And Then You Were Gone by R.J. Jacobs [Book Review]

Book Review

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BOOK INFO

Title: And Then You Were Gone

Author: R.J. Jacobs

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Publish Date: March 13, 2019

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 4/5

And Then You Were Gone by R.J. Jacobs

BOOK BLURB

For fans of B. A. Paris and Mary Kubica comes a propulsive, twisting psychological thriller that asks, How can you save someone else if you can’t save yourself?

After years of learning how to manage her bipolar disorder, Emily Firestone finally has it under control. Even better, her life is coming together: she’s got a great job, her own place, and a boyfriend, Paolo, who adores her. So when Paolo suggests a weekend sailing trip, Emily agrees—wine, water, and the man she loves? What could be better? But when Emily wakes the morning after they set sail, the boat is still adrift…and Paolo is gone.

A strong swimmer, there’s no way Paolo drowned, but Emily is at a loss for any other explanation. Where else could he have gone? And why? As the hours and days pass by, each moment marking Paolo’s disappearance, Emily’s hard-won stability begins to slip.

But when Emily uncovers evidence suggesting Paolo was murdered, the investigation throws her mania into overdrive, even as she becomes a person of interest in her own personal tragedy. To clear her name, Emily must find the truth—but can she hold onto her own sanity in the process?


And Then You Were Gone by R.J. Jacobs

MY REVIEW

While on a sailing trip, Emily wakes to find her boyfriend Paolo is missing. Since Paolo is a strong swimmer, Emily finds it hard to believe he could have drowned. As days pass, Paolo’s disappearance starts to lean toward murder… with Emily as a suspect. Emily struggles with managing her bipolar disorder, which she though was under control, while she searches for answers to what happened to Paolo.

Emily makes for an interesting unreliable narrator. She has been managing her bipolar disorder well, but when Paolo goes missing and she becomes a suspect, she no longer has control. In addition to that, her memory of the night Paolo went missing is very hazy. The fun thing about unreliable narrators is the reader never knows if they can be trusted.

When Emily looks into Paolo’s disappearance, she learns more about his work. Paolo works in medical research, and while Emily was aware of the virus he was working with, she learns a lot more about his research and coworkers as she questions what happened to him.

And Then You Were Gone is a fast-paced psychological thriller. Intriguing, suspenseful, and twisty.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Books by R.J. Jacobs:
  1. And Then You Were Gone
  2. Somewhere in the Dark
  3. Always the First to Die
  4. This Is How We End Things

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