The most recent book by Rea Frey brings the tense, thriller writing I have come to enjoy. This one has a backdrop of elite level gymnastics which didn't really resonate with me, but wasn't a deal breaker.

A former Olympic gymnast, Cora Valentine, has left the gymnastics world behind, choosing to focus on her young daughter and making a life in her community. When her daughter is taken during a Halloween event, Cora's past comes rushing to the surface.

As Cora tries to comply with the orders of the kidnappers, she comes face to face with girls from her early days. There are new truths that are revealed and some people are not who she thought they were. There are flashback chapters that provide context on Cora's younger days

Overall I liked the story and suspense of the kidnapping, the gymnastics talk was sort of gibberish to me since I don't know much about gymnastics. A solid thriller and enjoyable audiobook.

𝗠𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 3.5⭐️
WHEN SHE’S GONE
🤍𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: thriller/mystery
📖 253 pages
𝗘𝗺𝗼𝗷𝗶𝘀: 🎃😱🚔🤸🏼‍♀️🥇👀✉️💊🔨🔫🍂

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
◽️ creepy dolls
◽️ revenge
◽️ gymnastics
◽️ fall vibes
◽️ single POV
◽️ dual timeline

❤️𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲❤️

Thank you @thomasmerceruk @reafreyauthor for the #gifted copy!@thrillerthepulse is loving this one!

This book is a thrilling ride from start to finish, pulling you in with high suspense & a perfectly eerie atmosphere. Set during Halloween, it’s filled with haunted houses, costumes, & a chilling sense of mystery that makes it an ideal fall read. From the very first page, the tension builds, keeping you hooked as the story unfolds.

While I did guess the villain early on, the book still delivered plenty of unexpected twists that kept me engaged. The alternating then/now chapters added to the intrigue, making me eager to see how everything would connect. With cryptic letters, suspenseful moments, & a fast paced plot, this popcorn thriller is an entertaining, twisty read that’s hard to put down!

𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘁: Cora Valentine is a rising athlete with Olympic dreams until she’s kidnapped on Halloween. Though she’s eventually freed, the crime remains unsolved, & she’s forever seen as a victim. Years later, she builds a new life with her daughter, determined to leave the past behind. But on another Halloween, her daughter vanishes, & Cora receives a chilling ultimatum—take another child to get her own back. It’s clear her past isn’t finished with her, but this time, she’s ready to fight.

💭 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱- 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀? 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵? 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲?

#WhenShesGone #thriller #giftedbooks #mystery #suspense #crime #Halloween #missing #bookaddict #whattoreadnext #botwxbs #bookcollector #booksaremylife #booksonbooks #crimewithaclaw #cozycorner #ReaFrey

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐞 by Rea Frey Narrated by Jennifer Jill Araya

A gripping thriller that weaves the past and present of Cora Valentine, a former Olympic gymnastics hopeful. Cora was kidnapped on Halloween, when she was in high school. This derailed Cora’s athletic career and left lasting scars. Now years later, she’s a mother and faces a parent’s worst nightmare. Her own daughter disappears on Halloween, forcing Cora to confront her traumatic past to save her child.

The fast-paced plot keeps readers on edge. This is an unforgettable tale of a mothers love, survival and sacrifice.

Thank you @thrillerbookloversthepulse and @netgalley for the opportunity to be on this tour!

This was ok but not a love for me. I was wishing for more suspense but it was decent. I did like how the ending was wrapped up!

I listened to this one on audio and the narration was fantastic! It’s the first thriller book I have read that involved competitive gymnastics and it was so good. It was told in alternating POVs with a dual timeline. Cora survived her own kidnapping years ago, but now the search is on for her daughter. She is forced to face the same thing all over again. I flew through this one and it kept me on the edge of my seat.


Thank you @thrillerbookloversthepulse for the #gifted copy.

This fast-paced psychological thriller had me hooked! Told through dual timelines—“then,” recounting her past kidnapping, and “now,” as we join Cara in the desperate search for her daughter—I raced through the pages, eagerly piecing together the connections between these two disappearances.

Frey delves into the intricacies of relationships, trauma, PTSD, and the high-stakes world of competitive sports, exploring both the sacrifices made and the lasting consequences.

A tightly crafted and engaging popcorn thriller that’s a fast, effortless binge!

Rea Frey is the author that just keeps on giving.

I have found myself flip flopping back and forth between audio and ebooks. I prefer ebooks because I can read at my own speed but also love the convenience of an audio.

Here is my dilemma...

When I read a suspense/thriller I can rush through it. When I listen to an audio, I can straight up terrorize myself and feel every single breath and every single emotion.

When She's Gone

As a former gymnast, this book hit close to home. All I can say is this book is quite literally everything.

Suspense
Mystery
Dark
Deep

if you are looking for a book or audio to get lost in, this is definitely the book for you.

As an established fan of Rea Frey, I can say this is my favorite to date. Check out this teaser :

In this haunting story that spans three decades, a young gymnast escapes a kidnapping. Years later, she’s forced to face the past when her own daughter disappears.

Cora Valentine has her whole life—and a shot at the Olympics—ahead of her. But when she’s kidnapped on Halloween, her name is splashed across headlines not as an athlete but as a victim. Not even her safe return changes that, especially since no one is caught for the crime.

Hounded by the public, Cora’s time as a missing girl and member of the Magnificent Eight has its consequences. Years later, when Cora has her own daughter, she’s determined to leave the past behind for a better life. Her daughter will never face those fears. And Cora will never face them again.

But four years later, on Halloween, the past comes knocking.

Now, Cora’s daughter is gone, and to get her back, Cora must take someone else’s child.

Clearly, whoever took her all those years ago isn’t done with her yet…but as long as they have her daughter, Cora’s not done with them either.

I LOVED this book!! I remember the '96 Olympics well and the flashbacks to that time period were so fun!! What a great mystery ang gymnastics thriller!!

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Thank you to Brilliance Audio for the advance audio copy of When She’s Gone - we LOVED this one over at The Pulse!

Cora was a talented gymnast with the 1996 Olympics within her grasp when tragedy struck the Halloween before tryouts. Kidnapped from a haunted house on a rare night out with friends, Cora came out of the ordeal alive, and managed to make her Olympic dreams come true, however, she carried a heck of a lot of trauma with her.

Her captor was never caught and Cora spent the majority of her life looking over her shoulder, paranoid. Working on bettering her life, she closes the door to the past and has a daughter of her own. Four years after that, at the town Halloween gathering, Cora’s worst nightmare comes true - her daughter is taken and the past is repeating itself.

Cora is tasked with taking someone else’s child in order to get her own back. Faced with an impossible decision and no idea who to trust or who could be behind such a heinous act, Cora must use her best judgment to work through every parent’s nightmare.

This is my second Rea Frey book and she may be an auto-buy for me at this point. I really enjoy her characters and her stories are suspenseful and unique with some crazy twists I can’t see coming. When She’s Gone is no exception.

The narration was great, it was tense and kept me in anticipation, feeling like I was going through the motions with Cora.

I love books about sports that are performed singularly, but are also competitive, like gymnastics, ballet, swimming, fighting, etc, so that is what initially piqued my interest on this one. Especially with Rea blending fiction and reality with the 1996 Women’s US Team, because there isn’t an elder millennial woman in America who doesn’t hold very fond memories of that team.

As a parent, it’s a very tough read at times. All of my biggest fears involve my child, of course, but them being taken and the uncertainty and guilt that would bring with it surely tops my list. Again - the narration does a great job of putting you in that moment (for better or worse) and making you feel what Cora is surely feeling.

Thank you Brilliance Audio for the ALC and Thomas & Mercer / Netgalley, #partner, for the advanced copy of When She’s Gone in exchange for my honest review.

Another winner from Rea Frey!!! There is something about books that focus on elite athletes that I cannot walk away from. This time it’s gymnastics and fun fact – it’s one of my favorite sports to watch during the Olympics. I’ve been obsessed with it ever since seeing a movie about Nadia Comaneci when I slept at my Nana’s after my own gymnastics class. ⁣
⁣
This book was not at all what I expected, but in such a good way. I loved the dual-timeline and how it helped put the pieces together of Cora’s past with that of what was happening in the present. The story moves at a breakneck pace and you cannot help but binge this popcorn thriller, needing to know how it all resolves. The suspense is high and with the story being set around Halloween, it only adds to the tension. ⁣
⁣

Audio thoughts: This is the type of book I love listening to – one that I can’t put down once I started. The narrator, Jennifer Jill Araya, does a fantastic job bringing out the suspense and emotional drama needed to tell this story.

I know I'm always going to get a great story with a few surprises along the way when I read a Rea Frey book. This novel tugged at my maternal heartstrings and also kept me off balance with the array of possible suspects. Well-written, a unique plot, and intriguing characters narrated by Jennifer Jill Araya made this audiobook a joy to listen to and kept me immersed in the story right up to the shocking conclusion.

This story is told in past and present POV and it follows Cora who is a gymnast training for the olympics. Now she is a mom who is trying her best to be a good mother but suddenly on Halloween her daughter is gone.The author weaves the past and present seamlessly. This was such an addicting listen for me. The narrator, Jennifer Jill Araya does an amazing job portraying Cora, and many of the characters that appear. And trust me there are several that we see throughout the book. The tones and inflections used were well done. You could hear and feel the despair and panic of a mother. While there were some times that the story felt a bit of disbelief in some scenes, I still very much enjoyed the story. The twists and turns that this story took were good and I was eating it up!
This is perfect for readers who enjoy Halloween horror, haunting past, and protective parent be sure to check this one out.

Another great thriller from Frey! In this one I liked how the main character really would do anything, even it meant to push the limits. It was a good audio and had a great twist!

The narrator did an excellent job of bringing this book and each character to life. The quality was great as well. The speed of this book was amazing and I was immediately hooked from the first chapter. The twist was really good and I felt so bad for Cora’s character the entire story. If you liked Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier then you would enjoy this one! Our library will definitely be purchasing this book for our patrons.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my gifted copy.

This was a good popcorn thriller. This one gave me 'The Chain' vibes, which I found to be unique and more interesting than other thriller plots. I nailed the ending very early on, but I was still entertained. I enjoyed the narrator a lot, and it was easy to listen at a faster pace.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #BrillancePublishing for the book #WhenShesGone by #ReaFrey. This book centers around kidnapping, revenge and jealousy and is the perfect read. Cora used to be a gymnast who was in the Olympics. But right before her tryouts for the team, she is kidnapped. Even now, she never found out who was behind the kidnapping. Present day and someone has kidnapped her daughter and insists that she kidnap another child. Can she save her daughter before it’s too late?

I've been a big fan of this author's work in the past but this one was a bit too YA for my particular tastes. I struggled to get into the dual timeline mystery story and it just wasn't for me. The narration was okay but it couldn't save the reading experience for me. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

SYNOPSIS:
In When She’s Gone by Rea Frey, former Olympian hopeful Cora Valentine’s life was forever changed when she survived being kidnapped on Halloween—a trauma that haunts her even after becoming a mother. Determined to shield her daughter from the same fears, Cora’s resolve is shattered when her child is abducted on Halloween years later. To save her, Cora is forced to confront her past and make an unthinkable choice, uncovering a chilling connection to her own abduction.

MY THOUGHTS:
When She’s Gone by Rea Frey is an edge-of-your-seat thriller that kept me captivated from page one! The dual timelines, blending Cora’s harrowing kidnapping in the ’90s with her present-day search for her missing daughter, create a gripping narrative you won’t want to put down. Set against the high-stakes world of competitive gymnastics, the story is fast-paced, with short chapters that make it a binge-worthy read.

The suspense builds as you unravel the mystery of Cora’s daughter’s disappearance, and while some twists were predictable, they didn’t take away from the adrenaline-fueled ride. Yes, there are moments where you’ll need to suspend disbelief, but that only adds to the fun! If you loved the intensity of The Chain by Adrian McKinty, this book will absolutely hook you—it delivers that same pulse-pounding tension and emotional depth.

Full of drama, secrets, and shocking twists, When She’s Gone is a must-read for fans of fast-paced popcorn thrillers.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW:
Jennifer Jill Araya delivers a standout performance in the audiobook of When She’s Gone, bringing Cora’s story to life with incredible depth and emotion. Her ability to shift seamlessly between timelines is impressive—capturing Cora’s youthful, uncertain voice in the high school flashback chapters and her more mature, emotionally charged tone in the present day. Araya masterfully conveys Cora’s desperation, determination, and fear as she navigates the terrifying search for her daughter, making every moment feel raw and authentic. Her nuanced narration adds another layer to the suspense, making this audiobook an immersive and unforgettable experience.

Thank you Thomas & Mercer, Brilliance Publishing and NetGalley for advanced copies in exchange for my honest review.

I felt like this book had good potential, but didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I did not really connect with the characters, but I did enjoy alternating between the past and present timelines.

When she's gone by Rea Frey
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This audio had me hooked from the start.
I found it similar to a book called The Chain. Not that the story was entirely similar, but it gave the same desperate vibes of a mother who would do anything for her baby. I recommend this to anyone who loves a good thriller chokehold.

Thanks to @thrillerbookloversthepulse for hooking me up with this audio!

#thrillerbooks #thrillerbookloverthepulse #reafrey #whenshesgone #review #bookreview