And Then She Vanished

Wow!!! This book is so intriguing and I found myself unable to stop turning the pages! I was shocked (in a good way) by the time traveling part! “And Then She Vanished” is not your typical book about a child disappearing! This is a 2020 Must Read!

I received a free ARC and am leaving this review voluntarily...

And The She Vanished is about the disappearance of Joseph Bridgeman's little sister, Amy. Teenaged Joe accompanies 7 year old Amy to the local fair. While there, she mysteriously disappears. Twenty years later, the family has been torn apart and Joe still blames himself for her disappearance. After seeing a hypnotherapist for his insomnia, he discovers that he can time travel. Using this gift, he makes up his mind to go back and save Amy.

This story was quite good and I loved the surprise twist at the end. I truly did not expect that. The plot moved quickly and I found myself fully immersed in the story.

The character development was done quite well. It was heartbreaking to see how the disappearance affected the family. As a parent of two children with the same age difference as Joe and Amy, it was hard to think about. On the lighter side, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Vinny, Joe's closest friend.

I enjoyed this author's writing and would definitely try more books by him.

This book can be read by teens and adults. There was a suicide mentioned within this book as well as an accidental death which can be disturbing for younger readers. There was very little sexual content (kissing).

This is a wonderful book. I was so happily surprised and pleased to lose myself in the story and become immersed in the characters and details of the plot that I just did not want it to end. AND THEN SHE VANISHED seemed to be one of the many mystery thrillers written to tax minds with clues about serial killers but, no, this isn’t that kind of book at all. Author Nick Jones has written a wonder of a tale that delights on so many levels. Devoted siblings, lives torn asunder, friendships left undone, and bits of magical connections waiting to be heard all conspire to create a great tale. The author’s website indicates there’s a second in a series and here’s hoping it gets published as well. I can’t wait. I received my copy from the publisher through Netgalley.

And Then She Vanished is a story about loss after an event from the past. If you could go back in time and change something that altered your life in such an horrific way, would you?
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This book begins with teenage Joseph accompanying his 7 year old sister at the town fair. While Joseph is trying to win a prize for his sister, she vanishes in a matter of seconds. Turning his head for one moment, and little Amy was gone. Over the years, Joe blames himself and the disappearance of Amy is something that ripped his family apart. After meeting with a hypnotherapist, something inside of Joe reveals itself and he is left with a gift that he can use to figure out what happened to his sister all those years ago.
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This book gave me so many Butterfly Effect vibes. The idea of time travel in order to alter the way an event happened was so intriguing for me. Joe uses these new abilities to travel in time only to be left disappointed as he figures out how to use this new gift. Will be succeed in finding out the truth of what happened to Amy?
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The hardest part of this read was the devastation that occurs within a family after a child goes missing. Something that I can not even begin to imagine as a parent. There were many suspenseful parts though, and I loved the idea of a devoted older brother fighting to right the wrong he has felt for years. This book was a little Sci-Fi which is something I’m not used to, so there were times that I felt a bit confused. I do hope this is the beginning of a series though because that cliffhanger at the end left me wanting so much more.
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Thank you so much @netgalley and @blackstonepublishing for this advanced reader’s copy. Pub date February 2, 2021.

Something I don't get to read very often, are these kind of time travel stories. Ones without tech and the usual aspects of science fiction. It's not in the future, it's in the now, and it doesn't have any of the flashy bells and whistles. And that's exactly what I love about them. It's gritty, it's raw, and it's just so interesting to me that I absolutely cannot get enough of it. This book was no exception. From the moment I picked it up I knew I would be hooked, and to my delight, it won't end at the last page. It's something that will continue to bring me joy in the future. And I'm almost ecstatic about it.

As a young teenager, Joe's life was torn apart when he took his little sister Amy to a local fair. Trying to win a prize for her, he took his eye off of her for only seconds when she vanished into thin air, never to be seen again. No one ever found out what happened to her. It destroyed his family, and his sense of self worth. As an adult, Joe finds himself drinking himself to sleep every night and quickly running out of money, as well as being on the verge of losing his house. But Joe has a secret, a special power that seems unrelated to everything else. Sometimes object speak to him, they tell him their story through a kind of vision on his head when he touches them. And then after losing too many nights to insomnia, his friend convinces him to try hypnotherapy. That's when everything changes.

After his first session he feels like it hasn't really done anything, but that night he time travels back in time, just an hour. He watches himself do his nightly routine, all the while, he's frozen with fear. And then it happens again, only farther back, and for a longer time. And then he starts trying to do it. That's when he realizes that he might be able to change his past, make his life better, and even save his sister, and his entire family.

This book was amazing from the beginning until the end. I didn't want to put it down for a second, for fear of missing something, even though I know it's a book, and I can just go back and re read it if I do. Joe's story, and the world crafted around him, is just so intense and interesting that it's almost believable. The emotions portrayed in this story are so real and raw, that the characters really seem like actual people you could know. And the best part of all, is that I wasn't left with any questions at the end, which I think is a pretty hard thing to do. Everything was like a perfectly put together puzzle, and I couldn't get enough of it. We get to watch Joe go from a depressed hermit who's lost everything in his life but his few friends, to someone who actually wants to put effort into his life again. And I think the most important part, is that the story really teaches you about having to let go the things that you can't change, and you have to start living your life before it's too late.

I think this book is for anyone looking for a really heartfelt story with a scifi twist that's not too overwhelming. If you are a fan of books like How to Stop Time by Matt Haig, and The Time Travellers Wife, I think you'll really enjoy this. It has the same kind of subtle scifi aspect as those books, and I loved this one just as much as I did those. I can't wait to see what comes next for Joe, and I think that with the absolutely breathtaking cover that this book has, it would make a beautiful addition to anyone's bookshelf.

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"When I wake all that's left is the truth. She's gone."

What stand's out most to me about this compelling scifi mystery is how much heart and emotion the author was able to convey in his purposeful prose. And Then She Vanished by Nick Jones is so much more than a typical disappearance thriller.

There are a few timelines in this story but we begin in 1997 when Joseph's 7 year old sister Amy, who was in his care, seems to vanish into thin air at a carnival. As a young teen he is filled with guilt and he and his parents suffer throughout their lives.

The pain his parents endure is handled with such honesty and despair. The emotions help to center this story which deals with Joe's psychometry; the ability to feel objects and see their past owners. It also helps lead Joe into discovering time travel through hypnotherapy.

I know for some this all may seem far fetch but in the hands of a skilled writer such as this one it becomes a means of hope to save a lost little girl and her family.

Trust me when I say this book does not go through the usual path of discovery. We struggle with Joe about time traveling rules and how to beat them. We anguish over his mom's dementia and what role his losing Amy played in it and mostly we are stunned by the conclusion of his search for his sister.

Though a stand alone book And Then She Vanished is the beginning of a series with 4 books scheduled for release in 2021 and 2022. I am thrilled to continue reading the adventures of The Joseph Bridgeman Series.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

I’m not even sure how to start reviewing this book, because I’m not even sure how to categorise it. It starts off as though it’s going to be some sort of crime/mystery thriller, as we meet our protagonist Joe, whose little sister Amy disappeared from a funfair over 20 years ago, never to be seen again. Joe’s insomniac and depressed, and it’s obvious his life is about to cave in around his ears… and then things take a bit of a turn for the odd as we learn he has the talent of psychometry, in that he can discern things about an object’s origins by touching it.

Then things get REALLY weird as, following a hypnotherapy session to try and treat his insomnia, Joe discovers he can time travel. It doesn’t take long for him to start wondering if he can, somehow, go back in time and save his sister from whatever her fate turned out to be. With the help of an old school friend who happens to be a genius mathematician, the hypnotherapist who accidentally unlocked his ability, and his vinyl-loving friend Vinny, Nick is determined to save Amy. No matter what.

I really wasn’t expecting the fantasy and psychic elements to this book (that’ll teach me to properly read the blurb when selecting a mystery/thriller to review from NetGalley solely based on whether I like the cover or not) but… I actually really enjoyed it, and stayed up late to finish it. There is an awful lot unexplained about how time travel works in this universe, but it actually works really well because nobody has the answers so you can’t just have a glib explanation. Joe is trying to figure it out as he goes along. I’m intrigued by the ending of the book as well, which hinted at the existence of more time travellers and set up a series with Joe as the protagonist, though what I really wanted to know was whether Amy still had the ability which was revealed as the twist. I guess I’ll have to read book 2 to find out!

5 stars for an intriguing time-travel mystery thriller I wasn’t expecting, but thoroughly enjoyed.