Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing & NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

I am a fan of Tarryn Fishers thrillers because she usually weaves together the perfect tale of deception. This book drew me in, and did keep me engaged while reading; however the entire ending felt rushed, unrealistic, and so impossible. If you are looking for a quick and original thriller this could be the one, because the plot was quite unique. I just personally wasn’t a fan of the very unlikely twists the book ended with.

Piper and Iris are twins who are being raised by their Gran, after their drug addict mother loses custody. One terrible afternoon when they’re 15, Iris watches as 2 men kidnap her sister, never to be seen again. What entails is a journey of Iris never giving up hope to find her sister, even when the police are less than helpful.

Years after the kidnapping Iris takes a job at a remote hospital for the criminally insane, which is on an island near Seattle. Through alternating time lines we read about what happened after Piper was kidnapped, and all that Iris has learned about her disappearance since, and what ultimately leads her to this job. Because Iris isn’t just there for the job, she is there to finally get answers about what happened to her twin sister.

Trigger warnings include:
-human trafficking and sexual assault
-some violence, and gore details
-addiction
-foster care and child abuse

Thank you to NetGalley & Graydon House for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Truthfully, I had never read a Tarryn Fisher novel before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I think her writing style is strong, which makes me want to try another one of her books in the future. She’s definitely a good author.

That being said, this book was a bit of a let-down. The pacing was super off in the present chapters- not much happened for most of the book until the climax was approaching. I was hoping for a couple of bombshells here and there before the climax happened, but…nothing. I preferred the past chapters far more, as I enjoyed seeing how Iris and her grandmother tried their hardest to find out what happened to Iris’s twin sister, Piper. There was great pacing in those chapters while the pacing in the present chapters was really slow.

I didn’t love Iris as a main character. I get that she desperately wants to know what happened to Piper and where she is, but I wish we could’ve seen other aspects of her personality here and there. Also, there were a couple of decisions Iris made that made me really uncomfortable and didn’t sit well with me, given her ultimate goal.

I thought the climax was excellent and the final revelations definitely left me stunned. However, I felt like the book ended right after the climax happened, which kind of caught me off guard. I would’ve loved for there to have been one more chapter after that to see how Iris and her grandmother reacted to the fallout of the climax.

While I did get through this book fairly quickly, I didn’t love it. It’s not the worst thriller I’ve read- it just wasn’t for me, and that’s okay. I still want to read another Tarryn Fisher book, though!

I’m all for a good thriller, and often find myself drawn to their titles, covers and/or premises. That’s what happened with Good Half Gone by Taryn Fisher — an author whose books I’d seen at the library, but had never read. I saw this latest effort on NetGalley, and all three of the facets mentioned above caught my interest, causing me to become intrigued and request a review copy.

Well, I’ve just finished Good Half Gone, after devouring it in about two days. I’m left trying to put words to my thoughts regarding this strange book.

Let’s start from the beginning…

Good Half Gone begins as two twin girls leave school. The fifteen year olds are just about to walk out the door when they’re called by a friend who wants to set the more outgoing one (Piper) up with a guy she likes. They agree to meet at the mall the next day.

After a change of plans, the girls go to the movies with a couple of guys they’d never met before. Afterwards, Piper ends up being kidnapped by said men, and Iris’ phone is stolen. She doesn’t get a good look at the car, and the following investigation has a lot of issues, including cops who don’t take things seriously.

The story is, as you guessed, told from Iris’ first-person perspective, but not linearly. It follows two different timelines, including the past (the mall, the kidnapping and what happened afterwards) and the present, where a now 23 year old Iris is interning at a hospital for the criminally insane, which just so happens to be located on an island off the coast of Seattle, Washington. The main players are Iris, her son, her grandma, the cops and the people she works with, not to mention the inmates; some of which roam free throughout the ward.

This is a novel that starts off pretty strongly, then gets too comfortable for the next 60% of its length, which mostly centres on Iris’ life, the investigation and her time at the hospital. It jumps right into the hospital scenes, too, without telling the reader why she’s there, or who is to blame. There’s a lot of reaching at times, and the reader is just expected to go along with it and say “Ok.”

The middling, ‘fine’ and mostly unexciting middle of Good Half Gone abruptly stops at a sudden climax, which begins due to nonsensical happenings. The event that triggers it didn’t need to happen, given the twists and reveals that follow. Looking back, it makes little sense.

The final twist is also so predictable that it would be part of a class called Thrillers 101. In fact, the last 20% is kind of silly, unrealistic and lacking.

There were other issues that I hope they’ll iron out before the first edition is released. For instance, the math relating to Iris’ son’s age doesn’t compute, with him being listed as 9 at first and then 8 later on. Iris’ age and situation also made me question how realistic it would actually be, and took me out of the book a bit.

I also didn’t appreciate the inference that people who take antipsychotics must be violent in order to need them. I’ve taken two, and I’m not violent at all. They sometimes assist antidepressants.

Then again, there was also an inference that Christian people don’t own TVs.

As a character, Iris was fine. I didn’t mind reading her perspective or her narration, but she didn’t seem all that smart.

I don’t hate this book. I don’t even dislike it. I’m just kind of ho-hum about it. Good Half Gone is a decently written novel, and it kind of hooked me, but the last 20% really hurt my opinion of it, as did the issues mentioned above.

There’s an ok, but somewhat silly and plodding book to be found here.

This review is based on a digital advance reader copy, which we were provided. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing us with it. Receiving a free copy did not affect our review or overall opinion.

This book started out good and held my attention for a while , but then it got boring. The plot was a little far fetched and that also caused me to lose interest. It wasn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t for me.

This book kept me guessing until the very end! I was not expecting the plot twists. The idea of fighting to find your missing twin is not one I remember reading about recently. This was a great read that I could not put down

This was such a good book! I loved the characters, and their story. The dialogue was realistic and enjoyable. I was very surprised by the ending!

In this new twisty turny thriller we meet Piper and Iris, Piper, kidnapped as a teen, never to be seen again, Iris knows something isn't right even as she enters adulthood. Iris takes a job at a psych hospital known as "Shoal Island". Iris is determined to get to the bottom of this, but will she?

I was really intrigued by this book and did hold my interest. I am a huge fan of Fisher's and she did not disappoint I knew where the book was going at one point, but did not completely get it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC,

really good, very twisty and turny but you do have to suspend reality a bit. How much alike could the doctor and the patient have looked without anybody noticing they weren't the same person. And the nurse who was a patient....again, how?

I was intrigued by the description of this book and really felt like *missing twin sister* + *secluded criminally insane hospital* would be a hit but unfortunately it was a miss for me. I was bored until about 80% and then it gets completely wild. I will say I was definitely more entertained at this point but it was far too unrealistic for me. So if you're someone who doesn't mind a far-fetched plot and/or ending then you may enjoy it more than I did. I did love the creepy and ominous hospital setting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, Graydon House for providing me a digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Thanks to Net Galley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing this book to me for an honest review.

4.5 ⭐️s rounded down to 4! It was a book that caught my attention from the very first page! I read it in two days. From teenage Piper’s kidnapping that her twin sister Iris witnessed to almost a decade later when Iris is raising her eight year old son and still searching for answers. She is searching for answers on Shoal Island Hospital for the criminally insane. I kept turning the pages because I had to know what Iris found!

When i got approved to read Tarryn Fisher.'s arc. i was ecstatic. this was a great fastt paced story. I read it in one sitting. I loved The dual timeline,i felt like i was there with Iris in Shoal Island. A wild ride but one i loved. THAT TWIST AT THE END.WOW WOW

Such a great book

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/Graydon House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Strap in for another wild ride by Tarryn Fisher. I flew through this book thanks to a rapid pace that felt like it never let up. The dual timeline follows Iris as she handles the disappearance of her twin sister Piper. Fisher describes a cold, unforgiving, and eerie Shoal Island and accompanying mental hospital, leaving me wondering what truly was happening behind those walls. I experienced myself feeling just as frustrated for Iris as she encountered so many obstacles in her uphill battle to discover the truth behind her sister's disappearance. The ending did feel like it came at me pretty fast, and I definitely had to suspend some disbelief, but it made for a thrilling heck of a read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/Graydon House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The story is intriguing and it starts out strong. Unfortunately halfway I started losing interest and honestly struggled to get through it. I'll have to check out her other books though. This won't detour me. The ENDING was wild though. WHAT EVEN?

Title: Good Half Gone
Author: Tarryn Fisher
Pub Date: March 19, 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

When Iris and her twin sister, Piper, were fifteen, Iris witnesses Piper’s kidnapping. However, the police are convinced she ran away and offer very little help with the search. Years later, Iris is an adult with an eight year old son and she still hasn’t given up hope that she will find out what happened to Piper. Her search leads her to take an internship at a hospital for the criminally insane on a remote island where she thinks she will get the answers she needs.

This book is alterates between the past and present. In the past, we see the struggle that Iris and her grandmother went through trying to find Piper and the pushback that they received from the police. The present focuses on Iris’ relentless search for the truth.

I enjoyed this book. The beginning hooked me and made me want to read on. There were parts in the middle where the story slowed down a bit when I was hoping there would be some answers or twists revealed, but the end was so fast paced that I couldn’t put it down. The eerie desolate hospital setting added to the suspenseful conclusion. I did predict the big twist at the end and you need to have an open mind and remember that it’s fiction because the ending is a little far-fetched. However, I still really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who loves a good twisty thriller with a very creepy vibe!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this advanced reader copy!

I have loved this author since, "The Wives". I love it starts right away with the drama. I felt I was on the edge of my seat about the first 80% of the book. It did kinda slow from there but I really enjoyed the book.

I was given an ARC by the publisher in exchange for a review with honest feedback… and I can definitely say that this book was one hell of a wild ride. Tarryn Fisher has a way of writing that will pull you in and keep you guessing. Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, there are a couple extra twists thrown in. I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait for the final copy to be released so I can own it and revisit it again and again. Definitely a five star read that I will recommending to others.

After enjoying THE WIVES and THE WRONG FAMILY I was eager to jump into this one. The story is intriguing and it starts out great. After a third of the book I started losing interest and honestly had honest hard time finishing the book. The ending is crazy and didn't work for me. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

In Good Half Gone, we follow Iris as she takes an internship at an isolated mental institution for the criminally insane to seek out answers to her twin sister's kidnapping 10 years prior. We get both past and present tense perspectives, which really helped to build the suspense of the storyline. The isolated island setting of the mental institution made for such an atmospheric reading experience, and the pacing made this book so hard to put down. The writing was easily digestible and really endeared you to Iris as you learned more about her upbringing and her life in the time that has passed since her sister disappeared. The ending was a rollercoaster of twists, although some of them were rather far-fetched, even for a fiction thriller. Overall, I would highly recommend this book to thriller readers.

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.

Woooooow this was a crazy, wild ride!!!! There was so much packed into this book, I was completely engaged the whole time while reading.
Iris’ story of growing up with a drugged out mom, being raised by her grandma, her twin sister going missing and no one caring - it was heartbreaking. I was rooting for Iris as she was determined to take matters into her own hands and find answers to what really happened to her sister. The last few chapters were INTENSE and I was totally on the edge of my seat!
It was so so so good. And as always, I’m left still thinking about the story and characters after finishing it.