I'm not much for mystery novels, but this one seems like it would make for a great mini-series. ( )

Deb Caletti's "He's Gone" is being touted by many as a low budget Gone Girl. After finishing this novel I can definitely see the similarities, however, I have to say that my reasons for finding this novel just an okay are definitely due to the main character, Dani and the way that her entire life and relationship with her husband were written.

The protagonist in this novel, Dani Keller, awakens to find her husband Ian gone. She mistakenly believes that perhaps he has run out to get them breakfast and coffee as way to make up for the events that occurred the night before. However, after realizing that Ian has still not returned for most of the day the unsettling feeling that perhaps Ian has left her or has something more sinister occurred.

Caletti then slowly (and I mean slowly) reveals the beginnings of Dani and Ian's relationship with one another. After reading through all of Dani's descriptions of her previous relationship, her relationship with Ian, and butterflies I was heartily sick of her character.

At first, I found myself sympathetic to Dani, but after a while all I saw when I was reading was that Dani was merely a victim and way too passive in all of her relationships. Ian though being touted as different than her previous relationship was merely a different side to the same man she was with prior to her starting up with him.

Due to Dani being the focus we don't get to get into other character's heads such as we did in Gone Girl and I think that maybe if we had been able to look at the relationship from Ian's side maybe we could have had some semblance of feeling about him being missing. Instead I halfway through the novel mumbling good riddance to myself.

I totally called the ending to the novel and did not feel any sort of surprise by it and wish that Caletti had ended it a different way so that in fact Dani was actually forced to be active in her own life for once instead of merely responding to things that happen to her.

Overall, I would just recommend readers pass on this novel and go and read Gone Girl.

Please note that I received this novel via the Amazon Vine Program. ( )

Dani and her husband live on one of the floating homes in Seattle (this is how I got hooked into even picking this book up). One night they go to a party at his office. When she wakes up in the morning, Dani's husband isn't there.

And while what happens to him is critical to the story. How Dani deals with his missing-ness that carries this book through. Sounds dry as toast and I'm not exactly sure why it wasn't. I was totally hooked. The last half of this book I consumed in a massive 2 day session. It was totally, wonderfully worth it. ( )

What would you do if your spouse disappeared without a trace? You wake up one Sunday morning and he is already gone, and you assume he will soon return with breakfast. As the day progresses, he does not appear, and your phone calls to him go unanswered. You were the last person to speak with him before he went missing, but your memory of the previous night is somewhat muddled due to consumption of alcohol and pills. The two of you went to a party, and you both drank too much. There was an argument, and you don't remember if your husband ever came to bed. Such is the set up for "He's Gone", author Deb Caletti's psychological portrait of a troubled marriage which takes a shocking, mysterious turn. Dani and Ian Keller first met when they were married to other people. A passionate affair between destroyed their two first marriages and has lasting, varied adverse effects on the lives of the members of both families. Dani's first husband, Mark, was abusive and controlling. Ian is a perfectionist with expensive tastes, and marriage to him is not what Dani expected. Her first marriage was an escape from her childhood, and the second marriage was an escape from the first, and neither relationship fully worked. Now, Ian is nowhere to be found, and as time passes, Dani looks more and more like a suspect. Throughout the whole story, Dani is analyzing herself and those around her, torturing herself in daylight and in her dreams. When Ian's whereabouts are finally revealed, the reader is once again reminded that the truth hits hardest when it hits close to home.

Book Copy Gratis Amazon Vine ( )

This was a really good read from start to finish. It's speculative, thought-provoking, emotional, and suspenseful all at the same time. It was one of those rare books where I really did not know how it was going to end. The whole story feels like it's something that could happen to someone you know. ( )