This book started out really good and I was sucked in but I started to lose interest about halfway in.... I did like the main character.

excellent book.
the majority is a book about grief, guilt and shame with family dynamics of pain and heartbreak and abandonment. the last few chapters tho....oh my goodness! what!?
I didn't see that coming.
shocking.

A decade ago, Alison's son Sam went missing at sea, and his body was never recovered. Alison has kept searching because she never believed the official account of the incident.

This book is well-written and I enjoyed it! I felt for Alison; her grief was truly heartbreaking. The twists were surprising, and the big reveal caught me off guard. I didn't expect it at all.

Thanks to NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing | Brilliance Audio for the free copy of the book.

4 Stars – Gripping, Raw, and Intensely Immersive

Gone delivers a powerful mix of suspense and emotional depth, weaving a compelling narrative that grips you from the very first chapter. Dreda Say Mitchell and Ryan Carter have crafted a thrilling story that explores the dark side of human nature, loyalty, and survival. The plot is fast-paced, with unexpected twists and a rollercoaster of emotions that keep you hooked.

Eilidh Beaton’s narration brings an extra layer of intensity to the story. Her voice is dynamic, capturing the tension, vulnerability, and grit of the characters perfectly. She does an excellent job bringing each voice to life, enhancing the atmosphere and making it an immersive experience.

While the book is gripping and well-written, a few moments feel slightly predictable, and some of the side characters could have been developed a little further. However, this doesn’t detract from the overall impact of the story.

Bottom line: Gone is an engaging, emotionally-charged thriller with a strong narrative and outstanding narration. A must-read (or listen) for fans of suspenseful, character-driven stories.

Okay, this is an emotional rollercoaster!
Alison's world fell apart ten years ago when she left her brother to watch her sons and niece at the beach so she could go see the musician play at the local pub. However, her world came crashing down when she saw police vehicles going to the beach, and rushing over there, she found that her oldest son, Sam, had been washed out to sea and they couldn't find him. Wracked with guilt over leaving her son on the beach, losing her son drastically changed her life. She lost her marriage, her relationship with her siblings and so much more!
Now, her ex-husband wants to have Sam declared dead. This brings up all the old wounds and then her youngest son Cole brings his new girlfriend home as he takes a break from college she starts having peculiar things happen where someone is playing Sam's piano in a locked room and she knows someone has to know what happened that day when Sam disappeared. Slowly she starts talking to people including her estranged siblings, and nothing is adding up. So with the help of a retired liaison officer starts digging and pulling threads of the story to see what happened that day and as she slowly starts realizing she knows nothing of that day everything she has been told is a lie! Every family has secrets, but this takes it to the max!
I listened to the audiobook, and I had to listen to it in one sitting because I was hooked! I had to know what happened! The narrator brings the emotional rollercoaster to life and shows all the emotional turmoil Alison is going through and the discovery of all the lies she's been told!
Thank you Netgalley and Brilliance Audio for the extraordinary opportunity to listen and review this one! The game was afoot from the beginning!

This had a slow start, but once it picked up, I couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed this psychological thriller. However, while the mystery was intriguing, none of the characters were particularly likable.

There was a lot of mystery throughout this story and I honestly wasn't able to figure it out until getting closer to the end. I really appreciated the depiction of grief and how determined Alison was to find out the truth, years later. This book showed how differently grief can affect you.

I think this would've been a good book to actually sit down and physically read but I had the audio copy. The narrator, Eilidh Beaton, was great. Her tone and clarity were fantastic and made the experience really engaging. I really love when all of the characters feel suspicious and unreliable and I felt that way with this book.

There's not much that I didn't enjoy about this except maybe it felt a little slow around halfway in. It was very brief though and didn't prevent me from enjoying.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ALC. All opinions are my own.

TW: child death, death, murder, death of parent, gaslighting, grief, infidelity, injury detail, violence, mental illness

This felt like a true psychological thriller to me. I didn't trust anyone and wasn't sure if there was an unreliable narrator. It kept me guessing the entire time. I thought that it was well written and that the characters were really well developed. Also, the audio book was perfectly done. I finished this in a day!

This book gave me chills in the best way! 😱 It’s a deep dive into grief, guilt, and obsession, with plenty of twists that kept me guessing. The main character, Alison, is so relatable in her emotional turmoil as she fights to uncover the truth behind her son Sam’s disappearance ten years ago. I won’t spoil anything, but the suspense builds and builds until you can’t put it down.

What I loved: The storytelling shifts between the past and present, and it really makes you feel Alison’s desperation and confusion. The characters are layered and complex, making you question everyone’s motives. Plus, the writing is so immersive that it feels like you're right there with Alison, searching for answers. 🕵️‍♀️

That said, the pacing felt a little slow at times, especially in the beginning, which made it a bit of a challenge to stay fully hooked. But once the plot picks up, it’s hard to stop reading! I definitely recommend this to fans of dark thrillers with a psychological twist. 🌑

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion!

Although a decade has passed since Alison's son Sam was apparently lost at sea, she has been unable come to terms with the loss in any way. And now events have conspired to force her into taking drastic action to find out what really happened to Sam. Because unlike her husband, who wants to have their son declared dead after all these years, Alison is not ready to let go of Sam yet...

The problem is, delving deeper into this particular can of worms risks setting in motion something that Alison cannot undo. And the price that she could potentially pay for the truth may well be far greater than she imagines...

This is a gripping story that gets its claws into the reader and never really lets go. But that's what Mitchell in particular is known for, and this latest offering does not disappoint. It gets 3.5 stars.

This was a really great book, with the "bad guys" hiding in plain sight. Not wanting to spoil the twists and turns, I can just say that even though the main character does get a bit off the rails at times, in general she is a strong character and I was rooting for her.

Thank you NetGalley for a ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

As his mom, she simply cannot do this without answers -- answers that she so desperately needed and tried to gain access to all of this time. So why was everyone around her so closed off about it?.
Her son's piano starts to play all by itself, people are whispering behind her back -- someone knows something.

Thankfully, there's help in the form of someone who couldn't let this case go -- something didn't sit right with him all of these years. What really happened is simply unimaginable! You kind of need to suspend belief here. The authors are great at creating suspicion all around.

Major pacing and dragging happens in the first half of this book -- I was at a 2.5 and nearly DNF'd. However, the back 1/4 really picked up and held my attention (finally), so I went to a 4.5. Overall, 3.5 rounded up for Goodreads. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read in advance in exchange for a review!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧 Gone by Dreda Say Mitchell and Ryan Carter
Publication Date: March 25, 2025
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
What would you do if your beloved son suddenly goes missing? Assumed to be swept away in the sea. Your own family were supposed to be watching him. But he’s just gone and something doesn’t add up. Ten years after her son vanished, Alison is still lost in her grief but has a sudden wake up call when she learns her ex husband wants to officially pronounce their son dead. She can’t let him go without knowing the truth of what happened that fateful day on the beach and she will stop at nothing to uncover the web of lies. I loved this audiobook, it gave me such true crime vibes and reminded me of some of the most famous cold cases like the disappearance of the Beaumont children and Madeline McCann. Thank you to the authors, Brilliance Audio Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC audiobook.

I loved this audiobook so much!! Mysterious with many unexpected twists.

Divorced and distanced from her younger son, Cain, Allison has gone through mental instability, emotional turmoil and extreme guilt over a traumatic event.

Sam, her oldest son, was swept out to sea and never found. But Allison always believed he would come back to her.

After 10 years, Marc, Allison’s ex-husband wants to officially declare Sam deceased so they can all finally move on. This ignites a relapse in Allison, who is insistent on finding out what really happened that day at the beach.

Her determination reveals shocking and unimaginable truths. Jaw dropping and mind blowing, I’m still reeling from what I just read!

I highly recommend reading or listening to this dark but intriguing story.

Rated 4.5 stars but rounded up.

Thank you to the authors, NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing or this ALC.

This was a true psyche thriller as I didn’t know what or who to believe. The narrator is very unreliable and all the other characters stink of suspicion.

I had sorted it out by the end, but enjoyed running around with the MC trying to find out the truth.

My main complaint, other than the book being a bit too long, is the maniacal confessional at the end by Frances. It felt cartoonish. it was particularly awful here as prior the author had done a great job of showing over confessing.

Whilst I enjoyed the plot of the book, the flow seemed a little off. The start was extremely slow and it picked up in the middle but the end seemed fast and rushed. It just seemed a little off to me personally.

The actual plot was good, although some parts were predictable. I liked how it spoke about everyone’s grief and how it affected them and what their life was like afterwards.

Overall it was a good book.

*full disclosure I was given this book In exchange for an honest review through NetGalley*

The book itself was 3 stars for me, due to some pacing issues at the start, but the audiobook was closer to 4.

Premise - Ten years after Alison’s son, Sam, disappears on a holiday by the sea she’s battling her ex-husband to not have Sam declared dead. Her remaining son brings home an alt-punk girl, Rocky, from college at the same time and Alison starts to lose her grip on reality between her fervent search for answers regarding Sam’s disappearance and Rocky’s strange actions in the house.

This was such a fun story once it got going, but the pacing of the start felt off. I’m a fan of a slow burn, but for me the ‘burn’ part of that was more or less missing until around chapter 16.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Elisha Beaton, and she did a fantastic job. Her voice makes even murder cozy, but never lost the thrill. If you pick up this story, definitely go for the audiobook! And maybe listen to the first 15 chapters on 1.5-2x (after that it really does get very good).

Thanks, NetGalley and Brilliance Audio, for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.