Have you ever seen a trailer to a movie and been so excited to see it because the trailer has you on the edge of your seat with anticipation, only to be disappointed when you do get to see it because all the good parts were in the trailer and the movie left you wondering why you wasted your time?  That is how I felt about this book.  The description had me so excited, I was so happy to be picked for an ARC.  I started reading it and it was interesting to start off with.  But then it slowed down and was hard too follow at times.  The end got better but not enough to redeem the time I felt I lost by dragging through the middle.  I wouldn't recommend this book to those who like a fast paced page turner.  I want to thank the publisher, author, and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Reading this book was like being lost in a maze, lots of ways it can take you and never knowing what’s coming around the corner.

So where do I start to review a book that is so cleverly complex, full of smart diversions and enough twists and turns to keep thriller readers very happy.

Well I will start with the plot, one I happily couldn’t relate to as I am blessed to know exactly where I come from and have a loving warm family. Phoebe on the other hand learns that her whole life is a lie and she may not be Phoebe but Maya Duncan who was abducted fifteen years ago. So turning up at the doorstep of Kay, the woman she thinks is her birth mother you assume it will be happy ever after. WRONG!!! DNA tests and a suicide follow and Phoebe puts herself in harms way to get to the truth.

Phoebe was a great character and being written in first person meant you can really get inside her head. I was as desperate as she was to discover the truth and this is such a great book for armchair detectives.

Fast paced and with an intricately layered plot of identity, cults and child abduction this is a book to concentrate on. An abundance of twists that kept me guessing until all was revealed.

"Kay and Roz. Two mothers, two enigmas, two damaged women who each lost a child... Phoebe and Maya. Two little girls, both gone before their time." 

When her mother Roz dies, everything Phoebe Locklear has ever believed to be true is shown to be a lie. Faced with the realisation that the woman who raised her did nothing but deceive her, she tracks down Kay Duncan, the woman she's now told is her real mother. But instead of answers, all Phoebe finds is more questions. So she goes in search of the truth, delving deeper into Roz and Kay's past and the disappearance of Kay's daughter Maya in the hope of solving not one, but two mysteries; what really happened to Maya Duncan, and who Phoebe really is. 

"If I'm not Phoebe Locklear and I'm not Maya Duncan, then who the hell am I?"

At the heart of this story is the question of identity. Phoebe is already feeling lost when she discovers that what she'd believed about her birth mother and the reason Roz had raised her was a lie, but when she finds out she isn't Maya Duncan she is cast further adrift, with no clue whatsoever about her real mother or identity. Who we are is the core of our being, a vital part of our sense of self, and through Phoebe we see the emotional trauma and turmoil that is experienced when someone has lost that part of themselves and examines whether identity is something that is a part of our character or what we are told about ourselves. 

Gripping and fast-paced, Gone Before combines mystery with a journey of self discovery that is full of twists, turns and shocking revelations. While parts felt a little predictable, there were also a lot of surprises, the author keeping me on my toes right until the unexpected conclusion.

IDENTITY - condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is



Imagine discovering that everything that you thought you knew about yourself may be a lie. Our identities are a core part of our human make up and without them we are as lost as a baby bird trapped in a gust of wind. This gripping tale is the story of Phoebe, a young woman who's search for the truth uncovers a number of shocking revelations and a catalogue of lies,secrets, deceptions and manipulations that started before she was born.Phoebe had recently discovered that she had apparently been kidnapped at the age of five and that Roz the woman that she had grown up believing to be her mother had apparently been lying to her. Only after she uncovers where her alleged birth mother Kay and alleged step father David are living, turns up on their doorstep and agrees to a DNA test, the results are not what she expected. At first she is understandably upset,lost, bewildered and directionless but then a determination to uncover the truth about her past and true identity kicks in. Was she really the little five year old girl who mysteriously disappeared fifteen years ago? Had there been a mix up with the DNA results? Why had Roz apparently been lying to her? Phoebe was a feisty,stubborn,determined, very intelligent,flawed but likeable character who I couldn't help feeling a lot of sympathy for as the story unfolded and she gradually uncovered the truth and the shocking events that had happened in the past. Throughout her quest to uncover the truth, she encouraged danger and a mixed bag off diverse, vivid characters, some likeable, some not so likeable.One character in particular was particularly sinister and spine chillingly creepy.

This is a very well written,tightly plotted page turner that has a multitude of twists,keeps the reader guessing and has a genuinely unexpected conclusion. I really enjoyed this gripping,enthralling thriller and would happily read more of this author's books in the future.

Maya Duncan disappeared when she was 5 years old and no one knew what happened to her.
Fifteen years after the abduction, Phoebe knocks on Kay Duncan’s door, clutching a yellow rainhat with Maya’s name stitched into the back. Phoebe is convinced that she is Maya Duncan, and that the woman behind the door is her real mother.
Phoebe has a letter from, who she thought was her real mother. saying how she took Maya (Phoebe) 15 years ago. Phoebe now has to prove it. Then Kay commits suicide and Phoebe feels gulity.
Phoebe decides to find out the truth about Kay and then things start to unravel and she has memories of her childhood.
There are surprises and some twists. Some I saw coming and some I didn't.

Gone Before by Sam Hepburn is a psychological thriller that has more twists and turns than the motorway that is known as Spaghetti junction in the UK! 
Phoebe lives in Botswana with her mother, Roz. Roz passes away and Phoebe discovers a letter in which she finds out she is not Roz's biological child but the daughter of a woman, famous for her husband and the rock and roll lifestyle they led. Phoebe finds she is Maya really and is the subject of the the most famous missing persons case in the U.K, in fact she went missing when she was five years old, never been seen since! She makes the decision to discover her mother and who she is by birth. This sets the wheels in motion for a fantastically thrilling story that I just had to keep reading.
This is really a book that keeps you interested. Like I say there are so many twists, turns and lies that you have to just keep reading if only to keep the suspense in check.The fact that you can't be sure who is lying and who is tell the truth, keeps you on the edge of your seat. I think Phoebe has some guts, she is dogged in her determination to dig the truth out, even while she is experiencing so many emotions and taking one step forward and four steps back all the time.She makes it her aim to find the truth even though the people round her are hiding it as well as they can.
A riveting and totally fascinating search for the truth which turns out to be even more complex than first anticipated! It definitely kept me on my toes anyway.I thoroughly enjoyed this and will be on the look out for more of Sams books in the future.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the copy of this book for my review today.

Wow this book was a ROLLERCOASTER ride! Grabbed my attention from the very start and was a page turner until I hit the subplot which lost me for a few chapters.  There was a small section of the book that took away from the reading experience for me. Made me lean towards the “oh come on now” feeling. But it’s as if the author knew he has to real you back in and the rest of the book picked up it’s momentum. 
This was for sure a mystery you won’t figure out early on. There was so many twists and turns I gave up trying to foreshadow the ending and just enjoyed the ride.

When Phoebe Locklear lands from Botswana after losing the only mother she knew, she's desperate to make contact with her 'real' mother, Kay Duncan.  And she believes she has connected, only to have everything turned upside down when the DNA tests establishes she not the kidnapped 'Maya Duncan' after all. What follows is Phoebe's determined pursuit of the truth to find out who she really is? Did her 'foster' mother, Roz lie to her. But how come she has memories of her 'real' mother and step father? As she begins to uncover layer upon layer of this story, she has to face the death of Kay and Kay's bandmate, and feel the guilt that she indirectly caused their deaths. 

The author takes us on a real thriller of a ride which includes blackmail, murder, deceit, a cult with a crazy leader and Phoebe herself being the victim of a murder attempt. 

The book was unputdownable! Just when you thought you'd figured out the plot there was another twist. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from Sam Hepburn and will be looking out for more of her writing.

Gone Before immediately got my attention after reading the blurb and it is a book that I just had to read. When I started, I instantly got lost in its pages and was mesmerised by the story that Sam Hepburn has masterfully put together. 

San Hepburn has crafted an emotional tale that really pulls on the heartstrings. It deals with a number of topics covering kidnapping, murder, suicide, abuse and rape just to name a few, which may be a trigger for some readers.  

The story has been very well plotted and skilfully executed. It moves at a fast pace and flows very well. There is a lot going on and at times I was concerned as the pages flew by that there was going to be some loose ends, but I had nothing to worry about and everything wraps up as it should.

I enjoyed the characters in the book, who have all been very well written, but the stand out for me was definitely Phoebe. She is a great character that is not without flaws, but this is what makes her so relatable and believable.

Sam Hepburn is a new author to me and is one that will now be on my radar. She has a very unique style that I immediately connected with and the whole story has been beautifully written. Based on this, I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

Gone Before is an excellent psychological thriller that will have you glued to the pages. It is a rollercoaster ride that has a lot of twists and turns which makes for a very enjoyable read. It was a pleasure to read and review Gone Before which I recommend. 

Thank you to Sam Hepburn, Bookouture and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of Gone Before, which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Title: Gone Before
Author:  Sam Hepburn
PUBLICATION DAY: Oct 12th 2020

Description:

‘My name is Phoebe Locklear. I think I’m your daughter.’

I rehearse the words as I walk up the path, clutching a faded old photograph of a little girl with thick dark hair.

When I knock, the door opens, and there she is: the woman I believe is my mother. The woman whose five-year-old daughter disappeared fifteen years ago.

Had I known what would happen next, would I have knocked on that door? Would I take back the lives I’ve destroyed?

But now that I’ve started, there’s no going back. I can’t stop until I find out who I really am.

Even if the truth could kill me.

Twisty, addictive and utterly unputdownable, Gone Before asks what happens when your whole life turns out to be a lie. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Gone Girl and The Silent Patient.

BLOG TOUR REVIEW 

Review for 'Gone Before' by Sam Hepburn. 

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous 

Publication date 12th October 2020

This is the first book that I have read by this author. 

I was originally drawn to this book by  its intriguing colourful cover and interesting sounding blurb. The fact that it states on Amazon that the book is perfect for fans of Mark Edwards also drew me in as I'm a big fan of his books. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture  that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).

This novel consists of a 35 chapters and an epilogue. The chapters are medium in length so possible to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case! 

This book is written in first person perspective with the protagonist being Phoebe/Maya. I enjoy books written in first person perspective as as long as they are well written it makes you feel that you are being spoken to by the protagonist and it can create more of a bond between yourselves and them. 

This book is based in Provence, France 🇫🇷 and London 🇬🇧.I always enjoy when books are set in the UK as I'm from Wales and have sometimes visited areas mentioned in the book. This makes it easier to picture where the scenes are set at times.

Wow!!! Well, Well, Well where to even start on this one??? 

An extremely well written book which reads very smoothly and has fantastic descriptions which really grip your imagination. I loved the newspaper headlines included to show the 'worlds' opinion on what was going on and thought they were placed perfectly and helped to see the bigger picture. I also enjoyed the flashbacks throughout that were well placed and again helped with the bigger picture. 

The storyline itself was quite unique and was absolutely gripping!! It kept me up until I could barely keep my eyes open and even then only had to call it a night knowing my kids would wake up in a few hours!!! Very fast paced and action packed it is rammed full with twists, turns, deceit, red herrings, love, loss, mystery and I could go on, everything you want in a psychological crime thriller. A true page turner that kept me guessing until the unexpected twist at the end!! 

The characters were all perfect for the storyline and I loved Phoebe/Maya's personality and strength, can't beat a strong female lead in a book!! They all seemed to have a mystery about them that made you continuously question myself while drawing me in. This book would make an absolutely gripping movie and I would love to read more about what happens next!! I am looking forward to reading more of this very talented authors books!! 

Overall an absolutely gripping psychological thriller which will keep you up late at night turning the pages and biting your nails!!! 

Genres covered include Suspense, Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Crime Fiction and Psychological Fiction. 

I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as ANYONE looking for a good read with a fantastic twist you won't see coming. 

312 pages.

This book is 99p to purchase on kindle via Amazon or free on kindle unlimited which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!! 

Rated 5/5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook. 

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Author Bio:

Sam Hepburn read modern languages at Cambridge University and, after a brief spell in advertising, joined the BBC as a General Trainee. She worked as a documentary maker for twenty years and was one of the commissioners for the launch of BBC Four. Since then, she has written several books, including psychological thrillers Gone Before and Her Perfect Life, and novels for young adults and children. She won the 2017 CWA Margery Allingham Short Story award and has been nominated for several other prestigious prizes, including the CILIP Carnegie Medal for her YA thrillers.

Sam has worked and travelled widely in Africa and the Middle East, and is a trustee of the Kenyan’s children’s charity, I Afrika. She now lives in London with her husband and children.

Author Social Media Links:

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Sam_Osman_Books

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/SamHepburnAuthor

BUY LINKS:

Amazon: https://geni.us/B08CW5398ZSocial

Apple: http://ow.ly/vZFe50AxCta 

Kobo: http://ow.ly/HCyG50AxCru 

Google: http://ow.ly/qFIi50AxCv4

My first by this author and it grabbed me right out of the gate.  There are lots of twists and turns.  Dense and tightly written, it was a good read.

What a page turner, loved everyrhing about this book feom beginning to end, loads of twists and turns to keep one glued to the pages x

A good psychological thriller that has plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing.

The plot was well thought out and everything was neatly tied up. 

Will look out for other books from this author.

Phoebe Locklear needs to find out who she is. She knocks on the door of a woman she believes is her mother. 
I read this in one sitting as I needed to know too. The book was well-plotted and fast-paced. I enjoyed Phoebe's character. She was a very strong person who just wanted to find out what happened so many years before. There were lots of twists and turns which keep me reading to the very end. I enjoyed Sam Hepburn's writing and look forward to reading her other books. I would highly recommend this book to those who love psychological thrillers. Thanks to Bookcoulture and NetGalley for suppling me with a free copy for an honest review.

This is a great psychological thriller. 
Phoebe tracks down her real mum and shocks her when she turns up on her doorstep. 
Kay calls David to see this girl claiming to be her daughter, and he suggests a DNA test. The test comes back as no match so Phoebe is told to leave. 
She then hears that her Kay has died and this leads her on a dangerous path to find the truth. 
I can’t say too much more about the story as I really don’t want to spoil it for you. 
I worked out some of what was really going on but the last few chapters still held a few surprises for me. 
I really liked Phoebe’s character and her determination to find the truth. 
This is a great psychological thriller that definitely had me hooked throughout. 
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

First, I want to thank Sam Hepburn, Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with this review so I can bring you this review.

WOW!!! Sam Hepburn’s latest book Gone Before goes beyond the ripped from the headline story!! She shows you not tells you the human interest side that the media does not show you. This is the part that I crave the most is the human side of the crime. This is one book you must put on your TBR list!! 

Instantly Sam Hepburn grasped my full attention into this intense fast paced read from the first chapter. Her writing style is quite different from the rest of the authors I have read for before-but it suited this book perfectly. She is amazing with her descriptions and emotions behind what the characters were feeling. 

My heart went into so many different directions in this book! Sam will definitely pull on your heartstrings this one! Just so many emotions for so many characters in this book. 

Gone Before started the book out one way and then-BAM-the story takes a huge 180 degrees turn!! WOW! Sam totally shocked me and didn’t see any of that coming!!

Those who know me, would understand how much a missing child arc would get to me. Here too, Maya Duncan went missing years ago and it took her mother Kay Duncan 7 hours to raise alarm. Now 15 years hence, Phoebe knocked on Kay’s door claiming to be the missing Maya. But a shocking discovery was followed by Kay committing suicide. It was all upto Phoebe to untangle the knots that her twisted her life.

My first book by author Sam Hepburn, the story started with a bang. I loved drumming up various possibilities of what could have happened. The author got my thriller-y senses tingling high as the scenarios kept mounting up. The suspense was raised to a pitch when Kay committed suicide and that left me shocked as Phoebe was left with no anchor and no truth to give her a identiy.

Where I would have lost hope, Phoebe was more determined and strong-willed. She didn’t lose hope. She used her resources to get hold of old history and truth was slowly unveiled. Therein lay my niggles too. The story went into cult and other aspects of Kay’s past which led to more characters, and I had to concentrate hard to keep them in line. Though the reveals were good, but the suspense went down as the crux of the matter was still – Who was Phoebe and what happened to Maya?

The writing was great, slightly staccato in places, but the red herrings, the closed alleys, and the hidden truths made the story pop out. The last few pages brought home the truths that I had already suspected, so the journey to reach it was worth the time spent in reading it.

Quite entertaining.

Well this has been one rollercoaster of a story, I'm not kidding, twists and turns all over the place, not knowing whether your coming or going, if your upside down or right way up.  I should probably state here that I mean these all in a good way.  

This was one crazy story, had me sitting on the edge of my seat plenty.  There were moments where you didn't know what to believe and as for that ending, well one word comes to mind, total mind f***. I was shocked come the end. 

The whole story was brilliantly written and so very cleverly done.  I'm in awe of how the author came up with such a mind blowing/shocking finish to the story.  

Well think I'm just going to leave it at that and hopefully my review will tease readers enough to want to read this book themselves.

Sam Hepburn returns with her sophomore thriller based around one of the most notorious child abductions in modern British history. It’s been fifteen years since five-year-old Maya Duncan disappeared. But when a young woman turns up at Kay Duncan’s door, clutching a yellow rainhat with Maya’s name stitched in the back, it seems she might have come home at last. Phoebe is convinced that she is Maya, and that the woman behind the door is her real mother. When she sees Kay, the memories come flooding back, and it seems they are to be reunited at last. But when a shocking discovery leads to tragedy, Phoebe is left grief-stricken and riddled with guilt. Alone and unanchored, Phoebe travels to London to dig into Kay’s life, hoping to uncover the truth behind her own identity. But as she pieces together Kay’s past, Phoebe discovers a disturbing link to the woman who raised her, and a terrible secret that even now could put her life in immense danger.

Gone Before is a compelling, mysterious and addictive read from start to finish and in many ways sounds a lot like a whole plethora of other domestic-based thrillers where a missing child is at the centre of the plot, but I thought it was written in such a way that it captured your attention from the outset, held onto it throughout and spun a yarn filled with exciting developments and chilling, twisty surprises better than some similar books. You soon learn that you should take everything the entire cast utters with a rather large pinch of salt in a story simply overflowing with secrets, lies, betrayal and duplicity, and although the role-call of characters is quite limited this allows the author to give plenty of attention to detail creating an engaging if wholly detestable cast in the process. It's pacy, compulsive and difficult to put down and there are some great, unexpected developments and surprises throughout. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Bookouture for an ARC.

I’m honestly not sure how best to review this book. It just felt like there was way too much going on, none of it felt realistic or plausible and yet, I apparently enjoyed it enough to give it three stars.

The first 20% of the book is basically everything that is listed in the synopsis. Phoebe shows up to Kay’s door believing herself to be Kay’s child that was abducted 15 years prior. It seems like mother/daughter will finally be able to have a life together and then something happens, and Kay kills herself. This is all within the first 20%. At this point, we get a whole crap load of exposition and frankly, a whole section of the book I wasn’t interested in at all and skimmed pretty hard-core. For roughly 40%. So here we are, up to 60% into the book and then all the sudden, BAM!! ALL the kitchen sinks! 

SPOILERS!!!!         

TWO cults, a kidnapper, mistaken identity, religious extremity, infidelity, abuse, statutory rape, suicide, and murder. 

END SPOILERS!!!!!

At this point I’m like ‘this crazy train has fully gone of the rails’. At this point, it ultimately just became entertaining. I’m not sure if everything was thrown in to create red herrings, but honestly it just made it super obvious to me exactly what was going on and how the story was going to end, which, when I think about this, is still totally insane because there was so much going on and none of it was realistic.

In one part of this book, Phoebe buys a notebook so she can start writing down the things that she learns and finds out as she tries to put the pieces together. Again, there was just SO MUCH going on in this book, the reader could probably benefit from the same thing.

Ultimately, I decided to give this three-stars because I was invested in the first 20% and then the last 40% was just OTT fun, in my opinion. But I can’t give it more than that because it was so unbelievably unrealistic and they crime/mystery aspect of it was pretty easy to figure out (at least to me).

I think if you’re looking for something chill to read during the quarantine, this would probably be a good one. It wasn’t overtly dark (at least to me), and you do get a kind of an HEA, if that’s your thing.

Received via Netgalley. All opinions are expressly my own.