Book Review: One Night Gone by Tara Laskowski


One Night Gone by Tara Laskowski
My rating: 4 stars (🌟🌟🌟🌟)
Publisher: Graydon House Books (October 2019)

What I thought was going to be a mystery ensconced in a beach community turned into much more and I quite liked it. I'm going to keep this spoiler-free but will say that the dual timeline served the story well.



In 1986, Maureen is a young woman working at the carnival in Opal Beach. One night, she goes missing. In the present day, Allison is at a low point having lost her job, her home & being recently divorced. At least she has her sister and her long-lived plant, Linus. Allison accepts an off-season, house-sitting job in Opal Beach and before too long she's following the trail of long lost Maureen. This is a deep dive down the rabbit hole and I was pleased with the surprising turns and even those that weren't so surprising. The pace was well done and kept me wanting to know what was next. I very much enjoyed the ending and where Allison wound up. The program was pitch perfect and made me wish it were real because I'm sure every news market in the country has cases that can be highlighted and perhaps resolved. It wasn't what I was expecting in the book so it came as a hopeful ending note.

My favourite random quote of the book: "When Dolores's team- the Manech County Vixens- was announced, the cheers were deafening, echoing off the gymnasium walls. Derby names were a big thing- all the women had them stencilled on the back of their jerseys. Dolores was called Spine Cracker. "She has her master's in library science. Get it?" Tammy said."

Many thanks to the publisher for an Advanced Reader's Copy.


Summary:  One sultry summer, Maureen Haddaway arrives in the wealthy town of Opal Beach to start her life anew—to achieve her destiny. There, she finds herself lured by the promise of friendship, love, starry skies, and wild parties. But Maureen’s new life just might be too good to be true, and before the summer is up, she vanishes.
Decades later, when Allison Simpson is offered the opportunity to house-sit in Opal Beach during the off-season, it seems like the perfect chance to begin fresh after a messy divorce. But when she becomes drawn into the mysterious disappearance of a girl thirty years before, Allison realizes the gorgeous homes of Opal Beach hide dark secrets. And the truth of that long-ago summer is not even the most shocking part of all...
Decades later, when Allison Simpson is offered the opportunity to house-sit in Opal Beach during the off-season, it seems like the perfect chance to begin fresh after a messy divorce. But when she becomes drawn into the mysterious disappearance of a girl thirty years before, Allison realizes the gorgeous homes of Opal Beach hide dark secrets. And the truth of that long-ago summer is not even the most shocking part of all...




No comments