The Day She Disappeared by Lisa Hall

4 Stars from me

I absolutely adore Lisa Hall’s writing and picked up this book knowing I would be in for a treat.

Having left her claustrophobic home town under somewhat of a cloud 16 years ago, Rebecca reluctantly returns after an old friend calls to tell her that her mum is ill. The isolation of the island setting and imagining the discomfort, awkwardness and trepidation of returning to that small town where everyone knows what happened and why she left made for an immediate unsettling premise for this clever psychological thriller.

Intending to stay just long enough to sort her mum’s house, Rebecca makes a series of decisions that frustrated the hell out of me! So many times she could have just minded her own business but no, she literally throws herself in harms way time and time again as she is hell bent on finding Violet who went missing a year ago at the last summer festival. 

There are a plethora of suspicious and seemingly untrustworthy types to contemplate and I fell for several of the author’s cunning and deft diversions and red herrings as the story unfolded.

With many an unlikable character, sub plots, feints and deceptions, this is an engrossing psychological thriller that will keep readers guessing until the very bitter end.

I highly recommend this author’s back catalogue too for some truly incredible psychological thrillers:

Between You and Me by Lisa Hall

Tell Me No Lies by Lisa Hall

The Woman in the Woods by Lisa Hall

The Perfect Couple by Lisa Hall

The Party by Lisa Hall

Blurb: A remote island. A missing girl. A woman with a troubled past.

Becky is back on the tiny island where she was born, the island she swore she’d never return to.

Apart from her former best friend Megan, everyone makes it clear she isn’t wanted. The islanders have long memories. They haven’t forgotten the scandal. What Becky did.

Becky decides to leave as soon as she can. But first she must discover what happened to Violet.

Violet disappeared exactly a year ago, the day of the summer festival. Everyone assumes she ran off to the mainland with her boyfriend. Only her sister believes something more sinister happened to her.

Becky starts to ask questions — and becomes convinced that Violet never left the island. Someone in this remote, suspicious community knows exactly what happened to her. Someone who’s determined to keep the truth hidden — whatever it takes.

As Becky pieces the clues together, she is forced to confront the dark secrets of her own past. But has she got it tragically wrong . . . yet again? And then another teenage girl goes missing . . .