Gone Without a Trace by Mary Torjussen

In GONE WITHOUT A TRACE, young professional Hannah returns from work to find her live-in boyfriend, Matt, is gone. His belongings have disappeared from their house. Every call she ever made, every text she ever sent, every photo of him and any sign of him on social media have vanished. It’s as though their last four years together never happened. As she struggles to get through the next few days, with humiliation and recriminations whirring through her head, she knows she’ll do anything to get answers. Where has he gone? Why has he left?

Then the messages start—cryptic and creepy texts and videos—and Hannah realizes that someone is watching her every move. And there are signs that someone has been in her house.

As her search for Matt progresses, Hannah treads further into madness and obsession—and the only way out is to come to terms with the one shocking truth she just can’t accept. . .

For anyone who has ever asked “Was it something I did?” GONE WITHOUT A TRACE brings to chilling light the doubt, fear, and obsession that can lie dormant in our most intimate relationships.

From the imprint that published Fiona Barton’s instant New York Timesbestseller The Widow and Clare Mackintosh’s global phenomenon I Let You Go, comes Mary Torjussen’s GONE WITHOUT A TRACE (Berkley Trade Paperback Original; 978-0-399-58501-2; April 18, 2017; $16.00)—an electric, compulsive thriller about a boyfriend’s unexplained disappearance, and its corrosive effects on the woman he left behind.

Genre: Mystery / Thriller
My Rating: Three Stars

When Hannah returns home one day to find all traces of her boyfriend, Matt, have vanished, she is determined to figure out what has happened. While I was at times just as invested in figuring things out as Hannah was, at other times I felt frustrated with her for making what seemed to be foolish choices. Never having been in such a situation though, I can’t say how I would react, so I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt and stuck with it even when I wanted to shout at her. I’m glad I did – the resolution was just as unexpected as I had hoped it would be.

Once it gets going, the story moves along at a good pace with very little downtime, and I read it in just a couple of sittings. Hannah may not be my favorite protagonist in the recent spate of thrillers with a “twist”, but the story is an enjoyable one, and I will definitely be on the lookout for the next book from Mary Torjussen.

This guest review was contributed by The Book’s the Thing. Erika keeps all of her reviews categorized by genre and date. She is a voracious reader of fiction and loves to share her discoveries with others.