Minnie's Fiction Addiction

👀 First impressions:
Ghosted opens quietly but with an immediate sense of unease. Laurie’s husband disappears without drama or spectacle, leaving behind his phone and wallet, and the absence feels almost mundane at first. Laurie continues her routines, cleaning at the university, visiting her father who is slipping further into dementia, and drinking alone in her high rise flat. The delay in reporting her husband missing becomes the novel’s central question and the story unfolds less as a mystery and more as an excavation of grief, guilt, and emotional paralysis. Ashworth writes with a calm restraint that mirrors Laurie’s numb state, allowing the strangeness of the situation to seep in slowly.

✅ What I Liked:
The strength of this novel lies in its atmosphere and interiority. Laurie feels painfully real, flawed, passive, and deeply human. The sense of haunting is subtle and unsettling, blurring the line between psychological breakdown and something more uncanny. Ashworth handles themes of disappearance, addiction, and caring for an ailing parent with compassion and honesty. The prose is sharp but understated, trusting the reader to sit with discomfort rather than rushing toward answers.

❎ What I didn’t Like:
This is a slow and introspective book, and readers looking for a clear plot driven narrative or a traditional missing person mystery may find it frustrating. Some sections feel deliberately opaque, and the emotional ambiguity will not suit everyone. The lack of firm resolution is thematically appropriate but may feel unsatisfying if you prefer neat endings.

📚 Why You Should Read This Book:
If you enjoy literary fiction that explores grief, identity, and the ways people vanish emotionally as well as physically, Ghosted is a compelling read. It is particularly well suited to readers who appreciate psychological depth over plot twists and who are drawn to stories about ordinary lives quietly unraveling.

💭 Final Thoughts:
Ghosted is a thoughtful and unsettling novel that lingers long after finishing. It captures how loss can freeze a person in place and how avoidance can become a form of survival. This is not a loud book, but it is a powerful one, rewarding patience with emotional insight anda haunting sense of recognition.

🛍️ Where to buy
To buy your own copy click HERE and HERE

Final Rating ★★★★ – Quietly devastating and emotionally haunting