This is a good example of a book that can be told from various POV and mediums such as emails to tell a griping story. While the main character is flawed, you find yourself pulling for her, and not disliking her like with so many other books. This is a griping tale that keeps you hooked from page one to the very end. I give it 5 big fat stars, and would more if I could. Cannot wait to see this book rise to the top of sales soon!

Doesn't that sound amazing? Something new, something fresh? A story line that hasn't been done before. I love finding fresh new books, with fantastic ideas. 

I liked this book, a lot. It's addictive. I wanted the bad guys to pay, and the good guys to win. The good needed to overcome that bad. I hoped with every page that Audra would find her kids. What she had to endure in the process was terrifying. What's even more terrifying, I could see this happening in real life. What a fantastic read. 

My favorite kind of dark creepy thriller, that sinks its teeth in and never lets go! Thank you Blogging For Books, for sending me this incredible book!

I have never read a book by this author before, so I was eager to dive into another mystery, a genere that I have been trying to take a little break from recently because they all seem so similar.
This was definitely not the case with this book. Right from the beginning the events of the story pull you in and render you incapable of putting it down, I read it all in one sitting. There were times when I felt my jaw clenched and had to remind myself to relax. The story was fast paced and had me guessing until the very end, which is the very thing that mystery novels have been lacking for me lately.
Long story short, Audra decides to finally leave her abusive husband. She is stopped in the middle of nowhere by a sheriff and arrested. After she is put into her cell at the jail she asks after her children, only to be looked at like she is looney, they tell her that she was alone when they stopped and detained her. Since the children are now missing everyone begins to suspect Audra. This was so incredibly pulse pounding and had me on the edge of my seat, because we as readers knew that she had the kids with her at the beginning! What could possibly have happened to them. As her world seems to close in on her, she realizes that she is the only person that she can count on, that she has known that all along. A woman that is ready to leave her abusive husband can accomplish anything folks.
I liked the mother and connected with her in a way that I don’t usually do in these types of books, since everyone is typically so detestable. In this story, you were really pulling for the mom until the very end. I have seen a few stories with this type of storyline (The Forgotten, Flight Plan) but this had some elements to it that made it seem fresh and original.
While you might be able to guess what is going to happen about halfway through this short read, its the journey to the end that counts and this one was a windy and wavy one. Great story, highly recommend for those that are fans of psychological thrillers. 4/5 stars.

I received a free electronic copy of this suspense novel from Netgalley, Haylen Beck, and Harvill Secker, publisher in exchange for an honest opinion. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

I classified this on my keepers list as a horror novel - it is every mother's nightmare. The sheriff and the almost-ex are all bad, but with bad girl Collins we see humanity peeking though at times. All of the other protagonists are well rounded characters, and though I hate to admit it, Silver Water, the small town dying with melancholy angst in the the southwestern desert, looked very familiar. I worried that there was no one to save Audra and the children until Danny was introduced fairly well into the tale. Phillips was sympathetic, but without the power - or the belief - to find her way to the solution. I really enjoyed Danny, and I loved Sean and Louise. Haylen Beck is an author I will follow.

Audra Kinney was driving her two children, Sean and Louise, across the country from New York to California when she was pulled over by Sheriff Whiteside. He claimed that he thought her car was loaded down too much at the back, so he offered to help her unload some things into his car. But when he reached into one of her boxes in the trunk, he found a bag of marijuana, more than would be considered for personal use. He arrested her and had his deputy come and take her children to "a safe place." However, when he brings Audra into the station and she asks where her children are, he says "what children?"

This was a chilling thriller. My heart was racing through the whole book. I was hooked right from the beginning, when I didn't even know why Audra was escaping something in New York with her children. 

I liked that it was a small cast of characters, so they could be developed. The perspective switched between characters too. Even though I knew who had taken the children, the story was exciting because they were still in danger. 

I highly recommend this book if you like psychological thrillers!

This review will be posted on my blog on June 20, 2017.

3 1/2 Stars
Here and Gone was fast paced and entertaining. While there was little mystery as the good guys and bad guys were introduced quickly, and the storyline was fairly predictable, it was still a good read.

I love it when a book grips you right from the beginning and this was extremely the case with this one.
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Audra Kinney was fleeing the country with her two kids, Sean and Louise, when she was pulled over by the town’s Sheriff who suspected her and asked to search her car. Having found a bag of marijuana, he arrests her, ask a fellow officer to come to pick up the kids, and throws her in jail. When Audra asks him where took her children, he replies.
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“What Children?”
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And all fun begins from there. The book started out really well, I was so attentive and clinging to every word trying to make sense as we were given tids and bits about Audra, who was a recovering alcoholic and a Sheriff who been serving the town for years.
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Where are the children? Were there really any children? Did her abusing husband arrange all this?
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The suspense was just unbearable. It was incredibly tense and I was flipping through the pages (actually tapping the heck out of my iPad) to find out what happened and to find an end to this nightmare that had begun.
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As enjoyable as it was, halfway through, some of the mystery fell and we got the answers that we were looking for. I really wished it would have kept us on the edge longer or till at least near the end of the book as I wasn’t reading the rest like that first half.
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Overall, I would truly recommend this book to all thrillers fans, especially those who love the domestic and/or psychological kind.
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I received this book from Bloggingforbooks and Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review.

This book was very intense, a mother's worst nightmare. I loved the character of Audra & her bravery. I look forward to reading many more books by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this novel.

When I delved into the novel, Here and Gone, I had done so, blindly—without any preconceptions of the book. I hadn’t even bothered to read the description provided by its publisher that’s usually found on its back cover or book jacket. In this case, I simply flipped to the first page and began reading.

It was at first an uncomfortable read for me on a personal level because its main character, like me, have two children: a young son and an even younger daughter. My own son and my own daughter are ironically the same ages as the two children characters in the book—and they were abducted.

Not only were these children, Sean and Louise, abducted, it’s the nature of who had committed the crime that makes the storyline particularly infuriating. As you read on (or if you read the book description before deciding to read the book itself), you’ll angrily discover that the heinous crime of abducting innocent children is committed by corrupt police deputies: a resentful, masochistic Chief Deputy Whiteside and his subordinate, Deputy Collins.

At the center of this chaos, is Audra Kinney, a woman with a past tainted with drugs and alcohol, who, after a serious episode that leaves her hospitalized, finally decides to flee her abusive husband to emancipate herself and raise her children on her own—and safely.

But, before they can get to their destination, Audra is stopped by police and arrested for drug charges, while she is assured her children will be kept safe in the care of another officer. The last she sees of her children is in the back of a police cruiser as it drives away—before she realizes later that they are in danger.

The turn of events moves quickly, almost as pre-meditated as the crime itself in the book. It is a show-and-tell of stereotypical characters: the masochistic gruff of a hard man whose villainy is steeled by cruelty and greed; the uncertain, yet obedient conspirator; the victim whose difficult past makes it even more difficult for authorities to believe her claims; and the children, who by no fault of their own, are the unlucky inheritors of ill-timing and ill fate.

As most crime thrillers aren’t character-driven narratives, but fuel their readers’ interest in the ever-urgent drive to know what is going to happen next, the constant question of Where are the children? What did Whiteside and Collins do with them? And are these corrupt fanatics really going to get away with this? —continually to run through the reader’s mind.

But, there are secondary characters, too, to add a little sub-plot in the story by the means of a character named Danny Lee, a man known by others as Knife-Man. Mrs. Gerber, an unsuspecting host of the small town’s inn, too, has her own burdens. They, like the recluse, John Tandy, are welcome secondary characters to a tense, but hopeful and almost predictable plot.

The story is simple as it is exaggerated, a narrative more similar and perhaps more suited to a screenplay of an action film than to a fiction novel—but readers will want to read to the end, if only to know its conclusion: Where are the children? Will they escape? And will those who abducted them get away with it?

While the ingredients of the crime story are present in this novel, the substance of the novel, and even its level of entertainment, enjoyment, or nail-biting suspense, is unfortunately more indicative of its title: Here—and Gone.

***
Characters: 2.5 stars
Plot: 3 stars
Language/Narrative: 2.5 stars
Dialogue: 3 stars
Pacing: 3 stars
Cover Design: 3 stars
***
Zara's Overall Rating: 2.5 to 3 stars

Note: Included in the review is the author's bio and links to contact the author on social media.

This book opens with the main character, Audra driving across country with her two children, Sean and Louise, after fleeing from CPS and her abusive husband. A local sheriff, Whiteside pulls her over in the rural desert of Arizona and arrests her, sending her children with another officers, Collins. Shortly after being arrested, Whiteside starts saying that she never had any children with her when she was arrested and makes it seem like she did something to her children, which of course makes media coverage, which is when a man notices that the story is extremely similar to what happened to his wife in the past and decides to try to help Audra.

The synopsis of this story sounded extremely interesting to me and I did enjoy it. The 3.5 star rating is because I just didn't find it to be that suspenseful, it was more of a mystery and I am not the biggest fan of mysteries. It was interesting to hear from Sean, Audra's son's perspective and the author did do a good job with character development. We learn more about Audra's past and her abusive husband Patrick as the story moves along. The plot does move along at a pretty fast pace and I did enjoy the author's writing. This book does deal with some very sensitive topics, important topics but sometimes a bit hard to read. Overall, I enjoyed this book and I think that anyone who is a lover of mysteries will really enjoy this book.

Thank you to the publisher, Crown Publishing, for sending me a review copy of this book.

An intense thriller, Here and Gone by Haylen Beck will pull you in and keep you glued to the pages.

Audra has taken her two children and gone on the run from an abusive and controlling husband. Stopped by a sheriff in Arizona under false pretenses, Audra finds herself placed in the sheriff's vehicle while a female deputy takes her children to a "safe place" until the situation is resolved.

However, when Audra is placed in a cell and asks about her children, the sheriff replies, "What children?"

Audra finds herself in a nightmare. No one believes her, and it is likely that she will be charged with killing her son and daughter.

Fortunately, Audra has an ally in Danny Lee, who sees the story on the news. Danny has endured a similar situation in California where his wife was accused of killing their daughter.

The premise is definitely far-fetched, but the fear and anxiety of Audra's plight will keep you disturbed and outraged. It isn't a mystery: you know who has taken the children and why--it is the suspense that grips and holds attention.

Haylen Beck is a pseudonym of Stuart Neville, and Here and Gone is certainly good suspense, but does not compare to the layered depths Neville achieved in The Ghosts of Belfast. Interesting that Beck/Neville can write so well of Arizona and of his native Belfast.

NetGalley/Crown Publishing

Suspense/Thriller. June 20, 2017. Print length: 304 pages.

She’s headed to California with her two young kids in the backseat, taking the backroads so she doesn’t get stopped. She’s almost there but she promised Sean a stop in the next town and like the good mother she is, she pulls in and shuts the car off even though she spots a police car nearby. Back on the road, Audra feels luck is on her side until she sees the blue and red lights flash behind her. He claims Audra’s car is overloaded, something about it being a hazard on the road. He offers to help Audra and begins to unload some of her boxes into his patrol car when he claims he found an illegal substance and now Audra’s nightmare begins. Audra claims what he found is not hers but now he must arrest her, he has to call a tow truck for her car and he needs to call someone to come take care of her children. His deputy arrives for the children. A tow truck arrives for the car. The sheriff takes Audra into the station. Audra asks countless times where her children are but she is ignored. Paperwork is completed on Audra and she is locked up, again she confronts the sheriff about her children but this time the Sheriff exclaims, “What children?” Her children! Shiver me timbers, what the heck is going on with this police department? The sheriff is acting like Audra has no children and now Audra is thinking her husband, whom she is separated from has something to do with this. Audra starts pacing in her cell and having a fit.

The police call in a special unit to help find the children as they think Audra had something to do with their disappearance. It’s like a circus, if you were an individual watching from home. Audra is telling her side of the story, the Sheriff is telling his side of the story, we have the special units called in to try to get their unbiased opinion, we also have the husband/mother-in-law thoughts. The story flashes back and forth to what is actually happening to the children and the story surrounding why they were taken. The older child Sean is resourceful in this story and you know where he gets his strength. There is also a character named Danny who makes an appearance and how he plays into the story does not become apparent until all the pieces are being laid out.

This is an intense, gripping story that I had a hard time putting down. With no lull, this book kept the momentum going until the very end. I liked how the author made one of the characters weak and I kept waiting for him to crack, just waiting for the moment when he would lose it and all would be lost. I thought Audra was smart and she had a lot of vigor and determination to get her children back. When Audra met up with Danny, the two of them together were dangerous. I could see how some of the pieces were coming together as I read but I enjoyed how everything came together in the end. I really enjoyed this novel and highly recommend it if you enjoy a good suspense.
I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and Crown Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Here and Gone by Haylen Beck, deals with every parent’s nightmare; losing your child. But for Audra the circumstances are more bizarre than you could image. While she is fleeing an abusive marriage, she is pulled over by a small-town sheriff. Upon searching her car, he finds a bag of weed and Audra is arrested and her children are taken into police custody as well. Upon being booked, Audra asks about their well-being and is met with a blank look and a question that turns her blood to ice; “What children?”. Sheriff Whiteside contends there were no children in Audra’s car when she was pulled over.

We soon learn Whiteside has dealings with the black market and the children are being sold to the highest bidder. Beck does a nice job just straddling the line between bringing the horrors of what could happen to the children and the intentions of the bidders, while not delving too much into it. I like my books dark and gritty, but this subject matter is a line that could turn me off of a book if not handled correctly.

But even the best laid plans cannot account for variables. One of the biggest variables is Danny Lee, also known as Danny Doe Jai (Danny Knife Boy), who lost his daughter over five years earlier in a similar situation, and he lost his wife six weeks later to suicide after she blames herself for their loss. Now Danny sees a chance at some sort of revenge and redemption. He seeks out Audra and offers his unique brand of expertise to her in an attempt to determine what has befallen her children, and perhaps get some answers to his own situation.

I was originally attracted to this book through the blurbs from some big-name authors. Seemed intriguing to have some very popular authors to blurb a new author. Turns out Haylen Beck is a pseudonym for Stuart Neville, which explains the high praise. Smart move to release this under a different name, as I may not have read it if it had Neville’s name on it; not that I don’t like him, I just perceive him to be an Irish author whose one book I sampled didn’t grab me and I would have bypassed this book based on this previous exposure to his work. I am glad I didn’t miss this one, it was a great read.

Recommended.

I received this book "Here and Gone" from Netgalley for my honest review.

Audra Kinney is escaping her life in New York. Her husband is not who she thinks he is. She decides to take the two children and go to California. On her way she is stopped by the police in Arizona. Her life will never be the same again. "What children" says Sheriff Whiteside. The nightmare begins and Audra must find out what happened to her children. The story takes twists and turns that you don't see coming. Very emotional and suspenseful story. I was reading into the night because I couldn't put it down.

4+ Stars.

Creepy....Terrifying....Unsettling....are words that come to mind when describing the start of HERE AND GONE.

With Audra on the run from her abusive, control freak husband, one nightmare turns into another when she is stopped for a traffic violation in rural Arizona and her children are abducted. (no spoiler here)

Fear soon turns to anguish and crime-mystery turns thriller as lies and brutality from the sheriff begin and a helpless mother's screams fill the air.

HERE AND GONE kept me hooked from page one with a fast-pace, intense, but straight forward storyline and a killer of a finish-line.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. This was a really good book, riveting right from the beginning. Audra has run away from her violent, mean ex husband with her two kids and is driving from NYC to California. In Arizona, in a little desert town, she is stopped by the cops for something silly and winds up getting arrested for possession. The police take her kids to a "safe place" they tell her. After she is booked, she asks where her kids are and the sheriff answers with "What kids?" The intensity of the story just builds as the plot thickens and more details are revealed through different characters. There are no crazy ploys or details that make the story unbelievable. Audra is determined to find her children no matter what. She is so strong and truly an amazing person. She never waivers from her story no matter how poorly she is treated by the police, FBI, press and her own family and friends. She manages against all odds really to keep it together and keep looking for them finally with the help of a couple strangers that she has no choice but to trust. I really like a story that captivates me from page 1 and this one did just that. I will look for more books from this author.

This is a gripping, though very dark, book. Definitely not one for sensitive readers as it depicts every parent's worst nightmare. New Yorker Audra has finally decided to make the break from her abusive husband, Patrick. She is driving alone in the southwest with her children, on the way to a new life, when she is stopped by the police for a made-up infraction, arrested, and taken to jail. When she asks about her children, the policeman calmly replies "what children?"

We follow the horror and terror that Audra goes through in trying to get someone/anyone to believe her and get her children back, we see and feel the terror of the children as they are taken away, and find that this has happened before to other vulnerable parents all across the world. We also see the power and influence of the media, whether they have the right story or the wrong one.

This book is heart wrenching, but unfortunately true to life, though we so wish it weren't!

A reminder to us all that there are very, very bad and powerful people out there, seemingly without consciences, who would do anything for money or entertainment. Please love your children and keep them safe!!

Full characters, well-developed plot and unending suspense make this a four-star book for me. Many thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for permitting me to read an e-ARC of this book!

As soon as I read the summary, I knew I wanted to read this book. I’ve been in the mood for mysteries and thrillers this year and this one sounded right up my alley. Unlike most of the thrillers that I’ve read, this story is told in multiple POVs. I think the most interesting POV was Audra’s son Sean. He’s only 11 and yet has this great intuition that something just isn’t right about the sheriff. The chapters from Audra’s POV are heartbreaking. She’s been through so much with her abusive husband, and then her kids get taken?! That is what I would assume to be every mother’s worst nightmare! A few chapters are formatted as emails and those give an eerie picture of what is really going on. I don’t want to say anything else about the plot because the best part of these kind of books is the surprise. I really liked the author’s writing style. She wrote the main characters in a way to really allow the reader to connect with them and form a bond. I had a hard time putting this book down because it was very well written and the story was so gripping.

This book was really hard to put down. I knew that this was a book that I needed to read just as soon as I read the description. I love a good mystery thriller and the fact the it sounded like the local police couldn't be trusted was a very interesting twist. Once I started reading, I was immediately hooked. When I wasn't reading, I was thinking about this story and what I would have done if I were in Audra's place. I really enjoyed the time I spent reading this book.

Audra is driving across the U.S. on her way to California with her two children, Sean and Louise. She is pulled over by the police just outside a small town in Arizona called Silver Water. Before Audra even knows what is happening she is asked to step out of her car while Sheriff Whiteside starts looking through her trunk. Drugs are found and she is taken to jail. A deputy is called and her kids are taken away to what Audra is promised is a safe place. When she asks about her kids later at the jail, the Sheriff tells her that she didn't have any kids with her when she was pulled over.

The book's description does tell readers the basic set up of the story and I had a pretty good idea of where the book would end up but I had no idea how it would get there. The story really did make me think about a lot of things. I don't know how you would be able to prove your innocence in a situation like this. The media was another huge part of the story since they put Audra in a very unfavorable light. I also couldn't stop thinking about how Audra could get someone to take her seriously. Even though the events in the story weren't a total shock, the journey was entertaining.

I did like the characters in this book a lot and liked the fact that the book is told from different points of view. Audra really does care about her kids but is the first to admit that she has not always been a great mother. She is committed to being the best she can be at this point in her life. I thought that the part of the book that talked about her past were very well done. Part of the story is told from Sean's point of view. He is only 11 years old but has a certain maturity to him. He senses when things seem wrong and jumps into to care for his younger sister during the ordeal. There were also a few parts told from Danny and Sheriff Whiteside's point of views that added to the overall story.

I would highly recommend this book to others. This book moved really fast and I was never quite sure what would happen next. I found myself having a very hard time setting this one aside because I was completely invested in the story. This is the first book by Haylen Beck that I have read but look forward to more works in the future.

I received an advance reader edition of this book from Crown Publishing Group via NetGalley, Blogging for Books, and First to Read.