The Night She Disappeared – Lisa Jewell

Synopsis:

“Mum, there’s some people here from college, they asked me back to theirs. Just for an hour or so. Is that OK?”

Midsummer 2017: teenage mum Tallulah heads out on a date, leaving her baby son at home with her mother, Kim.

At 11pm she sends her mum a text message. At 4.30am Kim awakens to discover that Tallulah has not come home.

Friends tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a pool party at a house in the woods nearby called Dark Place.

Tallulah never returns.

2018: walking in the woods behind the boarding school where her boyfriend has just started as a head-teacher, Sophie sees a sign nailed to a fence.

A sign that says: DIG HERE . . .

Review:

This book is a slow burning but enticing mystery. It is cleverly woven together to reveal and intricate plot that I didn’t expect. I did predict small elements of the story but this didn’t ruin it too much for me.

I found a couple of elements a little unrealistic which bugged me but I won’t go into any detail as it’ll ruin the story.

I liked the characters and the way Jewell weaves in descriptions. I like the unfolding of what actually happened in real time, alongside present day. Thought it was done very well.

I ended up settling on a rating of 4/5 for this book.