And Then You Were Gone

Emily Firestone, the narrator of Jacobs’s taut debut, lost her father at a young age and has struggled with bipolar disorder for years. Finally, her life is on track with a successful practice as a child psychologist in Nashville, her own mania under control, and a stable relationship with Paolo, a microbiologist studying infectious diseases. Then Paolo vanishes during a holiday they take together at a Tennessee lake, and Emily becomes unmoored. Convinced Paolo’s disappearance is foul play, Emily begins to investigate. The more evidence she finds, the more erratically she behaves. When one of Paolo’s lab colleagues confirms that he was engaged in suspicious activity, Emily dives deeper into the rabbit hole, eschewing sleep and her medication. As she gets closer to the truth and the bodies pile up, she becomes the police’s number one suspect. Jacobs, a psychologist himself, delivers a compulsively readable yet complex thriller, filled with red herrings, plenty of action, and an appealing but deeply flawed protagonist. This psychological thriller takes hold and won’t let go. Agent: Rachel Eckstrom Courage, Folio Literary Management. (Mar.)