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The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
Thriller

The Night She Disappeared

by Lisa Jewell

Quick take

The hair-raising story of an unsolved disappearance that connects two women across years and many dark secrets.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_400

    400+ pages

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_MultipleNarrators

    Multiple viewpoints

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_NonLinear

    Nonlinear timeline

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_Murder

    Murder

Synopsis

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.

2019: Sophie is walking in the woods near the boarding school where her boyfriend has just started work as a head-teacher when she sees a note fixed to a tree.

'DIG HERE' . . .

A cold case, an abandoned mansion, family trauma, and dark secrets lie at the heart of this remarkable new novel.

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Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of The Night She Disappeared.

Why I love it

If I made a list of all the things I want in a thriller, The Night She Disappeared would check off every single item. Creepy woods? Check! Academic setting? Check! An ancient, sprawling estate called Dark Place? Check! Secrets, illicit affairs, and suspicious characters inhabiting multiple timelines? Check, check, and heck yes! Even better, at its center are three flawed, determined, vivid women—a missing girl, her devoted mother, and a mystery writer who finds a clue that turns a cold case into a bonfire.

The writer is Sophie, who moves to a quaint English village when her boyfriend becomes head teacher at a private school. Before she can settle in, Sophie hears about Tallulah and Zach, a young couple who vanished a year earlier after attending a get-together at Dark Place. Soon after, Sophie stumbles upon a handwritten note on the edge of the storied estate’s vast woods that bears an ominous message—DIG HERE. What she finds buried there brings her into contact with Kim, Tallulah’s mother, who continues to look for her daughter long after everyone else has stopped. Together, the two women set out to learn what really happened to Tallulah.

Once again, Lisa Jewell proves herself to be a master of page-turning suspense. With the ease of a Vegas blackjack dealer, she shuffles between the days after Sophie’s discovery, the months leading up to Tallulah’s disappearance, and Kim’s frantic search in the days that followed. I loved the way Jewell teases out the story in delicious bits and pieces before finally hitting us with the shocking truth about what happened that night. That’s another thing to add to the list. A killer ending? Check!

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Member ratings (12,072)

  • Jessica M.

    Las Vegas, NV

    This book made me a bad mom for 24hrs ???? I decided to hell with cooking meals (ordering in is ok right?) and didn’t bathe my kids (well, it’s Dads turn)…..BECAUSE this book was so darn good!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • Allison C.

    Baltimore , MD

    A great Lisa Jewell! I’m a sucker for dual timelines and this was executed perfectly! A slow-burn mystery with a chilling atmosphere. I predicted some of the reveals but didn’t guess the ending! 4/5⭐️

  • Tabby S.

    Flatwoods , KY

    Holy smokes. That was the best book I’ve read in quite some time. I couldn’t figure out who done what. I’ve read so many crime books I can usually guess, but not this time. I have to read more of her!

  • Jennifer K.

    Lakewood , CO

    5⭐️ Lisa will always have a special place in my heart! I love her books so much. This book was amazing. I loved the detail and immense background given to make this a TRUE “who-done-it” masterpiece

  • Jennifer C.

    Manistee, MI

    I always seemed to get sucked in right from the beginning of Lisa Jewell’s books. This one did not disappoint and I wasn’t able to put it down. I was invested in finding out what happened to Tallula!