Audra Kenney has escaped the abusive marriage she was in and is now trying to build her relationship with her children. En route to a friends house, while crossing Arizona, Audra is pulled over by Sheriff Whiteside. When searching her car he finds a bag of marijuana. He radios his colleague, Deputy Collins, to come pick up her kids while Audra is taken into police custody, and her car is taken away for forensics. But when Audra asks later to see her children......

We explore a very serious subject matter in this story. With its fast pace set from the beginning it quickly had me caught up in it. It's characters are believable. I found this gritty, well written book hard to put down and the ending did not disappoint. Highly recommend.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Random House UK, Vintage Publishing and the author Haylen Beck for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Not my usual read but I really enjoyed this book and will keep a watch for this author in future.

This book has everything you need for a satisfying dig-in read. Audra is escaping an oppressive and abusive marriage. Recovering from the aftermath of too many pills for too long, Audra has plucked up the courage to take her 2 young children and flee New York. She is heading for California, a long drive across country, knowing that with her history of drink and drugs and her husband’s influence she would stand no chance of keeping her children were she to stay and sue for custody.
Driving through Arizona, she is pulled over by the local Sherriff for a minor traffic infraction. Suddenly her whole world is turned upside down. For the Sherriff finds a bag of marijuana in her boot and calls his deputy to tow her car with the children into town, while he takes her in.
But when they get to the police cell and Audra asks for her children, she is met with stony faces and a denial that she ever had children with her.
Alone in a state she does not know and under caution, Audra can find no-one who will listen to her story and soon she finds herself the subject of national press attention - accused of the murder of her own children.
Here and Gone is the story of how a mother’s determination knows no boundaries. It deals with one of the most heinous of crimes – against children – and it is a novel of grit and revenge.
The characters are very well drawn, the plot is tight and thrilling and the setting authentic and chilling.
Very readable, I enjoyed this thriller and look forward to more from this author.

I enjoyed this book, I didnt love it. Some parts of the book I felt myself wander off. I really liked the character of Danny and I would have liked him to be in it a bit more. Also I felt his story was not really tied up at the end. I found it quite hard to care for Audra I found her quite annoying. Overall I enjoyed this book and it was a easy read.

I had seen a good bit of chatter on Twitter about Haylen Beck, and upon reading the synopsis for Here and Gone I was instantly intrigued. Haylen Beck is a pseudonym for another well known author whose (story of my life) books I have on my shelves to be read so I figured I'd give this one a go.

I really wanted to love this one, I did but for some reason I wasn't completely sold on it. Now, that's not to say it isn't a good book! IT IS!!! However, I read a ton of these crime thriller books, and it takes a lot for them to stand out for me these days.

Here and Gone has so much going for it though. It has a really interesting premise. The blurb above doesn't do it justice. There is so much more going on with this book than meets the eye. I found myself really rooting for Audra as she went on her journey, and willed her to just keep going.
I don't want to give anything away about the plot. I will say that I put this book down at 25% because it made me feel uncomfortable. More than once. So I walked away from it because it left me feeling a bit, I don't know, anxious maybe? For the characters. And due to the situation. Which is a reaction, for sure. Here and Gone evoked some pretty strong feelings in me early on, but I found that it just didn't keep me feeling like that.

All in all though, Here and Gone is a solid US- based thriller. Definitely one to pick up if you enjoy thrillers that make you think!

Recommended for sure!

This book was gripping and uncomfortable from the outset. It was one of those books that you don't want to put down. When it was over, I couldn't decide as to whether I was relieved or disappointed. I would recommend this to people that like a fast paced thriller.

A terrific thriller which I raced through. Haylen Beck has written a smart page-turner with believable characters, emotional depth and an incredible sense of place. Starts with a killer hook and never lets up.

Wow! I loved this book and really couldn't put it down - reading it in a day. It is a psychological thriller with pace, the whole story occurs over a period of only 4 days although the reader is given plenty of background information along the way to make sense of things.
Audra Kenney is on the run from child services having escaped an abusive relationship with her husband a couple of years previously. We learn that he and his mother mentally and physically abused Audra to the point that she had no control over her life however, she managed to escape with the help of the nanny and had begun to rebuild her life and relationship with her children. She is several days into a trip across America to stay with a friend in California and start to rebuild a life when she is stopped by local police. Audra fears that her husband has the nation looking out for her but what she has stumbled into is a whole lot worse and every mother's nightmare. The sheriff, Whiteside plants drugs in her trunk and arrests her for possession. He arranges for his deputy, Collins to come and take the children somewhere safe whilst he deals with Audra and that is the last she sees of them. The Sheriff then reports that when he arrested Audra there were no children in the car and alleges that she must have killed or dumped them prior to his pulling her over. Audra is held in a cell in the back of beyond and has literally no hope of either seeing her children again or convincing anyone that her version of events is true. Meanwhile, Whiteside is in negotiations via the dark internet to sell the brother and sister to a ring of wealthy business men with an unhealthy hobby. The book is so successful in my opinion as Beck conjures up empathy with Audra's utter despair at the situation. Slowly, little chinks of hope appear for Audra and at the same time, in swings Danny 'Knife Boy' to the rescue. Gang member, murderer and criminal, he is not the sort of person Audra would usually associate herself with but he offers her a lifeline and she is desperate enough to take it. Danny experienced a similar situation a few years previously, losing his wife and his daughter in the process and is out for revenge as well as the chance to stop the same thing happening again. The pace really keeps going right until the end which is fitting and whilst most ends are tied up, a few questions are left hanging which prevents the story from having that all too disappointing clichéd ending. This book is gritty, pacey and clever - 5 stars from me!

Review Thank you to net galley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Audra is leaving her husband with their two children when she is pulled over by the local Sheriff. What unfolds is a grizzly tale of being accused of murdering your children with no one to help. The fbi want to arrest and the local police are corrupt.

I devoured this book and in fact woke up at 5 this morning to carry on reading. I even had a whole cast in my head as to who would play everyone in a film version!