Review: One Year Gone by Avery Bishop

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Published: August 10, 2021

Source: ARC Paperback via Author / ARC E-copy via Let’s Talk Books Promo

Summary:

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.

My thoughts:

I absolutely loved Avery Bishop’s debut novel, Girl Gone Mad, and knew I would be reading anything and everything this author wrote. I was thrilled when I got my hands on an early copy of this upcoming release…and spoiler alert – I loved it!!!

This is a fast-paced, thrilling read filled with crazy twists and turns that keep you hooked throughout. The suspense builds, with some chapters ending on little cliffhangers, and the way it is structured just pulls you in even more. I found myself glued to the pages and were it not for the chat I was participating in midway, I definitely would have read this book in one day! I made myself stop so as not to have any potential spoilers in my head during the initial chat and I’m so glad I did – that last part really took me by surprise!

I loved how the story moves back and forth to before and after Wyn’s disappearance and is told from a few different points of view. It really adds to the overall suspense of the story, building up to what I felt was a fantastic ending. Yes, there are some clues along the way, some of which I did pick up on but I just didn’t see where they would lead us to.

I love books that keep you guessing all the way through and this one certainly does. There is definitely more going on here than just Wyn’s disappearance, but it all centers around that one event and from there we learn about both Wyn and Jess, and why what happened, happened. As things were starting to unravel, I realized I was not even close to putting this one together…and that is just fine with me. I love being shocked!

If you enjoy fast-paced, binge-worthy reads, I highly recommend adding this to your summer reading list – it’s out August 10th!