She Treads Softly: The Day He Disappeared

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

The Day He Disappeared

The Day He Disappeared by Catherine Miller
10/3/24; 282 pages
Bookouture

The Day He Disappeared by Catherine Miller is a highly recommended family drama/love story for the right reader.

Kate meets Theo when she is rushing back from a bachelorette party to get to her brother's bedside at the hospital where she works as a nurse. Her brother, Matthew, has cystic fibrosis and her parents called her to let her know he has taken a turn for the worse and may not live much longer. When thee train is delayed by a tree on the track, Theo notices her distress and offers her a tissue. The two strike up a conversation and Theo offers to drive Kate to the hospital.

Later, a chance meeting between the two happens when Theo was bringing his Nan in and sees Kate. The two happily exchange numbers. Before he dies, Matthew meets Theo and asks him to make a promise. The two begin dating and Theo is there for Kate when Matthew dies. Their relationship is going well until Theo gets some bad news and ghosts Kate. She knows something isn't right, but first she has to get Theo to talk to her.

The Day He Disappeared is a light read. There is no complicated, twisty plot. It is not a thriller and much closer to a love story. The plot is predictable. This is not my usual fare at all as I prefer more action and complicated plots, but I will admit that The Day He Disappeared is a heartbreaking emotional novel that held my attention throughout.

If you enjoy love stories that move at a fast pace and have an emotional impact, then this would be fine choice for your next book. 3 stars for me personally, but 4 for readers who gravitate toward this genre and because I kept reading even after I realized it was not a thriller. Thanks to Bookouture for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.