When You Disappeared

All she wanted was the truth, but she’ll wish she never found out.

When Catherine wakes up alone one morning, she thinks her husband has gone for a run before work. But Simon never makes it to the office. His running shoes are by the front door. Nothing is missing—except him.

Catherine knows Simon must be in trouble. He wouldn’t just leave her. He wouldn’t leave the children.

But Simon knows the truth—about why he left and what he’s done. He knows things about his marriage that it would kill Catherine to find out. The memories she holds on to are lies.

While Catherine faces a dark new reality at home, Simon’s halfway around the world, alive and thriving. He’s doing whatever it takes to stay one step ahead of the truth.

But he can’t hide forever, and when he reappears twenty-five years later, Catherine will finally learn who he is.

And wish she’d stayed in the dark.

Revised edition: Previously published as The Wronged Sons, this edition of When You Disappeared includes editorial revisions.

When You Disappeared returns with a fresh cover. This version incorporates an exclusive epilogue; while this enhances the reading experience, the main narrative is unchanged from earlier editions.

©2014, 2017, 2025 by John Marrs. (P)2017, 2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

When I thought I knew what was going on another wrench was thrown in. Twist and turn but a very heavy story that was sad.

I didn’t expect the story to be so heavy. Lots of details that you needed to know.

Made my skin crawl

Started a little slow but quickly didn’t want to put down. I had a lot of sympathy and hate for characters. In my opinion there was an obvious evil character whose actions made my skin crawl. It was made clear who was at fault, but the journey they took and how good or bad they could be was shocking. Exciting, unexpected ending. Thought the performance helped tell the story. Highly recommend.

I enjoyed the prose and the narrators, but it left me feeling like something was missing.

Interesting story, not what I would expect from John Marrs. And interesting twists. Simon’s total lack of remorse for any of the murders he committed, reactive as they weee, he remained unrepentant, leading us to believe he’s a psychopath, albeit one who came from a dysfunctional family. I supply that might be what the author was getting at, but the story overall left me feel like something was wanting.

I didn’t love it

The title of this book should have been, The Most Selfish Man To Ever Live. I didn’t realize this was a book I had already read when I purchased it, the added info isn’t worth $21. I automatically buy any John Marrs books because generally I love them. This one was really hard to get through. Its main focus was on the husband that completely abandoned his family to travel the world then start a new family. I did enjoy the wife’s story about perseverance.

The depth of the story

I was not sure about halfway into this book but it sure pulled through as a winner. Such depth and emotion and crazy as well. Very good. 2/3 for JM