A provocative novel of psychological suspense about two women locked in a desperate fight over a child each believes is rightfully hers “Deliciously twisty and seriously dark . . . I couldn’t put it down.”—Natasha Bell, author of His Perfect WifeLibby needs a break. Three years ago her husband split, leaving her to raise their infant son Ethan alone as she struggled to launch her writing career. … struggled to launch her writing career. Now for the first time in years, things are looking up. She’s just sold her first novel, and she and Ethan are going on a much-needed vacation. Everything seems to be going their way, so why can’t she stop looking over her shoulder or panicking every time Ethan wanders out of view? Is it because of what happened when Ethan was born? Except Libby’s never told anyone the full story of what happened, and there’s no way anyone could find her and Ethan at a faraway resort . . . right?
But three days into their vacation, Libby’s fears prove justified. In a moment of inattention, Ethan wanders into an elevator before Libby can reach him. When the elevator stops and the doors open, Ethan is gone. Hotel security scours the building and finds no trace of him, but when CCTV footage is found of an adult finding the child wandering alone and leading him away by the hand, the police are called in. The search intensifies, a lost child case turning into a possible abduction. Hours later, a child is seen with a woman stepping through an emergency exit. Libby and the police track the woman down and corner her, but she refuses to release Ethan. Asked who she is, the woman replies:
“I’m his mother.”
What follows is one of the most shocking, twist-y, and provocative works of psychological suspense ever written. A story of stolen identity, of surrogacy gone horribly wrong, and of two women whose insistence that each is the “real” mother puts them at deadly cross-purposes, Lost You is sure to be one of 2019’s most buzzed-about novels.
Praise for Lost You
“An emotionally wrenching psychological thriller . . . The story unravels at an anxiety-inducing pace, and shocking twists appear around every corner.”—Associated Press
“Extremely binge-worthy, so suspense fans, definitely be on the lookout for this new release.” —She Reads
“The twists and turns are not only masterfully paced and layered but so is the emotional impact. . . . an adrenaline-pumping, anxiety-inducing thriller built around a core so sentimental it just might make you cry.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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“Lost You” by Haden Beck is a story that has been played out many times in one form or another, in one place or another. People have read some variation of it and have opinions about it. I will not disclose key plot details, but this variation is unexpected, surprising, and tragic.
The story opens in the “now,” in the present tense, with a sense of urgency.
“She climbs up onto the low wall that borders the roof, even as the police officers yell at her to stop. The brickwork scrapes her knees, but she doesn’t care… Seven stories. The people below back away as they stare up at her.”
The scene shifts back slightly in time. Libby, a writer, is on a vacation in Florida with her son, Ethan. She has been a single mom since Mason left when Ethan was six months old. This vacation is a well-earned reward after she got what was described as a “very nice book deal” for her psychological thriller. The first few days of the vacation are the best she can remember with the usual stuff — swimming, meeting new people, having dinner, and wrangling a three-year old. Then, in the hotel hallway, Libby turns to speak to a new friend for just a second, and when she looks back, Ethan is inside the open elevator, laughing as he hits one button after another. The doors hiss closed, and Ethan is gone. The frantic search begins.
When the scene shifts back four years, readers get to know Libby better, much, much better. Libby’s past is interspersed with the events in the present, and this enhances the worrisome, even anxious atmosphere. Libby’s childhood abuse is acknowledged; her marriage to Mason is detailed, and her struggle to conceive is documented.
Officials conducting the search for Ethan suspect that something is not right, that Libby is holding something back.
“’Ma’am, is there something you want to tell me?’ ‘No,” she said. And it was the truth. She didn’t want to tell him anything.”
The pressure is tangible, intense, and frightening. Fear hangs in the air. Panic, dismay, and distress, are replaced with sadness, regret and heartache as the search for Ethan takes a strange new form.
“Lost You” is a cautionary tale of parenthood, and the legal uncertainty people can face. It is a compelling work of fiction that shadows reality. Reality, of course, is not as extreme, not as deceptive, but is traumatic nonetheless. I received a copy of “Lost You” from Haden Beck, and Crown Publishing. I absolutely recommend it. I could not put it down.
If you are looking for a wild ride, Lost You by Haylen Beck will give you that and more. This was a crazy story, and after a bit of a slow start, had me on the edge of my seat for the remainder of the book. This is also so much more than the story of a missing boy, there was a lot of depth that I wasn’t expecting, plus some violence you might have to prepare yourself for. It wasn’t like a Karin Slaughter novel though, so the squeamish can probably still read this just fine. My mouth dropped open a couple of times, and this is one of those twisty books that keeps you in suspense the entire time. I didn’t know that Haylen Beck was the pseudonym of writer Stuart Neville, but this is a first for me reading him and I was not disappointed. I loved his writing style and the way this book kept me engrossed.
The audiobook is narrated by Abby Craden and I thought they chose really well with her. I somehow managed to listen to her at almost a 3x speed as well so if you are a fast listener like me, you will love the audio. Even without the speed being what it was, this book flies by, and I think she is a very talented voice artist and the perfect choice to narrate this novel. I ended up listening to another book narrated by her right after this one (Recursion), and I highly recommend any book she narrates, and you won’t be disappointed with the audio of Lost You. I had no idea what was going to happen and was perfectly shocked by the end. It is along the lines of what did I just read? and that is one of my favorite types of novels. I will definitely be reading more from this author!
Thank you to NetGalley for my advance review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
Quick read about two mothers and how they are connected through a child.
Years earlier, Libby did a terrible thing, and she lives in fear of being discovered. While on vacation with her 3-year old son, she realizes that he is missing. She dreads that her past is catching up with her, and she is terrified of the consequences. When she comes face-to-face with Anna, she knows she is right, and now she has to try and save her son.
This is a fast paced novel, related to the desire to have a child, and the lengths you will take to make that dream a reality.
Emotional and gut-wrenching! Grab your Kleenex and get ready for a good cry.
This book covers so much…surrogacy, infertility, rich vs. poor, betrayal, manipulation and much more. It’s a psychological thriller that reveals what one woman will do to get a baby, and another will do to keep her baby.
I received this book through a #GoodreadsGiveaway and Haylen Beck is a new-to-me author. He’s on my radar now!
Thank you to Goodreads, Haylen Beck and Crown Publishing Group, for this free digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!
My Rating: 4 ’s
Published: August 6th 2019 by Crown Publishing Group (NY)
Pages: 309
Recommend: Yes
@haylenbeck @stuartneville @Goodreads
#psychologicalthriller #GoodreadsGiveaway
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The premise for this novel sounded interesting. I had always wondered what would drive a woman to agree to be a surrogate mother. I know of course that infertility and the deep desire to have a baby would make a woman choose to use a surrogate. What I wasn’t prepared for was the fact that I didn’t like any of these characters.
Libby is a woman who has tried for many years to get pregnant. After ten years of trying and 3 miscarriages she deeply desires a baby, at any cost. This is where believability comes into play. Throughout the book I saw how this woman became incredibly obsessive, manipulative and entirely selfish. She didn’t care about her husband, the surrogate mother, even what would be good for the child. She was completely unlikable and quite unbelievable.
Anna is the down and out young woman who agrees to be a surrogate mother. Her friend Betsy sees an ad in a local paper willing to pay $500 just to interview women. When she first answers the ad from the Schaeffer-Holdt Clinic she isn’t quite sure what this is all about. She quickly begins to understand what she will have to do, allow herself to be inseminated, bear a child and then give it up. She desperately needs money and $75,000 is enough money to entice her to sign away her unborn baby.
The novel starts at the end of the story and then we are swept back to the beginning and follow these two women, both of whom are deeply disturbed. Libby knows that she has gone too far in her determination to have this child and Anna knew what she was getting into when she signed the numerous contracts.
Into this mix we meet Mr. Kovak, an ex-military man who is the intermediary between the clinic, Libby and Anna. He keeps incredibly close records and checks on Anna’s progress. He is willing to use any type of influence even physical force to keep the woman on track for delivery of the baby. Several times Libby has doubts about what she is doing but when the baby is finally born she is sure that she can’t give him up.
I think if the characters were more believable this may have been a better story. It is a page turner but I constantly felt that none of this could possibly happen. The author states in her notes “While the story presents some questions about the commercial exploitation of women and those people who have no other path to parenthood, and the legal uncertainty they often face, the author fully recognizes the good done by surrogate mothers around the world”
I don’t think I can recommend this book simply because it is a page turner. Please also read a variety of reviews as there are some people who love this novel.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley.
After I finished reading the last line of this book, I couldn’t help but think, “Oh my god.” This book was nothing like I thought it would be. From the first chapter on, it took unexpected twists and turns. I could feel the emotion the characters were feeling almost entirely, and every time I thought I knew what was going to happen, the book went down a completely different path.
All in all, this book is spectacular, and I recommend giving it a read.
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.
Far too few thrillers have genuine suspense, twists that give you goosebumps and—most important—characters that you really care about. Lost You has it all.
Lost You is both utterly compelling and completely terrifying—the kind of book that, every time you think you have it figured out, hits you with another twist you didn’t see coming.
Lost You is a really brilliant novel—thrilling, emotional, and so readable.
Deliciously twisty and seriously dark. I couldn’t put it down.
This book starts out with a bang! It kept me reading just to find out what really happened. The ending is a little of a let down as it goes out with a whimper imho. All in all, a really good story with lots of layers. I will definitely be keeping my eye on this author.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher and voluntarily chose to review it.
This psychological thriller touches deeply into the heart of motherhood – the good, and the bad aspects of motherlove. I found it very disturbing – as I am sure Haylen Beck intended. It was a novel I read front to back with only a lunch break, as I am sure was also intended. Both the front and back of surrogacy are well presented, leaving the reader with a better understanding of the price of that gift given to another mother.
My heart did weep for Anna. I had no sympathy left over for Libby, but Mason had a slice of my compassion. However you read it, I think you will find Lost You a compelling read. I am pleased to recommend it to friends and family.
I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Haylen Beck and Crown Publishing Group. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.
In Lost You, Haylen Beck shows us the dark side of surrogacy and the lasting damage it can do to all involved.
Abby’s life is a mess, she needs money, and being a surrogate seems an easy way to pay off her bills and start saving. She can always have a child for herself later when she is more ready.
Libby is tired of waiting for an adoption to come through. It has been four years, and still no child. With or without her husband Mason’s consent, she’s going ahead with this surrogacy agreement.
But life has a way of playing havoc with anything we plan… And so it does in this novel.
Nothing here rated above average for me. The beginning is an attention grabber, but the middle gets a bit bogged down. While I empathize with the situation of each woman, I never reached the point of actually caring for either of the characters.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for allowing me to read a copy of this novel in exchange for an unbiased review.
The story opens with Libby Reese taking a much needed vacation with her three and a half year old son, Ethan. Libby’s husband left when Ethan was six months old.
While on vacation, Libby befriends a gay couple, Charles and Gerry. Ethan was fascinated with the elevator, and while Libby and Charles were talking, Ethan headed into an elevator and started pressing buttons. Terrified Libby took the stairs to try to connect with her son on a floor, but Ethan seems to disappear. A search begins, and footage on the security camera show a woman with Ethan. When the woman is confronted, and asked who she is, her response is puzzling. She claims to be Ethan’s mother.
I enjoyed this book a great deal! When I first started reading it, I thought it was going to be a child abduction story, to some degree it is, but it’s so much more. The more the story unfolded, the more my emotions flipped flopped from feeling bad for Libby, then bad for Anna. Two women, strangers, but linked together and what happens when one changes her mind.
The subject matter touches on emotions of trying to conceive and how exhausting all avenues can lead to desperation and those who are willing to prey on the vulnerable for a price.
Enjoyable read!
I received an ARC from NetGalley via Crown Publishing in exchange for my honest opinion.
Lost You by Haylen Beck
Pub date: August 6,2019
Crown Publishing
Genre: Fiction, psycho thriller
Rating: 3/5
I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley and Crown Publishing in exchange for an unbiased review.
Whenever a book starts by explaining the ending you can be sure there’s a lot more to the story. Lost You starts with a tragic ending on the roof top of a hotel in Florida. Many people are “lost” throughout this novel.
Libby and Mason were married but unable to conceive a baby. It becomes an obsession for Libby which eventually drives a wedge in their marriage. Eventually, Libby pursues a surrogate with a shady organization when waiting for an adoption doesn’t seem likely.
Anna Lenihan loses her job as a waitress at the Flatiron Bar and Grill. Her co-worker Betsy provides support in the form of beer and pizza. The two women lament in Anna’s mobile home as she worries about how she will pay her bills. Betsy sees an ad in the local paper and encourages Anna to call convincing her that “medical research” is an option to make money. Anna decides to call and follow through with an “interview” which was vague and creepy. If Anna didn’t need the money she may have listened to her gut when she felt hesitant about this “job”.
What are the consequences of surrogacy for both women? At what point does obsession cross the line into criminal? Both women exhibit extreme emotional instability which clouds their ability to be a responsible parent. Without providing spoilers, the two women’s lives intersect in a devastating manner. The story was suspenseful and provided many unexpected twists. Personally, the desperate, impulsive personalities of the two women made me cringe.