Cover Image: Gone

Gone

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Member Reviews

This book was fantastic, hooked from start to finish.
A really clever and exciting read, with interesting characters.
Originally called mind games.

5 stars

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A fabulous book and the start of an new series I hope.
Dr Augusta Bloom is a private detective and psychologist, her partner Marcus Jameson asks her to help him locate a friend of his sisters who has vanished after receiving a mysterious birthday card inviting her to join a game.
They discover other people have received cards and also simply walked away from their lives and families.
This was such a different theme for a book and one I enjoyed hugely, can’t wait for the next one!

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If I had received a birthday card in the post with the greeting YOUR GIFT IS THE GAME. DARE TO PLAY? I would have tossed it out without a second thought. And if I did think about it, I might be a little paranoid at exactly who was playing with me. I am not a risk-taker; I don't go in for dares; and I certainly don't like to live life on the edge. And the fact that I have a conscience and consider the feelings of those around me proves that I would never fit into this category of very special people.
Psychopaths.

But not your serial killer type of psychopath. These people are what are known as functioning psychopaths. They have psychopathic personalities but are not necessarily bad people. They just don't think or feel the way a normal person does. Because they see themselves as far superior to others. To them, everything in this world revolves around them. They are selfish people who manipulate everything to their advantage with no conscience or the ability to understand what it is to have a conscience. Functioning psychopaths are all around us. They can be surgeons, politicians, lawyers - generally those in high paid positions where they reap the accolades they crave and don't care who they step on to get there.

So what does that have to do with this book? Everything. Because GONE is one big game in the battle for superiority. And everyone in the book is a pawn in the master puppeteer's game.

The story begins with Dr Augusta Bloom, a forensic psychologist who has an interest in psychopathic personalities, counselling 14 year old Seraphine Walker. Accused of stabbing the caretaker of the school she attends, Seraphine is claiming self defence. She alleges that Mr Shaw, the caretaker, tried to touch her inappropriately after consistently raping another girl in her class over the period of several weeks. Problem was, Claudia (the other girl) didn't back up her story and said Seraphine attacked him unprovoked. Up until then, Seraphine thought she had been clever. Obviously not clever enough. A mistake she would not make again.

A fascinating character, Seraphine added an unpredictable edge to the story. Even as you read her narrative, you are never really sure if she is telling the truth or not. But even so, her sessions are rather telling, despite trying to hide her true self. Even from early on, I could tell that Seraphine was a psychopath. But just how did she fit into the rest of the story?

The sessions with Seraphine alternated with the main storyline of people going missing on their birthdays after receiving a strange card with the message:

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY.
YOUR GIFT IS THE GAME.
DARE TO PLAY?

Four people - Lana Reid, Faye Graham, Stuart Rose-Butler and Grayson Taylor - are missing. None of them have anything in common...other than the fact that they all disappeared on their birthdays and all received a somewhat unusual birthday card prior to their disappearance. But as it turns out...that's not all they have in common.

Dr Augusta Bloom is on her way to the office when she receives a call from her business partner, Marcus Jameson (ex-MI6), about a woman known to his sister Claire going missing. Her daughter Jane returned home to find her mother gone with no message, no warning, and emptying their bank accounts...leaving Jane with no money for food or rent. Lana, a returned veteran of Afghanistan suffering PTSD, would never leave her daughter, aside from her tours, and Jane and Claire are both fraught with worry.

As Bloom and Jameson investigate, many untruths about Lana come to light. She is not nor ever has been in the armed forces and she certainly has never been to Afghanistan. So where was she going all those times she left Jane with Claire, if not on tour? And where did their money come from, if not from her work in the forces? And where was she now? Does her disappearance have something to do with her lies?

As they dig deeper, Bloom and Jameson uncover even more people who disappeared in similar circumstances after receiving a similar message. What did it all mean? And where were all these people now?

One thing became clear; each of these people displayed psychopathic personalities and each of them had played some kind of trivia quiz on social media that is subtly designed to identify specific personality traits. In this case, psychopathy. And someone is masterminding the entire thing in a game of challenges where participants, should they choose to accept the dare, are given a choice. And each choice leads them to the next challenge and so forth.

The investigation takes them from London to Bristol to Manchester and to Yorkshire. But things take a sinister turn when it appears that this game that is being played before their very eyes has become personal. And soon Bloom and Jameson are forced to make a choice of their own...

GONE is a unique concept with a very original and intriguing plot which had me turning pages at the speed of light. The story was addictive, dark and compelling throughout. I devoured it. The pace was steady and the short snappy chapters kept it moving quickly.

The twist, when it came, I was not surprised by. I admit to working out the mastermind and their role in the story early on as Augusta sat ruminating in her mother's attic. That was when the pieces fell into place for me.

The one thing that really let this book down, apart from the title, was the ending. It fell a bit flat for me. All that hype and lead up...to what, exactly? It left me a little disturbed even. All throughout GONE, it was full throttle ahead with non-stop action...and then suddenly STOP!! And I'm thrown head first through a windscreen of nothingness wondering what the hell happened to end like that!

And then there was the title. I'm not really sure why it was called GONE when it had originally been titled as MIND GAMES, which in my opinion is a far more apt title for this book. Why the change? MIND GAMES was far more appropriate considering the entire book was a mind f***!

However, despite the flat ending, I did thoroughly enjoy GONE. And I look forward to more featuring Dr Bloom and hopefully Marcus Jameson in the future.

I would like to thank #LeonaDeakin, #NetGalley and #RandomHouseUK for an ARC of #Gone aka #MindGames in exchange for an honest review.

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A really quick read - fast paced (once you got through the initial chapters) and a real -just-one-more chapter type of book! I found the main characters of Bloom and Jamieson weren’t as well developed as they could have been but this didn’t detract from the story. I think we learnt far more about the people they were seeking than the main characters themselves.

Gone is a very different book from the usual thriller. It provides insights into other people’s minds and also gives you a real fear factor about those ‘innocuous’ quizzes on social media!

All in all this was a good book. The writing style was a little simplistic but it worked to build tension and keep the book flowing. I keep thinking about the story and what happened at various points - so that’s a good thing, even though the prose wasn’t as brilliant as other books in this genre.

4* All in all, a good and interesting debut from an author who knows her stuff when it comes to psychology!

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This was very disappointing after a reasonable start.
The story line was just too far fetched for me and the main characters were boring.
It just dragged on and I really struggled to finish this with a distinct lack of thrill.

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Oh this was different. Not your usual dead bodies but interesting dynamics between different characters. I hope this becomes a series #Gone#NetGalley

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A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I enjoyed this story very much and felt like I knew each character personally due to the description of them. I enjoyed the storyline. This is not my usual genre but in this instance I am extremely pleased and grateful for opening up my mind to something totally different. Thanks again.

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Gone by Leona Deakin
This was a great read. Clever plot with great character development and insight into “different mindsets”. I don’t want to give the plot away but suffice to say there is plenty of intrigue, action, undercurrent and whodunnit throughout. A good gripping story, leaving me with characters I want to know more about and read what comes next. Leona has adeptly left the door open for all of that. Sequel?......I hope so

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Initially it took me a while to get into this but once I did there was no turning back.
A psychologist and her colleague get caught up in a missing persons case of four different people all of who have gone missing on their birthdays.

A thrilling ride with some far fetched elements but regardless of this I still enjoyed it.

There are a lot of characters but once you get to grips with who everyone is the story flows.

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I rate this book 3.75 stars
Gone by Leona Deakin
Four people are missing after receiving a birthday card.....YOUR GIFT IS THE GAME. 
DARE TO PLAY? 
Is it a straight forward game or something more sinister!
A brilliant debut novel that l just wanted to keep reading until the end.
Clues,twists, psychology,l enjoyed the writing style and the plot.Very much looking forward to the 2nd book.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my chance to read this

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I do enjoy a well though-out, twisty and twisted murder mystery, so I was excited to receive this.
It didn't disappoint, although I have to say the beginning had me slightly confused as I thought I was going to read about something completely different.
Modern technology is used instead of snail mail, but it's the old 'play a game' scenario, leading to people going missing, with no apparent link between them.

The psychopathic depictions were unnerving, and it was great to see a psychologist playing such a large part in unravelling the mystery.
In this book, everything is relevant, or so I thought.

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I loved this book, I raced through it. I would definitely recommend it and will be reading more from this author!

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Enjoyed this book, had some great twists and turns. Did make me think about what information people can get from my social media. Well written, little complicated in places

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It took a while to get into this book, but once you do it's unputdownable. You warm to Bloom and Jamesons characters as you are supposed to. Why do all these people go missing and what do the birthday cards mean??
Quite slow moving to begin with but intriguing and thought provoking as well
. I hope Leona does a follow up.novel to.this as I would love to know if Jameson goes back working with Bloom and if the other players ever go home.
Can't wait for Leona's next novel.
Thank you net galley for giving me the opportunity to read this novel.

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Ooooo this was a fantastic read with a unique storyline I’d not come across before 😃 really enjoyed it, a good little psychological thriller that was an easy read, scary in places and the perpetrator was pretty twisted (just how I like them)! Great little book that I read in two sessions.

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#Gone #NetGalley
Superb thriller.
I was hooked when i read its premise. It was different from other thrillers available today with an unexpected ending.
Four strangers are missing. Left at their last-known locations are birthday cards that read: Dr Augusta Bloom delves into the lives of the missing people, she finds something that binds them all. Dr Bloom races to unravel the mystery and find the missing people. But these people are the dangerous ones.
Narration of the story is crispy and holds till the last word of the last page.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Black Swan for giving me an advanced copy of this awesome psychological Thriller.

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I stated off enjoying this book, it was slow going but kept me interested. However in the second half of the book the village I live in is mentioned and the village right next to mine. It lost me at that point because of inaccuracies. The inaccuracies were nothing to do with the story really and probably silly but the very fact that they were there took me away from the story. I always feel if an author is going to write about a real place in a work of fiction then it needs to be absolutely spot on.

From that point on for me the story just fizzled out and I’m lost as to what exactly the game was. The point of it was obvious but what exactly was it? I feel this is a book that could go on into a series to give more of an understanding of things left unexplained and I would be prepared to read more.

Unfortunately those local inaccuracies spoilt this book for me and so I can only give 4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

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I was instantly attracted Sri this book when I read the synopsis and I have to say that the book did not disappoint.

I read this so quickly and loved how different and gripping it was.

I really liked the characters and the plot was well constructed and thought out.

I did have some suspicions though, as I usually do but the ending and the big reveal wasn’t that obvious.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick thriller.

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Loved this book although it was very dark and scary for me. I love Psychological but this was on another level...
I loved the main characters Augusta Bloom and Marcus Jameson
Loved the way the book kept giving hints to the story and kept me wanting to read more, even when I really needed to sleep.....well written and great end

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I have to say that at the beginning of Gone I was a little confused, and wasn’t entire sure whether I was going to enjoy this as much as I had expected, but once the story picks up, it really sucks you in. Although this wasn’t a fast paced thriller, it didn’t really need to be, as the plot was well developed and engaging, and I rather enjoyed Leona Deakin‘s writing style. However, I did figure out a few of the outcomes, as it got a little predictable towards the end of the story.

The characters were all extremely interesting, and although there wasn’t a great deal of information about them revealed, I feel like that added to the mystery of the story. Dr Bloom and her ex-MI6 colleague, Marcus, were a great combination, and their relationship brought some humour into an otherwise serious storyline. They were entertaining to read, and complemented each other perfectly.

Deakin is something of an expert in the field of Psychology, which made Gone a lot easier to understand, as she managed to explain the medical side of it in a way that was easy for ALL readers to understand, rather than being confused by a load of medical terms. She also managed to pull this off without it sounding patronising towards the readers too.

The social media aspect of the story was very thought-provoking, and has actually made me think a lot more about the way I use social media, and what I share online. I like to think that I am conscious of this already, and that I don’t share more than I should, or more than is safe, but after reading how even something as small as Facebook quizzes can be used, I am definitely going to think a lot more about what I do online. So for that, Leona Deakin, I would like to thank you!

Overall, I did really enjoy this book, despite predicting some aspects of the ending. The storyline was interesting, different, and full of suspense. I would definitely recommend this, especially if you are interested in Psychology.

I give Gone a 4/5 rating.

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