Book Review | "Since She's Been Gone" by Sagit Schwartz

Since She's Been Gone | by Sagit Schwartz

To Be Published On February 6  2024

Publisher Crooked Lane Books 

A clinical psychologist is thrown into her dark past as she races to uncover the truth about her mother's death while struggling with her own mental health.

Can we ever truly know the people we love?

Losing her mother to a hit-and-run at age 15 threw Beatrice “Beans” Bennett’s life into turmoil. Bereft, she developed a life-threatening eating disorder, and went through a challenging recovery process which paved the way for her work as a clinical psychologist decades later. 

When a new patient arrives at her office and insists that Beans’s mother is still alive—and in danger—Beans is forced to revisit her past in order to uncover the truth. She learns the “patient” is a member of a notorious family that owns a drug company largely responsible for the national opioid epidemic, and that her mother was once tangled in their web. In a race against time—and her mother’s assailants—while once again facing the disorder she thought she’d put behind her, Beans discovers that, like herself, her mother had a devastating secret. 

My Thoughts

I'm going to warn you, it's been a long time since I've felt so many emotions reading a book. It's best to be prepared by keeping a box of tissues close to you at all times while reading this.  

"Since She's Been Gone" by Sagit Schwartz is a powerful, multilayered, emotionally driven, and suspenseful thriller with heavy topics such as eating disorders (ED), drug addiction, the death of parents, and miscarriage. Thank you, Sagit Schwartz, for the eARC for review considerations. All opinions expressed below are mine alone.

"Since She's Been Gone" is written in dual timelines, with the main character, Bean's, teenage years and her current adult life.

A quick note about books written in a dual timeline format: I usually find that I'm only interested in one of the timelines. It's a rarity for me to find a dual timeline story where both are equally interesting. If one of the timelines is utterly boring or used as filler, it will ultimately affect the rating I give.

With that being said, I'm pleased to tell you with sincerity that this is not the case with "Since She's Been Gone." Both timelines hooked my attention and were valuable to the overall story. Bean's current timeline was suspenseful, powerful, fast-paced, and the love that her mother had for her is a bond no one can break. That's right! Cue tissues, please!

Now let's move on to the second timeline: the teenage years. Bean's teenage years had a large impact on me and opened my eyes to the demons that patients with ED have to endure on a daily basis. It's heartbreaking, but the childhood experience with recovery was very educational and made me dedicated to her character. With Schwartz's background as a licensed psychotherapist and having experienced ED and the loss of her own mother, she was able to capture and share in her writing exactly what someone would experience while going through the same. In other words, the character development was phenomenal.

Let's not forget that this book is classified as a thriller, and it certainly delivers that thrill. It's intense, suspenseful, and it will blow your socks off.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to both thriller lovers and contemporary fiction lovers.  Especially if you are interested in learning more about eating disorders.  Just remember to have a box of tissues handy.

You can pre-order your own copy of "Since She's Been Gone" right here on Amazon.

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