And Then She Vanished

Joseph Bridgeman, Book 1

By: Nick Jones

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

He only looked away for a second. 

Still haunted by the disappearance of his little sister, Amy, over 20 years ago, Joseph Bridgeman’s life has fallen apart. When a friend talks him into seeing hypnotherapist Alexia Finch to help with his insomnia, Joseph accidentally discovers he can time travel. His first trip only takes him back a few minutes, but his new-found ability gives him something he hasn’t felt for the longest time: hope. 

Joseph sets out to travel back to the night Amy went missing and save her. But after several failed attempts, he discovers the farther back he travels, the less time he gets to stay there. And the clock is ticking. 

With the help of Alexia, Joseph embarks on a desperate race against the past to save his sister. Can he master his new skill and solve the mystery of Amy’s disappearance before it’s too late? 

Previously released as The Unexpected Gift of Joseph Bridgeman, this updated version includes extra chapters, new plotlines, and even deeper character development. It makes way for an expanded vision of the Joseph Bridgeman Series, with the first four books released in 2021 and 2022. 

©2021 Nick Jones (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

British or American?

I’m sorry to be an outlier. I see that most reviewers love Ray Porter’s performance. That every character has a British accent, except Joe, protagonist, first threw me (wait; is he British or American?) then increasingly bugged me (what the hell? obviously taking place in Britain but for some reason Joe’s the only character without a British accent.
The reader’s tone of voice was almost unchangingly pissed off or just annoyed.

Again, I’m sorry to disagree. The story was good, not great but the performance just didn’t work for me.

Time Travel Done Right

Full disclosure, I received a free copy of this audiobook for my HONEST review. So here it is.

The Narrator. Ray Porter is an awesome Narrator. He is one of my favorites. He narrates another series I have listened to for years. The lead charecter's name in that is also Joe and he used the same voices for the Charecters in this book as in those. So sometimes I forgot that this isn't the next book in that series. But, that is on me. My only gripe about the narration in this is that since he doesn't read it in a British Accent, I kept forgetting that it was supposed to take place in the UK. But that is nitpicking. he Ultimately did a great job.

On to the story. I am a huge fan of Everything Time Travel. So this is right up my ally. There is a deffinate feel that reminds me of the movie The Butterfly Effect. Very similar style of Time Travel. The Charecter uses self hypnosis to travel and uses objects to help hone in on specific time frames.

You can feel Joe's pain and sense of loss. His mother is the last person he has left that has a connection to Amy and she has Dementia. That was written really well. it reminded me of exactly what it was like when my own grandmother had it. I would not wish it on anybody.
But Amy and Joe clearly had a great relationship tiil Amy's disappearance. I enjoyed that relationship zbecause I have two kids that are about the same age difference as Amy and Joe, and they have a similar kind of relationship with each other as Amy and Joe. So I kept smiling cause I can totally see my older son interacting with my younger son is similar ways.

After a hypnotherapy session, he discovers his ability to travel in time. I felt he accepted the fact that he could time travel a little easily. I would have expected him to be a little more freaked out. It did, however, keep the story moving without getting bogged down by details. But I feel it should have been slightly more unsettling.

Ultimately, he decides to try and hone his gift and use it to save Amy. They are well aware of the butterfly effect and try and account for it. Ultimately, they try to take into account a lot of little nuances while completely missing that fact that they are changing a huge, world shattering event in Joe's life and they never consider just how much Joe's own life would be changed.

I couldn't help but consider all those changes on my end and was actually happy when the author started adding things that showed that there would be unforseen changes and how they would begin to effect everything.

The author does a good job of accounting for changes. What happens, in my own opinion, would go a long way towards preventing an inevitable paradox.

Ultimately, And Then She Vanished is a satisfying read and I can't wait to listen to the next book in the series.

Laughable

I was totally enjoying this story until the very last few chapters. For whatever reason, at some point, the story became overly dramatic and laughable! And here I had listed for many many hours only to be left with that impression. Naturally I will not be listening to the next book.

Ray Porter, as always, was perfect as the narrator! That is with one small comment. It was weird that a non-Brit was doing the narrating. When he stated near the beginning that he drank tea because he was a Englishman, I was a bit taken back.

It's an okay book. Just a little silly near the end.

A Time Travel Gem

I must admit that time travel is my favorite genre. I know time travel is not real but I enjoy the fantasy escape I get from the stories, Sometimes I spend hours researching my next audio book, reading the reviews, and visiting author websites. "And Then She Vanished" checked all the boxes I look for in a time travel book. The character development, performance, and story were great, and this is apparently the first book of a series, which is a big plus for me. This is also the first time i have ever submitted a book review but going forward when I find a book and author that I want to read more of, I'm submitting a review. That's how it works!

Fantastic Time Travel Story

An Then She Vanished Started out a little slow but quickly picked up. Loved the character of Joe and the people with whom he met along the way. A little romance. Time travel forward and backward and a great ending! Strong first audiobook. Hope to hear more from this author.

Accent

I loved the book. Would definitely recommend. My only issue was that the main character is British without an accent but all the other British characters do have one. It was a very weird choice to make in my opinion.

Refreshingly different

Enjoyed the concept, the performance, and the whole story. Due to lack of graphic language & purient content some will not find this entertaining. If you just want to enjoy being entertained without being sullied, you will enjoy this.

Great book and wonderful narration..

Another time travel that turned out to be very good. I liked Joseph, Alexia, Mark, Vinny and Amy. It was such a tremendous story of Joseph trying to go back in time to save his 5 year old sister, who disappeared from a carnival over 20 years before, and Joseph's discovery that he can time travel and his desire to go back to 1997 to save Amy, and find out who took her.

No romance and no swearing to speak of.

As for the narration: Ray Porter did a fabulous job on all the voices.

Average

It's not BAD, just overall medicore. Feels like a first time author's unpolished initial effort. Very procedural, just tells you what happens. Also bizarre choice of narrator. An American playing a British character in a book set in Britain. All the characters have British accents EXCEPT the main character!? That was a distraction throughout the whole book.

A fantastic tale of second chances

Production of the audio and the narrator does a wonderful job. I think the only big curveball for me was the choice of voice for Vinny sounded almost exactly like Idris Elba and that is really not how I imagined him. Ha!

Time travel is my favorite.. and Nick does a great job with this one. 

I liked the slow reveal of rules and the logical progression of solving the childhood problem of Joe. It was a riveting story and I enjoyed every part of it. The hard hitting repercussions of changing time are present and I liked the progress of time loops being thought of and present was nice.

Remarkably compelling and well written.

I thought that I was going to struggle to like this book. It is hard to write am entire novel in the first person and I expected it to wear. It did not and maybe it needed to be in first person.

I liked the characters which were generally well rounded. I very much liked the plot and the pacing was just right. There are many new ideas and it was a very satisfying listen.

I was somewhat less keen on Ray Porter's performance but that was hardly his fault. He is doubtless a very good voice artist. I had heard other books that he has read and he captured emotion and pace just as perfectly here as there... but he is an American and this was a very British book. Mr. Porter has a limited range of British accents and none of them would, if I am honest, fool a native. I found myself wondering why I was hearing the voice of an established character in someone just introduced to the story.

All the same, this was a fine book that I greatly enjoyed and I heartily recommend it.

I do hope there's a follow up

Yea, as a Brit, the British voices were somewhat cartoonish, but I've love listening to the author's voice on many audibles and he one of my favorites'.

I calculated the quality of the book/audible by how much I pick it up.

This one was first thing in the morning; while I'm driving; generally walking around and last thing at night. So yea, a very good 10.

Enjoyed this book

I did enjoy this book, good story and fabulous narrator who brought the character to life. Quite funny at times too.
I wouldn’t have normally listened to this book but it was free on the new offers. All though now I have to use a credit to the sequel , so we’ll done audible.

Immersive adventure

The time travel felt very cinematic and vivid in my mind. A very gripping story with a twist in the end I didn’t expect. A bit strange this audiobook being read by an American, but the narrator does a good job.

I enjoyed this book...

The story ending did seem to lack thought however, the narrator was engaging, more please!

Very badly flawed

I read this book some years ago under its previous name and enjoyed it immensely.
I never really liked the lead character, I found him far too whiney, and he spent to much time feeling sorry for himself, but sometimes it's good to read something where the lead frustrates you.
My huge problem is that this is a very English novel with very English characters, and for example the use of the word "candy" for sweets in the first couple of minutes jarred.
The other main problem is the narrator. whilst I usually enjoy Ray Porters narration a gravel voiced American is just the wrong person to voice a whinging Brit.

I tried but I just couldn't get past it and gave up

Gripping

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Well thought through, with good recognition of the rules of time travel. had a cracking twist that I didn't see coming.
Can't wait for book 2.

Excellent time travel story!

I’m a big time travel fiction fan and I was starting to feel like I’d read most of the genre - and then I discovered this little beauty! I was gripped the whole way through, and really enjoyed the narration too. I couldn’t predict where it was going and was thoroughly surprised at several moments, and I cannot wait for Book 2 now. Thank you Nick for bringing a new time travel series to the genre!

Wow!!

I loved this book and was bereft when I finished it! What a journey, beautifully narrated. Can’t recommend enough, will definitely look into more by this author.

A Fab Ticket To Ride!

You are on an exciting and intense fairground ride from the Start! I loved Nick Jones’s book and I am really looking forward to the rest of the series. It is written in the first person and the protagonist feels so real, natural, intimate and relatable that despite some of the unusual or difficult events, I felt like I was going through the fascinating experiences with him. Taken along for the ride like a touch of down the rabbit hole, or pulled up to the sky as he wants to hold your hand, with a sense of anticipation and wonder at what will unfold. There are some clever and unexpected twists and turns and the author makes time travel seem understandably dangerous, uncomfortable, even painful, and bound by its own laws; requiring courage and yet exciting.

Like any good Story it starts with a significant and heart wrenching incident during an occasion that we can all relate to; the fun, noise, chaos, taste and smell of the fairground. My empathy for what young Joe goes through and curiosity about his personal journey of guilt, grief and confusion immediately hooked me in. There is something so endearing about the love and protection of an older brother for his little sister. The main character has such depth and is so well drawn that I feel like I know him and can imagine being in Joe’s home with his blender, antique artifacts, bottle of brandy and love of the Fab Four as well as the smell of Vinny’s Vinyl shop! It has a satisfying balance of fun, humour, tragedy, excitement, tension and hope.

I don’t generally choose stories about time travel and I am not particularly drawn to sci fi but I am fascinated by what we might term the ‘paranormal’ and reincarnation. Having recently finished Haig’s enjoyable and Atkinson’s rather more gloomy novels, I found I was instantly more attracted to the lives of Nick Jones’s characters. I cared more about Joseph Bridgeman and he feels like a friend. I especially enjoyed the involvement of hypnotherapy and the stunning spa town of Cheltenham on the edge of the Cotswolds. Ray Porter narrates this magical mystery tour brilliantly with the right mix of regret and urgency. It would make a great movie. It’s always lovely when you find a book that promises even more adventures, encounters, hopefully romance and possible resolutions to look forward to.

Sit back, pull the bar down and let the author spin you on a great ride...

Thanks to the author and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book. I liked it so much that I bought this super audible version.