Ellie Mack. The perfect daughter. The perfect student. The perfect girlfriend.

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell, tells us a story about Ellie Mack, who went missing when she was fifteen. “She ran away,” the police had said. As if anyone would believe that. Ellie had her golden future shining out in front of her; she was the definition of perfect. Then she was gone, though. So what happened?

Whoa. Not many books do this to me, but this one had me thinking-about-the-plot-at-2 A.M. Is that a good thing? Most of the time, yes. This particular book, though, was somehow disturbing. Let me take you through the general mood/tone and how it changes throughout this book.

When I first started reading the book, I thought, okay, the pace is slow and it’s kind of boring, but I can deal with it. Around halfway through, the ENTIRE book changed. I mean like full-blown, the writing style, the plot, the energy level, the tone, etc. And THAT’S when I thought, things are getting more interesting.

I was totally right, by the way. It definitely got more interesting…but not in a positive way. I can’t even find the right words to describe it. Gross? Disturbing? Upsetting? Yeah, maybe a combination of those three. It was just…really, really deep. I don’t know, I was thrown incredibly off guard, and to think about some of the specific details…yikes.

It’s weird, because I still enjoyed the book. Unsettling as it was, I think it’s a good read with an unpredictable plot twist; I would recommend ages 15+. REALLY deep concepts, and it’s probably a good idea to read the trigger warnings before the book too.

Overall, 7/10 as a rating, I don’t think I’m quite ready for other books like this yet, but it could certainly be someone else’s cup of tea!