Here and Gone by Haylen Beck
*NO SPOILERS*
Here and Gone is
an alluring tale of a mother’s struggle to reclaim her children from backwards
cops while fighting off self-doubts and the public’s condemnation. Overall, I
liked Here and Gone. This book is a
nice change from my usual reading genres, but I had a few problems with some of
the logic in this book. I’m new to reading mysteries/thrillers so I haven’t yet
trained my brain to not point out all of the steps not taken to solve the
murder/mystery. For example, why don’t people use lie detectors or drug tests
to figure out if a suspect really is a suspect? Ignoring these things, I really
enjoyed the author’s writing style even though this book took a while to pick
up action wise. I was expecting something to blow up or some gun fights right
off the bat, but I forgot you also have to tell a story. This being a new
experience for me, I think I was expecting more than what the author could give
me. I really liked most aspects of this book though, Audra was a believable
character and I felt that all of her actions were just. She didn’t do anything
that made me think it was over the top like some characters in other mediums
(TV shows). I also really liked how the author wrote the relationships between
the characters, there was a lot of emotions and connection that I felt were
life-like. I can’t tell if this story was exactly original, per se, because I haven’t
really read any other book in this category, but I will say I liked the
possibility of this being true. Something like this could actually happen in
today’s society (and probably does) and it is scary to think about. The
predictability in this story kept throwing me for loops, one minute I would
think I had everything figured out and the next my assumptions would be totally
wrong. I liked that about this book, and was surprised it could throw me off
like that because I like to think I know everything 😉.
Two things on my grading scale that wasn’t up to par, Emotions and relatability.
I am not a mother so therefore could not imagine what it must have been like
for our main character Audra, therefore I would consider the relatability and emotions categories void. This
book didn’t make me cry or laugh or make my heart race, and I was a little
disappointed that it didn’t. The cover was pretty okay too, I guess I can award a few bonus points for the cover's tie in with the story and cool font. Despite the minor issues I had, this book was a
nice change of pace that I enjoyed reading!
*SPOILER ALERT*
Firstly, I want to say Mrs. Gerber was my favorite
character, even though her revelation that she killed her husband had me saying
WHAT?? I liked the way she switched sides and ended up helping Audra. I also
would like to point out that Sean was super smart. Like an 11-year-old helping
his sister survive was pretty brave in the face of danger and panic. Color me
impressed with his level head and skill, and no, I didn’t think that his
actions were unreasonable for a kid in his situation. Although, I do hate that
he had to grow up so soon. One problem I had with the characters was Danny, he
seemed like a flat character that only cared for revenge. I wish we had gotten
to see more in terms of his character development. In my opinion Patrick and
his mom were sociopaths that had no feelings and were truly horrible people.
That is all I want to say on that topic because thinking about what he did
makes me sick. So now for my last observation, if this situation has happened
before (with Danny’s family) and it was national news, why was no one
suspicious or even remotely concerned when a situation EXACTLY LIKE IT popped
up on the news again? If you have an answer let me know.
*DISCLAIMER*
In accordance with FTC guidelines regarding endorsements and testimonials for bloggers, I would like my readers to know that this book was provided for me for free by the website Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review. I am in no way compensated for this review.
For more info on the book visit the site: http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/551393/here-and-gone-by-haylen-beck/
For more info on the author visit the site: http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2145392/haylen-beck/
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