The Night She Disappeared

The Night She Disappeared is a 2021 mystery novel by New York Times best-selling author Lisa Jewell. A whodunnit packed with multiple red herrings and a large cast of characters, The Night She Disappeared offers a contemporary look at domestic abuse, teen moms, dangerous friendships, and the tantalizing call of wealth.

Jewell has published 20 books; her 2007 novel, 31 Dream Street, won the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance. Critics have called her work “acutely observed” and have hailed her as a writer who “crafts a complex and thoroughly engaging thriller” (@suzylew_bookreview. “The Night She Disappeared: Review. Instagram. 11 Sep. 2021). Jewell’s novels have sold over 5 million copies and have been translated into 28 languages. Other works by Jewell include The Girls in the Garden, The Family Remains, and None of This Is True.

Plot Summary

This novel has a complex structure, featuring three timeframes and three narrators: Kim Knox, a divorced mother of two; her daughter Tallulah Murray; and Sophie Beck, the girlfriend of a school headmaster.

The first timeframe is 2017, one year since the disappearance of Tallulah and her boyfriend Zach. Tallulah’s mother Kim now cares for Zach and Tallulah’s son Noah; she grieves the loss of her daughter, whose disappearance was never solved.

The second timeframe is 2018. Sophie, a writer of mysteries who is suffering from writer’s block, and her boyfriend, school headmaster Shaun, move to the same town where Sophie and Zach disappeared. Sophie gets pulled into the mystery of Tallulah and Zach’s disappearance, uncovering clues that she hands off to Kim.

The third timeframe is 2016. Tallulah narrates the events leading up to her disappearance. She befriends the beguiling Scarlett Jacques, the daughter of a rich banker. Tallulah has been feeling smothered by her controlling boyfriend Zach, who makes sure that Tallulah’s mother Kim never sees his dark side, so Kim thinks of him as a good guy. Eventually, Tallulah and Scarlett begin a clandestine affair. Scarlett wants Tallulah to end things with Zach.

Scarlett and her friends take Zach and Tallulah to Scarlett’s mansion for a pool party. There, Zach threatens to take Noah away if Tallulah leaves him. Hearing this, Scarlett picks up a heavy ornament and hits Zach over the head, killing him.

Scarlett’s mother Joss plans a way to get rid of the body, by dumping it in a hidden tunnel beneath the mansion. Joss then makes hot chocolate, lacing Tallulah’s drink with sleeping medication. Scarlett convinces her mother to let Tallulah live, so Scarlett, Joss, and Scarlett’s brother flee to their yacht with a drugged Tallulah. They take to the open seas.

As Sophie uncovers clues about what happened to Tallulah and Zach, primarily through social media, she navigates the anxiety of having moved from London to the countryside with a boyfriend who is ten years older. Sophie is also worried about the impending visit of her boyfriend’s young twins.

With Sophie’s intervention, the police uncover witnesses who can help solve the crime. In a tense standoff, police locate the yacht and free Tallulah just in time—Scarlett and her mother are about to kill her. Tallulah returns home to her grateful mother Kim and her son Noah.

Sophie realizes that she and Shaun made a mistake leaving London: Shaun hates his job and Sophie finds her creativity stifled by the countryside. Sophie decides that she will move back to London either with Shaun or alone.