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Nathan Miccoli #1

Gone But Not Missed

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Librarian Note: Alternate Cover Edition for ASIN: B00GUR7TMO.

Lillian Brannon wakes up on Valentine's Day in an exact replica of her bedroom but the only item that she believes is authentic is her dog, Laude. She is held captive in her kidnapper's basement apartment, summoned upstairs once a week for a chaste dinner. But will his kindness last, and more importantly, why isn’t anyone looking for her? Lillian’s story is interwoven with that of Nathan, a NYPD officer, who is intrigued by Lillian’s disappearance- how can a young woman be gone for two weeks before a Missing Person Report is filed? Local police believe Lillian has voluntarily abandoned a life she didn’t like. Lillian’s best friend convinces Nathan the authorities are wrong. With no jurisdiction, no resources, and no witnesses, he is compelled by the pictures of Lillian with her sweet smile and sparkling green eyes to obsessively take up the case. Armed with Lillian’s keys and personal information, he spends hours, then days in her home trying to find clues that will lead him to her.

308 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 14, 2013

567 people are currently reading
1284 people want to read

About the author

A.R. Kennedy

14 books351 followers
A R Kennedy lives in Long Beach, New York, with her two pups. She works hard to put food on the floor for them. As her favorite T-shirt says, ‘I work so my dog can have a better life'. She’s an avid traveler. But don’t worry. While she’s away, her parents dote on their grand-puppies even more than she does. Her writing is a combination of her love of travel, animals, and the journey we all take to find ourselves.

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5 stars
580 (39%)
4 stars
524 (36%)
3 stars
253 (17%)
2 stars
68 (4%)
1 star
30 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
Profile Image for Hanne.
680 reviews59 followers
September 30, 2019
this was...an interesting read
it means that I read a book this weekend, which was my goal

it spooked me greatly, which was fun and meant that it was realistic enough for me to properly spooked
i loooooooooooooved laude she was the best and cutest and I love her more than anything she's so cute
also lilly was way more coherent than I'd be if I were kidnapped
also that poor girl
a lil bit deux ex machina at the end, but I appreciate how it was done

this is gonna be one of those books that haunts me forever but that I'll never remember the book for
Profile Image for bex.
2,435 reviews24 followers
January 8, 2015
It is very rare for me to rate a book this low. Usually if it is just a blah read, I will at least give it 2 stars. But there is no way I can do that here.

First off, the version I have says very clearly that should be a "Nathan Miccoli Mystery." Oh, that character did show up and work on the case, but it wasn't much of a mystery. Thriller or suspense, but not a mystery.

What this book is most is a GIANT sloppy mess. It is absolutely ridiculous that anyone would think this ebook should be of a quality acceptable to share it on Amazon. Gibberish like "A R Kennedy", random numbers, and "A R Kennedy Gone But Not Missed" or combinations thereof appear at random times in the text, often in the middle of a sentence!!

chapters start with a lowercase letter on their own line. The mark for the series-named character perspective scenes are written nAthAn.

It doesn't look like the book as been edited by anyone with even basic sense. "sandwish" ... "I lied down" ... "juvenille" ... are just a few trivial examples of the things that should have been fixed before the book went to "publication." Two of those examples (and more things I saw) would even have been caught with a simple SPELL CHECK!


To all this, add that the start is ridiculously slow. It even quite literally REPEATS AN ENTIRE SCENE!

So how did I manage to finish it? I MADE myself. It wouldn't be fair to give it a very low rating if it somehow managed to redeem itself before the end. By reading the entire thing, I know without a doubt that it NEVER redeems itself and the low rating is fair.
Profile Image for Deborah.
3,830 reviews495 followers
February 7, 2014
If you disappeared how long would it be before someone realised you were missing.
Lillian wakes up in an exact replica of her bedroom, where is she, how did she get here and how long will it be before someone realises she's gone. The police think she up and left, fed up with her life her best friend Annie tries to convince them she's been taken but no one believes her until 'nearly' detective Nathan Miccoli becomes obsessed with Lillian and her disappearance.
I was so intrigued with this book that I started reading it as soon as I'd downloaded it even though I was half way through another book at the time. I read it in one go becoming totally absorbed in the story, I loved the characters, faults and all, the only things I didn't like were firstly that it's along way into the book before Nathan makes an appearance and also that it was fairly easy to work out who'd taken her, I know there were a couple of false trails thrown in there but...Anyway despite this I still enjoyed the book.
Profile Image for Glenda.
431 reviews19 followers
December 19, 2013
I plunged right into this novel soon after my copy arrived from the author via a Goodreads First Reads award. It was a quick read as the author developed the disturbing premise that the 24-yr-old protagonist, Lily, is "gone…but not missed". I was drawn in by the circumstances that permitted law enforcement officials to avoid a serious inquiry into Lily's whereabouts.

Fortunately for Lily, one detective takes the missing persons report seriously. Even though we are not introduced to this newly-promoted detective until past page 100, the novel's tagline, "A Nathan Miccoli Mystery", hints that a series is in the works. I am looking forward to finding out if Nathan will bring the genuine passion he shows in this case to future cases.



Profile Image for Peggy.
2,459 reviews50 followers
February 2, 2017
Pretty impressed with what I read! Great start off and even smooth flow continuing throughout the entire story. I didn't feel that it jumped around but was easily rethinking thoughts each time I thought I had it figured out. This book will have you wandering some many different things. Good book from a new to me author and can't wait to see what else is out there from this author!
Profile Image for Sharon Kennedy.
409 reviews7 followers
September 10, 2016
This was a good storyline, around how easy it is for people to make assumptions about what happens to people who are alone.
Unfortunately, I found myself getting very irritated with the author's fondness for the 'hindsight' technique. After the initial chapter, the timeline moves back a couple of weeks, showing more details of Lily's life and routine. These are generally really short chapters, which isn't a problem, but then virtually every chapter ends with a sentence along the lines of "If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have..." As a device to gain the reader's interest, once or twice would have been ok, but using it this frequently just got me irritated with the heroine, to the point that I was mentally saying back at her "Well, you didn't, so suck it up!"

The other thing that I found really irritating was that her friend, who was the only one who initially thought that something had happened to her, and kept contacting the police, to insist that something was wrong and that she hadn't just left, was so very insistent that the person from the dating site, who had been the last person to actually see Lily, had had nothing to do with her disappearance, simply because he had seemed "nice". With the best will in the world, if someone you know so well that you're convinced that something has happened, despite no one else believing you, why would you not be suspicious of the last person to see her? Seemed blooming daft to me.

And although this is noted as number one in a series, I really can't see how they could make a series work, as the only reason that Nathan got involved was because he got obsessed with Lily - is he going to get obsessed with every single case?
272 reviews2 followers
December 16, 2013
I received this book free from a Goodreads give-away. I really liked this book! I could not put it down. A very interesting premise. It makes you wonder if anyone would miss you or even notice you were missing. It is also a little disturbing not knowing who could be noticing you and your daily routines. Highly recommend.
103 reviews1 follower
November 25, 2013
I love a book that " sucks you right in"! When Lilly work up in a replica of her bedroom, I was hooked. I couldn't wait to find out who and why someone went to that much trouble...Just imagine waking up like that! A really great easy read...I couldn't wait to find out what happened...
Profile Image for Cindy B. .
3,899 reviews219 followers
April 29, 2014
Frightening premise. Grateful it ended well, was disturbed by her acceptance of situation & mad man. No sex or gory stuff, proof it doesn't take that to make it interesting. A few editing errors - 'noise for nose' - but worth the read. TTS-enabled.
4 reviews
March 16, 2014
Gone but not missed...Grabbed me and didn't let go.

Enjoyed this story very much. Recommend it. Enjoyed the story line and trying to decide who had taken her. Enjoyed even after suspecting who the person probably was. Sit down and enjoy.
11 reviews
January 27, 2019
I really can't decide how to rate this book. It deserves either five stars, or one. So I compromised and gave it three. I found it to be a bit like the "Sharknado" of the book world. So bad it's good. But in none of the ways that it tried to be.
It starts off with a young woman, held against her will in a locked room that exactly matches her own. While not a new idea, it's a great premise, and had promise. It quickly takes a dive into the ridiculous when the woman herself starts to think of her situation as normal within just a few days. She starts thinking her captor is attractive, and having little chit chats with him. Even laughing until they're both in tears at one point (the "hilarious" joke being one of her own escape attempts.) This insanity continues throughout. Trying to escape, then wondering to herself if he's really so bad, and forgetting that he kidnapped her. At one point she even thinks to herself that "he's so considerate. I've never dated a man who remembered anniversaries before." Just fyi, the " anniversary" she's referring to is the day her kidnapper started stalking her!
Then there's the detective. Supposedly, he's the main character. But we don't meet him until 36% into the book. When his friend dismisses the case as not being a case (he thinks the woman ran off on her own) he takes it upon himself to work it unofficially in his free time. He takes to living in the victim's house, sleeping in her bed, paying her bills, and falling in love with her. The woman he's never met. The victim in the case he's working. He's as crazy as the man who took her. The other man who is a stranger to her, who has convinced himself that he's in love with her from a distance.
I still don't know quite why I finished it, but I did. It actually got to a point where the "fun" was just laughing at it and wondering how much worse it could get.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jessyca Garcia.
251 reviews23 followers
January 5, 2018
The book "Gone... But Not Missed" by A.R. Kennedy was a fast read. The story is about Lillian who gets kidnapped. She is being helped in an exact replica of her room along with her beloved dog. Thanks to her best friend, it is up to Nathan Miccoli to find her, because noone else seems to care.

At first I had a little trouble concentrating on "Gone... But Not Missed" because of the shifting of characters in each new chapter. Once I got used to that I was able to enjoy the story. I felt really bad for Lily. She bascilly had no family left and noone seemed to notice her. I was able to relate to her because she reminded me of myself. I do wish there was more time and detail spent on why Lily's aunt cut her out of her life. It is only briefly touched upon.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I did not realise when I started this book that it was a series. I hope to read the other books to see what mysteries await Nathan Miccoli.
Profile Image for Lynda Kelly.
2,199 reviews106 followers
September 2, 2020
Got as far as page 79 into this and gave up.....it became farcical as it just wouldn't happen !! If it's to be believed, Lillian wakes up kidnapped and just plays silly buggers with the madzer, with not a word in disagreement or a "WTF are you doing" ?? It just wouldn't happen, unless she's some sort of halfwit, and she didn't appear to be !!
There were a few mistakes, too, who's not whose, a outsider and not an outsider, there are missed and misplaced apostrophes, complementary used and not complimentary and lied not laid. This sentence also gets an additional word slung in, "....Aunt Florence and I would look at it each other..."
I've never heard of a three-way bulb before and don't think they're something I've ever seen over here after I googled them....so I learnt something new. I liked the cover used as well. The story is just too unbelievable for me, though.
2,503 reviews
December 26, 2022
free ebook
her parents died in a car accident on the way to her graduation with a puppy for a present
her aunt had her move into her condo, but then didnt talk to her again, she didnt understand why

her best friend annie fixed her up on a date from a dating site
she wasnt going to go out with him again, he had crazy eyes
then she was kidnapped and in a basement made to recreate her bedroom
her dog was with her
the crazy eyed man wanted her to love him like he loved her
his wife and mom died due to no carbon alarm
he kept her there for 6 weeks
the cops didnt think she was kidnapped or missing, but one cop did
and he kept searching till he found her at the mets game
and rescued her and got her dog back
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Leanne Keenoo.
617 reviews1 follower
August 3, 2019
I enjoyed this book up until the last few chapters.
Lily is kidnapped with her dog and held captive in a basement which has been made to look exactly like her own bedroom.
The man who has taken her hostage is not unpleasant to her, more the opposite. He calls on her and takes her for dinner dates upstairs to his kitchen and dining room.
Also the weird thing is that nobody seems concerned that Lily is missing apart from one police officer Nathan who moves into her flat whilst investigating her disappearance.
I just didn’t really understand the ending. Very strange
Profile Image for Sharon Benham.
82 reviews5 followers
August 22, 2019
I really enjoyed this book. In the beginning it made me feel uncomfortable and panicky. It was so creepy.

Lily goes missing and people only seem to notice her dog, Laude, hasn’t been around.

Lily wakes to find herself in what she first thinks is her bedroom but something feels “off”. She soon finds out that she is in a replica room. How has this happened? Who put her here and how long will she be here?

I found myself reading this at every opportunity. I can’t wait to read the next instalment. I have already bought it.
248 reviews3 followers
September 3, 2019
An awesome mystery tale! I was hooked from the first moment that Lillian woke up in her room, but not her room. How in the world? Who was doing this to her? Why her? So many questions from the first page and on to the end. Apart from the mystery, I loved how the author developed such interesting characters and relationships. Beautifully written and definitely a page-turner. So enjoyable, that I read the entire book in a day.
Profile Image for Anne Fox.
Author 25 books47 followers
January 12, 2021
At first, I thought I wouldn’t like it.

At first, the story didn’t grab me. But the more I read, the more intrigued I became. As Lily tries to figure out how to escape her captor and Nathan tries to find the evidence needed to apprehend him, you’re left trying to figure out how it all ends up fitting together. No spoilers - you’re going to have to read the book to find that answer, as well as how it all turns out.
4 reviews
December 8, 2017
Enjoyed this book. Found it an interesting concept. Would recommend it to every young woman living alone.

I couldn't put it down. Needed to know how it turned out. Found the way it was written, each chapter telling what they were going through emotionally, quite interesting. It was an easy and fast read.
667 reviews26 followers
August 7, 2019
I loved this interesting book. I read it in one sitting. I thought the plot was wonderful. I loved the main character's and how they interacted with each other. I thought the author does a great job of letting you feel the emotions of the character's. I want to read more from this author and series!
Profile Image for Erika Sobin.
160 reviews1 follower
September 10, 2019
Who misses who

I enjoyed this for the most part. The drawbacks for me were the relationship between Lily and Craig and the almost-detective. He may have been creepier than the stalker! And Annie would have ceased being my best friend if every conversation went the way it did with her. Fun story line that needs a little character help.
Profile Image for K.C. Riley-Gyer.
Author 4 books30 followers
October 2, 2019
Different but interesting

The write-up intrigued me but I wasn’t expecting the way the story was laid out. I enjoyed it and didn’t want to put it down when I had no choice. While, for me, not necessarily and on-the-edge-of-the-seat read, I devoured this as quickly as I could. I’ll be hunting up the next in the series.
Profile Image for Wilma.
505 reviews1 follower
October 3, 2019
This was an interesting book. Lily wakes up one day but discovers that she is not in her bedroom. She has been abducted and is being kept locked up in a basement that resembles her bedroom. After being missing for two weeks, her best friend Annie, gets a detective involved in the search for Lily.

Well written and good characters and there's a dog!
Profile Image for Mystic Miraflores.
1,402 reviews7 followers
March 19, 2020
This was an exciting book which I couldn't put down. I had to find out how Lily escapes or is rescued. The only negative thing was the formatting on the Kindle which made the book hard to read, plus some misspellings and grammar mistakes. The author needed a professional editor. If it weren't for these mistakes, I would have given the book more stars.
48 reviews1 follower
July 17, 2020
Chit chatty

The premise was okay, but I honestly could put it down easily. Too much chit chatty dialogue for my taste. I cheated and skipped to the end. Except for maybe one questions was explained. I am sorry. I do not like to review like this, but unless you like lots of talk......
Profile Image for Ana.
575 reviews9 followers
August 3, 2020
Un día te levantas y crees que estás en tu cuarto, pero no, no es ni tu cuarto ni tu casa y no tienes ni idea lo que ha pasado. Eso le pasó a Lily, y pasará un buen tiempo hasta que pueda entenderlo, porque parece que a nadie le extraña que haya desaparecido. El libro es entretenido, es fácil descubrir al culpable, pero la trama engancha
Profile Image for Reba.
239 reviews1 follower
November 27, 2017
Great plot

This book had a great plot and kept me interested, but not quite on the edge of my seat. Still, it was well written and developed, with a few grammatical errors...which I personally find very irritating. Ill definitely read more of this author.
22 reviews
October 28, 2018
Interesting But Implausible

The story wasn't bad but the grammar errors really irritated me and the characters were two-dimensional. Judging from the reviews I don't think I'll read the sequels. This series would be better aimed towards young readers.
28 reviews
July 29, 2019
Brilliant

First but definitely not the last A R Kennedy book I read. Not my usual reading matter but as they say a change is as good as a rest.
I enjoyed every page, good story line, strong leading lady. An enjoyable book from start to finish.
320 reviews7 followers
August 1, 2019
Incredibly scary book

The scariest book I have ever read. Normal people suddenly faced with a missing person no one else believes is missing. A truly psychological thriller you won't put down til the end.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews

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