This is the first novel I’ve read by the author and was unaware that it was a sequel to her novel After Anna. This did not spoil my enjoyment and it can easily be read as a standalone.
Anna Miller disappears after a flight from Heathrow to Manchester and shortly afterwards her half brother goes missing.
I thought the first half of the novel was excellent and enjoyed the police procedural aspect of the investigation into the disappearances of Anna and Oakley. It moves along at a good pace and I was completely gripped.
However when the novel moves on to explaining to the reader what happened to Anna and her brother the plot became slightly ridiculous.
It was still a compelling read that I would recommend and I’ll certainly read more by the author.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC
3.5 stars

This is a sequel read to ‘After Anna’ but can also be read as a stand alone.

At Heathrow Julia puts her 15 year old daughter Anna on a flight to Manchester to visit her father Brian. Brian’s wife Willow is waiting to collect Anna but she never makes it through to arrivals. Every parents worse nightmare comes to life and within an hour their six year old son Oakley is also missing. What is going on?

Ten years ago Anna was abducted too (this is covered in the first book - After Anna) so her parents cannot believe it is happening again. Last time her grandmother was behind the abduction but who is it this time?

This is a basic thriller, I did enjoy but I wouldn’t say this is Alex Lakes best, I have recently read the authors whole back catalogue and I think I was expecting a bit more from this.

Many thanks to NetGalley, published and author for my eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a great mystery thriller.
When Julia says goodbye to her daughter Anna as she goes to visit her father, she doesn't realise she will soon vanish.
Her step-mum is there to meet her, but Anna is nowhere to be found.
She soon gets another shock when her son has gone missing too.
The Police start their investigations and it soon comes up about Anna's disappearance when she was younger.
There's lots of people hiding things in this book and a few red herrings make this a great read.
Thanks to Harper Collins UK for the opportunity to read this book.

A solid four stars from me for this one as I was addicted to it from the first page. Yes it was a little over the top in places and I had to suspend my credibility somewhat but every scenario in the plot was well developed and interesting. I did think that the part where one of the main puzzles was solved was fairly obvious but that was the only thing I guessed.
Alex Lake took a good idea and wrote a really enjoyable book from it. I think it will be a hit with readers.

After travelling alone on a flight from London Heathrow to Manchester to visit her father, step mother and step brother, fifteen year old Anna Miller goes missing. Her stepmother Willow is waiting for her at the arrivals gate and raises the alarm when she doesn’t appear. Believing it’s Anna playing up to annoy her Willow, leaves to pick up her own son 6 year old Oakley from football training but due to the delay when she arrives she finds everyone has already left including Oakley. The Police are called to investigate both disappearance and it’s revealed Anna has gone missing before ten years earlier after she was kidnapped by her paternal grandmother.

The story of Anna being kidnapped a decade earlier is told in After Anna a previous book y the author. I loved the fact that Here one-minute picks up with the same family and the readers can see how their lives turned out. The book can also be enjoyed as a standalone as the characters are well developed and enough of the backstory is revealed to keep the readers informed.

I enjoyed the premise and enjoyed how the plot was revealed.

My thanks to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Here One Minute’ written by Alex Lake in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Anna Miller is spending the weekend with her father and is put on a plane by her mother Julia for a flight from Heathrow to Manchester. Her parents know she’s arrived but then she disappears. Later that afternoon, Anna’s six-year-old half-brother Oakley is playing football but when his mother Willow arrives to collect him he’s nowhere to be found. DI Wynne needs to decide whether their disappearances are a coincidence, and she doesn’t believe in coincidences, or if they’ve been planned in advance.

‘Here One Minute’ is a tense and twisty psychological thriller that’s kept me on the edge of my seat from the first page to the last. The plot has been brilliantly conceived with perfectly described characters, suspense, intrigue and tension that’s rapidly increased the further I’ve got into the story. I’ve loved the writing style that’s so easy to read the pages just flew by until I’d reached the final exciting chapters that at times had me grimacing. This is another superb thriller from Alex Lake that I can highly recommend and would give it more than five stars to if I could.

I have read a few of Alex Lake's books and enjoyed them so would consider myself a fan and this one is just another to add to the list of great books written by this author.

Julia sees her 15 year-old daughter, Anna, off on a flight from Heathrow to Manchester to be met there by her step-mother but she doesn't appear - she definitely got on the flight, got off but then disappeared and this isn't the first time this has happened. The first time, she was kidnapped by her grandmother but she's dead so what the heck has happened?!? Then the worst thing happens, Anna's six year-old brother, Oakley, goes missing ... this can't be a coincidence ... can it??

This is an intriguing mystery thriller that's full of red herrings, twists and turns. It's full of really interesting characters that are well-fleshed out and it's written at a fast pace and I really enjoyed it.

Many thanks to the author, HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of this intriguing story.

Alex Lake's book are always so intense and fast paced, I felt hooked immediately and knew I had to find out the truth.

These anodyne middle-class parents have a pattern of losing their children! a bit of a slow burn, but once the thriller takes off, it really sucks you in and it cannot be put down! I really did not see who the “baddie “was until the very end! Definitely five star

Teenager Anna gets on a plane but disappears once it lands. Her parents are frantic with worry, even more so because this isn’t the first time she has vanished, having been kidnapped a decade earlier. Surely this can’t be related?

I have enjoyed quite a few of Alex Lake’s previous novels, therefore was really looking forward to reading this one. I must admit that I did not know this was a follow up to a previous book, however this had no negative impact as I managed to follow the story easily. The story was engaging with a complex plot and lots of twists and turns.

The characters were well written, although some came across as very unlikeable. One in particular really frustrated me. As the story picks up pace there are more shocking scenes to discover and suspense built, although some parts are quite far fetched. Even though having not read the first book did not ruin this book for me, I would have preferred to have read it prior to get some back story. I would definitely be intrigued to see where a third book in this series would go. 3.5 stars rounded up. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

A totally absorbing and gripping read, I couldn’t put it down!

Fifteen year old Anna boards a plane at Heathrow, but when the flight lands at Manchester, where her step mum is waiting to collect her, Anna doesn’t appear. How can someone board a flight and then disappear?

I loved the writing, the characters, the plot, the red herrings, the tension and the twists!

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Alex Lake and Harper Collins for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Julia's fifteen year old daughter Anna is heading off to stay with her dad for a few days in Manchester and is flying from Heathrow, it's only a short journey so what could possibly go wrong, and Brian will be there waiting to pick her up, but that doesn't stop Julia worrying about her and rightly so because when the plane lands Anna is nowhere to be seen. Airport security and the police are at a loss as to how she could just vanish, could history be repeating itself, surely that's not possible...

Here One Minute is the latest thriller by this author and the fourth one of his I've read so far. Lake knows how to draw his readers in with an intriguing prologue and a story that captivates you more at every turn of the page, and this one is no different. It's a fast paced read with a premise that is every parent's worst nightmare and some complex characters who, in the main, aren't very likeable. The story has some great twists and a few red herrings thrown in along the way to keep the reader second guessing. I didn't realise that this was a sequel to After Anna, which I've not yet read, until I was halfway through this one and something just triggered me to look at Lake's previous books on my tbr pile, although this one can easily be read as a standalone. Another great read from an author that delivers every time.

I'd like to thank HarperCollins UK and Netgalley for inviting me to read this book, I will post my review on Goodreads now and Amazon on publication day.

Absolutely amazing, kept me guessing until the very end, loved the storyline and the ending was brilliant also, another masterpiece and I cant wait to read the next one, definitely one of the best books I have read this year AAA

The book starts off strong, with a fast pace that kept me engaged throughout the opening chapters. However, as I read on, I started to feel like I was missing some context. After a quick bit of research, I realised that this book is actually a sequel to "After Anna"—something I hadn’t initially known, and I wasn’t alone in missing this crucial detail. While the book is still readable on its own, something is definitely lost, as you're missing the full background.
The story begins to lose gas about halfway through, and the ending felt quite rushed. Without giving too much away, some of the characters’ decisions felt unrealistic, and I found it hard to believe they wouldn’t have considered more thoughtful or safer plans. Additionally, all characters felt a bit one-dimensional, and I had hoped to see some sort of redemption arc, but that never materialised.
All in all, while it wasn’t a bad read and kept me entertained without much eye-rolling, there was definitely something missing.

Here one minute by Alex Lake I understand is the second book in a trilogy. I was aware of this but, it was not a problem as you can read it as a standalone.
Julia Miller put her fifteen years old daughter Anna on a plane to go and see her father. Anna doesn’t understand it and wonders why she cannot just be got by train. But instead of her father picking her up at the airport. His new wife does instead. But when the plane lands at the airport, she goes into a restroom never to be seen again.
But ten years ago, when Anna was only five, she was kidnapped by her Grandmother Edna. Can her recent disappearance be linked. The only problem with that is there was news that her grandmother is recently deceased.
This is a fast-paced thriller with an air of mystery that I found to be a quite enjoyable read. There is a lot of twists and turns and quite a few red herrings along the way, The parents’ characters were a bit naggy and I was slightly confused on what the real motives were of the grandmother but nevertheless I thought this is worth the read. 4 stars from me.

Fantastic read. This is the 3rd book I’ve now read from this author and loved them all. It had me hooked right from the beginning. It was fast paced and exciting. Lots of twists and turns and I mean lots. Great plot that played out well. Very well written. Will now be looking for his next book he’s becoming one of my favourite authors

When I requested this book I didn’t know it was the second book in a trilogy. I still enjoyed the story but felt like I had missed something. I’m going to read the first book and read this again. It is an unusual story in the fact that a teenager vanishes after getting off a flight to stay with her father and stepmother, who I instantly disliked. This is a good read for anyone who enjoys thrilling writing.
Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Firstly thanks for my early access in exchange for a review . I’ve enjoyed all this authors previous books
And I didn’t realise this was essentially a sequel to one .
I raced through this in the early hours as was incredibly gripping.
Fast paced with twists and turns aplenty!
Fantastically written and execuated this plays out every parents worst nightmare .
What happens when the truth is even scarier than your fears !

Julia puts her teenage daughter Anna on a plane, knowing she will see her again in a couple of days. But when the plane lands, Anna is nowhere to be seen. She definitely got on the flight, but then she just.... vanished. And this isn't the first time Anna has disappeared. When she was just five-years-old, Anna was kidnapped. But that's all in the past, and Anna's disappearance now couldn't possibly be connected. Could it?

This is a fast-paced read. It's book 2 out of 3 in the trilogy. Anna is now fifteen and vanishes after boarding a plane. Anna has disappeared without trace before, ten years ago she was kidnapped. Anna's six-year-old half-brother Oakley has also vanished. Everyone has secrets, the family is dysfunctional. I did not like any of the characters, but Anna is quite feisty for her age. I will read the third book when it becomes available.

Published 24th October 2024

I would like to thank #NetGalley #HarperCollinsUK and the author #AlexLake for my ARC of #HereOneMinute in exchange for an honest review.

Here One Minute is a mystery thriller and, apparently, the second book in a trilogy. This is the first book, I have read from this author so I hadn’t read the first.
The story unfolds with Anna, a 15-year-old girl, about to embark on a domestic flight in the UK. She is due to spend time with her father and his second wife. All goes well until the plane lands and Anna doesn’t come through arrivals. CCTV shows that she walked into a restroom just after landing, but wasn’t seen to exit. It is as though she has vanished into thin air. What separates this from a normal missing child story is that this is not the first time Anna has gone missing. Ten years previously, she was abducted by her grandmother, who has since passed away. The plot is complicated by the fact that Anna’s 6-year-old half-brother Oakley has also gone missing after football practice. Is there some bizarre plot at play?

The book is fast-paced and has the feel of a movie screenplay. All the family players have secrets and seem to be pretty dysfunctional. I enjoyed the author’s writing and the plot with its twists and turns.
Where the book fell was in the characterisation. Not one character had a single redeeming quality. Anna is a brattish teenager and her brother Oakley is a whiner. The father is an ineffectual lump whose claim to fame appears to be managing to marry not one, but two completely awful women. The detective is a complete fool, who I doubt could catch the most blatant of criminals. The eventual perpetrator was a cardboard cut-out Bond villain. I half expected them to produce a white cat.
So, overall the book was a mixed bag. It was fast-paced and a definite page-turner. However it was extremely entertaining, but for all the wrong reasons. I’m not sure how the author will craft a sequel unless the aforementioned white cat is going to make an appearance.
My thanks to NetGalley, Alex Lake and Harper Collins for the much-appreciated ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.