2.5⭐️
I’m not saying it’s a bad story but I feel like it was predictable.

Okay so first off really quick and easy read. Big font and spacing makes it fly by. However the plot in this story got so intense for me I literally got anxious and had to skip a little because I was so anxious. I would still recommend to someone who likes a good mystery. This definitely got me at the end.

This was such a twisty turny thriller and I honestly had no idea where it was going. Even at the end, I was left a little dumbfounded. Hunter wakes up in the hospital with no memory of what happened to him. He knows he was in a car accident on Homecoming night with his girlfriend Chloe, but now she's missing and he can't remember what happened.
As he transitions back to school, he has to deal with the aftermath of this night. People think that he hurt Chloe, people think he remembers more than he does. They are threatening him, they are threatening his family, but Hunter loved Chloe and would never hurt her. He is doing his own digging and has to get to the bottom of what happened that night.
I was honestly scared for Hunter. He is a 17 year old boy and is dealing with so much. I had so many suspects in my mind, so the author really did a great job with diverting the path. I really loved that the chapters were short, it made the read go by super quickly.
Thank you to David Bell, Sourcebooks and Netgalley for an early copy.

“She’s Gone” by David Bell - ⭐⭐

Summary:

Hunter, a 17 year old teenager, wakes up after being in a car crash and discovers that his girlfriend, Chloe, is missing. With no recollection of the night, Hunter begins to investigate. Nearly everyone suspects him at school, and at the vigil for Chloe, her mother points the blame towards Hunter, making his situation much worse. Desperate, Hunter does everything he can to figure out what happened and were they actually the perfect couple he once believed?

*Warning: Potential Spoilers*

Review:

I was disappointed in this book.

The premise is interesting, but everything falls flat. Hunter doesn’t have much of a personality and he constantly snaps at people, jumps to conclusions and makes stupid decisions; I understand, he is a teen, who wants to find his partner, but I’m sure a teen would not do some of the stuff Hunter does. The reader learns a lot about Chloe, how she is lovely, always kind, chatty, pretty, intelligent, but nothing is really said about Hunter. His actions show he is devoted to Chloe and his little sister, Olivia, but besides that he is a bit bland.

Olivia, to me, was the only interesting character. She was willing to fight for Hunter, and basically stand up for herself, and her partner Gabriela against anyone. She was friends with Chloe, and I feel the story should have followed her. Hunter’s friends are introduced but don’t play much of a role further on and a childhood friend, Daniel, comes into the story and is out of it quite quickly.

There are instances of comments regarding racial discrimination, but they are just comments and felt out of place, as they were never brought back up. All the adults in the book, besides Hunter’s Dad, were weird; for example, there is an inappropriate relationship between Hunter and his teacher, Mr. Hartman, as they are more like friends than a student and a teacher, which makes their interactions uncomfortable.

The whole plot and reasoning behind what happened to Chloe falls apart fast when you consider the rest of the story, which makes reading the story a bit of a waste.

Spoiler

The reader finds out that Mr. Hartman was harassing Chloe, and trying to get more from her than what she was wanting, claiming it was an “... intellectual connection…” (p.g 321). The whole catalyst to Hunter and Chloe leaving the homecoming that night was because she told him about Mr. Hartman and they decided to leave together, but although he chased after them, he wasn’t the one who caused the crash; it was Chloe’s Dad, Scott. He found out about the harassment, and went to confront Mr. Hartman, but confused the car the pair were in for Mr. Hartman’s; this is dumb for several reasons.

Scott recognised Chloe in the passenger seat but didn’t recognise Hunter, or even his own car. Earlier in the book, the reader sees Scott and Hunter back at the crash site, and Hunter comments how he didn’t recognise Scott’s car, which Scott replies it’s a rented car due to the other one being wrecked when Hunter was driving that night. So, Scott didn’t recognise Hunter or his own car before accidentally crashing into the car due to a rage.

Also, Hunter suggests the police wouldn’t have checked the garage, because Chloe never went in there. This was a little silly to me, but that turns out to be the case because sadly Chloe is there, in a freezer. The police would have done a thorough search of the whole property, not just where Chloe usually is, so again, this plot point is ridiculous.

My edition of the book had a few editing mistakes, and due to some themes presented in the story, I feel a trigger warning should have been done.

A little nitpick here, but the tagline,“The perfect couple is the perfect lie" , is actually false entirely, as Chloe and Hunter were a sweet couple.