Book Review: "When You Disappeared" by John Marrs

John Marrs is one of those writers I have become a huge fan of. He has written great books like The Good Samaritan and You Killed Me First. Reading When You Disappeared wasn't exactly a difficult decision. After reading the twisted modern gothic of Keep it in the Family, there was something in me that had to read more by this author and so - here we are. John Marrs' writing style is brilliant, he is able to create so many different and distinct voices whilst also keeping the reader on the edge of their seat. Nothing feels like it is shoehorned in, instead it feels more like you have to go back through the book and recover what you missed. Let's now take a look at When You Disappeared. A book very much part of that twisted and gothic routine we are used to by now...

Catherine is married to Simon and one day he goes out for his regular run. He normally takes his work clothes with him and goes straight on to the office. But today, Catherine gets a phone call from Simon's workmate in an angry tone that Simon hasn't come into work yet. Catherine, trying to keep everything together, states that Simon must have lost track of time. She starts to look around the house. She finds her husband's car, his keys, his stuff. Everything seems normal. But he never turns up to work and then, he never comes home. The later it gets, the more Catherine panics. Finally, she gets the police involved. Simon has either gone missing or met an unfortunate end and his wife is having a horrific breakdown. John Marrs doesn't just start the story, he jumps across timelines. Why? Well, because 25 years' later - Simon comes home. Alive. Well. Well, not entirely...

John Marrs' writing between timelines takes us on a journey in which we have Catherine second guessing everything that has ever happened in her life. It's not really about the disappearance at all but something else entirely. It's about making someone feel the wounds that you're feeling - but sometimes revenge goes a little far and things need to be erased long after the mistake has been made. In typical John Marrs fashion, there are conveniently details left out from the entire story that we only get the complete jigsaw to when we see the same story but from someone else's point of view. This is one thing I love about his writing. It's not about continuing the story from someone else, somewhere else. It's about seeing the same event, in the exact same time, from a completely different perspective because it changes the story. It changes your opinion of what happened. And what happened? A child died. But there's so much more than that. Once the details are slowly and surely revealed, your opinion of who was responsible and what actually happened will change because it is far more complex than you realise.

I was enthralled with this book from start to finish because not only are we taken 25 and 26 years into the past, but we are taken into the future, we are taken into the present of the disappearance and where Simon was, what he was doing - but the why is shrouded slightly, as if we are not allowed truly into his mind. The confrontation upon returning, the way in which we have an open grave to look at, the deaths of people along the way - you get completely caught up in these people's lives and who they are. There's something about revenge and making someone else feel your pain that makes you overreact. The question is not whether it is justified but whether you could have done anything differently if you were thinking straight.

Do I feel sorry for Simon? No. Do I feel sorry for Catherine? Also no. This is a story that is more complicated than finding pity for someone else. It's about how morally grey seemingly normal people can be until the very end. I also appreciated that there was a bonus chapter in the edition I was reading because if it ended where it did, I would be fuming.

Join in on my writing challenge!

Winners announced on Halloween...