I bought You Were Gone from the Book Fair in Jan. And yes I’m only getting to it now! This was the first physical book I read after many eBooks. It was such a pleasure holding an actual book in the hand. I am not against e-books or audio books. But the pleasure of reading from a physical book cannot be found anywhere else!
David Raker is with his daughter for the Christmas holidays when he receives a call from the police. A woman with no ID or phone comes to the police station with Raker’s name on a piece of paper. She claims that she is his wife. Raker is stumped since he buried his wife 8 years back. But the woman looks exactly like his wife and knows all about their life. She says that Raker had a breakdown and does not remember her. What’s more! A well-respected doctor backs up her account leaving Raker to doubt himself about his sanity and memories.
Even though this is part of a series of David Raker books, it can definitely be read as a standalone. There’s just one line of events that made me feel as if I missed out on the previous books. But it’s not part of the major plot; instead acts as a prelude to the next book.
On reading the synopsis, it looks as if the book has a very commonly used plot. Someone dead coming back knowing all the details has been used by various authors over time. But I should say that only the synopsis looks so boring and common. The synopsis does not do justice to the book. In 3 short words, I loved it!
The writing is so simple and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The book just sucked me in and I couldn’t put it down. The character development, the plot, the writing, the mystery are all on point. The culprit behind came as a real surprise to me. After having read so many mysteries and thrillers, it is quite difficult to surprise me. And this book did just that.
Having said all that, there was one point in the book that I could not relate to. While Raker is going through this, he phones his wife’s best friend to reassure himself that he has not lost his senses. When you have someone like this who can testify about the events and your life, why wouldn’t you go with it? Raker decides not to pursue this and goes ahead with following the clues to prove himself. Even though this might sound like a major plot hole, everything else is perfect that the book redeems itself.
It was a great read and I would recommend it to all of you who love thrillers.
My Rating: 4.5⭐/5
