This is a spine chilling story that will stay with me for a long time. It was a much better book than I expected it to be. It is a fast paced thriller with shocks the whole way through. Very well written and well worth reading.

https://premraostoryteller.com/2017/06/05/here-and-gone-by-haylen-beck/

The blurb and other reviews tell you the premise of the story so I won't include that.
What the protagonist goes through at the hands of her husband and mother in law is bad enough but in escaping that, then put through even more traumatic situations at the hands of those she is supposed to be able to trust ... the local law enforcement agencies. A parent's worst nightmare.

Easy to read. Very descriptive. The inclusion of the dark web made me think the book was going to where I didn't want it to. It did but not graphically. The story arc is fairly predictable I think. A few interesting characters ... like the judgmental landlady and her story. Also the apparent misogyny of the male officers towards the protagonist AND the female FBI officer, not towards the female deputy sheriff though, although the sheriff's relationship with her was also an odd one.

Also the fact that everyone just jumped to the conclusion that the protagonist herself was responsible for the disappearance of her children. At one point I wondered, with everyone believing this, where her break was going to come from.

I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 but the rating stars don't allow for that. I enjoyed it and would recommend it as a good read but, although it contained little pockets of suspense, the ending was as expected ....... except perhaps for Danny ......

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the advanced copy.

Here and Gone had me hooked from the very first page. After escaping her abusive husband and staying hidden for 18 months , Audra and her children are trying to escape to a new life in California. She's been careful, driving on the back roads so she doesn't draw attention. But then she's stopped by the police in a small town in Arizona. Arrested for something she hasn't done. Another police officer is called to take her children 'somewhere safe' but that's the last she sees of them.

The police are saying there were no children with her and think she's murdered them. Audra must fight the authorities to prove her innocence and also race against time to find her children.

I read this book in a couple of days. It's very well written and you totally feel for Audra and can also picture the small town mentality of guilty until proven innocent.

This is the first book I've read by Hayley Beck and I look forward to reading more.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK and the author for her chance to review.

I really enjoyed ''Here and Gone'', it had an excellent storyline which left me with a definite sense of tension right up until the end. The fate of the two children, Sean and Louise, was nerve-wracking and I defy anyone not to be willing them to escape and for Audra to get her children back.

The way Audra's past threatens the present events was a clever tool to use I thought, and whilst unimaginable, it did add a sense of plausibility to events and I found myself liking her strength and tenacity. The evil perpetrators are, perhaps with the exception of one, as deplorable as you would expect with the nature of the abduction, and as a result I was slightly exasperated that no-one was listening to Audra. I will put it out there though that I just didn't gel with the character of Danny; I have no idea why but I found the whole Chinese 'Mafia' thing a tad superfluous I think. I know it was probably to give him depth and appropriate skills, but sadly it just didn't work for me very well. However even though I didn't gel with him, I did like him nonetheless, so please don't for a second let that put you off!

I felt that there was a never-ending supply of action and drama, in fact coming to think of it I'll just mention that it would make an excellent film; it'd certainly keep you gripped that's for sure. Anyway, the drama meant that I was turning the pages as fast as I could, and I had the utter delight of being able to read it in one day, which I heartily recommend as I for one wasn't going to put it down so easily. Yes there were a couple of scenes which jarred a little and made me re-read the section, but I wasn't going to let that spoil this nail-biting story.

If you're looking for a bit of action and tension you really can't go wrong with ''Here and Gone'', it has both in bountiful measures.

The opening of this was sensational. The setting - a road trip or rather an escape cross country where the kids in the car seem to vanish into thin air - what a landscape! The thrill of the plot weaved and meandered like the Arizona roads but it was quite clear from the outset what was going to happen.

They say it's not the destination but the journey that counts and this is true here but it's still a great read. Character led and horror upon horror unleashed on a woman fleeing her abusive husband. She goes to extreme lengths to save them, and has some horrendous experiences until....well that's for you to find out of course.

This is also very dark and uncomfortable reading at times. Themes I wasn't expecting to be as graphic as they were. I can never really 'enjoy' books of this nature but as a cracking premise and opening chapter...yup the thrill factor and road trip from hell are definately there!

Audra Kinney has taken her two children, Sean and Louise, away from her abusive husband and their New York life to start anew in California. While in Arizona she is pulled over by the local sheriff for 'overloading'. And so her nightmare begins.
The book begins powerfully and at first I wondered if I could bear to read it as it is intensely visual and I could easily imagine it being made into a film. But it quickly settles into a fast-paced action story with an over the top climax and Hollywood-style resolution that I found unbelievable.
What redeems the book for me is its premise exploring abhorrent aspects of the dark Web.

One of my favorite crime novels from 2016 was Stuart Neville's SO SAY THE FALLEN, so when I learned that Haylen Beck was an open pseudonym for Neville I was excited to read HERE AND GONE. The style of this novel is different than Neville's typical work. This is fast-paced, adrenaline-fueled, high-octane entertainment pure and simple. A speeding bullet of a book that Neville says is influenced by his love of American crime writing. Cinematic in scope, I can easily picture this novel as a movie. The premise is simple: a mother on the run from her abusive husband, with her two kids in tow, is stopped by a corrupt sheriff in a small Arizona town. The sheriff takes her in on some trumped up charge, while one of his deputies takes the children. When the mother, Audra, later asks about the welfare of her children, the sheriff says, "What children?" setting this psychological thriller in motion. Later in the story another thrilling character named Daniel Lee comes into play. His now-deceased wife went through a similar experience as Audra and the situation left Lee damaged and angry. Audra represents his chance at both revenge and redemption.

The pages in this novel seem to turn themselves. Once I started the story I had a difficult time moving away from it. While the characters aren't as developed as those in a typical Neville novel, and while the writing isn't quite as literary, his longtime fans will enjoy this. I sure enough did.

Here and Gone is super fast paced riveting suspense thriller. "What children?" has be one of the most spine chilling phrases a mother could hear.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

This was devastatingly heart breaking and heart pounding. The kind of thriller and mystery and suspense that would grip your heart, make you sweat out of fear and tremble during sleepless nights, be shocked how something as trivial as missing kids could wreak havoc to your way of thinking. That was everything I felt while reading Here and Gone. I thought I wouldn't wake up from a nightmare.

One moment I was here with my Kindle, sipping coffee and tipping my eyeglasses up on my nose and before I knew it, my mind had gone astray and my heart stopped for this woman who only wanted nothing more than finding her kids who were stolen from her after a car arrest.

The characters, distraught mother Audra Kinney who escaped New York with her children, Sean and Louise, had captivated my heart. They’d been tangled up in a web of conspiracy and sick people who would do unimaginable evil. When she was arrested for possible drug possession, her kids were taken away from her and were deemed missing the moment she was “jailed” by Officer Whiteside. And so began her long insufferable journey to finding Sean and Louise and proving to everybody that she was perfectly sane and harmless. Something that only Danny the Knife Boy believed.

The story had been a roller-coaster one, gripping, terrifying, eye-popping. I couldn’t stop until it was finished. And when I got hold of my sane self, I almost choked out of breath and never wished to experience those moments again. My eyes cried out for Audra and my heart bled for her kids. That’s how emotional and intense this story had been.

All hail Haylen Beck for a remarkable first novel! A definite heart-stopping one from beginning to end!

NOTE: I received this ARC courtesy of Crown Publishing through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Audra has finally left her abusive husband. She's taken the family car, and her young children, Sean and Louise, are buckled up in the back. This is their chance for a fresh start.

She keeps to the country roads to avoid attention and finds herself on an empty road in the Arizona desert, far from home. Looking for a safe place to stay for the night, she spots something in her rearview mirror. A police car is following her, and the lights are flickering. Blue and red.she stops and her troubles begin great read. Story done well keeps you hooked.

Here and Gone – A Trip into the Dark Side

This is a tense, and at times heart breaking thriller that would terrify any parent especially if they were at the centre of it, through no fault of their own. A mixture of police enabling child trafficking while playing everything out in the public gaze, as the mother is convicted by the power of the press in something she is completely innocent of. A wonderful example of when the system is against you and that you have no voice, or skills to fight that system.

Audra has managed to escape her controlling husband in New York and is driving across country to get to her friend San Diego and is keeping to the back roads. She is doing fine and the kids, Sean and Louise are just about coping with being in the car on this long car journey. It is when she spots a police car in her review mirror that her nightmare really begins, when she is pulled over, for being overloaded, and then a bag of drugs is found. She is placed in the police car under arrest as another police car turns up to drive her children to safety while she is being dealt with.

Taken back to the station her children are not there, she wants to know where they are but she is told she will never see them again, they were not in the car. The FBI come out to investigate demanding that Audra tells them what she has done to the children, but she sticks to her story and nobody believes her. It gives her ex-husband the opportunity to make sure she is the guilty party and all the sympathy will be with him.

It is only then she realises the only way she can find her children she will have to do it herself, and accept any help that might come her way. It is a good job her kids are strong, and will fight every inch of the way, or so she hopes.

It is hard to believe that this is a debut thriller from Haylen Beck, it is so well written, draws you in and then delivers twist and killer blows at every turn. This is a breathless completely unrelenting rollercoaster of a ride, once you step on you will not want to get off. This is a thriller with great characters, memorable and well thought out, people will be talking about this book for ages to come.

HERE AND GONE BY HAYLEN BECK

I LOVED HERE AND GONE BY HAYLEN BECK!!!!!! I have read a ton of psychological thrillers and I can count on one hand the most memorable and stunning ones. This is one of them that is a pure joy to read throughout the whole book. The suspense starts out in the beginning and doesn't let go until the end of the book. Although its subject matter is disturbing the author manages to not over do it in any way. This is one book that once you pick it up you had better clear your schedule because you won't be able to put this one down.

It is totally realistic and scary that this type of situation exists in reality. We might not always hear about it but child trafficking does happen and it does occur on the dark web. Law enforcement has it's exceptions where like the sheriff Whiteside in this story and his deputy there is a small percentage who don't always use their badge honestly. Most of the men and women who serve in law enforcement are honest and ethical but there are also those who out of greed or for whatever reason get mixed up with bad people.

This is the story of a mother named Audra Kinney who is traveling from New York to San diego to escape her extremely abusive husband and Child Protective Services. Child Protective Services are misled by Audra's husband and his rich mother. Her husband Patrick has convinced Child Protective Services that Audra was a drug addict and an alcoholic. Audra turns to her only friend looking for a place to stay and flee before the court hands down it's decision. Audra has been driving all day and is five minutes away from an exit where she plans to rent a motel room for the night. She stops at a little store and goes in and buys three waters and a coke. Audra sees a cruiser in the parking lot and hopes he is not looking for her in Arizona.

When Audra drives out of the parking lot the Sheriff car is following her. She hopes he isn't going to get pulled over but she does. Sheriff Whiteside is a corrupt officer and he pulls Audra over for having her car too weighed down with items they are taking with them to start a new life. He arrests Audra and she is worried about what is going to happen to her kids while she is taken in custody. The Sheriff assures her that they will be taken to a safe place. His deputy picks up the kids, a tow truck is called and Audra is falsely accused with possession of marijuana with intent to sell. The sheriff never asked her if she gave her consent to search the car so the judge dismisses the case and tells Audra she is free to go. Audra asks the sheriff about retrieving her children and he says to her "what children?"

The sheriff and the deputy insist there were never any children in the car when he stopped and arrested her. The FBI and the state police get involved and accuse her of killing her children. Audra is a very loving mother and her nightmare is just beginning. I highly recommend this thriller as it is captivating and full of suspense and very authentic feeling. Audra is a likeable character and of course you will hate the sheriff and his deputy and her ex-husband Patrick. Audra thinks her ex-husband is behind this nightmare but her worst nightmares are only just beginning.

Thank you to Net Galley, Haylen Beck and Harvill Secker Publishing for providing me with this outstanding thriller in exchange for an honest review.

I only grudgingly liked this because I found it hard to forgive the central premise, which is that a crime can easily be pinned on a lone woman with a history of mental health issues and drink/drugs, who has no family or support network - yep, I absolutely buy that. What I don't accept is that you can accidentally see a woman pull into a petrol station for 5 minutes and decide that she represents all of those things. For all he knew, she was connected, stable, respected, wealthy and had a large group of friends and family who would absolutely have fought the accusations levelled at her.

Still a passably tense thriller, but not sharply-written enough for four stars and we know the baddies too early for my liking, though I do see the point in the reveal.

Here and Gone is a well-paced thriller, full of twists and turns and brilliant misdirection. This is the kind of book you can’t put down. As I read I found myself compelled to read on to find out what the hell was going on and to see the cops get their comeuppance. The novel starts brilliantly, with a seemingly innocent encounter turning brilliantly menacing. My jaw hit the floor! Even though I knew from the start what had happened to Audra’s kids this didn’t spoil the book in any way. The enjoyment was from watching Audra’s gut-wrenching ordeal as she’s demonised and wondering when the cops would finally slip up. I loved the way the novel is paced, getting more and more intense as it rattled towards a very satisfying conclusion. I had a great time with Here and Gone and would recommend it.

This is an emotionally challenging book, dealing with the abduction of two young children., marital abuse and an unfit mother. It's all there! There is never much doubt what the outcome will be but the reader's attention is held by the story. It is not the kind of book I want to read but comments suggest others enjoy this kind of thing.

Wow what a debut novel this is. This is a book that everyone will talk about for a very long time.

Audra Kinney left her abusive husband Patrick and takes her kids to start a new life. Driving through Arizona she is stopped by the local sheriff. The sheriff searches her car and finds marijuana in the boot. Audra is arrested. The sheriff gets his deputy to take the kids. When Audra is in her cell she asks where her kids are. Sheriff says what kids??

Audra is shocked. She is accused by everyone that she has done something to her kids even the FBI does'nt believe her when they are called in.

This is a gripping, suspenseful, addictive thriller that stirs all your emotions and also questions the understanding why would a woman help kidnap children to sell to others when she is a mother herself.. I couldn't put this down and I read this until the early hours of the morning. If this is Haylen Beck's first novel I can't wait to see what she has in store next.

“Please,” she said, unable to keep the quiver from her voice. “I’ve done everything you said. I’ve been cooperative. Please tell me where my children are.” Whiteside held her gaze. “What children,” he asked.

Haylen Beck is the pseudonym of a well-known crime novelist and screenwriter, and his writing skills became instantly obvious as he quickly drew me in with the opening chapter to Here and Gone. It starts innocently enough. A young woman is driving along a lonely desert road with her two children in the back. She is trying to escape an abusive marriage, hoping to make a new start with a friend in California. But when she looks in the rearview mirror she sees a police car following her, flashing its lights, forcing her to move over. The sheriff tells her that her car is overloaded and asks her to step out of the vehicle, leaving her children in the back seat. She is scared.
He is an officer of the law.
He is armed.
He has all the power.
And her nightmare is only just beginning ...

I loved Beck’s ability to paint the opening scene with the type of technicolour clarity of a bad dream, playing out in every small and terrible detail in my mind. The long, hot, lonely road. The sour taste of fear in Audra’s mouth as she spots the police cruiser in her rearview mirror. The crunch of tires and spray of dust as she pulls over onto the side of the road. The slow walk of the sheriff, eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses, hands on his gun belt, as he makes his way over to her. “Please step out of the car.” It sent a shiver down my spine imagining myself in the same situation! With such an imbalance in power, what options does Audra have other than to comply and follow the sheriff’s orders? Her absolute horror and panic when she realises that her children are being taken away by a stranger is palpable in every written word. Beck’s portrayal of a woman with her back against the wall as no one believes her is well drawn, as is the moment Audra summons her inner tiger-mother and begins to fight back.

With its claustrophobic atmosphere and constant sense of menace and danger to our hapless protagonist, Here and Gone was reminiscent of a Lee Child novel – I was waiting for Jack Reacher to come to Audra’s rescue and kick some butt! Instead, we get Danny Lee, a fascinating character I absolutely loved! He would definitely make a worthy vigilante for many more future novels yet to come. Danny appeared at exactly the very moment in the book where I feared it would go down the conspiracy theory track, and immediately snapped my attention back into focus.

Perhaps my only gripe with the story was that it gave away too much too early, which took some of the thrill factor away. I am trying not to give any spoilers here, but basically we know very early on who is behind the children’s abduction, and there are no surprises in store in that regard. A lot more suspense could have been created had the author kept back that bit of information until much later – there were certainly plenty of opportunities to create other suspects in the reader’s mind. Instead, with the mystery solved, the story turns into a race against time to find the missing children, and I had plenty of faith in Danny Lee that this would be accomplished. That said, there was still plenty of action and a nail-biting finale that made it well worth reading on for!

Here and Gone is a fast –paced and atmospheric thriller which will appeal to fans of the Jack Reacher series and similar novels. Personally, I hope for a return of Danny Lee in future books, as he made for an intriguing protagonist worthy of a lot more missions.

Reading this book is like reading the news about a tragedy you hope never happens to you and wondering how anyone could be the same after it is over. It is obvious this book is fiction by the way the situation resolves in the end. Sadly the real world does not have happy endings very often in the kind of situations presented in this book. It is a well written and night mare causing story for any single mother with children, or even just one parent taking a short trip without the other parent.

Wow. I loved this book. I was there – right from the first page. You feel the hot, dry Arizona heat, the dust, Audra's exhaustion, her aching muscles.

She is travelling through Arizona on her way to California, trying to keep to country roads, with her two children aged 11 and 6 in the back of the station wagon, hoping to make a fresh start, having fled New York and an abusive husband. She's looking out for a safe place for them to stay for the night.

When a police cruiser appears behind her and gets her to pull over in an isolated area a few miles from where there is a place to stay, she's fearful that the authorities have found her and will have her charged with parental abduction. The officer tells her the car is overloaded and that it's not safe to drive and offers to move some of her stuff from the back of her car into his cruiser and to take Audra and the children to the guesthouse in town and arrange for her car to be towed there later. However while moving some of her stuff, the officer finds a bag of marijuana. Audra swears the drugs are not hers but she is arrested, handcuffed and searched, despite no female officer being present. You quickly realise Officer Whiteside is not a nice character. He radios for his deputy to come and get the children and take them to a safe place.

As she sees her children being taken from her in a police car, her thoughts turn to the past 18 months and we get some insight as to why she left her husband and also the fact that in the past she had a history of substance abuse.

I don't want to give too much away here but when Audra is taken to town the Deputy's car isn't there. Aura keeps asking for them but after she is processed and taken to a cell on asking again where her children are, the officer's reply is “What children?”

Now the real nightmare begins. Audra is totally alone. When she is allowed to phone, she phones the 'friend' in California she is told not to contact her again. It gets worse, the authorities suspect she has harmed the children and hidden their bodies. The investigation gets very serious. The FBI's Child Abduction response deployment team arrive. Someone leaks details of her medical history. The press get hold of the story and it's all over the television. However someone called Danny sees the news reports and realises he has a similar story to tell: missing child, wife blamed, wife committed. No one had really listened to his thoughts on what had happened. He becomes part of the story too.

The story switches between what is happening to Audra and what is happening to the children. There is also a conversation happening in an internet private members forum and you just know something very bad is being planned. The pace is very good. There is a good balance of the different threads, a race against time, some twists. We get enough back story to make sense of the present. There are some strong characters, both good and bad. Audra's past has made her stronger and a survivor, but there are a few moments when you feel it would be so easy for her to give in. There is also a wonderful sense of location. Heat and dust, a dying town, closed mine, dry riverbed, empty properties. You get the picture. It's a well written story.

The story really grabbed me. It's tense and the pace doesn't really let up. I read it mostly in one sitting. I didn't want to put it down. I managed to finish it around 1.30 am. The best kind of book.