He’s Gone

by Deb Caletti

published by Bantam Books

2013

The Sunday morning starts like any other, aside from the slight hangover. Dani Keller wakes up on her Seattle houseboat, a headache building behind her eyes from the wine she drank at a party the night before. But on this particular Sunday morning, she’s surprised to see that her husband, Ian, is not home. As the hours pass, Dani fills her day with small things. But still, Ian does not return. Irritation shifts to worry, worry slides almost imperceptibly into panic. And then, like a relentless blackness, the terrible realization hits Dani: He’s gone.

As the police work methodically through all the logical explanations—he’s hurt, he’s run off, he’s been killed—Dani searches frantically for a clue as to whether Ian is in fact dead or alive. And, slowly, she unpacks their relationship, holding each moment up to the light: from its intense, adulterous beginning, to the grandeur of their new love, to the difficulties of forever. She examines all the sins she can—and cannot—remember. As the days pass, Dani will plumb the depths of her conscience, turning over and revealing the darkest of her secrets in order to discover the hard truth—about herself, her husband, and their lives together.

(from Goodreads)

My Review

I enjoyed this book.  It was interesting and well written.  Beyond that, it neither wowed me or bothered me, except left me feeling a little sad.  The premise of the book is simple at first- wife wakes up Sunday morning, bit of a headache after too much wine the night before.  Where is hubby?  She assumed getting coffee and bagels-great.  She reads, makes a cup of coffee, and waits.  Walks the dog and waits.  Figure maybe he ran errands.  Maybe he was working.   Hours later, when he still hasn’t gotten home, she gets worried and starts making calls.  Where is he?  I thought the author moved the story long nicely and kept it interesting enough, though there really wasn’t much action.  As the days go by, we are given a glimpse into the marriage of Dani and Ian, and we realize slowly how unhappy it was.  Not until you are almost done with the book do you realize you aren’t reading a mystery, but rather a story about marriage.  This book actually reminded me a little of Gone Girl.  Give it a try!

Rating 3.5 out of 5

“There was no question that it was a necessary divorce, but that didn’t make it less painful. You don’t think it will hurt, leaving a marriage like that, do you? But it’s the same misguided thinking that makes people ask, after your mother dies, how old she was. If she was ninety, the bereavement isn’t supposed to be as crushing. But of course it is. Of course. There’s no equation for loss.”
― Deb Caletti, He’s Gone

About the Author

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• He’s Gone by Deb Caletti (nochargebookbunch.com)