Good Half Gone is a new thriller about a woman who is searching for her twin sister that was kidnapped when they were 15. The police don’t do much to help so she goes out on her own to find the truth.

This thriller was just ok for me. I really liked the characters and the setting was described in great detail. The idea of a mental hospital on an island really intrigued me. It was definitely fast paced and I read it very quickly because I needed to know what happened.

However, I do feel like the twists were a bit unrealistic and I had a hard time believing them. It was also hard to fully understand everything because it kept jumping around a lot and the timelines were confusing me. I feel like it felt a bit more drama at parts than thriller which I don’t tend to like but I know others like that.

I think a lot of people will enjoy this quick thriller. It fell in the middle for me but if you enjoy this author, I would suggest trying it out. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t my favorite either.

Thanks so much to netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really wanted to love this book because I am a fan of Fisher, but this one was just a little less developed for me. I thought there was good pacing and some twists, but it just didn't grab my interest as much as some of her other works have. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was a little slower than I thought it would be and I only finished it because I wanted to know what happened. The book seemed to be written in the style of someone’s jumping, random thoughts so I was a little confused about what was happening at times because it jumped from one thing to the next. The ending was pretty good but predictable.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for this two chapter sample of Good Half Gone. I NEEDED more chapters! The story has already captured my attention. I will be purchasing this novel when it gets released on March 19, 2024.

The newest book from Tarryn Fisher follows Iris, whose twin, Piper, was abducted in front of her when they were fifteen. Now, as an adult, she becomes determined to finally find the truth.

Ever since I enjoyed Fisher's The Wives, I've been trying to find that magic in her other books. However, I still have yet to find it. I'm not sure what changed, but her writing here felt forced and awkward. Unlike The Wives, I was not really drawn into the plot and I struggled through. If you liked The Wrong Family or An Honest Lie though, you will probably enjoy this one.

I definitely enjoyed this story - maybe not as much as the other's I've read from Tarryn but the overall plot really sucked me in. Iris has spend the last half of her life searching for answers in her twin sister's disappearance. She has lived her life looking for anything that can give her the closure she seeks. As she gets closer and closer to finding the truth - everything she hoped for - things take a turn she did not expect. Again I really enjoyed this story but it felt a little slow in stages for me.

I really wanted to like this book so much and was over the moon to approved to read the ARC. It started out so strong and I immediately was sucked into the storyline of the Iris and Poppy and the kidnapping. The middle was so long and drawn out it was really a struggle to continue. It just fell flat for me. I became frustrated. The twist was very unrealistic. I am so sad this book didn't hit the mark for me,

Love love love Taryn Fisher! I was thrilled to see she has a new book coming out.

The characters were well developed and I loved the plot but it kind of dragged a little bit rather than being as suspenseful as her previous book.

This author is absolutely creative and it comes out in the best way in her thrillers. This was was still a gripping, and twisty all the way to the end read. It was very fast paced absolutely and I was able to finish it in one day!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I can’t really give much feedback, for some reason I only got the first chapter in my download and it’s archived so I can’t redownload it at this time.

The first chapter was good and I look forward to reading the rest of the book once it’s released.

I love Tarryn Fishers writing so much. She has such an incredible way of drawing her audience. In. And then weaving such a suspenseful mystery around them don't start this one on a work night. Or do. You won't regret the missed sleep, I promise. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley f or this incredible ARC

3.5 stars. The beginning was very good and kept my attention. The twist was predictable but also kind of annoying.

Come to Shoal Island Hospital where patients aren’t the only ones being observed!

It took me a while to offer that invitation. This is one of those cases where both time and distance from this story helped me see it in a different light. At first, I almost DNF’d it as so many things rubbed me the wrong way or freaked me out. When I came back to it, those things were still there, but I didn’t have such an emotional response. I saw things/clues the author had placed that I’d overlooked previously. Fisher is clever!

Know this: Your ‘strangeness barometer’ will start to beep slowly, then with more frequency and pitch, and when it falls of the charts you may realize that this narrative is really about something much different than you first imagined. The premise may have intrigued you, maybe even the pull of the author’s name, but you may be confused with how the plot is carried out. I encourage you to step back and see the story arc for what it really is, a fairly accurate and admirable examination of ‘what happened’. You’ll close the book reminded why Fisher is such a fantastic psychological thriller writer. She got me. I didn’t see it coming. My emotions were on full throttle.

This is a great suspense thriller about a woman searching for answers. Iris Walsh saw her twin sister, Piper, being kidnapped but the police didn’t believe her account of the events. She decides to take matters into her own hands but soon discovers that there’s something very sinister going on.

Piper was the ‘good half,’ the popular one, and Iris is convinced that she was kidnapped and trafficked. The lack of evidence results in the case going cold, but Iris doesn’t give up. She’s determined to find answers and get revenge. Finally, years later, her internship at a hospital for the criminally insane provides answers, but are they the ones Iris is looking for?

Nothing is as it seems.

It’s riveting, it touches on the nitty-gritty uncomfortable things, it stretches believability, it has a powerful twist, it’s creepy, chilling, has uneven pacing, frustrating time hops, many loose ends and at times choppy. Yes, there was a huge discrepancy between what I was prepared for and what direction the author took. BUT! Tarryn Fisher could offer a masterclass in atmosphere. This unseen thread binds her whole narrative together and shapes her readers’ experience.

If you love Shutter Island vibes, an examination of psychopathy/sociopathy, and plots that make you yell out loud, this one is for you! Buckle up.

I was gifted this copy by Harlequin Trade Publishing, Graydon House and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

I love Tarryn Fisher's books; each one i so different from the last, but they are all so engaging and unputdownable! This latest is no exception! I was hooked from the first line all the way until the very last. Iris's twin Piper went missing a decade ago, and she has been trying to find her since. I swear this book had shades of Shutter Island. A little creepy and a lot of twisty!

What a marvelous story. Once I started, I couldn’t seem to put it down. I was intrigued right from the beginning. I felt this book was very well written, and the characters had depth, which is one of the things I enjoy most about books.

Wow! My favorite Tarryn Fisher book to date. The description didn’t entice me too much but I read it anyway, since it’s by TF. Happy I did. This book has more twists & turns than anything I’ve read lately. And plenty suspense. Emotion, even a slight romantic interest…..When I got about 60% in, I could do anything til I finished this book. Awesome read! Suspense fans, folks who like psychological thrillers, get this book & thank me later😁

Tarryn Fisher is one of my must-read authors. I've read all of her books, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on Good Half Gone. That was before I even read the blurb, then I was even more excited. I hate to say it, but I might have overhyped the book to myself. While I liked it, I didn't love it as much as I expected.

Good Half Gone starts out explosively with the day Iris's twin sister Piper is abducted. Those first few chapters really drew me in and hooked me. After that, the suspense dried up for a bit and the pace slowed down. I felt like I was being told rather than shown at some points. I also found myself confused at times. I had a hard time connecting what was happening in the past to the present. It makes more sense now that I'm done reading, but it took a while to feel a connection between teenage Iris and 20-something Iris because of how each timeline jumped around. Which was weird because both timelines were interesting in their own ways. One thing that didn't help was the amount of attention placed on unimportant details. A lot of information was given that sometimes mattered, but most times didn't. That was probably meant to make it harder to figure out what was coming, but it just bogged things down a bit and didn't keep me from guessing some of the twists. The Shoal Island Hospital stuff was both creepy and intriguing. I could picture the island and its terrain, the uncomfortable weather on the ferry, and the buildings and their inhabitants. The intensity picked back up at about seventy-five percent in when all unbelievable craziness broke lose. It might not have been believable, but it was a lot of fun to read.

So, yeah. I had mixed feelings about this book. This was a hard review to write because it was hard to figure out what did and didn't work for me. There's no doubt Tarryn Fisher knows how to create a twisted tale with a whole lot of atmosphere, but this story needed something in the middle. I don't know if that's narrowing down the information that is given or making Iris a little easier to connect to. If you are good at suspending disbelief in the end, you might like this thriller set in the darker, grittier side of the Pacific Northwest.

Good read! I enjoyed this book and this author. The book starts out a little slow and was a little hard to follow in the beginning. It did keep me interested and turning pages. Once I made it about a third of the way in the book it finally started coming together and much better. I would recommend this book and am glad that I was given the opportunity to read this from netgalley.

Good Half Gone by Tarryn Fisher
Pub date: March 19, 2024

I loved the premise of this book and then parts of it but whoosh it took a deep dive into really out there.

As an RN – someone who worked in a state-run mental institution, and it was no picnic there - I really had to suspend my belief to follow through on this – and trust me, I’m good at that – easily entertained and all. But the storyline just really took a nose dive with the characters at Shoal Island Hospital. It kind of reminded me a bit of that movie with Leonardo Dicaprio - that I can’t remember the name of -only that was fictionally fiction.

It did wrap up nicely and didn’t leave me hanging; I appreciate that.

Sorry, this one just didn’t work for me.

A captivating and all-encompassing excerpt from a book that has me sprinting to the finish line! I can sense that this will undoubtedly earn another well-deserved 5-star rating for Tarryn Fisher!

📚 Good Half Gone
✍ Tarryn Fisher
📖 Thriller
⭐2/5

➡ Since her twin sister Piper went missing when they were fifteen, Iris Walsh has dedicated her life to exposing the truth about her disappearance and commanding justice. In order to access the man she thinks is responsible for her sister's death, she accepts an internship at the Shoal Island Hospital for the criminally insane, a former military base on an isolated island off the coast of Washington. There, she must learn who to trust and who is weaving a web of lies so thick, the line between innocent and guilty becomes blurred.
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🙏 Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advanced copy of Good Half Gone. All opinions are my own.
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🎯 What I loved: I was initially really intrigued by the premise: a young woman accepts a role at an institution for the criminally insane in order to gain closure to her twin's disappearance. This had the makings of a fascinating thriller with lots of interesting characters and twists.

🙅‍♀️ What I didn't: Ultimately, this fell flat for me. The pacing was off and the plot and prose were disjointed and messy. The first three quarters seemed to be leading one place with one set of pacing and then the last quarter almost seemed like it was a different book. I read a lot of ARCs and it's rare that I see as many errors as I did in this book. Although it's likely still going through final revisions, there were grammatical errors and tons of fact misalignment (i.e. was Cal eight or nine years old because the book listed him as both without a birthday occurring?) that made this book confusing and at times, frustrating to read. And while I love a good twist, the twist in this was too far fetched to make sense.
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Read if you love:
*cold cases
*missing persons mysteries
*thrillers centered on twins
*BIG twists
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See also: The Vanishing Half, The House in the Pines, The Fury