3.5 stars ( )

Grayson is on a case as a PI. She is on the search for Isabel.... But does Isabel want to be found?
This is a true cat and mouse game.
At first I was a little worried.... Started out a little slow. By the 3rd chapter I was really getting into the book.
Graysons search becomes very dangerous.
I loved the twists and turns the book had. It's was very easy to read.
My first time reading anything from this author and I'll be glad when she writes another novel.

Thank you NetGalley for this Complimentary read! ( )

And Now She's Gone has a plot that's more convoluted than San Francisco's Lombard Street, and I enjoyed every twist and turn. Grayson Sykes' voice drew me right into the story, and we're told from the beginning that she's a strong woman who keeps a lot bottled inside. When looking at a photo of the missing Isabel Lincoln, Grayson sees the type of woman that most men want to marry: a Mary Ann. Her boss tells her, "You're not a Mary Ann. You're the Skipper. No nonsense. Reliable. Resourceful." Not words to warm the cockles of most women's hearts, but true enough, especially when describing a woman who "kept her jaw clamped like a crocodile on a wildebeest's leg."

The further the reader gets, the wondering sets in. Why does Grayson seem to be identifying so much with the woman she's trying to find? Then the gradual unfolding of Grayson's backstory begins, and as it's woven in with Isabel's story, the cat-and-mouse game comes into its own. And Now She's Gone is a spellbinding look into how violence and fear can lead a person to abandon everything in order to survive.

Note: If you'd like to read more books by Rachel Howzell Hall, I recommend her four-book series featuring Elouise "Lou" Norton, a Black homicide detective in Los Angeles. The first book is Land of Shadows. ( )

I wanted to like this more. There was a lot of good description, a strong voice, and a compelling protagonist. But the mystery part was very weak -- the protagonist came across as incompetent at times. I ended up listening to it as if it weren't a crime novel and enjoyed it more that way, ( )

almost put this book down, but I found the plot intriguing and stuck with it.

Initially, I didn’t like it at all, a rarity for me. I thought the writing style was very elementary and it was disjointed, with poor dialog and an overuse of metaphors many of which just didn’t work.
As I read on, though, I either got used to it or the writing improved.

There did seem to be a few holes in the story, but I finished the book with a better attitude about it than I had for the first half of it. The action moved along quickly resulting in a fast read. I think it deserves more than 3 stars but I can’t quite give it 4. ( )