Author: Lisa Jewell

Publisher: Atria Books

ISBN: 9781982137366

A novelist moves to the country and stumbles onto a clue connected to a missing persons case. As she gets to know the people in the village better, she discovers a dark story and the complicated connections behind it. Author Lisa Jewell writes with deft and experience but can’t quite pull all the elements together for a tight narrative in her latest novel The Night She Disappeared.

In the small English village of Upfield Common, Tallulah Murray feels stuck. She’s a teen mom with a one-year-old son and a boyfriend she doesn’t want. Despite the fact that they’re living together, Tallulah just wishes Zach would leave.

Even with the unexpected pregnancy and arrival of their son, Noah, Tallulah is doing what she can to get her life back on track. She’s attending college three days a week and spending her free time at home studying. Her mother, Kim, takes care of Noah while she’s at school. 

When Zach first heard about the pregnancy, he didn’t want to have anything to do with Tallulah, but then he sees Noah and insists he’s changed. Before she quite understands how it happened, Zach talks his way into moving in with Tallulah and Kim. Tallulah waffles, but even she can’t deny that he’s an excellent father to Noah.

On the surface, everything seems to be fine. Zach starts saving money to move into a place of their own, and Tallulah is doing well in school. But the more Zach’s around, the more Tallulah wishes he wasn’t. No one sees how he checks on her multiple times a day, how he second-guesses where she goes and who she spends time with.

One night Tallulah and Zach go to dinner at the local pub where they run into some of Tallulah’s friends from college and decide to continue the party at home. People remember Zach and Tallulah hanging out by the pool and also that they talked about leaving. Then the two vanish into thin air.

A year later, mystery novelist Sophie moves to Upfield Common with her boyfriend Shaun. Shaun is starting as the headmaster of the private school in the village, and Sophie has come with him so she can get to work on her newest book. Soon after they move in, though, Sophie goes into the garden of their new home to explore and sees a cardboard sign tacked to the fence. It reads “Dig here.” 

With her writer instincts on high alert, Sophie does just that and uncovers a piece of evidence related to Tallulah and Zach’s disappearance. Suddenly clues start to surface, and Sophie finds herself knee-deep in a real-life mystery. As she gets to know Tallulah’s mother, Kim, and works through all the information on hand, the truth of what happened to Tallulah and Zach becomes painfully clear.

Author Lisa Jewell has no problem building a compelling story. With expertise she drops bits of information to keep readers engaged all the way to the end to find out what happened to Zach and Tallulah. Flashbacks recount the story of Tallulah’s life up until her disappearance, but Jewell doesn’t let anything slip until the suspense builds to its highest points.

The trouble comes in the fact that some of the key figures in Tallulah and Zach’s disappearance don’t become major forces until later in the story. Up to that point, they don’t figure on the page at all. While keeping readers guessing is part of the game, there’s also a fine balance between keeping them guessing and pulling in story elements when they feel convenient. Here the balance tips more in favor of the latter.

Also, readers might be hard-pressed to decide just who the protagonist is. Sophie is the one who finds the evidence, but her contribution to the plot fades as Tallulah and Zach’s story becomes more prominent. Kim, Tallulah’s mother, also gets a considerable amount of time in the book, but Tallulah’s friend, Scarlett, later emerges as important. This could be confusing for readers as they try to figure out who to cheer as a protagonist and who the antagonist might be.

Diehard Lisa Jewell fans will certainly appreciate this one. For those looking for a good thriller to read, this may or may not fit the bill. I recommend readers Borrow The Night She Disappeared.