constitutes lying by omission to the sheriff: unnecessary time, money, and manpower will be expended on a search that cannot have a result; Jill’s parents will have to keep up the pretence for law enforcement officers indefinitely; discovery of their lie could lead to prosecution. And, Norma warns them, there may be unintended consequences so far unthought of.

Norma also considers that Jake, clearly a man with anger management issues, the effects of which Jill is not the first person to suffer, will be suspected of murdering his girlfriend, and likely tried in the court of public opinion despite the lack of a body: potentially a murderer, but not an actual one, in this case, which doesn’t sit quite right with her.

Of course, she is well aware that measures like restraining orders are often ineffective, that a woman could be dead before she has the chance to even pick up the phone. Weighing up the potential danger to Jill’s life against the lies that will need to be told, and keep being told, has Norma thinking long and hard about what to do. Against her better judgement, she goes along with Jill’s wishes, and once she is delivered safely to her parents, they have no further contact.

Five years on, though, two separate incidents see those chickens, the unintended consequences, coming home to roost. The District Attorney is going to try Jake Willis for Jill’s murder, and Norma knows he’s innocent, of that crime, at least. Does she break her promise?

Ryan Hyde’s latest has a plot that is bound to stimulate much (possibly heated) discussion, and she adds some delicious twists to make things just that bit more interesting. Norma Gallagher is the sort of careful thinker whose measured words we could all appreciate in our lives, and she has some thoughtful, deep discussions with other characters that explore a number of topical issues: that we have a legal system that doesn’t necessarily ensure justice is served; why, of the huge number of missing persons, a certain demographic gets so much more airtime; how hate does less damage to the subject that to the hater; and more.

Ryan Hyde always gives her characters wise words and insightful observations, and this novel is no exception: “People don’t want to think you never made a mistake, because there is no such thing. They want to figure you learned something from it” and “People can talk to us till they’re blue in the face, telling us to learn from their experience. But we don’t learn that way— from other people’s experiences. We just don’t. We learn from our own” are examples.

Also, on giving advice that will likely be ignored: “If you walk away from me and something terrible happens to you, then at least I know I tried. I get to go through the rest of my life knowing I gave it a shot, anyway. Instead of going to sleep every night thinking, At least I could have said something. That’s pretty much all there is when it comes to other people and their big mistakes. You just have to go with the fact that you tried.”

Moving, thought-provoking and uplifting: that’s a guarantee with every novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing.

Talk about a story ripped from the headlines! How many times in the recent past have we heard about females who disappear while on a cross-country trip with an abusive boyfriend/husband. This is a well written book containing some very poignant advice from Norma to Jill and also to Wanda, Jake's new wife whom he attempted to strangle. The characters are well portrayed, including the dogs and horses and the book was a pretty quick read. To be honest, I wasn't a fan of Norma's actions or those of Jill and her family after Norma found Jill when she first went missing. I understood why they did what they did but don't really agree with it. I wish I was half as wise as Norma.

My thanks to Lake Union Publishing via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
Publishing Date: December 5, 2023

To this day, I have never been disappointed by one of Catherine Ryan Hyde's (CRH) books and just when I thought she couldn't wow me, she did it again!

This book explores some very real topics such as justice, revenge, empathy, abuse, lies, secrets and guilt. The main character, Norma, provides some thoughtful perspectives that made me examine my own thoughts and beliefs about these topics. It is much easier to think about what you "should" do in these situations versus what you will really do when faced with a similar situation. Through Norma's character, you are able to explore her thought process behind difficult decisions and see the anticipated and unanticipated consequences of those decisions. She also engages in dialogue with the other characters in the book to provide differing opinions.

The story centers around Jill Moss, a nineteen-year-old girl who goes missing while camping. It is believed that Jill was trying to escape an abusive boyfriend. Norma, as part of the search and rescue effort, finds Jill. What Jill asks Norma to do goes against everything Norma believes in. But are there circumstances where secrets are warranted?

5 stars is not enough to capture how much I loved this book. Kudos to CRH for tackling the tough topics and really making her readers thinks.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
#ADifferentKindofGone #CatherineRyanHyde #LakeUnionPublishing

I always enjoy Catherine Ryan Hyde books. But this? A Different Kind of Gone was the balm my soul needed. I raced to finish this in about 16 hours. Not because it was super suspenseful and action-packed. But because it spoke to me in a way that no book has in so long. I loved the characters, especially the wise and stoic Norma and the heroic and lovely horse, Saint Fred. I feel heartbroken to leave them both behind, as I had to do when the book concluded. What magical powers Hyde has in summoning the hopes and fears of the human condition, injecting them into her characters and connecting with unknown types of readers. I am in awe of how a simple story impacted me in such a beautiful way. I give this book all the stars and bottomless thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. I could not have enjoyed this book more!

Ok, first and foremost, I’m curious. Is there anyone else out there that confuses the works of both Catherine Ryan Howard and Catherine Ryan Hyde? Anyone?? Yes, no??? Well, I do, ALL THE TIME!!! It’s kind of annoying too because I will often refer to the authors as CRH, forgetting at the time that I could be confusing someone else by using that abbreviation. I often have to refresh my memory with their books that I’ve read in order to remember which one whose work I really like (Hyde) and which one whose work, for me, is just a tad overrated (Howard). JMHO Anyway, thought I would just throw that out there.

The book summary lays out the premise for the primary storyline. However, as it mentioned, Norma is conflicted. She was conflicted the moment she found Jill, the entire time she helped her escape, when she dropped her off at her parents, and long after she left her there and came back home. As a search and rescue volunteer, Norma knew what she was doing was not only ethically wrong, but it was also illegal. Norma knew that the investigation of Jill’s disappearance would focus on Jake and she knew that Jake’s life was about to become absolutely miserable. She knew that suspicions would forever follow him too.

She and Jill had this conversation during the trip out of Sloot and to SoCA. Jill saw it as karma/justice for the way that Jake treated her and what he probably would have eventually done to her or would do if/when he finds her. Norma wasn’t so sure about that but she remained neutral/undecided. I loved the analogy that Norma used when trying to explain to Jill about how she saw the question of justice:

<b><i>“Let’s say I make a plan to rob a bank. I get a mask, and a bag and a gun and I get in my truck to drive there. But my truck breaks down. You can’t put me in jail for bank robbery, because I didn’t rob any bank, even though I would have if I could have.”</b></i>

There was another conversation, on that trip, about the amount of press that her disappearance was going to get that would make the whole experience for Jake A LOT WORSE!!! This exchange pretty much says it all:

<b><i>“Because the world is a bizarre place, my young friend. Some missing people go pretty much unnoticed and others catch the public’s fancy like a wildfire. There’s a type of missing person who gets more attention than all the others. White. Blonde, Young. Petite. Blue-eyed. Pretty. Lots of people disappear, and when you see which ones get all the notice, then you know who our society thinks is important.”</b></i>

Good grief!!! Isn’t that the truth! Four words, folks, “Missing White Woman Syndrome”. It’s a real thing people and it’s getting worse with every disappearance of women of color as well as missing boys and men. Anyway, the story is split into two parts, and part one is all about the disappearance and the search for Jill and Norma helping Jill escape.

Part two picks up five years (to the day) later when Jake is charged with attempted murder of his wife and the murder of Jill. In AZ/UT, after five years, a missing person is considered legally dead. Jake’s wife turns out to be a woman named Wanda that Norma met five years ago. Back then, Wanda was a “team Jake groupie”, in the whole “did he kill Jill or not” nonsense that transpired after the press revealed that Jake physically abused Jill.

Norma tracks down Jill, now going by Cassie, through her parents. Norma is surprised that Cassie looks totally different: different hair color and wearing colored contacts and has even had plastic surgery to change the look of her face. Cassie also has a life very similar to Norma: living in a small cabin, out in a very rural area with just a dog and two horses (Norma has two dogs and one horse). Norma tells Cassie that she’s having a conflict of conscience over Jake being charged with her murder when she is alive and well. Well into the second half, a tragic event has all the ladies questioning their actions and motives.

I liked Norma. She was a little bit of a crusty, old, broad (63), but her snark was award winning! She and her friend/coworker, Betty, had me cracking up in the first chapter of the book. I even got hubby laughing at me because I was cracking up so hard. I can be easily amused! Anyway, as a divorced, domestic abuse survivor, Norma had a wealth of experience to draw from that led her to not only her actions, but to her sense of right and wrong as well as justice and injustice. As a search and rescue volunteer, she also had the ethics, as well as her duties and responsibilities, of her commitment to her community that weighed on her. I like Hyde; she is a good writer and storyteller and I remain a fan. I want to thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #LakeUnionPublishing #ADifferentKindofGone

The best part of any Catherine Ryan Hyde book is how it makes you FEEL the story. She slowly builds the characters into people you'd love to meet and talk to, even if only to discuss the book. She does not shy away from hard topics, her characters learn to handle life head on.

In A DIFFERENT KIND OF GONE, readers will learn the story of how one young woman is the victim of domestic abuse but the consequences and the outrage are felt by so many of her family and friends that they are ready to let a man be convicted of her murder even though she's not dead. So many extremes on each side of the story will not surprise anyone who has ever been involved in the ugly world of domestic abuse. The threads of the story are pulled together by the main character, a woman that has seen this violence up close and personal too many times. These characters may be fictional, but they are three dimensional. You'll recognize their faces and their stories from the nightly news.