Although the story is set in different years and countries, spanning almost 30 years, it reads as one long rollercoaster. Sam Cooper lost his mother and his younger brother when he was nine, and understandably he has vivid memories of that occasion who plague him in his nightmares. On the other hand, his life before this terrible event, and the move to England with his father afterwards are still hazy. It’s as if he’s really coming awake the moment he is called to the hospital where his father is dying after an attack. From that moment on, Sam is forced to find out what happened in the past and why his father never confided in him.
We go back and forth in time but since this story is about the same group of people it is not confusing – except for the fact that not everybody tells the whole truth. There is a lot of violence in this story but also a lot of love, between Sam’s parents and eventually between Sam and his new girlfriend. The story clearly shows what horrible things people can do ‘in the name of love’ but it also shows how much strength people have when faced with terrible events.

Sam Cooper was nine years old when he was involved in a car accident with his family, sadly he and his dad were the only survivors and he's spent the last twenty five years blaming himself for not saving his little brother and he's missing his mum Laurie. His dad was never the same after the accident and they've been estranged for many years. Then Sam gets a call from the hospital to say his father is dying, he decides he needs to see him one last time, but nothing prepares him for his father's final words, his confession blows Sam's world apart and he realises that his family have been lying to him all this time. Sam won't rest until he finds out why.

You Never Said Goodbye is a dark thriller, with a great plot. The story is told across two timelines, partly based in London but mainly in Connecticut. It has some strong characters, most of them not very likeable but I was really rooting for Sam, after what he'd been through as a child, only to find that it was all built on a lie, and I was desperate for him to find the answers after all this time. If you like a book that is action packed from beginning to end, then this latest standalone thriller is one for you. It's the first I've read by this author but, as I have a few of his others on my kindle, it won't be the last, a great read!

I'd like to thank Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for the approval, I will post my review on Amazon and Goodreads.

I enjoyed this book at the start but it became a little drawn out for me and rather far fetched. Sadly I did not finish it Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an arc of this.

Brace yourself! I couldn't put this down.
The story starts some years before with a family's car going into a river and we see the Mother's point of view that they are all drowning.
Roll forward to the present and somewhere in the back of beyond in the USA a man is killed for information. This in turn leads the reader to the UK where Sam, our main character is on a date with Rachel. He receives a call that his father, who he has not seen in many years, is in hospital and close to death.
He drops everything and races across the country to be by his estranged father's side. This begins a rollercoaster of danger, guns, missing people and psychopathic egotists.
Once this starts you, as the reader, feel like you can't draw breathe. There is no let up in the action and you can always feel that danger is close by.
To tell you more of the story would be spoiling it, but I really enjoyed it.

A DEVOTED MOTHER
Sam Cooper has a happy life: a good job, a blossoming relationship. Yet, there's something he can never forget - the image seared into his mind of his mother, Laurie, dying when he was a child. His father allowed his grief to tear them apart and Sam hasn't seen him in years.
A LOVING WIFE
Until an unexpected call from Firwood hospital, asking Sam to come home, puts in motion a chain of devastating events. On his deathbed, Sam's father makes a shocking confession.
A LIAR?
Who was Laurie Cooper? It's clear that everything Sam thought he knew about his mother was wrong. And now he's determined to find out exactly what she did and why - whatever the cost.
What happens if you discover you've been lied to by your own family for twenty-five years?
Sam Cooper is about to find out.

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own hone\st voluntary review

This is a new author for me, and I absolutely loved this adrenaline filled, fast paced, dramatic thriller! This had more of action feel to it than most thrillers I have read but this was a positive and was rather refreshing.

Full of explosive twists and turns, this seriously got my heart racing. The writing style was easy to follow and the plot of Sam trying to locate his biological mother, who he was told had passed away since a young age worked really well.

The only negative aspect for me is that the conclusion was drawn out a little too much, for my personal preferences. However, this has not put me off and I will definitely be reading more this author in the future.

Sam Cooper suddenly finds out on his father’s death bed that his mother, who he thought died 25 years earlier along with his brother, has been alive all this time.

The thing is he is not the only one who is on a hunt to find her, but other parties think he knows where she is and are determined to find out from him where she is and kill him once they know.

So we head off into what is initially a good psychological thriller, which then ultimately morphs into a violent cat and mouse game across Connecticut. There is plenty of action in this book, at times I felt too much and it lost the substance it started out with fo me.

I was enjoying it up until about the 75% mark but then I just felt it went on too long, stretched credibility and really lost me. As a result I struggled to finish the last part of the book as I had really lost interest.

That said it is well written and others who like the more violent all-action kind books may well enjoy it more than I did. If this is the style of books you like it may well be worth a read, but sadly wasn’t for me in the end.

Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for a review copy of the book in exchange for a fair, open and honest review.

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You Never Said Goodbye
by Luca Veste (Goodreads Author)
3.89 · Rating details · 53 ratings · 45 reviews
'Grips from the first page to the last. A UK thriller writer that gives giants like Linwood Barclay and Harlan Coben a run for their money' MARK BILLINGHAM

A DEVOTED MOTHER
Sam Cooper has a happy life: a good job, a blossoming relationship. Yet, there's something he can never forget - the image seared into his mind of his mother, Laurie, dying when he was a child. His father ...more
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Expected publication: February 17th 2022 by Hodder & Stoughton
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Review I have been a fan of Luca’s work for a while now. I haven’t read everything that he has written, which is something that I hope to rectify fairly shortly. I read the synopsis for ‘You Never Said Goodbye’, which is a standalone novel, and it certainly sounded like the sort of book I have come to expect from Luca – a tense, fast paced, dramatic thriller. Well It was certainly all that and so much more. I really enjoyed reading ‘You Never Said Goodbye’ but more about that in a bit.
As soon as I started to read, I knew that I was in for a treat and then some. I made the fatal mistake of starting to read the book shortly before I went to bed. Let’s just say that bedtime was delayed and I had a ‘lack of sleep’ hangover the following day but it was so worth it. This was one of those stories that stayed with me whether I had the book in my hand or not. If I had to put the book to one side for any reason then I would immediately look forward to being able to pick the book up again. If I wasn’t reading the book then I was thinking about it. Well you get the picture. I found that reading ‘You Never Said Goodbye’ became seriously addictive. I became so wrapped up in the story that I lost all track of time and just how quickly I was getting through the story. All too quickly I reached the end. I found ‘You Never Said Goodbye’ to be a gripping read, which kept me guessing and which kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.
‘You Never Said Goodbye’ is extremely well written but then I have come to expect nothing less from Luca Veste. He certainly knows how to grab the reader’s attention with an eye catching synopsis and draw the reader into what proves to be one hell of a story. For me, the story hit the ground running and maintained a fairly fast pace throughout. I found the characters to be multi layered and very intriguing. Reading ‘You Never Said Goodbye’ felt like being on a scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way. Just when you thought that you could take a moment to gather your thoughts and take a breather then off the action would go again. I love the way in which Luca makes the reader feel as though they are part of the story themselves and at the heart of the action.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘You Never Said Goodbye’ and I would recommend it to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Luca’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

You Never Said Goodbye is the latest thriller by Luca Veste.
In short, we follow Sam Cooper on his dangerous, determined mission in finding out the truth after discovering that he had been lied to by his own family for twenty five years.
It’s an all action cat and mouse game which turns up the ante as Sam gets closer to the truth.
For me, it was a tad far fetched in places and the twists were somewhat predictable however, it was fast paced and the story definitely built to an edge of the seat crescendo and unanswered questions suitably resolved. Having read previous books by Luca Veste I expected a thrilling read and it was except the believability was rather stretched for me.
Big thanks to Luca Veste, Hodder and Stoughton and NetGalley for this eARC which I chose to read in return for my honest review.

As a recent discoverer of Luca Veste and his writing I was pleased to get the chance to read the latest novel. You are drawn in from the opening pages through to the very end. Pacy thriller with satisfying twists and turns. Well worth a read and roll on the next one.

After a promising start, this book turned away from the psychological thriller angle and went all out action! The problem is I was enjoying the psychological thriller angle!

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this brilliant book. So well written with a great plot and well developed characters. The twists and turns and the building of the intrigue were excellent. Highly recommend this as a really great read!

This was a psychological action thriller which contained lots of thrills and spills as well as many twists and turns.
Sam is estranged from his father and hasn’t seen him for many years. Suddenly summoned to his hometown by a call from a Doctor he finds his father in hospital, attacked in his own home. Although he feels nothing for his father he speaks to him on his deathbed and is told that his mother who had seemingly died in a car accident with his younger brother, 25 years earlier, might still be alive.
After this revelation Sam is assaulted by some American thugs in his father’s house and resolves to find the truth which leads to a lot of violence and one or two surprises.
This was a fast paced read which was enjoyable and entertaining although some of the plot did stretch my credulity. It is like several other books of this genre which I have read recently- a mystery in a family member’s past which leads to violence as an innocent tries to find out the truth. The beginning of the book did move around in a slightly confusing way swapping several different time frames endeavouring to set the background in order to reveal some of what happened to Sam’s mother.
However, despite this, it held my attention and I was curious to find out what would happen at the end. I did read the book quickly in my quest to get to the truth.. All in all this is an enjoyable fast paced read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my review copy.

Sam Cooper, aged thirty four, lives alone in London. Alone because, twenty five years earlier, his mother, Laurie, and younger brother, Michael, had drowned in a car that had gone into a river in Connecticut, while he and his father, David, had been saved. Sam lives with the, undeserved, guilt that he should have saved his brother and mother. David had become a recluse, refusing to talk about any of the past and alienating Sam, who had left home as soon as he was old enough and kept minimal contact. But now he has to return to Firwood, the village where they had lived, because his father has been savagely tortured and beaten, and is near death. Who would do this to him and why? The answer to these questions are the driving force for the rest of the book; these questions plus another. Sam has always hoped that his mother was somehow still alive – wishful thinking born out of that guilt – but with his dying breath David tells him that she is still alive and he surmises that this was the information for which his father was tortured. Someone from that unknown past is seeking Laurie and will stop at nothing to trace her. To find out who that might be and why, if she is alive, she has not been in contact with him, her only child, for twenty five years, Sam has to escape the guys who killed his father, and travel to Laurie’s home, Connecticut.
The writing is fast paced and the author is good at describing scenes involving fighting and shooting. This is just as well because there are an awful lot of them. Sam is in constant jeopardy, and it is a bit of a stretch to accept that this nonconfrontational, mid-thirties administrator for a charity can sustain the amount of damage with which he is inflicted. Of course that, is not unusual in a chase type thriller, and it does keep the reader committed, so I’m happy to go with the genre convention. In the end the rationale behind the events makes sense and the plot does keep you guessing.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

Sam Cooper has lived his life believing his mother and younger brother died when their car plunged into a river when he was a child. Feeling guilty for escaping the accident and estranged from his father, he decides to pay him one final visit. On his deathbed, his father tells him that his mother is still alive. Searching for answers, Sam heads to America where he risks his life to find out the truth.

This is a good thriller full of twists and turns. I had to suspend belief a little - how many times can there be gun battles in the streets, with no police or public present and no repercussions?

Thanks to Hodder and Stoughton and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

On his father’s death bed, a son finds out that his mother, who he believed died in a car accident when he was a child, might still be alive. When he seeks to find out the truth, it turns out there are several others also searching the same thing and are also prepared to kill those who are standing in their way. This turns into not only a quest for a hidden truth, but also a flight from danger. With plenty of false friends and allies along the way, this is an entertaining thriller, but the plot stretches credibility just a bit too far.

Just didn`t keep me interested as the plot was confusing with multiple points of view.

Sam lost his brother and mother in a car accident which he survived and after 25yr later he learnt from his dying dad that his mother was alive and he goes to America to search for her.

I found the plot unbelievable with Sam taking on mafia type people and winning every time, no way!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

Wow,what an action packed thrill ride. I thought I had the story figured out then suddenly a huge twist then another,the twists kept coming.
Some chapters I could hardly breathe reading what was happening to the unassuming 'hero' thrust into a never ending nightmare.
A truly riveting read.
I loved it.

Oh my goodness why has no one told me about this author before. This was a really fast paced thriller with a capital T. It grabbed me from the short prologue; Laurie, David and their two children (Sam, 9 and Michael 5) as their car sinks into a river in Connecticut and Laurie’s last thought is that Anthony has won. From then on the story kept a tight grip of me until the final page. A brilliant storyline with a stellar cast of characters, with no idea which of them you could trust, or even who they were. Written in multiple POV and timelines you need to keep your wits about you but I found it easy to follow.

Briefly, Sam and his father David were rescued from the river and returned to the UK but David was never the same; he drank and ignored his son. So when Sam gets a called 25 years later to say his father is dying he isn’t sure if he wants to see him. When he does he finds that his father has been attacked and his last words to his son are “your Mum’s alive”. Shocked Sam isn’t sure whether to believe him but eventually decides to return to America to try and find her.

What happens next is probably a little far fetched in that despite numerous attacks / murders the police don’t appear to exist but hey it’s a story and a great one. Action driven rather than character driven there are a few really strong character who stood out, Anthony is probably one of the most despicable characters I’ve read in a while and who is completely immoral and Sam who has spent most of his life without love and blaming himself for his brother’s death. A tense and thrilling read ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You Never Said Goodbye is a fast paced, page turner of a thriller that grabbed me on the first page and never let go - Fantastic!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my ARC.