Krysten’s Review

The blame game could be exhausting sometimes. The blame game could make you lose your mind… all the infinitesimal outcomes, each path breaking up into a million other paths every time you heedlessly chose one, taking you on a journey that you’d never find your way back from.

This was my first Lisa Jewell book and it (probably) won’t be my last. Why probably? While this was a solid mystery, it was a little underwhelming and more than a little predictable. I also didn’t care for the main character—at least in the first half of the novel.

Laurel Mack lost her favorite daughter, and ten years later, she still hasn’t recovered. I suppose this is normal for a parent whose child is missing and presumed dead, but as a result, she neglects her two other children to the point where she no longer knows them and even wishes they had been the ones to disappear. Her outlook on life is so bleak and cynical that rather than feeling sorry for her, I found her tiresome.

“That was how she’d once viewed her perfect life: as a series of bad smells and unfulfilled duties, petty worries and late bills.”

But, by the end of the novel, she’d made a significant transformation that felt (mostly) natural. I felt like she had redeemed herself for the most part.

What didn’t feel natural were the sections from Noelle’s and Floyd’s points of view. These info dumps felt lazy, as they were entirely narrative of what had happened “off stage.”

In the end everything is neatly wrapped up in a pretty bow—which was highly unrealistic for a story revolving around a missing 15-year-old girl, a broken family, everything that happened to Ellie, a mentally disturbed woman, kidnapping, murder, neglect, suicide, deceit, etc.

However, it was a satisfying ending, especially knowing Poppy wasn’t further traumatized and everyone pretty much got what they deserved. Justice may not always happen in real life, but at least it can in fiction!