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There are currently 21 member reviews
for Since She Went Away
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Jeff M. (Somerset, NJ)
Since She Went Away
While the plot for "Since She Went Away" held promise, I had to struggle to finish the novel. I found the first half of the book to be very slow moving and repetitious. There was much too much wordy introspective – I got the point (over and over) that Jenna felt responsible for the disappearance of Celia, when she was late in arriving to meet her. But, I had a hard time sympathizing with Jenna, in fact after a while, Jenna's tendency to seemingly attack people with pointed questions and her general attitude was too much. I also found it a bit of a stretch that this one disappearance would lead to perceived continuing national coverage by networks like CNN (but you never know). Second half of the book did pick up the pace and enough hints were dropped as to where the outcome was headed. I think, though, that with some judicious editing, 50 or more pages could have been deleted which would have made it a better read from my perspective.
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Jinny K. (Fremont, CA)
100 Pages Too Long
I enjoy mystery/thrillers, stories of missing persons, etc. This book was the story of a missing woman, emphasizing how it affected her best friend and a number of red herring possibilities for the ultimate outcome. It was just average, an easy read, but really could have been quite a bit shorter. Also, although the missing person mystery was revealed at the end, there were some fragments which eluded resolution and left one wondering.
Maybe a good beach read.
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Bette K. (Beverly, WV)
Beach Book
Since She Went Away is a crime solving story that takes place in current time. For the reader who likes mysteries that are not that challenging in terms of language and philosophy, this would be an ideal choice. I can't see this as the type of book that would be great for a book club discussion as it is not cerebral in any way. The story is easy to read and I read it lying on the hammock in a couple of days. There are no lawyers or courtroom scenes, just a story about a missing woman and the people who tried to find out what happened to her.
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cheryl (brockport,n.y.)
didn't live up to my expectations
This was my first read by this author, and I'm sorry to say but I didn't find it that good. I am generally a mystery reader, and love it when I can't put the book down. This book was what I would refer to as a lite read..Not edge of the seat reading. Although, I will try another book by this author sometime in the future.
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Laure R.
Sadly unthrilled
A small town experiencing the unexplained disappearance of a woman, three sets of single parents and their teen offspring wounded by this event. One of these is the victim's best friend who continues to seek answers.
I've read a number of books that I didn't want to put down. I was disappointed to find that after reading 50 or so pages of Since She Went Away, I didn't relish continuing. I did, however.
I found the characters lacking dimension and their thought processes flawed. I wanted to like them, really, but I didn't.
I am not familiar with this author, David Bell's, previous works. I do see that they had positive reviews from readers so, I will read more of his books to be sure this wasn't a fluke.
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Kathleen W. (New Brighton,, MN)
Police Cars and News Vans and Coroners, Oh My!
I recently finished reading Since She Went Away by David Bell. I have read this author twice before. On the plus side for this novel, I did enjoy: the construct of how media can significantly affect crime procedure, the author's use of alternating chapters involving Jenna and Jared, chapters of 3-4 pages in length and the simple but effective storyline. It is another play on how our perceptions often are more important to us than existing reality. On the minus side, I felt that some of the happenings where not totally believable, that the characters were not totally as fleshed out as I would like and that I never did feel "the thrill of the chase" as I like to do when I am reading a mystery or thriller. For those reasons, I think that Since She Went Away would make a decent beach read. Certainly not one of David Bell's more engaging reads.
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Donna P. (Kingsport, TN)
Since She Went Away
It pains me to write this review as I enjoyed reading Cemetery Girl by David Bell and was looking forward to this book. With book club on hiatus for a few months, I have looked forward to reading lighter weight books and especially thrillers which I love. While I was engrossed in Mr. Bell's first book, I found it hard to keep my attention on this book. The plot was convoluted and didn't seem plausible. For me, a thriller has to have a very plausible plot line. The characters were also one dimensional and frankly I didn't really like any of them. I would recommend trying to read some of Mr. Bell's earlier books. They are much better.
