Book Review: The Disappearance of Sloane Sullivan

Author: Gia Cribbs

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Genre: YA thriller

Pages: 395

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis:

“No one wants me to tell you about the disappearance of Sloane Sullivan.

Not the lawyers or the cops. Not her friends or family. Not even the boy who loved her more than anyone. And most certainly not the United States Marshals Service. You know, the people who run the witness protection program or, as it’s officially called, the Witness Security Program? Yeah, the WITSEC folks definitely don’t want me talking to you.

But I don’t care. I have to tell someone.

If I don’t, you’ll never know how completely wrong things can go. How a single decision can change everything. How, when it really comes down to it, you can’t trust anyone. Not even yourself. You have to understand, so it won’t happen to you next. Because you never know when the person sitting next to you isn’t who they claim to be…and because there are worse things than disappearing.”

The Disappearance of Sloane Sullivan has easily become one of my favorite books of 2018. It was a slow building thriller that threw a million twists into the plot that completely blew my mind! All of the characters in this story are interesting, especially Sloane Sullivan who was as amazing as she was manipulative.

The beginning of this story read close to a contemporary. There’s high school drama, school dances, and an adorable romance. But all along it was all just a slow build from the beginning that turned this book into the amazing thriller it is. It’s so easy to be sucked into the fun high school dynamics that I almost forgot what I was reading was marketed as a thriller. Don’t get me wrong… I LIVE for high school drama and romance in books but this book shaped the story in such an unexpected way… which was one of the reasons it was so fantastic. I loved how the author shifted the story in so many ways and really manipulated my emotions. As I was reading it I wasn’t exactly happy about all the screaming and crying I was doing BUT looking back on it I can appreciate that “good book plot twist” type of pain I had been feeling.

The author’s writing is beautiful and the way she designed this story was masterful. It was so deep, twisted, and gripping. I could hardly put the book down because I was so addicted to finding out what was going to happen next. The way she fed in information slowly through flashbacks developed the story a lot and also made me so anxious! I was so worried the entire book because things just keep getting darker and darker as I flipped the pages. I sacrificed wayyy too many hours of sleep for this book, but there’s no going back now.

The characters in this book, particularly Sloane, were AMAZING. Sloane was cunning, mysterious, and lying to herself just as much as she was to others. After switching names 19 times it was interesting to see her trying to figure out who she wanted to be during a time where it’s crucial to do that. Reading from her mind was fun, she was intelligent and could lie circles around people.

The side characters weren’t what I expected either, but I wish I could have gotten more on them! I loved how everything in this book got darker… even in the characters. Seeing their true colors was interested and I would love to read more about what happens to some or them after the events at the end of the book. I’m not going to go into the details of that ending because I’m not here to spoil anyone, BUT the build up to getting their was intense. Everything in this story just got deeper, darker, and more painful as it went and it read beautifully!

I had a great (and very sleepless) time reading this book. I’m so glad I finally picked it up and I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone! There are a ton of amazing elements and things that I didn’t get into in this review so you could go enjoy those aspects for yourself… but trust me when I say this book is so gripping that it’ll leave a mark on you long after you have finished.