This book is brilliantly bizarre. Then She Was Gone, by Lisa Jewell, had presented itself as something different to me, but although it's not my favorite genre, this book kept me hooked and waiting for the next twist. Each twist was riveting and unique, and my jaw dropped several times. The plot unraveled beautifully at the end, in a way that made you think, "That makes sense." I felt that the book explored the antagonist beautifully, if not too in detail. Although there is an antagonist, nobody in this story is truly evil, just broken. I adore the work put into developing each character, even the less relevant characters. The worldbuilding is thorough and gives you a good vision of the setting. The book changes the setting of time many times, but each time the book immediately helps you understand what part of the timeline you are in.
A criticism of the plot is that the aspect of mystery in this book is a side character to the aspect of family drama in this book, with the mystery easily solvable by any reader based on the hints dropped in the story. The reader is ahead of the characters almost all the time. Although the family drama aspect is stronger than the mystery aspect, the family drama is done thoroughly, allowing the reader to sympathize with the characters. The explanation of the antagonist's actions is done in a slightly uncomfortable way, with mentions of mature topics throughout the book, so I would recommend this book to anybody over the age of 16.