And Then You Were Gone by R.J. Jacobs

☆☆☆☆
Kindle Edition, 288 pages
Expected publication: March 13th 2019 by Crooked Lane Books
About the Book:
After years of learning how to manage her bipolar disorder, Emily Firestone finally has it under control. Even better, her life is coming together: she’s got a great job, her own place, and a boyfriend, Paolo, who adores her. So when Paolo suggests a weekend sailing trip, Emily agrees—wine, water, and the man she loves? What could be better? But when Emily wakes the morning after they set sail, the boat is still adrift…and Paolo is gone. A strong swimmer, there’s no way Paolo drowned, but Emily is at a loss for any other explanation. Where else could he have gone? And why? As the hours and days pass by, each moment marking Paolo’s disappearance, Emily’s hard-won stability begins to slip. But when Emily uncovers evidence suggesting Paolo was murdered, the investigation throws her mania into overdrive, even as she becomes a person of interest in her own personal tragedy. To clear her name, Emily must find the truth—but can she hold onto her own sanity in the process?

His absence made life feel like a house without a floor.
This a debut from R.J. Jacobs. And Then You Were Gone has all the elements I love in a book: mystery, adventure, and strong characters. I love the fact that Jacobs kept the cast of characters small enough that I could relate to them and care about them. Over the past couple of months I've read a couple of books that had such a large cast of characters that I have needed to sketch a biographical flow chart to keep them all straight. R.J. Jacobs is a master story-teller. The writing is admirable. The characters are fully developed. They are woven together with twists, turns and secrets with such skill that I couldn’t stop reading.

I found the writing exceptional, some parts were so beautiful. Such as this:
She was already in the stairwell when I found her. Bright-yellow raincoat, sandy-brown hair in a tangle. Her eyes and mouth in a delighted, if slightly impish, smile. Her freckled cheeks, reddened by the cold, were the color of some tender flower.

Thank you NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and R.J. Jacobs for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

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