Friday, May 12, 2017

Good As Gone by Amy Gentry ~ Review

Title: Good As Gone
Author: Amy Gentry
Genre: Adult, Suspense
Length: 288 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release Date: July 26, 2016
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Thirteen-year-old Julie Whitaker was kidnapped from her bedroom in the middle of the night, witnessed only by her younger sister. Her family was shattered, but managed to stick together, hoping against hope that Julie is still alive. And then one night: the doorbell rings. A young woman who appears to be Julie is finally, miraculously, home safe. The family is ecstatic—but Anna, Julie’s mother, has whispers of doubts.  She hates to face them. She cannot avoid them. When she is contacted by a former detective turned private eye, she begins a torturous search for the truth about the woman she desperately hopes is her daughter. 

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Good As Gone took me on quite the ride. While it took a few chapters to get used to the forward and backward movement of time - once I settled into the flow I realized it was a brilliant way to tell the story. The story jumps right off to a good start when Julie Whitaker goes missing - and then jumps straight forward to the present when she suddenly shows up on her parent's door years later.

As Julie is welcomed back into her home, millions of questions come to mind. Where has she been? How did she get back? And most importantly, is it really her? Julie's mom has doubts, but she's afraid to pursue them, the rest of the family seems so happy together. But maybe she has a reason to doubt. Small things that just don't seem quite right start adding up, and eventually, she can't ignore them any longer.

Things quickly deteriorate in Julie's family, and through it all, we are slowly walking backward through her life - up to the day a little girl was kidnapped and the events that led up to it. This was an incredible journey. I found myself second-guessing my opinions of Julie and her mother more than once; first convinced of one truth and then another. I was guessing up until the very end, and once I figured it all out, I was desperately hoping the truth would win out.



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