I am so delighted to be sharing my thoughts on this Gone by Leona Deakin, this was a fabulous psychological thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed. Many thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for my spot on the Blog Tour and also for organising my review copy.

Let me show you what Gone is all about…

Four strangers are missing. Left at their last-known locations are birthday cards that read:

YOUR GIFT IS THE GAME.
DARE TO PLAY?

The police aren’t worried – it’s just a game. But the families are frantic. As psychologist and private detective Dr Augusta Bloom delves into the lives of the missing people, she finds something that binds them all.

And that something makes them very dangerous indeed.

As more disappearances are reported and new birthday cards uncovered, Dr Bloom races to unravel the mystery and find the missing people.

But what if, this time, they are the ones she should fear?

Well there are two words that really sum this book up “psychological thriller”! If you are a fan of crime fiction reads that have a strong psychological aspect, then you are going to get on really well with this book. I read it in one sitting and it had me hooked.

The tag lines for this story are intriguing to say the least and the story opens in quite a brutal and also unsettling way. The main character is Dr Augusta Bloom and her work within the field of psychology.

It did take me a few chapters to get into as I got used to the characters, there were a few to get my head around. Then as I started to get a grip with who was who, I was able to enjoy the story more. I say story, but actually there are two stories, they seem totally unconnected. One is of a young girl that Bloom is helping, the other is the main focus of the story and is that of the game of dare. The participants of the game had gone missing, but they had gone missing on their own choice. A missing person case with a big twist if you like.

The game is eerily creepy and held a good amount of intrigue and to a certain extent some excitement. The people invited to play the game just walk away from their lives with no explanation. It is Bloom and her colleague Jameson an ex secret service man, who start to fit the pieces of this puzzle together.

The author incorporates a good amount of psychological explanation into the story and for the most part it is part of the story, I did occasionally feel a little too much was given, but at the same time it was still important to be there, so for me it hit the right balance with the odd wobble.

As the story progressed the tension and intrigue definitely increased and I was desperate to discover where the story would lead. There were some unsettling revelations regarding social media games and also big brother knowing and seeing all, this just added to the thrill of the story.

For the most part, I had no idea about who could be the mastermind, then suddenly I had one of those epiphany moments. From that point on I started to doubt myself, and then I was along for the ride. Working out the who, didn’t spoil the story at all.Instead I got to discover all the why’s and this held some interesting and clever twists.

This was a really good read, I liked the inclusion of various psychological aspects and also the unusual crime fighting duo. I would like to think there will be another book featuring Boom and Jameson. If you like a twisted and psychological based crime thriller then you really want to have a look at this book. it is one I would definitely recommend.

Leona draws inspiration for her writing from her own experiences having started her career as a psychologist with the West Yorkshire Police and her successful work in psychology since. She is now an occupational psychologist and lives with her family in Leeds.

This is her debut thriller.

See what other Book Bloggers thought by checking out their stops on the Tour…

Many thanks for reading my post, alike or share would be amazing 🙂 xx