Ghosted
By: Rosie Walsh
Published Year: 2018
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Pages: 337
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Seven perfect days. Then he disappeared. A love story with a secret at its heart.
When Sarah meets Eddie, they connect instantly and fall in love. To Sarah, it seems as though her life has finally begun. And it's mutual: It's as though Eddie has been waiting for her, too. Sarah has never been so certain of anything. So when Eddie leaves for a long-booked vacation and promises to call from the airport, she has no cause to doubt him. But he doesn't call.
Sarah's friends tell her to forget about him, but she can't. She knows something's happened--there must be an explanation.
Minutes, days, weeks go by as Sarah becomes increasingly worried. But then she discovers she's right. There is a reason for Eddie's disappearance, and it's the one thing they didn't share with each other: the truth.
First Impressions
This book has been getting a lot of buzz. I’ve seen the cover around and it caught my eye, but the summary and the comment on the cover by Liane Moriarty were really what solidified this book a place on my to-read list. I love Moriarty’s storytelling style, so I was hopeful that this would be similar.
What I thought
While I enjoyed this story, it was a bit too long for me. I think if it had ended about 100 pages earlier I would have liked it even more.
Sarah and Eddie have only known each other for seven days and yet they have fallen in love. When Eddie leaves for his vacation, he promise to call Sarah but he never does. Sarah knows the connection she and Eddie had was real, so she becomes convinced that something must have happened.
Sarah lives in California, but grew up in London. She moved to California when she was a teenager after a tragic event and comes back once a year for the anniversary of said event. This year when she heads back, she is in the midst of a divorce. She and her ex-husband run a charity together and still have to be cordial.
I enjoyed the way the story was written and set up. The chapters were mostly told from Sarah’s point of view and then there letters mixed in. In the final part of the book there were chapters told from Eddie’s perspective as well. For me, Sarah toed the line of insanity. I know that she is a little older and has lived a lot of life, but I was a bit taken aback by how quickly and strongly she fell in love with Eddie. I did appreciate that at times she acknowledged that she was acting a bit crazy which made it more tolerable.
I also enjoyed Sarah’s friends and their relationships. They balanced Sarah well and I think without them she would have been certifiable. I had a hard time getting a handle on Eddie through most of the book. I think that’s because you only meet him with flashbacks to the first seven days throughout the first half of the book and in those flashbacks his character is pretty minimal. It is more Sarah discussing what she felt about him during those memories.
Like I mentioned above, I found this story to go on a bit too long. There was a part at about 100 pages from the end where I thought to myself “this could end here and I’d be content”. But it felt as though the editor told Walsh, “We need a little more. Maybe add a twist or cliffhanger!” so she did. It’s no that the final 100 pages were bad or that I didn’t enjoy the, just that I didn’t find them necessary.
Overall, I found this to be an interesting and compelling read, but it just didn’t quite hit that level of special I was hoping for. Maybe it was because I was expecting the same level of magic I’ve felt while reading Moriarty’s books, but this one didn’t quite get there for me. It was a good story and the writing is solid, but I feel like it’s one that’s just going to end up fading into the background for me.