Good Reads, Lifestyle

Good Reads Challenge Book Review: The Night She Disappeared

August 18, 2024September 7, 2024 by LifeByWyetha

Hello to you, and welcome back to the blog.

BOOK QUOTE
“She wants to stay in here. It’s warm, and it’s safe. She feels protected from the strangeness of the evening, from the terrible energy in the air.”― Lisa Jewell, The Night She Disappeared.

Beautiful people, how are you? I hope you are well, getting plenty of rest, staying hydrated, eating clean, focusing on your mental health, and giving yourself grace.

Why do I always feel so behind when it comes to reading and reviews? I’m trying to read six ARC titles by September, but I also want to get into my Fall reads before Halloween. I have started one quick read (Wasps in the Ice Cream) and I’m almost done, so there is progress.

There never seem to be enough hours in the day for activities, visiting friends, downtime, and time to work on projects. Very soon, I’m going to take two whole days to unplug from the world for my mental health and well-being. In the meantime, I’m doing my favorite pastime: a book review.

Today, I’m sharing my quick review of Lisa Jewell’s The Night She Disappeared.

Book Details

Storyline

2017: 19-year-old Tallulah is going out on a date, leaving her baby with her mother, Kim.

Kim watches her daughter leave, and as late evening turns into night, which turns into early morning, she waits for her return. And waits.

The next morning, Kim phones Tallulah’s friends, who tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a party at a house in the nearby woods called Dark Place.

She never returns.

4.25 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Characters/Players

2017
🕵🏼‍♀️ Tallulah or Lulu (Missing, young mom of Noah)
🕵🏼‍♀️ Zach (Lulu’s ex-boyfriend and Noah’s father)
🕵🏼‍♀️ Brian (Lulu’s older brother)
🕵🏼‍♀️ Kim Knox (Lulu’s mom and grandmother of Noah)
🕵🏼‍♀️ Noah (son/grandson)
🕵🏼‍♀️ Scarlett Jacques (plain but popular girl at Uni, likes Lulu, comes from money)
🕵🏼‍♀️ Liam (School friend, Scarlett’s on-again, off-again boyfriend)

2018
🕵🏼‍♀️ Shaun (New teacher at the same school as Lulu, Scarlett, and Liam)
🕵🏼‍♀️ Sophie (Shaun’s girlfriend, lives on campus, murder mystery author … She’s going to solve this whole damn thing)

Memorable Quotes

🕵🏼‍♀️ “People are easier to deal with if they underestimate you.”

🕵🏼‍♀️ “Men don’t know, she thinks, they don’t know how having a baby makes you protective of your skin, your body, your space. When you spend all day giving yourself to a baby in every way that it’s possible to give yourself to another human being, the last thing you want at the end of the day is a grown man wanting you to give him things, too.”

🕵🏼‍♀️ “The disappearance of anyone for that amount of time is just fundamentally worrying.”

🕵🏼‍♀️ “My theory, currently, is that this is someone who has known something all along whilst remaining in the shadows. Someone who knows what happened to Tallulah and Zach.”

First 150 Pages

I have my suspicions, and they all point to Lulu’s boyfriend and baby-daddy, Zach. I’m only at the beginning, so I need more of the story to understand his role. Mind you, by this point, both (Tallulah and Zach) have disappeared. They went out for a celebratory night and never came back home.

Zach also wants to move Lula and Noah away from her support circle, which sounds like the marks of an abuser who wants to isolate you from all that you know. This is like another title I’ve read: “I Need You To Read This.”

What’s also suspect is Zach’s parents’ behavior because they’ve assumed that the teens have just run away from their responsibilities. Kim (Lulu’s mom) knows better and will never leave her son. Zach’s parents are very nonchalant and don’t even bother to look for him or show concern.

Also, where are the funds for this excursion for young parents who are already living with a parent? Nothing makes sense at this point.

Present Day

Sophie, Shaun’s girlfriend (a teacher at the school Lulu attended), is trying to get used to living in the country rather than being in London and the city. I think she was the beacon in this mystery because she was new to the community and knew nothing of the story about the disappearing teens.

She energies the search, as someone has chosen her to find the first clue that says, “Dig here.” Sophie begins to investigate what happened that night. As Sophie learns more about what happens, she communicates with Kim (Lulu’s mom).

No one understands how she finds these clues, which suddenly disappear when the police investigate. The re-opening of the case would also dig deeper into Scarlett (Lulu’s classmate and friend) and how she ties into the whole story of the disappearances.

What I Loved

This story and characters are keeping pace, and the book ebbs and flows from the past to the past and what led to the disappearances and Zach and Lulu’s relationship.

The story then returns to the present day, with Kim coping with her missing daughter. It’s been a year, and until Sophie comes along, there have been no new developments in the case. It’s as if people have given up.

When A Hardback Book Falls Over

I messed up because my book fell, and when I picked it up, I did a quick flip through just to see my progress and came across a mock headline (story within the story) that basically gave everything away. 😔

Even though I saw what I saw, I kept going because I was just about to get to the good part and figure out what happened in the Night She Disappeared.

My Observations

🔎 Zach was becoming more controlling
🔎 Lulu was figuring out that she didn’t want to be in a relationship and wanted to concentrate on her life and raising her son
🔎 Lulu has developed feelings for Scarlett
🔎 Zach starts using Noah (their son) as a bargaining chip to make Lulu feel guilty
🔎 We start to understand the maturity level of both parents
🔎 Sophie is close to uncovering a crucial piece of evidence
🔎 Her boyfriend (partner) Shaun has the emotional range of a teaspoon (yes, you’ve heard that quote before…LOL Thank you, Hermione!)
🔎 Zach’s parents finally realize that something is wrong because why would you be on holiday for over a year (stupid people)
🔎Scarlett Jacques’s home (parents have money) is a pre-war construction built on several tunnels that lead around the area ..could someone have hidden there?
🔎 Scarlett seems more suspect and uses her friends like pawns to get what she wants

Conclusion

I already had my thoughts about what happened, and it turns out I was (sort of) right but got the execution wrong.

I enjoyed this title, as I love a mystery that keeps me guessing. It didn’t introduce too many characters, useless information, or themes of people and places that didn’t make sense to further confuse readers.

This is the 2nd novel I’ve read by Lisa Jewell, and I really enjoyed it. This book is perfect for the cozy season if you’re looking for a mystery thriller.

Good Reads Challenge Progress

Where I’ve posted a link, I’ve created a podcast on that review, which is a little more detailed than the written review and, of course…commentary. All my other reviews can be found ➠➠➠ here.

What Moves the Dead (read)
Leslie F*cking Jones (read)
The Cousins (read)
September House (read)
The Echo Wife (read)
Her Lost Soul (ARC: read)
The Black Girl Survives This One (ARC: read)
The Bad Ones (ARC: read)
The Eleven (ARC: read)
The Sundown Motel (read)
We Lie Here (read)
The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar (read)
Kill The Boy Band (read)
I Need You to Read This (read)
The Wishing Game (read)
Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide (read)
The Kind Worth Killing (read)
Home is Where the Bodies Are (read)
My Heart is a Chainsaw, Stephen Graham Jones (read)
Mary: An Awakening of Terror, Nat Cassidy (read)
Houses of the Unholy (ARC: read)
Suck-U-Bus (ARC read)
Antenora (ARC)
Sadie (read)
The Night She Disappeared (read)
Sleep Tight (ARC: read)

Good Read Challenge (Currently Reading)

William (ARC: reading)
Wasp in the Ice Cream (GR, Audible)

For my partial Good Reads Challenge list, check out this ➠➠➠ post. For all the other posted reviews, check out my page. For the review podcast, check out my Spotify.

Bonus: There is still time to take this challenge I found on The Nerd Daily that I think you’ll enjoy. Click on the image for the PDF version. How many can you fill out?

Thanks so much for visiting the blog today. Don’t forget to follow and subscribe, as I appreciate the support. — Peace

Good Reads Challenge Book Review: The Night She Disappeared