Good Half Gone

This psychological thriller offers a riveting journey into the depths of Iris Walsh's quest for truth following the mysterious disappearance of her twin, Piper. Set against the haunting backdrop of Shoal Island's asylum, the story masterfully blurs the lines between sanity and the unknown, reminiscent of classic thrillers. Fisher's knack for creating an immersive atmosphere shines through, drawing the reader into a complex web of suspense and intrigue. The story's twists, especially the final reveal, aim to astonish and add unexpected depth to the story. Despite minor pacing issues, the novel's compelling storyline and richly drawn characters stand out, leaving a lasting impression.

★ 4 Stars ★
I'm fascinated by mental institutions and remote islands. This combination creates an exceptional setting for a thrilling story. The plot revolves around Iris and Piper, twin sisters. During an outing with friends, Piper is abducted and never found. The story is told through dual timelines, which I love. Iris becomes fixated on uncovering the truth about her sister's disappearance. She is convinced that the answers lie within the eerie walls of the Shoal Island Hospital for the criminally insane. As an adult, she focuses her efforts on the remote island, defying her grandmother's wishes, and secures an internship there. She hopes to unravel the mystery, but we all know things rarely end well on remote islands!

I'm happy show more that some reviewers enjoyed the incredibly wild final twist! However, some reviewers found it too unbelievable and dramatic. But hold on. Isn't fiction supposed to be imaginative and untrue? I've come across similar comments in thriller reviews, and it makes me wonder if other genres, like fantasy, sci-fi, erotica, and romance, face the same criticism. The discussion about the final twist adds an interesting aspect to the thriller genre.

Opting for the audiobook version was a great choice for me, as Tara Sands did a fantastic job with the voices. While the story's pacing was a bit slow for my taste, the audiobook experience enhanced my enjoyment of the book.

Thank you to Harlequin Audio for providing this gifted audiobook through Libro.FM. All opinions are my own and left voluntarily. show less

Iris and her twin sister, Piper, were just fifteen years old when Iris witnessed Piper’s kidnapping. Piper was grabbed by three men who also took Iris’s phone, so she ran back into the movie theater where the manager let her use the phone there to summon help and confirmed for police that Iris had indeed arrived with a girl who looked exactly like her. The girls lived with their grandmother, Betty, because their mother, Virginia, was an addict, incapable of caring for them, who lost custody when a teacher requested a wellness check. Every year, on the anniversary of Piper’s abduction, Iris listens to the recording of the 911 call she placed from the lobby of the theater. From her perspective, the police were slow to respond, show more asking questions that seemed irrelevant. “They were stuck on the phone thing. They wanted to know why the men would take my phone.” The police insinuated that Piper voluntarily left with the three men, abandoning her sister at the theater. Officers patronized and placated Iris, who was “hysterical” and already riddled with shame because “I’d lost my sister. Gran told me to take care of her, and now she was gone,” she recalls. Piper had become “boy crazy” and expelled for engaging in inappropriate behavior with them on campus. Even though Piper claimed to have changed – and become religious -- Gran was emphatic: “Don’t let her out of your sight. I mean in. I’m not raising her babies.” Iris learns that Piper’s kidnappers were supposed to grab both of them and is further engulfed in survivor's guilt.

Three years after Piper’s disappearance, Gran and Iris were able to move into a cozy Seattle home left to Gran by an aunt. It is there they are raising Callum, now nine years old. Thirteen months after Piper vanished, he was left, with the umbilical cord still attached, on Virginia’s doorstep in a box with a blanket and a note: “Iris, daughter of no one, please take care of my son. His name is Callum.” It was signed, “Twin,” and Iris instantly recognized the handwriting as Piper’s. Iris has never understood why, if Piper is still alive, she would leave her child and, more curiously, why she would leave his with their mother.

Iris and Piper were very different. Piper was popular, while Iris had only a few friends with whom she did not interact outside of school. They fought, deliberately antagonizing each other as only siblings can. But they loved each other and because of their experiences with their mother, who would disappear during drug-induced hazes, leaving the girls on their own for days at a time, “Piper wouldn’t disappear for a night and not tell us. She was a free spirit but a considerate one.”

Iris is now twenty-three years old. Virigina, an unabashed narcissist, is serving a five-year prison sentence for armed robbery and maintains she is “born again.” At sixty-seven, Gran has already survived an ischemic stroke and heart attack, and Iris worries about her health, always careful not to upset her. Iris, who has spent years balancing her studies, caring for Callum, and obsessively searching for Piper, has been accepted into an internship program at Shoal Island Hospital to which she was encouraged to apply by one of her professors. It is a private hospital for the mentally ill, teetering on a cliff and reachable only by ferry. She is convinced that the man responsible for Piper’s abduction resides there. And she is going to at last learn her sister’s fate.

Dr. Leo Grayson is a renowned celebrity psychotherapist who holds two doctorate degrees and has authored several bestselling books. But he has been out of the spotlight for a number of years, and now in his mid-forties, Internet searches only produce the same photos of him taken years ago. He is the only doctor on staff at Shoal Island, which opened in 1944 but has been renovated many times since. Originally an army outpost, it later served as a prison and a home for unwed mothers. Only forty patients are housed there, each one a violent offender who never stood trial because they were ruled incompetent to do so by the courts. Iris will not be dissuaded from breaking any rule necessary in order to access D Hall where five patients are merely housed in solitary confinement, with no effort made to rehabilitate them. She is warned never to venture there unless accompanied by the doctor. But Iris is anxious to do just that, and participate in their therapy sessions, because she has studied all five of them and is certain. “One of them killed my sister.” She does not expect to find herself attracted to the handsome and charming Dr. Grayson . . . and confiding in him. Could that prove to be a fatal mistake?

Through a somewhat unreliable first-person narrative from Iris, which alternates between the past and present, author Tarryn Fisher relates a story that is heartbreaking and full of shocking twists. Iris is a sympathetic character. A steadfast sister who, despite conflicts with her twin, remans devoted to finding out what happened to her and seeking justice not just for Piper, but also for Callum, the innocent little boy who has never known his mother. Iris immediately devoted herself to Callum, enrolling in a home school program so she could serve as his surrogate mother. She adores Gran, a scrappy, streetwise woman who has seen more than her share of disappointment during a life as an exotic dancer, prison guard, and, eventually, librarian. Iris lovingly describes her as “resourceful, tough, smart – and one hundred percent unapologetic. My hero.” She is all too aware of who and what Virginia is, and fiercely protective of her granddaughters and little Callum. The novel succeeds as an examination of the family dynamics, especially the sisters’ relationship. Fisher also credibly depicts the teenage struggles of Iris and Piper, who have vastly different personalities, but are both impacted by childhood traumas. It is also an indictment of police officers who are embroiled in their own scandals and far too quick to write Piper off as just a troubled girl who decided to run away.

Iris is certain that only Gran knows the real reason she applied for the internship, but as Fisher gradually reveals clues to Piper’s fate, it becomes clear that the missing girl naively got involved with people who had nefarious motives. And Iris has brazenly but perhaps foolishly embarked on a mission that has placed her in grave danger.

The mystery surrounding Piper’s kidnapping is an intriguing exploration of contemporary topics including drug abuse and human trafficking, in addition to teenage angst. The gothic atmosphere at Shoal Island effectively heightens the dramatic tension. It is an ominous, oppressive, and frightening setting populated by interesting characters who may or may not compound the dangers Iris faces. The story's pace accelerates to an action-packed climax, but that aspect of the story is less successful. The ending arrives abruptly and feels rushed, although it is replete with surprises that readers will never quite be able to guess. Fisher provides answers, resolving all aspects of the mindboggling story and bringing it to a satisfying conclusion with a distinctly cinematic quality, albeit through a circuitous route that is ridiculously far-fetched, even for a psychological thriller, a genre which regularly requires readers to suspend their disbelief to varying degrees.

Despite the ending, Good Half Gone is entertaining and absorbing, and readers will find themselves unable to resist cheering for Iris, Gran, and, of course, Callum.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book. show less

When Iris Walsh was 15, her sister, Piper, was kidnapped. However, because Piper and Iris's mother was an addict and they lived with her grandmother, the police believed that Piper was a runaway and dragged their feet on investigating Piper's disappearance. Now, 9 years later, Iris has never given up on wishing to bring Piper's killer to justice. Iris is mother to Cal, a sweet, smart young boy, and with her grandmother's help, she is raising him. But, after getting her master's degree, she takes a job at Shoal Hospital, where the man she believes is Piper's killer is institutionalized.
I enjoyed this book right up until the explosion and big reveal, and then I felt it was completely far-fetched.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/Graydon House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was one wild ride. With so many elements that I absolutely loved. That being said, it is not exactly a realistic thriller, but thriller it is.

What drew me to the book was the setting. I love reading about mental hospitals and asylums. I find the history of old state mental hospitals both fascinating and horrifying. So a thriller in this setting is always eye-catching for me.

Our main character Iris is incredibly well-developed and hard not to become invested in. Always perplexed and haunted by witnessing the kidnapping of her twin sister as teens, she sets out to try to solve the riddle of what has happened to her show more sister. Iris applies to work at Shoal Hospital (a very isolated mental institution for the criminally insane on an island) which requires staff to take a ferry to and from their homes on the mainland. She intends on spending her internship learning more about the man imprisoned there who could be her sister's killer.

This novel is a great example of using dual timelines (when her sister was kidnapped as a teen and now as an intern at the hospital) to tell the story and why she believes she will find answers at Shoal. Unfortunately many of the answers she is able to find open up more doors with more questions.

I cannot understand the number of twists that this book took. I never could have guessed the directions this book went. Now I can see how some readers may not love the ending as it was absolutely wild and probably (hopefully) impossible, but boy did it make for a good read.

I found this to be an incredibly fast-paced, quick read and have already recommended it to other thriller readers. show less

Good Half Gone by Tarryn Fisher is a thriller with two timelines following a sister seeking her twin who was abducted in front of her. It is highly recommended.

When they were both fifteen, twin sisters Iris and Piper Walsh went to the movies. As they were leaving a couple young men grabbed Piper, threw her into a car and sped off. Iris contacted the police, but the officers didn't believe her, assuming Piper was just another runaway. By the time they took her seriously, it was too late. The girls were being raised by their loving grandmother who rescued them from their neglectful mother. A decade later after college Iris accepts an internship at Shoal Island Hospital for the criminally insane. She believes her sister's killer is locked show more up there.

The plot unfolds through two timelines. In the first Iris is a teen looking for Piper, seeking clues about her abductors, and struggling to continue on without her twin. In the second Iris is now in her 20's with a son and she accepts the internship position at the Shoal Island Hospital with ulterior motives. Both plot threads are compelling and add important details to the narrative. They also move at an uneven pace with several distractions along the way.

Iris is a fully realized character. Readers will know what motivates her and drives her to proceed as she does in each time period. Piper, her twin, has a very different personality and that also comes through. Readers will appreciate her grandmother and the love she has for the girls. The depiction of the grief Iris and her grandmother share for the loss of Piper is well done, as is the obsession Iris has in her search for her twin.

The ending requires the reader to accept a colossal dose of disbelief, which I just couldn't do. I can often set aside disbelief and go with the flow, but in this case it was too implausible. I can't ruin the ending by listing all the reasons why, but let's just say it would be paragraphs and lists. However, it can't be denied that it is an entertaining, action-packed ending. Thanks to Graydon House for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
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Iris and her twin, Piper were out at the movies one evening and Piper was kidnapped. No one believes Iris. The cops just think she ran away. But Iris knows the truth and she will not rest until all the secrets are revealed.

Give me a novel with family secrets and a creepy asylum and you have a winner. This one has all of the above.

Iris is a character that my heart went out to. She has been raised by her grandmother because her mother is addicted to drugs. Then her sister is kidnapped. But that is not all, a baby has been dropped off at her house and it is Piper’s, her kidnapped sister!! So, where is Piper???

This story just kept twisting and revolving and I was there for all of it! I wanted more! Great characters, great setting and show more don’t forget all the secrets!

Need a good thriller…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review. show less