Review: Gone Without a Trace

Gone Without a Trace by Mary Torjussen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! I loved this book so much! I actually read this book in two days, which is extremely rare for me since I work fulltime and am supposed to be writing my dissertation. I couldn't stop, though! The story just captivated me and I could not wait to know what would happen next.

So, the story is about a woman named Hannah who is a successful, emerging accountant. One day she is at a conference for work and gets great news, they want to put her in line for a promotion! Hannah can't wait to get home to tell her live-in boyfriend Matt. She heartbreakingly stops for champagne to celebrate, only to get home and discover, Matt is gone.

But Matt isn't just gone...every trace of Matt is gone as well. Her house is set back to the way it looked before Matt ever moved in 4 years earlier. Her old tv is suddenly back in place. Her books are placed back where they were before his record collection was stored there. The photos of the two of them are all missing. His mugs are gone from the cabinets. Even the bed sheets are changed back to the old ones!

Hannah is upset and confused. She goes to call Matt only to discover he isn't in her contact lists. As Hannah begins to spiral, checking for any trace of Matt--emails, text messages, facebook messages--she realizes everything is gone. Hannah can't accept this, she doesn't understand how this could happen. She spends time thinking back--did she ever see a sign he was unhappy? Did he give any indication of this? How are all traces of him gone? Amidst her friends telling her she needs to move on, Hannah cannot let it go.

I'm going to stop my synopsis there, since I covered what you know from the back cover and the first chapter or so. But...holy smokes, the premise of this was wonderful! The lack of closure something like this would cause--it would drive almost anyone insane. Because you're left wondering along with Hannah... WHY?!?!?!?!?! And also, how?

The ending is wonderful with multiple twists and turns. A few things I sort of suspected, and others completely blew my mind. The ending could have gone so many directions that I would have been happy with, but I think Mary chose the exact perfect one. I loved this book, and I recommend it to any suspense/thriller lovers!

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