This was a good solid read that is mainly set in two different times. This makes it a little bit difficult to read, because you have to keep your wits about you to keep up, but still a good read, and recommended.

This book was fast paced and a plot that grabbed me straight away. It was unpredictable which I really liked but I found her characters hard to connect to.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A well-written book with a great plot and believable characters. Recommended

In a quiet Melbourne suburb, a young boy vanishes from his front yard without a trace.

Thrust into the limelight, his parents start to unravel. The more time that elapses with no leads, the more public opinion starts to swing from sympathy to suspicion, and the image of the perfect family starts to crack under the increasing scrutiny of the media and the police.

The boy's mother, Olivia, knows better than anyone that even the happiest-looking families harbor secrets.

And the nightmare is closer than she thinks...

The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged.

The Lost Boy by S.A. McEwen is a thriller with twists, turns, and suspense built in. Wolfe, a four year old has disappeared from his yard. There have been no sightings or leads. Who is to blame? As you continue through the story, you will find that everything is not as it seems. The family is not a happy little family as presented, and there are secrets in Olivia’s past that come to light. I was happy to not be able to guess the ending and enjoyed reading it. It was difficult to put down. I will most certainly seek out other novels by this author. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

A gripping read that keeps you turning the pages following the twists and turns. Interesting read! Thanks to Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I found this book difficult to read. The story about a missing child and how the family responds during this time is usually interesting, I look forward to the who is responsible and will they get the child back. But these characters were hard to like. Yes there were some issues that made them the people thy had become, but I just did not like any of the characters at all.

This book was fast paced and tense with angry characters acting oddly with secrets. There were twists that were unsurprising. Sorry, this book was not for me.

I enjoyed this book and found it suspenseful. Didn't see the ending coming. Would recommend to fellow psychological thriller lovers!

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. I'm so confused by this book. I couldn't keep the characters straight, couldn't figure out what was going on. I didn't even skip to the back to see what happened, just quit.

I read this book in one sitting and I enjoyed it although there were some negatives too. This book was fast paced and tense with a storyline that gripped me and wouldnt let me go, I had to know what happened and who had kidnapped him and why. It was so unpredictable with twists that were truly suprising and made me gaso out loud on some occasions.
However I found the writing style really hard to get into and that took away from the novel and left me wanting more from the characters in way of development and content.
Overall though I enjoyed it.

On the whole I found this book confusing rather than thrilling. I thought I knew what was happening and then a new character would be introduced in a point way past where you thought they might have appeared.
Some detailed character writing but the book failed to wow me.

Earlier this month I read the author’s The Good Daughter as a random kindle freebie find. It was decent enough to merit further reading, so when this one came up on Netgalley, I checked it out. Sure enough, in more of the same, the author proves quite crafty at writing character driven dramatic fiction. Sure, much like her other book, it is structures like a thriller, because that’s what sells, but really, even more so in this case it’s very much a family drama with a crime in it.
The crime is kidnapping. A silly-named four-year-old boy vanishes from his yard, while his mother was supposed to be watching him. She’s devastated, his father is devastated, and while they wait, for it is all they can do, their relationship is presented in all its complexity and ugliness i.e. striking visceral realism.
Olivia, the perfect wife and mother, was actually actively contemplating a divorce. Nick, the adoring spouse and dad, has been actively cheating on Olivia, for a while and with someone too close for comfort. Nick’s teenage son form his first marriage who’d recently come to live with them may or may not have psychopathic tendencies. And then there’s Olivia’s family’s past, because her son isn’t the first boy in her family to vanish without a trace.
Taken all together, multiple strands and perspectives of this novel weave together into a cohesive fabric of a complicated relationships where redemption and love triumph in the end. Almost all too neatly and certainly it’s all very heavy on forgiveness, but overall, from the purely psychological perspective it’s pretty well done, if only because the author isn’t afraid to look into the dark corners of psyches and create characters that aren’t immediately, easily (or at all) likable for the sake of lifelike veracity…people cheat on their loved ones, people are not all readymade for parenting, love is complicated, etc.
You didn't expect a happy family, did you? You want to read about the other ones, they make for more interesting and original stories. Tolstoy was right.
Of course, then there’s the matter of the characters not being all that engaging for not being all that likable, and the thriller element isn’t especially thrilling if that’s what you’re mostly after, and there’s a certain disjointedness to proceedings here with the narrative jumping somewhat too enthusiastically all around, but overall, it was a decently entertaining read that went by very quickly and played around with some interesting psychology. Thanks Netgalley.

I just am not to sure about this one?! This book was just really different for me, I kind of felt lost at times and the storyline went in a few ways that were like, what is going on?! Then at times it just went on and on and my mind wandered?! I don't know about this one , maybe it was just to different for me?! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Lost Boy by S.A. McEwen is an unputdownable domestic thriller with plenty of twists and turns. The story revolves around Olivia, whose four year-old son Wolfie has disappeared. At first, everyone is sympathetic to Olivia and her husband Nick, but then they start to become suspicious. Who kidnapped Olivia's son? Is it a stranger or someone closer to home? And what secrets are Olivia and Nick hiding?

Here is a gripping excerpt from Chapter 1:

"The boy is gone.
His mother tears around the garden - the front yard, the back. Overgrown foliage scratches lightly at her skin as she bolts down the narrow passage along the side of the house, a first time, then a second.
Both gardens are empty.
She spilled onto the street, a flash of color. Her red dress floats and wafts behind her, the material smoothing out the panic in her jerky stride. She looks like she is floating, not panicking."

Overall, The Lost Boy is a domestic thriller with twists that you won't see coming! One highlight of this book is the twists. There was one that occurred a bit before the halfway mark that made my mouth drop. And the book continues with twist after twist. I did take off one star, because I didn't enjoy the 3rd person omniscient style of narration while following different people in different chapters. It made it hard for me to connect with any of the characters, even Olivia. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of domestic thillers, I highly recommend that you check out this book, which is available now!

Thank you so much for my ARC!
I will feature the book in my Instagram post on my blog-account @thrillers_and_unicorns on January 3, and I will also post my review there! I will tag Netgalley, the author, and the publisher. Also, as soon as I finished this book, I will post my review on Goodreads, Amazon, and send it to you via Netgalley.

Best regards
Sandie