The Disappearance of Emily Downs

“I don't have many people left to love me and I can't lose you too.”

A friend of mine listened to this audiobook sometime last year and recommended it to me. I finally made time to read it before it left Audible Plus and I'm glad that I did!

The Disappearance of Emily Downs is a well-written story that has just enough spooks to keep it nail-biting while never going overboard for its middle-grade audience. Joey was a fun main character and I especially enjoyed her and Ray's enemies-to-friends trope. I feel like it's relatable for many middle-graders to realize that often their “enemies” are misunderstood and have the possibility of becoming friends, so I love seeing that in literature.

I do wish the ending had more resolution than it currently does. It took so long for us to finally get answers to what was happening and then suddenly it was over and I still had so many questions. I know this is the first book in a series, so of course I'm hooked for the rest of the series, but I do wish that there had been just a bit more resolution at the end of this one.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and recommend it to older middle grade readers who might be interested in a more spooky and action-packed read.

~No cursing nor sexual content of any kind. Action and gore is more present than most middle grade books with some mentions of d3ad bodies and bl00d in some places, however it isn't gruesome. I would exercise caution to young readers based on their maturity level.