Review: How Quickly She Disappears by Raymond Fleischmann

How Quickly She Disappears

by Raymond Fleischmann

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 320

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  It’s 1941 in small-town Alaska and Elisabeth Pfautz is alone. She’s living far from home, struggling through an unhappy marriage, and she spends her days tutoring her precocious young daughter. Elisabeth’s twin sister disappeared without a trace twenty years earlier, and Elisabeth’s life has never recovered. Cryptic visions of her sister haunt her dreams, and Elisabeth’s crushing loneliness grows more intense by the day. But through it all, she clings to one belief: That her sister is still alive, and that they’ll be reunited one day.

And that day may be coming soon. Elisabeth’s world is upended when Alfred Seidel — an enigmatic German bush pilot — arrives in town and murders a local man in cold blood. Sitting in his cell in the wake of his crime, Alfred refuses to speak to anyone except for Elisabeth. He has something to tell her: He knows exactly what happened to her long-missing sister, but he’ll reveal this truth only if Elisabeth fulfills three requests.

Increasingly isolated from her neighbors and imprisoned by the bitter cold and her own obsession, Elisabeth lets herself slip deeper into Alfred’s web. A tenuous friendship forms between them, even as Elisabeth struggles to understand Alfred’s game and what he’s after.

But if it means she’ll get answers, she’s willing to play by his rules. She’s ready to sacrifice whatever it takes to be reunited with her sister, even if it means putting herself — and her family — in mortal danger.

Kritters Thoughts:  Elizabeth Pfautz lives in the wilderness of Alaska and has isolated herself for one big reason, when she was 11 years old her twin went missing and there were no clues to be found, but Elizabeth always felt as if she was still alive.  Now as an adult she still feels the pull to find her twin and despite many people warning her, she still looks for clues for her twin all the time.  

For me this was not a book I enjoyed and I was completely surprised throughout the reading that I just wasn't enjoying it. The story felt like it wasn't moving anywhere and kept having those hints of "I will tell you the secret, but not yet" and I just wasn't enjoying the tease.  

Throughout the book there were chapters sprinkled in that take the second person point of view and for me these chapters were hard to read and distracting from the main story.  I understand that they were there to help take the story back in time to when Jacqueline was alive, but changing the tense for me wasn't the right way to do it.  

Usually I try to find a reader for every book that I review, but this one could be the one that will be hard for me to recommend as the plot was just too slow for me.  


Rating: not such a good idea

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.