My fingers are itching, I think I chewed them down to the quick with this nail biting thriller. The storyline is so far fetched that it's addictive. Rachel is one friend that I would not like to have. I loved every minute of this book. It's both gripping and unbelievable. If you want a nail biting physcological thriller with a explosive ending then read Never Let Go.

Never Let Go by Lori Duffy Foster begins when the protagonist, Carla, finds herself awakening to a nightmare. She is being held captive in a basement, and controlled through strictly rationed food and a series of terror tactics. Whenever she attempts to resist, her privileges, such as they are, are rescinded in order to keep her in line.

The last thing Carla remembers before all of this happens, is her excitement over meeting her best friend Rachel for a meal. Carla is accompanied there by her baby son, Christopher, whom Rachel has never really warmed to.

Now she discovers that her supposed best friend since childhood is in fact a dangerous psychopath. Rachel is in love with Carla's husband Nick, and has been for years. So she drugs Carla and dumps her in the basement. Rachel then sells Carla's baby, forcing her former best friend into helping her make a play for Nick.

Nick meanwhile, is not buying the story that Carla has run away with the baby, his predicament worsened by the fact that the police suspect him of being responsible for his wife's sudden disappearance. And Rachel has already decided that if she can't win him over, she will kill him too! So Carla finds herself struggling to find a way to recover her baby and protect her husband, while coming to terms with the fact that her best friend is (and has apparently always been) batshit crazy.

I found the storyline somewhat far-fetched, not least because of the sub-plot involving the policeman Sawyer, and the story of Leland, both of which also seemed a little unrealistic. The sub-plots didn't seem to add much to the main storyline.

I think the book would be a good fit for those looking for an escapist storyline heavy on drama, rather than a psychological thriller per se. There may be those who also relate to waking up to the kind of relationship (if not the actual basement location) that Rachel and Carla actually turn out to have, since appearances can be notoriously deceptive. Though not always murderously so. If Rachel's interest in Nick had not led to such extreme actions on her part, it might have made the story more believable. But sometimes, pure escapism IS what people are looking for, so to each his or her own!

(I posted the review on Goodreads already and I have also submitted a review to Amazon UK)

I enjoyed this book. A good plot, lots of twists and turns and characters that you loved and hated in equal measure. There were a few parts that I thought were a little unbelievable but overall I would recommend it.

I was caught from the beginning. This book had me on the edge of my seat from the initial crime- drugging a friend and locking them up- to the nail biting end. I was rooting for new mom Carla to escape her “friend” Rachel. Rachel’s manipulation of Carla’s husband adds a juicy layer to this psychological thriller. I read it super fast as I couldn’t wait to see how the situation resolved. Definitely worth a read.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an advanced review copy. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Happy Reading!

Never Let Go is a gripping, well-plotted novel that fully immerses the reader in a tale of complex relationships and thrilling plot twists. Lori Duffy Foster weaves the interconnected stories of its primary characters with a sure hand, and the psychological underpinnings are rendered with authentic, believable details. The book begins with a compelling hook and then adds layer upon layer of suspense that build to a most satisfying conclusion. Friendship, marriage, and motherhood are the central themes; they threaten, entrap, and ultimately empower the protagonist. The title is an apt indication of the work as a whole: You won’t let go until the last page. Highly recommend.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This was a pretty crazy book, especially the ending. would recommend for sure!!

This book started out with a bang. It's a dark and twisted story full of drama, shock, and intrigue. Who can you truly trust? There's 2 mysteries, but I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the last half. Overall, it was an easy and suspenseful read. It did have some grammatical errors and I was highly annoyed with the amount of times "he said" and "she said" were used. Overall an enjoyable 3 star read.

Thank you NetGalley and the pubs for this early read!

Whelp, this one definitely was worth a read. Who doesn’t love a crazy lady trying to take over someone else’s life? The pace of the book was good and kept my attention throughout. This book has multiple POVs and multiple plot points but wasn’t hard to follow.. I do think the book was a bit outlandish and unrealistic but still was a good read. Solid 3 stars.

I lost hours of sleep to this book - I just could not put it down. So well written and with so many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming - this is the best book I have read in many months.

Carla and her 6 month old son go missing - has she just up sticks and left, been kidnapped or worse? Her best friend Rachel, is always there for husband Nick - or is she? I don’t want to give more away but you have to read this book!

What a story. The first part was so good. So fantastic. It’s about a woman who wants another woman’s husband. Bad enough to kidnap her and her child. What’s not to like. Then we get to the second part and I didn’t much like it. It just didn’t flow with the first part like it should.

The first part is mainly about Carla. A mother. A wife. And Rachel, her best friend. Carla wakes up in a strange place. She’s been drugged and now her child is missing. The only way she can get out of this and get her baby back is to help Rachel get Nick who is Carla’s husband. Rachel wants him and has gone to great lengths to have him. The story is very complex.

Then the second part or sub-plot. It just didn’t seem to flow with the main story. I am not so sure it should have even been there. Of course I am not the author and what do I know. I do know that I didn’t enjoy this part. They two storylines just didn’t mesh together well for me. But overall the story was still very good. I enjoyed it.

Thank you NetGalley and Level Best Books for this ARC.

Four stars from me.

I was ready for a pretty uneven experience, based on other reviews. Instead I felt like I got a 2-for-1 deal. 3-for-1, actually. There's the kidnapping of Carla, the kidnapping of the baby, and the cold case. Each would have been a whole book's worth of story usually and putting them all together made everything tighter and more interesting. I'm impressed!

This book has all the makings to be an absolute banger of a book. We have Carla Murphy who one day takes herself and son to lunch with Rachel: her forever bestie and wakes up realizing her bestie isn’t all that great. In fact she wakes up from a drug induced slumber locked in a strange room with her son gone. Turns out her bestie is in love with Carla’s husband and is going to have him or EVERYONE dies.

I’m pretty sure Rachel is off the Christmas Card list after this one.

This part of the story was absolutely great. Rachel is just batshit crazy which is stuff I will never get tired of reading about. This part of the story is handled very well and is a pleasure to read.

Now about that other half of the book…… LOL. This is where it gets sketchy. There are roughly three plotlines to this book. One critical to the main plotline and one that absolutely really doesn’t need to be there. Which really makes the flow of the book uneven. Then you have some really wordy prose, some confusing/disjointed narrative, and add some absolutely stupid decisions by the main characters. Like stuff literally nobody would do and I think it just kills the overall vibe of this book.

Overall the book is average. If you strip this one down and just work with your main storyline that you started with I really think this one would be a excellent one. Or if you just like reading long, windy sentence structures then you could get into it. I just really never did.

A truly gripping thriller, straight from the first chapter you find yourself hooked by the story, wondering if Carla could possibly escape and why would her best friend do this to her? Every chapter brings more questions with it, the way the plot twists keeps you guessing. Beautifully written.

*spoilers*

I was so sad at the ending for Sawyer, I really wanted the best for him.

This was a completely bonkers, nightmarish story but I had no problem suspending my disbelief and was completely sucked in, could not put it down, what a ride.

Carla wakes up in a nightmare. She finds herself trapped in a bathroom in the basement of her best friend Rachel’s house and her son Christopher is nowhere to be found.

Rachel is obsessed with Nick, Carla’s husband, so she manipulates Carla by withholding food and water, in order to learn how to seduce Nick.

We see the supermom strength of Carla, but I will admit a bit of it was somewhat unbelievable with so many close calls. Don’t get me wrong I love a good kick-butt woman but I did have to say “come on”.

This book had so many twists, turns, mystery and action-packed suspense, never a dull moment. It was so good I stayed up all night to finish it in one sitting.

Thank you so much to NetGalley the publisher and Author for my free kindle read in exchange for my honest review, I loved it.

Carla Murphy wakes up to a living nightmare. She was excited to go to lunch with her best friend Rachel and show off her new baby. Lunch was a trap though, as Carla wakes up from a drug-induced sleep to find herself locked in a basement. Rachel is not her best friend after all and is obsessed with Carla's husband. She threatens to kill Carla and her baby if she doesn't help her.
I loved this book, it definitely had me hooked all the way to the end. You never knew what was going to happen and I love books like that. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

What would you do when your wife and child are missing? Nick is finding out that answer. They’ve disappeared and most people believe she left him.
Carla has been kidnapped and just wants to be back with her son and husband. She is doing all that she can to get back home and stay alive.
I liked the characters in the book, felt like it was pretty slow in places. Overall, it was a good book with suspense building.
Many thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read and review this one.

I finished this one so quickly. The first time for ages that I have found a really good page turner that I couldn't put down. It's as though you are there with them, and you form a bond with the characters and feel as though you really understand their personalities and are living their experiences and find yourself questioning whether you would make the same decisions. So many twists and micro-hints throughout the book that it's difficult to review without giving things away.

Wow, this was an incredible story and a fantastic read by author Lori Duffy Foster! I had decided I was going to do nothing but just sit and read all day and Never Let Go was the perfect book to do just that. It was my first time reading this author and this storyline grabbed my attention right from the start and it held my interest and kept me reading all day until I finished the book. That doesn’t usually happen for me. One thing that really appealed to me was the stories location. It mentions Syracuse and the Destiny USA Mall which are very close to where I live and to read about places you actually know of tends to make the story seem all the more real. In the beginning, Carla, a young wife and mother, is kidnapped by her childhood best friend. She has her locked away in a small cubicle of a room with no knowledge of where or what she has done with her infant son. The anticipation I felt while reading this had me on the edge of my seat wishing I could read faster. I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. I was so engrossed in this book and I can’t recommend it enough. I’d like to thank NetGalley for the arc to read and review. I’m giving this a 5 star rating even though I believe it’s deserving of much more and I look forward to reading more by this author in the near future!

I need you to stop what you are doing and give this book a round of applause.

I get it, you didn't read it yet, but you will....

Never Let Go, needs to be on everyone's reading list.

This is a book jam packed with deceit and psychological twists that will have you gripping your chest and holding your breath. If you think the author "wont go there" you are mistaken. Foster WILL go there, all while leaving your jaw on the floor.

From the first chapter I knew I was in for a doozy. Stories about women and friendship always pack a different kind of punch. Maybe its the realism. This is the story of Carla and Rachel.

These characters will have you questioning just about everything. If you think you have it all figured out, I promise you, you don't.

The major plot twist will have you thinking about this book long after concluding and will have every reading group buzzing.

If this book doesn't scream LIFETIME movie, I don't know what does.

Buy the book, you wont regret it.