Audra takes her two young children, Sean and Louise, and drives from New York to Arizona, a trip which takes her four days. She is fleeing from her abusive husband who is encouraged by his mother to marginalise and des-stabilise Audra. She is hot and tired and the children are restless, in fact Louise is quite ill. She stops at a remote gas station for water and snacks for the children and sees a Sheriff's car which she tries to avoid. On leaving the gas station the car has gone and Audra continues on her way. Shortly afterwards she is stopped by the Sheriff, she is nervous that her husband and Children’s Services have alerted the police and her children will be taken from her. And so begins a nightmare.

The Sheriff plants some drugs in her car, she is arrested and a female officer is summoned to take the children to a place of safety whilst her car is towed away for forensic examination. She is then asked “what have you done with the children?”

As a person whose only experience of small town police in the USA is via films, TV and books which is generally negative, the alarm bells started ringing straight away and worry came crashing in.

This is an exciting, different, thriller and hard to believe this is a debut novel. Great characterisation and with more than enough twists and turns to satisfy. The inclusion of the ‘buyers’ of the package was brilliant – clearly people intent on doing great harm to the children but without detailing what this entailed; a masterful ploy because it is so under-stated and not a catalogue of the horrors that they would undergo.

This would make a brilliant film. I can’t wait to see it and I can’t wait for more from Haylen Beck.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

Thank you so much for offering me the chance to read this fantastic book.
It was an outstanding read. Terrifying, thrilling and gripping. Brilliantly written and the plight Audra was facing,, a mother suspected of killing her children. I was totally shocked reading this book. . I raced through this book as I could not put it down. A definite 5***** read!

i really tried to get into this book but after two chapters i have given up - sorry Net Galley this ones just not for me.

This is a fantastic thriller and would make a brilliant film. I don't want to give away too much of the plot. Audra is married with two children Sean and Louise. They are on the run from her abusive husband and she has been driving for four days, on the way to California from New York. In Arizona their car is stopped on the highway by a Police Officer. Everything then dramatically and unbelievably changes!! Read on!

When Audra’s children are abducted late at night she is terrified and desperate to get them back. But when she is told that the children were never there she realizes that her dilemma is much worse than she thought. She also must prove that she never hurt them. Luckily, she gets assistance from Danny whose wife had faced the same situation five years earlier. He hopes that by helping her he can also find answers of his own.
I loved Audra, the treatment she received from her husband and her mother in law probably helped her stand up to the police in the local town. She was abused by the media, people she thought were friends and family but she did find a friend in Danny and a local who knew what happened in her town but had never made it public.
This novel is one of the few this year that I have read that I found impossible to put down. It was a novel that I found myself reading in the middle of the night because I’d glimpsed the opening line to the next chapter. A gripping read.
I must be one of few crime fiction readers who wasn’t aware of Haylen Beck’s true identity. It was only when I added to book to my goodreads library that I realized. I hope that the author continues to write under both identities.
With thanks to the publisher for the copy received via netgalley.

Audra is in an abusive relationship and knows she has to get her children away from her husband and run - with a court case outstanding though she is fearful of getting caught. Driving through Arizona on the way to California she has a motel to stay in overnight as long as she can get there.....but then she sees the flashing lights in her mirror!

Arrested after a routine search she is worried sick about her children, Sean who is 11 and Louise who is only 3, and they are quickly whisked away by another officer........ will she ever see them again........and the nightmare begins!

A great thriller, fast paced and certainly keeps your attention with the twists to the plot and the story emerging of the awful husband. Audra is not perfect but I think that makes you root for her even more as her desperation rises

Once in a while, a book by an author that I have never heard of before takes me completely by surprise and grabs a hold of me from cover to cover. This book is one of these rare finds. Haylen Beck develops the story like a seasoned master of the thriller about an ordinary woman in extraordinary circumstances, and although she has flaws, you can't help but root for her throughout the hopelessness, paranoia, and dispair.
The plot has a few weak points in terms of less than realistic actions here and there, but I am willing to look past them, because Beck managed to keep things going so smoothly through several different characters in the book, but never giving away too much for the next page to become too obvious.
Summing up, I was tremendously well entertained and award Beck with a 5-star rating for the effort. I look forward to seeing more from Beck which is apparently a pen name for Irish crime fiction writer Stuart Neville whose other books I seriously need to check out.

Although I enjoyed this book it needed to be a little bit 'more' for me. It started really well and author Haylen Beck built a lot of suspense early on. But the pacing felt a little off and it was almost as if there was a rush to get to the end... while the plot simultaneously fizzled out a little. The book however, did have a lot of potential and grabbed my attention enough that I was forced to read it in a night.

Beck offered readers a lot of insight into Audra, the mother of the two children she asserts have been abducted. Unfortunately Audra's got a history of drug and alcohol abuse and may have lost custody of her children to her abusive ex ha she not gone on the run.

And then there's Danny Lee, a former gang member and now fixer-for-hire, 'mostly' on the side of the good guys. Audra's story of her kids disappearing after being pulled over by the police is frighteningly familiar to Danny and feels compelled to get involved.

I liked Danny's character but everything after his arrival in Elder County felt a little underdone. And (ultimately) somewhat anticlimactic.

Although it would have felt annoyingly predictable I expected more in terms of Audra's ex husband and his family but their involvement and intervention kinda petered out before it even started.

The motive behind the kidnappings is kinda sordid and revolting but I didn't really feel as if I had enough closure there either. We learn what happened via a snippet or two but not the specifics. And finally, I can only guess what the kids were used for and I think a little more context would have resulted in me being more invested in their rescue.

I guess, it all just felt like a lot of time was spent in the early stages of this case - getting background on Audra, her upbringing, her marriage and her addictions - and then it was suddenly over. Finished. And I was left feeling a little dissatisfied.

I'd still recommend this to lovers of thrillers, as there was certainly a lot of potential here and the early suspense built well, although I just needed the eventual action to be 'amped' up a little.

3.5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. The suspense was great. The characters were interesting and likeable or not. The sheriff was disgusting and Collins wasnt much better. The husband was horrid. Sometimes it was slow, but mostly it kept me reading. I would highly recommend it!

Loved this book! It has everything you could want from a thriller; fast paced, excellent story line, brilliant characters and great setting. Scarily, in the world in which we live, I can see this not being beyond the realms of reality!! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.

This was an excellent book, thank you so much Netgalley for the opportunity to review it! A triple narrative of a woman accused of killing her children, desperately trying to escape her past, a man who sees her on the news and races to find her and 2 lost children,' Here and Gone' is a great thriller. It tackles slave trading, corruption ,fighting impossible odds,indefatiguable spirit and a race against time. You really found yourself.rooting for the main characters and then checking yourself as the story was very believable

This was such a fantastic premise. A woman trying to escape a controlling manipulative husband with her 2 children ends up in a small town and being arrested by the county sheriff. Her children are being taken to a 'safe place' by his deputy but once at the station when she asks about her children he replies what children. The book then takes you into the seedy world of child abduction, exploitation, the dark web and corrupt police officers. No one believes mums story and she has to try prove to the world she didn't kill her children. Brilliant book! Thanks to net galley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Here and Gone was such a gripping, brilliant read, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is an intriguing, fast-paced novel that really highlights the desperation you'd feel if you lost your kids -especially if people who were supposed to protect you were behind their disappearance.

This book is, in a way, SO frustrating to read because you know where the kids have gone, Audra knows who has taken her kids, but NO ONE WILL BELIEVE HER. Ahh! This book certainly got me interested and it had some brilliant characters. Audra herself is a brilliant protagonist - she admits she's not been perfect in the past but she's a strong female character who I thought was great! I don't want to give anything away but I particularly liked when she hit things in anger, and parts when she really attacked people - despite female characters often being the ones expected to be a bit more forgiving, or a bit 'softer', she wasn't and I liked her for it.

A big part of the story is pretty uncomfortable to read about at times, but it all added to the pretty dark and twisted plot. There were some parts which are quite 'out there' but I didn't feel like any of it was too unbelievable for this genre.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it. It's a fast-paced, dark at times but nevertheless fun read which kept me hooked!

My goodness, this book has so many positive reviews, I feel guilty admitting I didn't like this book.
It ticks all the boxes: young woman and her two children fleeing the abusive husband, corrupt cops, abducted children, the ominous Darknet and the happy ending. It felt manipulative and familiar, as if I had this type of story many times before.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

Audra Kinney is on a road trip from New York to San Diego with her two young children, Sean and Louise, escaping from her marriage.
She is stopped by a sheriff for a minor offence, and removed from her car. She is taken to the local town, after being told that her children would “be looked after”.
Once in the town, she is charged, and when she enquires about her children, is told “What children?”

Danny Lee is a man used to violence, whose child disappeared several years before in similar circumstances, causing a tragedy in his life. He is intrigued by Audra’s story and decides to help her.

I really enjoyed this, it’s a rip-roaring action thriller, with lots of twists and turns, as the truth about Audra’s marriage, and Danny’s story emerge, and the search for the missing children develops.
I particularly loved Sean the brave young boy, who did his best first to protect his mother, and then to care for and save his sister, and he tried to be grown up and mature.

(My only reservation was about the reason for the kidnap, and the motives of the kidnappers and I was very glad that a kind of justice was served in the end.)

Four stars from me.


Thanks to Netgalley and Vintage for the opportunity to read this book.

This is a distinctly creepy and tense read! From the opening scenes when Audra is driving through Arizona with her children, on the run from her abusive husband, to the final action packed scenes this is a gripping read.

The following is my review as posted on Goodreads and Amazon UK.

I hadn't really heard much about Here and Gone or indeed Haylen Beck. Until I found out that Beck is a pseudonym for Stuart Neville. Anyway, I got an email introducing me to the book, read the blurb and and I went for it .... and boy what a rollercoater of a ride this book was.

It became apparent fairly quickly that Here and Gone wasn't going to let me go anytime soon as I huddled down for a long stint of unbroken reading. It's a book you find totally immersing yourself in and it actually became really addictive. Audra is a mum of two children on a long drive across America starting her journey from New York. She's trying to escape her oppressive life from her controlling husband. On the run she goes and comes across a Sheriff who had spotted her during a pit stop for refreshments. He decides that Audra needs carting off to the local town as her car is deemed unfit to drive by him. He calls in a colleague to drive her children elsewhere and this is where the story takes off. When Audra ask where her children have been taken to the Sheriff denies all knowledge of her children's existence. What follows is a absolute nightmare journey for Audra as she goes about trying to prove to one and all that she hasn't gone mad, is indeed a mother and goes on a hunt for her missing children .

A small town community where nothing happens suddenly hits all of America as journalists pop up everywhere thrusting their microphones every which way. Yes, I know sometimes plausibility was stretched and suspension of belief was called for but Here And Gone is still a heck of a read which I simply could not put down until I reached the heady end.

I think you may have gathered now that I loved everything about this book. I was rooting for some characters, wanting to smack round the head others and oh the Sheriff ....... don't even get me started on the Sheriff!!

For a thrilling, high octane and sometimes emotional read (the children stuff isn't easy), I highly recommend this one. I'm even tempted to check out Neville's books now! Now, that's got to be a bonus! Thanks to all concerned for my review copy.

Here and gone
This is an amazingly heartbreaking story about the poor and vulnerable, and how they get pulled into child trafficking.

The novel also carries a reminder that appearances can be deceiving so don't believe those in power just because they're in power.

It's set in America but there are lonely, quiet places in all countries where we think we are safe because fit.

The setting is ideal as the stereotypically polarised villagers are credibly represented in all forms of modern entertainment. Here they feel real and are extremly well written. Still they remind you strongly of the Hillbillies or the southern sheriff in James Bond. The novel makes a clear statement in this way that America is both inclusive and exclusive depending on the area and money.

I could not put this down until I got to the end, reading at every possible opportunity.

Do not be put off by the content, well worth the effort to read to the end.

I received a free copy from net galley.com for my fair and honest review.

I found this book absolutely gripping and I couldn't put it down. Fast paced and captivating I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next.

Audrey Kinney and her two children are fleeing her abusive ex and are driving through Arizona on the way to California when she's stopped by a Sheriff who insists her car is not fit to drive. What follows is a creepy search of herself and her vehicle. He supposedly finds drugs on her and arrests her calling on his deputy to take the children "to a safe place". Understandably, Audrey is beside herself and believes her ex husband is behind it.

What follows is unbelievable. No one believes Audrey when she tells them her children were taken. They believe she murdered them and hid the bodies. Fast paced and relentless we are left hoping against hope the truth will win through. Loved it.