Oh my days! I knew that data gathering was a big thing but... well... I'm going to be thinking twice before I click that link in future. If you don't understand what I'm wittering on about, you will by the time you get to the end of this book. I can't explain, you know - spoilers!
Dr Augusta Bloom is both a psychologist and a private detective - a mix that actually fits quite well. One day, she is called by her colleague, and former Agent, Marcus to help with a missing person. Being an adult, the police aren't interested so she reluctantly agrees. Her interest is piqued when the details come out. They are heightened when, on further investigation, this appears not to be an isolated incident. Four people have disappeared on their birthdays, apparently lured by the contents of a birthday card left behind. Your Gift Is The Game - Dare To Play? As they delve further into the lives of the disappeared, things don't quite add up, and even escalate, and Augusta and Marcus slowly come to the realisation that maybe things are more widespread. But who is the puppet master? Who is pulling the strings... And, more importantly... What is their endgame?
For a book where I didn't really relate to or indeed like the two main characters, I actually had quite a ride reading it. The plot sustained me enough to carry on as I was both interested and intrigued as to where on earth it was taking me. I did guess a few things in advance but that's probably cos I eat, sleep and breathe this genre book and it takes a lot to pull the wool over my eyes these days. Even with a bit of prior knowledge (guesswork) I had no idea how on earth the author would weave it all together at the end and indeed what would happen.
Even though I didn't like Augusta or Marcus, they did rub along together quite well. A bit chalk and cheese but then, the best partnerships in books usually are! I believe this to be the start of a series and, now the main characters are introduced, it will be interesting to see where the author takes them next.
The psychological and sciency bits are well explained for the laymam without being patronising and it's evident that the author well knows her stuff in this regard. I did note a few things down for further reading and did learn quite a bit from the book too.
Pacing was a bit hit and miss throughout. It's hard to qualify here without giving up spoilers but, for me anyway, the book was a bit flat throughout. Maybe the action bits that were included along the way just didn't quite do it for me. And then when we got towards the ending, the whole thing went off like a rocket!
All that said, I was mostly satisfied at the book's conclusion and I will probably go on to read more of this series, if indeed it does continue as such. Maybe I'll warm more to Augusta given time. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This book had me hooked from the first 2 to 3 pages. It maintains a good pace and, for me, never got boring nor slipped into verbose descriptions although the paragraphs throughout the book on 'psychopath's, for me, were a bit hard going, but I accept necessary for the story.
No real heroes or heroines in this but Augusta did often remind me of Frieda Klein in the Nicci French extended days of the week octology (if this is a real word)
An excellent book and well worth reading - has some good twists that you don't see coming although I was unfortunate enough to work out who is Seraphine before it is revealed late in the story.
Very, very difficult to get a satisfying end to books of this type and with Gone I linked the end to that of the Killing Eve BBC series but with a verbal knife not a physical knife. Should be vague enough not to give anything away!
Very, very good.

Scary but yet edge of your seat in some parts psychological crime thriller. They investigate the case where several people have disappeared, each leaving behind a creepy but yet mysterious birthday card

Absolutely chilling and fascinating portrait of psychopathy. Could not stop thinking about it long after the last page!

I'd heard lots of good things about Gone so was really looking forward to reading it. I wasn't disappointed in the slightest by either the storyline or the writing. The main characters are Dr. Augusta Bloom, a psychologist, and Marcus Jameson, former MI6, who work together as consultants. When the daughter of a friend goes missing Jameson's sister turns to them to help find her. What they don't know is that they're about to risk everything, including their lives.

I really enjoyed Gone, the psychology aspects were fascinating and the whole book was a page Turner. Well written and with plenty to hold your attention, it's definitely one to look out for. The only thing that let it down very slightly is that I guessed who the villain was, quite early on in the book. It didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story as whole though, and I very much hope that we get to see more of Bloom and Jameson.

A birthday card in inviting you to play a game results in the disappearance
of four people unconnected except for the birthday cards A psychological thriller involving a Psychologist who is also a Private investigator and serial killer Fast paced, this book had me hooked from the beginning

This thriller has an intriguing premise. Psychologist, Dr Augusta Bloom and ex-spy, Marcus Jameson, become involved in the investigation of a missing person – that of a friend of Jameson’s sister. Soon, the pair realise that at least four people have vanished in the same way; receiving a birthday card daring them to ‘play a game,’ before, literally, stepping out of their life and leaving behind jobs, children and family.

With an emphasis on social media (this book will really make you think twice about filling in online quizzes or surveys!), I found this is interesting twist on the usual disappearance meaning you have a victim. However, in the end, I did find this – not formulaic – but slightly obvious. The main plot twist was visible from a great distance, while Marcus was a little too hot headed and unsuspicious for an ex member of the secret service. We learn of Bloom’s demons and the background of her life.

Overall, this had potential. I believe that there is to be a second in the series and I would give it a try, but would hope for a little more difficulty in spotting the ending. Rated 3.5.

Gone is an interesting take on the psychopathic serial killer genre and as such it is a fascinating and enjoyable read. A dual strand runs through this book. The first is the story of Seraphine, a 12 year old child visiting a psychologist after stabbing a school caretaker with a sharpened pencil, which she justifies as self-defence because he was sexually preying on her school friend and she was in fear that he would harm her, too.

The second is a deadly game which has resulted in people going missing from their families and friends.

Dr. Augusta Bloom is a psychologist who often works with the police and her friend and business partner, Marcus Jameson, an ex -MI6 operative who has left the service with severe burn-out. They discover that each of the four missing people they are looking into has received a card in the post. Tese cards read ‘Happy first birthday’ and ‘Your gift is the game. Dare to play? ‘

Jameson is contacted by his sister, Claire, who has been looking after Jane, the daughter of Lana, an army officer who is one of the people who has gone missing.Claire has been looking after Jane while her mum is away on army manoeuvres, and who has now vanished.

Claire has done some investigating of her own and has discovered another three people who have also gone missing in similar circumstances.

As Bloom and Jameson start to look into Lana’s disappearance they find that these disappearances are more chilling than anyone first thought. This premise offers an intriguing start to a fast-paced and action fuelled psychological thriller which captured my imagination and held my attention well.

Well plotted and intriguing, Gone is a different approach to the psychological thriller genre and offers an interesting and novel take on an investigating duo.

Characterisation is fairly lightly drawn, but this is the start of a series, and character development may follow in future books. As the plot develops, it becomes clear that Bloom and Jameson have inextricable links to this case and their past history will have a bearing on how the revelations unfold.

Psychological profiling plays a key role in enabling the analytical Bloom to get to the truth of what has been happening and I really enjoyed this aspect of the book, although as we got towards the conclusion the denouement became a little more obvious and the action somewhat more requiring a leap of faith.

Nevertheless, this is a strong start to a potentially exciting new investigative pairing and I would happily read another book with these two protagonists.

Verdict: A chilling and gripping psychological thriller with real potential for a future series.

Four strangers are missing and each of them have one thing in common, they disappeared on their birthday. They also received a card the day they disappeared saying 'Your gift is the game. Dare to play?'. The police think its all a game. But when psychologist, Augusta Bloom and her colleague, Marcus Jameson become involved when the case becomes personal, they think it's more than a game and lives may be in danger.

Great psychological thriller. It took me a few chapters to get into but then I was sucked in. The twists and turns I only saw just before they happened so it kept me guessing all the way though. I did find the concept of the 'game' a bit far fetched but it is, at the end of the day, a fiction book.. Overall a good read and I would recommend it.

How well you know someone is sometimes our biggest fear. We all know the stories of those people who are ‘quiet and keep themselves to themselves’ who eventually turned out to be something a lot nastier. How many of those people are out there? In Leona Deakin’s intriguing thriller Gone this idea is explored setting up a new detective duo versus a very dangerous and unusual set of adversaries.

A brilliant teenage girl named Seraphina attacks a teacher with a pencil with cool precision; a young mother named Lana receives an unexpected birthday card offering her a chance of a game to play. These weirdly connected events start a tale that uncovers that a group of people have all mysteriously vanished over the last few months. But Lana’s appearance leaving her young daughter to her own devices means that Marcus Jameson former secret service agent and his colleague the brilliant but aloof Dr August Bloom are asked to investigate. A respected pair of private detectives and consultants who specialise in unusual cases they find that the disappeared all share very disturbing traits – double lives; ruthlessness, selfishness and Bloom gets worried that someone very dangerous has started an unusual recruitment process. In turn it appears the mastermind behind it all has decided that it’s a perfect time to settle the scores with Bloom from long ago.

What I really liked in this story is the hyper-reality that Deakin creates. This is a high concept thriller with a great hook. Four apparently random strangers all get a mysterious card that triggers their disappearance. The fun begins when we see that the people are all known to have other sides to their personalities that are extremely worrying. What on earth is going on? Deakin throws in the dark web; personality profiling and a group that really enjoy playing dangerous games with real people for high stakes even at the expense of the lives of others and it feels to fit the world here. It’s a glamorous fast paced thriller with a lot of people in jeopardy.

Into this we have a new duo of investigators in the form of Bloom and Jamieson. The concept here is more Bloom as the brain able to analyse humans and their motives while Jameson is more the physical prowess as well as able to adopt other identifies and accents at will. They’re very compelling competent characters as we see they both themselves are nursing old secrets that this case triggers. Interestingly Deakin has opted not to show this as their first case and instead we have a duo that over five years has already gained a lot of respect and contacts within the UK police. On the one hand this avoids the trap of creating another origin story, but it does mean we are coming in cold to the two. They seem instantly accepted and obeyed by everyone and when we do get the o share their secrets it seems strange that for five years, they’ve managed not to know much about each other. I really liked their dynamic and there is a touch of Holmes and Watson in their approach ; they clearly need each other to be successful but they are solving cases with a more psychological rather than forensic approach. It’s suitable their nemesis then seems evenly matched with team that can play to the strengths and weaknesses of both so that it feels an evenly matched battle across the UK.

The one issue I had was that possibly as this is looking to set up a new crime series there is perhaps too much being explained at once in order to set the foundations for the series. Certain facts get repeated several times to labour a point and sometimes it’s exposition heavy as secrets get told at suitable moments. Despite this Deakin weaves several plot lines together cleverly and often in surprising ways. When it is at top speed these issues can be easily forgiven as it feels right and there is another set-piece; rescue or revelation to uncover around the corner.

I think this feels a promising start to what I hope is an interesting crime series with two unusual lead investigators. Hopefully now that the world and central premise is created the future instalments can breathe a little and just focus on keeping the thriller flowing at its best and Deakin feels an author to keep an eye out for. If you fancy some unusual deduction and a nice dose of worrying about who you should trust, then this would be a fun winter read.

Who likes to play games? Well it seems quite a few people. It falls to an ex MI6 agent and a psychologist to find some of the missing ones. It sounded interesting especially the different occupations of the investigators. I loved the beginning and the end, but found the middle a bit too dry and therefore a little boring. This pair were slow on working out who was pulling the strings as it was obvious! Also not keen on referring to people by their surnames most of the time and it was confusing to start with. It was an interesting concept and debut. Is this the first in a new investigative series, if so, it would make for something a little different from the usual run of the mill police novels. Might even be a good tv programme too!

A great debut thriller!

Augusta Bloom is a psychologist and private detective who, at the beginning of the book, is having appointments with teenager Seraphine Walker, who she believes to be a psychopath.

Parallel to this, we are told about a few people (which turns out to be 109!) who have gone missing after receiving a card on their birthday which simply says "Happy first birthday. Dare to play?" One of the people targeted is Lana. Lana gets on Augusta's radar as she is friends with the sister of Augusta's colleague, Marcus Jameson.

The two work together to suss out why these particular people have been targeted and what they're doing. It is a jam packed thriller with some fabulous twists, even if some are a bit unbelievable! It's very obvious that the author knows a lot about psychology.

I was completely hooked from the very beginning of this chilling thriller!

The concept of a sinister Game, designed for and played by some of the most dangerous individuals in society, for unknown stakes and goal… the whole thing is equally terrifying and fascinating.

Aside from the thrill of the danger and puzzling out the mysteries, I really enjoyed the psychological exploration of psychopathy: its root cause, traits and potential for treatment. The story explores this from more than one viewpoint, as we follow Dr Augusta Bloom on the clinician side of the fence and get glimpses into various Game players, as well as an interesting parallel view via Seraphine – a teenage girl with some distinctive thought patterns and disturbing behaviours.

With such insights, the monsters are humanised, and yet somehow that does not make the situation any less scary!

The plot is easy to follow, but not so easy to guess ahead, and builds to a satisfyingly dramatic climax, which involves brains and strength from our main characters, but also psychological dexterity and deep friendship. Finally, the ending leaves us on something of a cliffhanger which left me NEEDING more.

Definitely a nail-biter for fans of psychological thrillers!





She doesn’t believe me, Seraphine thought. Dropping her gaze and hunching her shoulders, she sank down in her chair and picked at the skin around her fingernails. I’m a fourteen-year-old girl and I’m scared. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I was just trying to help my friend and now I’m being interrogated.
For a moment she worried she’d failed to pull it off. Maybe her posture was wrong or her expression not quite right. Police officers were trained to spot a fraud.
But then Watkins folded up her paperwork. ‘OK, that’s enough for now. We’ll take a break and PC Felix here will show you where the canteen is.’ Watkins looked at Seraphine’s mother. ‘Something to eat will help with the shock.’ Then she looked back at Seraphine, her smile warm, ‘And then we’ll speak again.’
Seraphine nodded. I’m a vulnerable teenager in shock. I’m a vulnerable teenager in shock. She found it helped to repeat the words in her head.
Watkins stood and turned away. Seraphine relaxed. This was going to be a breeze.

– Leona Deakin, Gone

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

This books puts the Psycho in Psychological Thriller!

It's your birthday Wahoo!!! You get a card through your door, you have no idea who sent it, you open it, it is plain white, but inside is a message!

YOUR GIFT IS THE GAME.
DARE TO PLAY?

That is all the police have, a birthday card, and they are not really *that* worried about a person going missing, it is an adult after all, they probably have their reasons.

But, as more and more people are coming forward to say that their loved ones have received the same card and have also gone missing, psychologist and private detective Dr. Augusta Bloom, realises that this is more than just a silly game, this is turning into something very dangerous indeed.

With 2 story-lines running simultaneously alongside each other, a very clever story emerges, why would these people just up-and-leave? What is the game? and why are they only targeting certain people?

A great thriller to keep you your toes.

A roller coaster ride from beginning to end. Never accept a challenge without knowing the details. Great psychological thriller

People are going missing and the only thing that links them is a birthday card – ‘Happy 1st Birthday – your gift is the game. Dare to play?

As someone who loves to read crime thrillers and also has an interest in psychology, Gone pushed all the right buttons for me. There’s cryptic riddle to solve and the whole book is based around psychopaths which hooked me right in. I really liked the chapters dedicated to child psychopath Seraphine and how that tied into the main storyline – her inner thoughts were really nicely portrayed and felt realistic. My only wish was that we learnt a little more about the game that some of the players were playing.

I enjoyed the characters of Augusta Bloom and Marcus Jameson – psychologist and secret service agent and thought the partnership between them worked well. There were times when I thought they made some silly decisions and went into situations without informing the police. However, I raced through the book which was very nicely paced and made me suspicious of everyone at every turn! I’m amazed that this is a debut novel and congratulate Ms Deakin for a very solid and enjoyable read – I’ll be looking out for her next book!

Overall Gone is a great psychological crime thriller which will make you second guess every character and be on the lookout for psychopaths that may be all around you in real life! Thank you to NetGalley & Random House UK, Transworld Publishers – Black Swan for a chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced review copy of this novel by Leona Deakin and I was not disappointed with it. Gone is the unique debut from Leona Deakin which literally had me on the edge of my seat as I was reading it.
The novel dives in to the minds of psychopaths and what it takes to be a psychopath.
Four people have gone missing. All have received a birthday card with the message “Your gift is the game. Dare to play”. This book reminded me so much of the films, Saw, in the way in which each character was introduced and their personality unwrapped to the reader.
However, in this book, the police do not seem to be concerned about the missing people and one of the victims turns to Dr Bloom, a criminal psychologist, and her business partner Jameson, to help unravel what is going on.
The book was tense and gripping from the first page, in which we meet Serephine, a girl being questioned by the police for stabbing a pencil into her teacher’s neck. The girl thought the teacher was going to rape her, at least that is what she is telling the police.
There are twists and turns throughout this novel that I did not see coming and it was a refreshing book.
I really enjoyed meeting Dr Bloom and this is the making of a new favourite series! This book is perfect for any fans of Nicci French, Peter James, Mary Burton, Peter Robinson, Linwood Barclay and any other criminal profile authors!

A thriller with a strong psychological element and complex, sinister characters. It is slow-paced and focuses on unravelling the psyche of a schoolgirl, and a group of missing people, who appear to have left their lives to join a mind game.

The main protagonists are a criminal psychologist and her partner, who specialises in finding missing persons. Augusta Bloom is the stronger of the characters, and she takes the lead into finding the missing people, who appear to be drawn to a strange, potentially dangerous game. Her professional meetings with a schoolgirl who has been involved in a violent incident run alongside her other investigation. Are they connected directly, or indirectly or not at all? Where are the missing people? Are the victims or the antagonists?

The build of suspense is good, the knowledge of the human mind apparent, and you learn interesting facts about profiling and psychopaths. These subjects need to intrigue you for this novel to appeal, the clues are there, but well-spaced, so unless you have a good memory, you may forget them when they are returned too,

Worth reading, if you are interested in what makes the human mind work, from a psychologist’s point of view. and enjoy case study thrillers.

I received a copy of this book from Random House UK – Transworld Publishers – Black Swan via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This is a very good read and for a debut novel, I’m certainly looking forward to more from Leona Deakin. I was gripped from the first page to the last.

Four people disappear after they receive birthday cards anonymously, they are invited to play a game but to play they have to log on. Would you log on? Would you be just a little bit curious? They are not known to each other. The police won’t do anything because the four people are adults.

Psychologist Augusta Bloom and business partner Marcus Jameson ex MI6 are looking into the disappearance of one of the four. But it’s not long before they realise that there is more going on than they first thought and it’s not anything pleasant, they are becoming a part of the game.

I loved Augusta Bloom and Marcus Jameson. Bloom remains cool, calm, collected and analytical and Jameson is more explosive, but they complement each other well. I found the start a little bit slow but then it picked up, that may have just been me not quite focused because once you were drawn into the game, the tension started to rise. Bloom and Jameson find themselves drawn more and more into the game and they not only have to rescue themselves but others as well.

There is also teenager Seraphine’s story. Was she evil? Or was she just a bit lost and broken?

I think the story has been really well thought out, after all how many of us fill forms in online? Questionnaires, where would you go for your next holiday Barbados, New York or Bognor? (Sorry nothing wrong with Bognor) another survey may ask what brand of tea we like? What car do we drive? How many children? Then all this information is collated, analysed and manipulated and by then they know more about us than we do.

This was a great debut novel and I look forward to more of Augusta Bloom.

This is a twisty little thriller! A game that people play and then end up dead. And there's several people playing this game across the country....

Meanwhile a psychologist is talking to a young girl who has just stabbed a caretaker in a school. We the reader, knows she did it and that even she enjoyed it. She speaks directly to the reader and taunts the doctor and it's very compelling reading. You just know she's very very mentally damaged.

Didn't realise this was an debut as the relationship between psychologist Augusta Bloom and ex-spy Marcus Jameson. seems very established as if this is a series that has been going on for some time. You can tell the author has some experience of this kind of work. Very clever to have written it so well in a novel and create such compelling characters. For once, the investigators and police worked well together - not normaly the case in books I've read so kudos to the author for that!

And there's a warning for everyone as well - do you like playing personality tests online? What kind of coffee are you etc? Blimey you won't want to be doing this after reading this novel? Who is taking that information and using it to reveal more about you than you think?
I did get a little confused by the end as the game was much more complex than I realised. This was something that had been going on for some time with many many people. However the main 'cast' if you like were the ones to draw me in.

A nice little head twister this one.