The Book:
One Year Gone by Avery Bishop
Published August 10th 2021 by Lake Union Publishing
Date read: June 10, 2021
The Characters:
Jessica
Her daughter Wyn
Wyn’s father Joe
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
A mother will risk everything to find her missing daughter in this twisty thriller from the author of Girl Gone Mad.
“Sometimes teenagers run away…Give her a few days. She’ll be back.”
That’s what the police tell Jessica Moore when her seventeen-year-old daughter, Wyn, vanishes. All signs point to this being true. But days become weeks. Weeks become months. And Jessica begins to fear the terrible truth—that she may never see her daughter again.
Then, one year later, when all hope seems lost, Jessica gets a flurry of text messages from Wyn that freezes her blood: mom. please help. i think he’s going to kill me. But Wyn’s terrified plea comes with a warning not to call the police. Her kidnapper wears a badge.
As Jessica’s fears are raised again, so are the stakes. Delving into the months leading up to Wyn’s disappearance, Jessica stumbles upon information that could put her own life in danger. With each revelation, the nightmare deepens. Now she must decide just how far she’ll go to bring her daughter home.
The Twist:
Wyn was dead the whole time. She never texted Jess.
The pregnancy test belonged to Taylor. Wyn’s secret was that she was gay, and also that she knew that Sean was cheating on Taylor with Autumn.
Autumn and Sean killed Taylor when they found out she was pregnant. Wyn had seen Sean that night and suspected that he had something to do with it. They fought the night of the pep rally, and Wyn ran away from Sean into the woods. As she was running, Catherine Colvin hit her accidentally with her own car.
What didn’t make sense to me was that Wyn’s father showed up and just watched her die. He covered for his employer’s kid instead of saving his own kid’s life??
The mayor and all his posse hid Wyn’s car and body in the pit for the pool in the police chief’s backyard.
The Ending:
Jessica left town since the whole town had betrayed her.
The Review:
Thank you to Let’s Talk Books, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for a free egalley in exchange for an honest review.
I flew through this book shockingly quickly for an ebook. I was hooked early on by the premise and the mystery of the texts that Jess was receiving. The split timelines worked really well for the story. The POV switches between Jess “now”, Jess right after Wyn’s disappearance, and Wyn before she disappeared. I thought this was a great way of approaching the truth from both sides, and loved how it came together. I always enjoy when thrillers attack the plot from two converging angles.
Both of the main characters–Jess and Wyn–certainly had my sympathy. Both were struggling with grief without any kind of support system. Jess’s desperation to find Wyn was palpable. I particularly liked Wyn’s character, and thought the high school scenes were portrayed well.
As much as I enjoyed the first three quarters of this book, the ending really didn’t do it for me. I think the author tried to throw too many twists together, and it ended up being totally unrealistic. If you’ve already read One Year Gone, click the link below for my spoiler discussion.
I haven’t read Girl Gone Mad, but given how quickly I was drawn into this story, I am certainly going to have to add that one to my TBR!
