The Audiobook:
Then She Vanishes by Claire Douglas
Published August 3rd 2021 by Harper Paperbacks
Date read: July 20, 2021
The Characters:
Jess
Her childhood friends Heather and Flora
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
A twisty, compulsive thriller full of jolting shocks and startling secrets involving two sisters, a disappearance, a double murder, and a reporter determined to find the truth from the bestselling author of Local Girl Missing, Last Seen Alive, and Do Not Disturb.
Everything changed the night she disappeared . . .
On a summer’s night in 1994, sixteen-year-old Flora Powell vanished from her sleepy seaside town without a trace. Their hearts shattered, Flora’s mother, her sister Heather, and Heather’s best friend Jess had to somehow carry on not knowing what happened.
Twenty-five years later, tragedy strikes again when Heather walks into a stranger’s house and allegedly kills two people in cold blood.
Why would this loving wife and doting new mother commit such a heinous crime? Jess, now a reporter, returns to the hometown she left behind to cover the case and dig for answers. But this isn’t like any other story. Jess was like a sister to the Powell girls, until the summer that tore them all apart.
What happened to the girl she used to know?
The question haunts Jess and propels her to find the key that may unlock the mysteries involving both sisters. But the search may reveal more . . . a darker side to this idyllic place she thought she knew.
The Ending:
Heather did kill Clive and Dierdre. She had found Flora alive in their basement, kept captive by the heroin addiction they gave her. Heather was shot when she and Flora struggled over the gun since Flora needed the Wilsons for her next fix. They let everyone think that Flora had killed them since she was less likely to be charged (self-defense). Flora had a stroke from heroin withdrawal and was non-communicative by the end of the book.
The Review:
The initial premise of this one reminded me a lot of All The Missing Girls, given a teenage disappearance and a fair.
I was immediately drawn in by this thriller. The plot was gripping and entertaining, and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened to Heather to make her suddenly decide to kill two people and whether it would connect to her past.
The story was told from an interesting angle: the POV of Jess, Heather’s former best friend who is now a journalist. Jess was constantly struggling to balance her responsibility as a reporter with her desire to protect Heather’s family. The scenes from the past are told from the POVs of Heather’s mom and Flora. I thought the whole plot flowed really well, and while I was constantly hunting for clues and learning more about the characters, there were never any whiplash-inducing twists that left me blindsided.
In the end, I love how the past explained the present. This thriller is definitely one to add to your summer TBR!
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