Very well written. Great premise. Plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing. Enjoyed it from the beginning until the end. A fast paced thriller. Would definitely recommend this this novel and look forward to the next one. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

Lost You by Haylen Beck was so much more than I had expected! A story about a missing child right - yes but there is so much more to it than that. It was a total surprise the turn that this book took and it was fascinating! I did not want to put this book down and read it very quickly. From missing children, deep dark secrets, surrogacy, obsession and so much more, this book had it all. I highly recommend this book for lovers of twisty storylines.

Libby takes her 3 year old son Ethan on a well deserved holiday. She starts to relax and enjoy herself for the first time in a very long time and that is when disaster strikes. Ethan thinks that it is funny to run into the elevator before his mum and start pressing the buttons. One night the doors close and Ethan disappears. A frantic search with hotel security finds him on CCTV with another woman - who claims to be his mother. This then begins the back story that you will not believe.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Vintage Publishing for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased.

The book gets your attention straight away but then about chapter 6 the tension builds then it gets exciting and fast paced. Unputdownable with some shocks and twists. Brilliantly written and some of the labour scenes are close to home. Highly recommend

4.5 stars, rounded down.
Bloomin heck! This was one wild ride... Not completely credible throughout, hence the rounding down, but it did manage to keep my attention, whilst also confusing the heck out of me with its twists and turns as it raced to its, mostly satisfying, conclusion.
Libby has taken her son Ethan on holiday. She is looking forward to the break as she has been raising Ethan since he was a baby, her husband having left her not long after he was born. For the first few days, things are going swimmingly - well, she is at a resort so there is a fair bit of swimming going on! - and she has even made friends with a couple who have also taken to Ethan, giving her a bit of "me time" which she so desperately needs.
Ethan has developed an obsession with elevators, specifically sneaking in quickly and pushing all the buttons. Libby has warned him about waiting for her but on one occasion, he is too quick for her and the doors shut with him inside alone. Panic sets in and, when the elevator is soon found to be empty, Libby races to figure out which floor he got off on, and where he is now. With a whole resort to search, hotel security and the police get involved quickly. But what they discover shocks Libby to her core as she sees Ethan being led away by a woman on the CCTV. A woman who is subsequently identified. A woman Libby denies all knowledge of. Anna, a woman who claims to be Ethan's mother. But who is lying, and why? What secrets are yet to be uncovered...?
This book kept me completely confused an flummoxed for the majority of my time with it. A not uncommon feeling for me with this genre and one that I am happy to go through as, often the end justifies the means. Notwithstanding my earlier comment regarding plausibility, this book did just that for me. But then again, thinking more into it, I've never walked in Libby's shoes so, although I am not wholly convinced by some of her actions during the book (don't worry, no spoilers) who am I to criticise her motivations. Her ex-husband, well, he's another story in itself, one that I can't go into in a review - spoilers!
The story itself delves into the realms of obsession, poverty, desperation and covers a multitude of mental health issues. All of which lend themselves nicely to a book of this genre. And, for the most part, all these things are well executed in the playing out of what happens both in the present and the past that shaped it. It's gripping, if a little "car-crash" at times, and I did feel for the majority of the characters along the way as their stories developed and the truth came out. Anna's part in the whole thing did muddy the waters somewhat along the way and I guess that it was her that I felt the most for, although, like most obsessives, she had her own dubious agenda and issues which did irk me a tad as well. I consequently did all the swinging between the characters that usually happens with this kind of book - a bit dizzying at times though.
All in all, a good solid read that, despite my reservations, did hold my attention nicely and compelled me to read on, leaving me mostly satisfied at its shocking conclusion. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC, which I have enjoyed reading.
Lost You by Haylen Beck is an interesting read about surrogate mothers and how they can be exploited in unscrupulous hands. Anna decides to be a surrogate mother for a price and then changes her mind. Libby is a married woman who has many issues and is willing to pay for a child via the surrogacy route.
When Anna changes her mind on the birth of her son, Libby won’t take no for an answer and tracks Anna and her baby son to where they live, intending to take him back with tragic repercussions. Lost you is about the repercussions and events that happen.
The storyline is very tragic and sad, with no winners or losers. It is an engrossing read.
Recommended.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Vintage Publishing for an advance copy of Lost You, the second stand alone written by Stuart Neville under the pseudonym Haylen Beck.

Single mother Libby Reese takes her three year old son on a much needed holiday to Florida but her dream holiday turns into a nightmare when Ethan vanishes after accidentally shutting the lift doors on her.

Lost You is an interesting novel which I was keen to read after the excellent Here and Gone. The opening chapters are excellent with Libby’s terror making a real impact and the hint of a secret about her is really intriguing. Then the novel switches to four years earlier and the events leading up to Ethan’s birth. I must admit, however, that I didn’t take to this middle part of the novel which is more character study than thriller and tells more about pregnancy than I ever want to know. It soon heats up again and storms to a great ending with a fabulous twist.

Above all Lost You is a novel about obsession and the deleterious effects it has on mental health. It makes, overall, for a gripping read, due to the plotting and the way secrets are gradually revealed. Obviously this comes at the expense of likeable characters as it is impossible to like obsessives even if you can understand some of their motivation and actions.

Lost You is a good read which I can recommend.

Lost You is one of those books that is so hard to put down .It is a fast paced psychological thriller,the story of two woman fight over a baby that each claims is hers !The story starts with the ending and then the story takes us back to the beginning.Delving into the world of surrogacy I found this quite a thought provoking story .Many thanks to the Publisher,the Author and NetGalley for my preview copy in return for an honest review.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

have to admit to being a bit disappointed with this book...though it is well written and thought out and very thought provoking...

it was just the high octane start that left you begging for more and then when we got to the backstory and its all about surrogacy, and how it all came about even though its outlawed in several states i was quite disappointed, plus i wanted to go back to that beginning again and that didnt happen till the last 15 mins of the book...

but it was well thought out and some horrid characters abound in this book and it flowed just i wanted a bit more from that brilliant beginning...

With Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

Haylen Beck grabs you, pulls you in and squeezes everything out of you before spitting you out, emotionally exhausted at the end of this rollicking good read.

A tale of surrogacy, two driven, somewhat off centred woman and an innocent young child.

The story is split into two distinct time zones, which inevitably merge at the end.
Both woman involved are complex and I was on both their sides at different points in the narrative.

An absolutely compelling, psychologically fascinating read that I finished at 4am. Once I got into the final third I just couldn't stop.

A brilliant novel and heartily recommended.

I’ve never read a Stuart Neville novel but I love his alter ego Haylen Beck and the crime novels he writes set in the USA. The debut novel Here and Gone was one of my favourite reads of 2018 ( I actually listened to it on Audible which really added a sense of terror to the narrative and I highly recommend it if you like audiobooks!) so Lost You was high on my list of anticipated reads of 2019. And what a rollercoaster of a read it was! I don’t want to talk about the plot at all as I want everyone to go through the same “emotional washing machine” that I was spun around in! The author took me on a 180 degree turnaround several times in a shocking and unexpectedly heartbreaking thriller that completely blew me away.

The exploration of what it feels like to be a mother is so eloquently crafted here, and that was an unexpected surprise in this missing child mystery. It went far deeper and in a different direction to the one that I had been expecting from the blurb but for me that really made Lost You a fabulous read. It was addictive, completely gripping and I finished it within a couple of hours as I just had to know what had happened to Ethan and why.

Once again this book has taken the “children in peril” theme and totally delivered for me. A high octane race against time with a thought provoking moral dilemma at its core, Lost You is highly recommended by me.

I really enjoyed Haylen Becks first novel Here and Gone so, I was excited when I received a copy of Lost you.
Libby is on a well-earned break with her son Ethan. When her child goes missing. First, she thinks that he is somewhere on the resort. But when she talks to the hotel’s security team and they show her camera footage she realises that Ethan has been abducted.
Years previously, Libby is so desperate for a child but, she cannot have one herself. She decides to hire a surrogate with the disapproval of her husband Mason. He prefers to adopt.
Then there is Anna, she has just lost her job. She has no money and nowhere to go. She is estranged from her family and she sees and advert for a job with good money. It turns out to be a job for a Surrogate. Anna has had no experience with children. But when the baby grows, she decides that she wants to keep the baby.
This was a great unputdownable thriller, with great characters and lots of twists and turns. Showing how desperate one can get to have a child. The controversial and legality of surrogacy and the subject of adoption. 4 stars from me.

Haylen Beck is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. Lost You is an astounding book, full of suspense, whilst dealing with the emotive subject of surrogacy. I felt sorry for the women involved and couldn't imagine how it was going to end. Who would benefit from that situation, I'm still thinking about it!
Thanks to NetGalley for my copy.

An interesting read, and not quite what I expected from the beginning. You have every sympathy for the first character but in the end realise just what she was. And you dislike the second character, but by the end have every sympathy for her. A surprising, twisting tale, A good read and will keep you hooked.

This book was rather a different story. I enjoyed it, although it made me rather sad. It really is a heartbreaking tale of surrogacy and the desperation some women feel to have a child. The element of mystery about the story held my attention and I found the concept an intersting one.
However I do have one proviso and that is thay I would not recommend this book to be reard by anyone pregnant or indeed trying for a baby, as it might feel a not near the knuckle for them.
A good read.

This was brilliant! It first appeared to be a story about a lost child but then it moved into the complex issue of surrogacy and the moving and painful issues that can arise from this. Definitely worth reading.

Children are very precious-and the desire to have your own child is for some, one of the strongest urges a person can have. I felt the pain of both women, but for me, the child must always be the no 1 priority. A great read with moral overtones and dark at times. A recommended read.

I was really caught up in this fast read from the first page. Then because I thought I had worked out the ending I felt the middle section seemed to go into far too much detail. I then felt an apology was owed to the author for my jumping to conclusions as wrong and what a shock of an ending. Well done for pulling that off Hayden Beck.

A woman with a a baby in her arms is up on the roof of a holiday resort, poised to jump. What could she possibly have done or seen to be considering taking her own life and her child’s? To find the answer to this question, we flash back to the past, to where it all began: two young women, one desperate for a child, the other desperate to earn some money to tide her over after being laid off; and an exploitative one-man organisation preying on young people desperate for a child.

It is a fair read, but the story is, for the most part, quite predictable. Except for one twist just before the end that I didn’t see coming.

(Review copy from NetGalley)

A fast paced well written read. This was a good story but a little too predictable. The plot idea was good but I didn’t feel surprised by anything that happened.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I found this to be an OK read, a tad predictable and slow but, with some really good elements. It starts off so well, with a cliff hanger beginning, but, for me it then plodded along a little and I just found it a bit mediocre.

The subject matter of surrogacy is an interesting one and if only the characters had been more likeable and with more depth, I might have felt differently. However, as it is, it felt a bit B movie. Sorry!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.