Lost You starts with a good pace as Ethan disappears, and I was all ready to settle in for a gripping thriller. Then the story moves into the past and everything that led up to the disappearance and one woman's claim that young Ethan is her child. That's where it started losing me. The pace slows down considerably, and parts of felt like a little too much of the mundane. There are elements of a thriller here, but most of the book is more domestic suspense or drama. The story does get very dark and one part in particular disturbed me to no end, but other than those few and fleeting moments, there wasn't much in the way of the gripping story I was hoping for. As far as the story itself, neither of these women are particularly likable nor are they what most would consider stable, which does lend itself to the suspense. The conclusion was about what I expected, but kind of fell flat for me. I suppose that tidy little bow that ties everything up was just a little bit too tidy if you know what I mean. In the end, this one comes in somewhere in the middle. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. 

In Rache entflammt - 5 stars

Ohne Spur - 4.5 stars

Phantastische Tierwesen: Grindelwalds Verbrechen - 4.5 stars

Matilda - 5 stars

Favorite book(s) of the month: every single book I read this month

Books started this month but haven't finished yet: Wahrheit gegen Wahrheit, Die Rote Königin, Manga Classics: Macbeth

I'm so happy with my last wrap up of the year. I seriously loved all the books that I have finished and I really enjoy the books I'm still in the middle of. I hate that I go into the new year with unfinished books. I like to have a clean slate at the end of the year. But oh well.

german and english review (spoilerfree)

audiobook on audible

Inhalt: Ihre Flucht endet – ihr Albtraum beginnt!

Audra Kinney flieht mit ihren zwei kleinen Kindern vor ihrem gewalttätigen Ehemann. Mit dem Auto will sie zu einer Freundin nach San Diego, ans andere Ende der USA. Doch mitten in der Wüste von Arizona wird sie von der Polizei angehalten. Im Kofferraum ihres Wagens findet der Sheriff ein Päckchen Marihuana, das Audra noch nie gesehen hat. Alle Unschuldsbeteuerungen sind zwecklos – sie wird verhaftet. Und was dann kommt, hätte sie sich in ihren schlimmsten Albträumen nicht vorstellen können. Denn plötzlich sind ihre Kinder verschwunden. Der Sheriff behauptet, Audra sei allein im Wagen gewesen. Die Welt hält Audra für eine Mörderin. Und ihr Wort steht gegen das des Sheriffs. Kein Mensch glaubt ihr. Bis auf einen.

DAS BUCH. Grund Gütiger. Man hat Audra, die von einem Albtraum entkommt und in den Nächsten startet. Ich habe so mit ihr gelitten, ganz ehrlich. Alles was mit ihr passiert ist, war so frustrierend und einfach schrecklich. Und dann Danny, er war auch so ein großartiger Charakter. Ich habe mit ihm auch so mitgelitten. Ich muss aber ehrlich sagen, dass ich mir bei ihm und für ihn ein bisschen mehr gewünscht habe.

Die Geschichte an sich fand ich einfach unheimlich spannend und interessant. Vor allem auch etwas Neues, weil ich sowas in die Richtung noch nicht gelesen habe. In den meisten Kriminalromanen/Thrillern, gehören bei mir die Cops zu den Guten und nicht zu den Verbrechern.

Der Schreibstil hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Obwohl ich wohl eher auf den Sprecher und seinen Erzählstil eingehen muss, da ich das Buch ja als Hörbuch gehört hatte. Der Sprecher hat mir wirklich gut gefallen und hat mich auch durch weg unterhalten und hat meine Aufmerksamkeit nicht beim Erzählen verloren.

Ich bin eindeutig auf mehr Bücher von dem Autoren gespannt.

***

Summary: It begins with a woman fleeing through Arizona with her kids in tow, trying to escape an abusive marriage. When she's pulled over by an unsettling local sheriff, things soon go awry and she is taken into custody. Only when she gets to the station, her kids are gone. And then the cops start saying they never saw any kids with her, that if they're gone than she must have done something with them...

Meanwhile, halfway across the country a man hears the frenzied news reports about the missing kids, which are eerily similar to events in his own past. As the clock ticks down on the search for the lost children, he too is drawn into the desperate fight for their return.

THIS BOOK. Goodness gracious. You have Audra, who is fleeing one nightmare, just to get into another one. I just felt so bad for her, I actually felt like I suffered with her Everything that happened to her, was just so damn frustrating and also so very awful. And then Danny, another amazing character that I truly loved and also suffered with a lot. I actually wanted more of him and for him.

The story itself was super interesting and thrilling. It was also something very new for me, cause in most of the crime/thriller books that I read, the cops are actually the good guys and don't belong in the criminal category.

The writing was also very good. I have to talk about the guy reading the book, though, since I listened to it as an audiobook. He did a really great job and he held my attention throughout the whole book.

I'm super interested in other books by that author.

I knew it would happen, I thought I was prepared but guess what, it still shocked me!!!

In her debut novel, Haylen Beck takes the reader on a parent's nightmare worst fears.

Audra Kinney is fleeing an abusive marriage with her two children and she thought that they would be safe, she just needs to get to California. On a pit stop she spots a police officer and Audra is wary as her husband has quite a bit of influence, and she had a right to be wary. Sheriff Whiteside sees an opportunity in Audra and her children and when he pulls her over and finds a bog of marijuana in her vehicle he arrests her for possession. Audra know it is not hers, she does not know where it came from but when she asks about her children and the response is "What Children?" her worst nightmare has just begun. Across the county a man watches the news about Audra's case and it all sounds way too familiar to him and he see an opportunity to find out what really happened to his family, but the answers they find are even more than anyone can imagine.
 
This book is very very unsettling and extremely terrifying and traumatizing as a parent. From the very first scene Back is able to grab hold of the reader and keep that hold until the end. This book is really well paced and I liked that Beck took the time to have several points of view as this was needed as we know who the bad guys are so there is no mystery there, it was more about what will happen to Audra and her children. I find that this created a more well rounded story and plot as a whole. There are also shifts in time in this book as we learn where Audra came from and why she was running away from her husband.

I think one of the most interesting characters within the book was Sheriff Whiteside, and how he ended up on the other side of the law. He is probably one of the most evil men that I have read about in a long time and he is basically the perfect antagonist in this book and the lengths he is willing to go to protect himself were great. Also as the Sheriff this gave him additional powers that he has no qualms about using. However, while Sheriff Whiteside is an interesting character, the rest of the cast was not so interesting, they acted fairly predictable in my opinion and I think that Beck missed an opportunity with Danny Lee

I wish Beck would have had more with Danny Lee at the end of the book as his part and what occurs seems to end suddenly so this does make me wonder if maybe there will be a second book featuring him with his own personal quest. I also felt that Danny Lee was not developed as much of a character as he could have been.  

This was a good debut novel and the farther you read in to this book the more invested you become in Audra and her children. I look forward to seeing what Beck comes up with next, a new author to keep an eye on for sure.

Enjoy!!!