Book Review: One Night Gone

ONE NIGHT GONE | Tara Laskowski
10.01.2019 | Graydon House
Rating: 4/5 stars

Maureen Haddaway is desperate for a fresh start. She comes to Opal Beach as a member of a travelling carnival. What she finds is a town where she thinks she could build a new life. A town she could call home. There is the opportunity for friendship, romance, and freedom from the turmoil she left behind. Everything is seemingly going perfect or is it? Maureen mysteriously vanishes from Opal Beach one night, never to be seen or heard from again.

Decades later, Allison Simpson is offered the opportunity to house-sit in Opal Beach during the off-season. She’s looking for a new beginning after a messy and public divorce. As she starts to make friends in town Allison learns about Maureen’s disappearance. Something sparks an interest inside her and Allison is immediately on the hunt to find out what happened. Is there something dark lurking behind the gorgeous oceanfront mansions in Opal Beach?

The world is one giant game after all. You just have to know how to play. What doors to unlock. What moves to make.

Tara Laskowski delivers an atmospheric, suspenseful mystery within the pages of ONE NIGHT GONE. The story is set between alternating timelines, one set in the winter and one nearing the end of summer decades earlier. Each story arc transports the reader directly into that version of Opal Beach thanks to Laskowski’s clever writing abilities. Maureen’s timeline, set in the mid-1980’s is filled with not only perfect summer beach vibes, but also an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. This timeline was absolutely intoxicating to read about, but it was Allison’s present day winter timeline that aided in the air of mystery and suspense to ONE NIGHT GONE.

Each timeline was told from a different voice, which allowed the reader to gain a first hand exposure to the events taking place. Maureen’s story was narrated by her, not someone who knew her, which meant the reader was along for the ride that led to Maureen’s disappearance. Mixed throughout Allison’s present day investigation into Maureen are various accounts from people who knew her. Their opinions on what happened that summer and where Maureen went. Was she simply a carnival girl looking to meet a wealthy prince charming? Did she have to vanish because she got in with a bad crowd?

She’d been a kid, a young girl with so much ahead of her. And in one night, had gone. Vanished into the summer. And no one cared.

As the alternating storylines from Maureen and Allison build closer to the truth, the reader is left feeling as if everyone in Opal Beach might have had something to do with the disappearance. Clearly everyone here is hiding something. Laskowski kept me guessing right up to the very end with several fun red herrings and twists that kept me on my toes. The story itself is extremely bingeable, but it is the ending that truly made me unable to put the book down.

If you’re looking for a suspenseful, atmospheric, and intriguing mystery I highly recommend adding ONE NIGHT GONE to your TBR!

This book is available to buy from: Amazon | Book Depository

Disclosure: A huge thank you to Harlequin Publicity Team for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Disclosure: What Jess Reads is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This in no way influences my opinion of the above book.