He's Gone

By: Deb Caletti

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Finalist, Mystery, 2014

"What do you think happened to your husband, Mrs. Keller?"

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.

©2013 Deb Caletti (P)2013 Tantor

Every Partner's Worst Nightmare

Dani Keller wakes up to find her husband missing... Gone. As the story unravels, Dani goes through the history of their relationship from how it began with an affair to how it is no longer a story book romance. Her telling of their past corresponds to her emotions. She is frustrated and she tells of the small frustrations, she misses him and she tells about the good parts, she becomes afraid and she tells about the larger missing pieces of their relationship and eventually she comes to accept the reality. No matter how perfect their beginning, in the end, the Keller's became just like everyone else with the same fears and fights. All relationships are basically the same when you look at them closely.

So engrossing if you over look the bad language!

If you could sum up He's Gone in three words, what would they be?

I have never read a book quite like this before. In a mostly good way. Especially if you are interested in butterflies.

What other book might you compare He's Gone to and why?

After All These Years by Susan Isaacs. You think the main Character might have done it and they set out to prove they didn't. Although He's Gone has a moral of the story ending and After All These Years didn't.

Have you listened to any of Cassandra Campbell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, and she is wonderful. I would listen to her again if there is no bad language.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I kept trying to guess who done it and all of the particulars and I was totally wrong and that hardly ever happens. Surprising conclusion.

Any additional comments?

Although This book was hard to put down the bad language took away from it. There are so many words in the English language to describe subjects and situations why don't writers use those instead? I would have given it 5 stars otherwise!

Enjoyed reading this book

I was a bit dubious about purchasing this book since it sounded like the story line was going to be similar to "Gone Girl". I didn't like "Gone Girl" because of all the nutsy behaviour between the husband and wife and I had a difficult time finishing that book.

However, a friend had read "He's Gone" and recommended it highly, so I took the chance. Glad I did. A fast read and entertaining. Wonderful narration as well.

Better in Print?

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Not sure. I think it would depend on the friend. Fair and full disclosure, this is not a mystery. It's kind of a character study with a "mystery," but really more of a crisis or a tragedy, as its premise. It moves slowly. If I thought a friend would like that kind of book, I would recommend. I would not recommend to mystery or psychological thriller aficionados, because that's just not what this book is, or was ever meant to be.

What did you like best about this story?

There is some beautiful writing in this book. In passages, some of this book makes spot-on observations and has some beautiful descriptive passages of Seattle, where it takes place. Great little details many readers will greet with a little spark of recognition. The problem though, is that all these beautiful passages don't really come together in a satisfying way. Some readers won't like the characters. I myself didn't like them very much. Dani Keller is the kind of woman a lot of women may have trouble tolerating, and if you don't like her, you're in for it, because it's all Dani, all the time. (The story is told in first person narrative from her POV, and she spends a considerable amount of time inside her own head.) Some readers, alternatively, will find her sympathetic. Be warned though, Dani and Ian, the couple, met while each married to others and had an adulterous affair before they married each other. If that's going to bother you, it's going to bother you a lot, because a lot of page time is spent examining it and re-living it and all its unhappy but completely foreseeable consequences. That fact doesn't automatically make them unsympathetic to me, but for some it might. I do think the author intends for them to be more likeable than ultimately they each turned out to be, to me.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Cassandra Campbell?

I don't know. I can't think of anyone specific, but the narration irritated me. The way Ms. Campbell narrated in my opinion made Dani sound even more self-delusional and self-pitying than she would appear in print. A more lively narration, not so morose sounding, might have helped me like her more. And if I had read in print, I might have been able to edit some of that out as I read. Her male voices also kind of bothered me. A little one-note. A wonderful female narrator, like Davina Porter, for example, does a male voice and though she is clearly female, voicing a man doesn't pull you out of the story and make you remember that. Ms. Campbell sounds awkwardly like a woman trying too hard to deepen her voice and pretend to be a man.

Do you think He's Gone needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. The book was pretty self-indulgent as it was. More would be fairly excruciating.

Any additional comments?

Reading back over the review, I think it appears as though I didn't like the story. I did, though. I didn't LOVE it, but I liked it. I do think it would be better in print, because there were a fair number of times I thought, "I wish I could just skim this part..."

Best Audible Book I've "Read"!

I've listened to hundreds of audiobooks over the years, and I've enjoyed most of them--probably because I read reviews carefully, and I have a pretty clear idea of what I'm going to like. I was torn about purchasing He's Gone for a couple of reasons, including Caletti's reputation as an author of novels primarily aimed at a young adult audience and Pegeen's foregoing "chick lit" and "soap opera" comments.

Ironically, what clinched it for me was Pegeen's impassioned call for less "self-introspection." Character-driven books are the ones I most enjoy, and I consider self-reflection a positive rather than a negative. In the case of He's Gone, I couldn't disagree more regarding the chick lit and soap opera judgments; Caletti is a superb observer of human nature and behavior, and on nearly every page I encountered something that resonated for me in my own life. I am hugely impressed at how Caletti was able to capture universal (and even commonplace) thoughts and emotions in original ways. I love this book so much that I ordered a hard copy from Amazon so that I can go back and highlight particular passages for re-reading and journaling later. "Chacun à son goȗt," as the French say.

Cassandra Campbell understands Dani Keller absolutely, and her narration (which is always good) is spot on.

Could not stop listening

Loved it from start to finish. I could've listened to it in one sitting. This book gives a unrelenting no holes barred look at first marriages, second marriages, affairs & blended families. I been married more than once & I have to say I was all over this book, like she was talking directly to me.

When I was single I wanted to be in a relationship but when I was in a relationship I wanted to be single. The flurry of "feelings" is a killer. If "feelings" are the main basis for being in a relationship GET OUT! I'm hard pressed to want to be in another relationship now that the hard truth has truly woken me up.

He's Gone

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I would go to bed late and wake up early just to finish reading. I had to know what happened!

Brutally honest in a gentle way

Sometimes the over analysing disrtracted me but the characters development is amazing. It's a modern commentary on contemporary relationships of ordinary people yet fascinating

Utterly predictable

Deb Calletti is a strong writer however in the end I grew tired of Dani's internal ramblings and just didn't care what the outcome would be.

Too much whining

I had a hard time with this book.
Actually I really didn't like the book I would have returned it but felt guilty because I recently returned another book.
Dani spends too much time in her head and she forces the rest of us to listen to her thoughts.
Dani had an affair with Ian, while both were married to other people.
Six years into Dani and Ian's marriage after coming home from a party, Ian disappears. Dani wakes up to no Ian in bed she thinks nothing of it all though he is missing all day. This goes on for over a week Dani is the obvious suspect. She is slowly falling apart and refuses to consult an attorney even as she is accused by Ian's daughter of being involved in their father's disappearance. Now the police are questioning her closer and requesting both her and Ian's computers. This woman is seriously in lala land.
The ending is long in coming and quite different from what we're lead to believe. That ending did make the book worth the $5 dollars.