Gone: A Psychological Thriller (The New Town Thrillers

by Nadija Mujagic

376 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 15, 2026

About the author

Nadija has written several psychological thrillers and a memoir series. In her spare time, she enjoys playing sports and electric bass guitar.

Reviews

[Tina A.]

Nadija Mujagic is easily one of my absolute favorite authors, and she does it again!

The New Town Thriller series (New Town. New Start. New Nightmare.) started strong with The Pond Girls, and this next installment, GONE, is just as fast-paced and perfectly addictive!

This story left me with so many "Wait... what?! Why?!" moments. Mujagic always knows exactly how to get that reaction out of me.

I felt terrifyingly trapped in the mind of the main character, Denise—with all of her helpless paranoia and suspicion toward absolutely everyone outside her front door.

Honestly, who wouldn’t feel that way? As a military family, Denise and Justin just moved to this quiet, small Arizona neighborhood and barely know anyone. Then Denise wakes up only to realize her four-year-old was snatched straight out of bed in the middle of the night. Everyone feels shady, and you just know someone is hiding something!

GONE delivers every single thing I love in a psychological thriller. The tension never lets up, the chapters fly by, and the plot twists keep coming—capped off with an ending that had my eyes practically popping out!

While it’s perfect as a standalone, I strongly suggest reading both.

*I received an Advance Reader Copy. The opinions expressed are my own.*

[Jessica Hinton Leport]

Wow! I was honored to be an arc reader for this book and so glad I was able to read it early.
A thriller that draws you in from the first page. Justin and Denise wake up early to the worst nightmare to find their 4yr old son missing from his room. The police and the FBI can not help enough. Many shady people, but who would take an innocent child? The heartbreak to have a missing child, and the suspense of waiting to see if they get Danny back kept me turning the page until the end.
This is the second book of the new town with a new nightmare. Reading the first book The Pond Girls will give you some back story of the new neighbors.
Both of these books were so good and read in one sitting.

[K.]

Gone has me on the edge of my seat from the beginning until the very end. As the novel started I was invested. It’s a continuous to The Pond Girls. Although it flows well as a standalone I highly recommend reading book 1 for the full effect of the series. What would you do if your 4 yr old goes missing. Nadija takes us on a venture to figure just that. My heart ponded and I gasped while reading this. The plot was fantastically crafted. The twist was chef’s kiss. I’m still sitting here in awe with this. Nadija’s writing still continues to keep me gasping for air with each page turn.

Thank you Nadija Mujagic and StoryOrigin for the eARC. This review is that of my own.

[Momma T's Books]

Wow. What a heart pounding read that was. I didn't know who to hug or who to throw to the wolves. So many different angles. You're heading down the path one way, then you have to break, turn around, and go back down another road. It keeps you on your toes. If you like having several faces with 20 different strings pulled tightly in 50 different directions. Thus is for you. Everything falls together seamlessly by the end, but the path you are taken down is full of paranoid thoughts, shady corners and just a an all out good time.

[Rachel Browning]

Loved this one! “Gone” by Nadija Mujagic is intense, shocking, and so twisty! I didn’t want to put it down. I actually had to make myself stop reading and go to sleep! I loved the short chapters and multiple points of view. They kept the story moving and made it so easy to get pulled in. If you love intense, twisty thrillers that keep you guessing, this one is definitely worth reading!

[Jamie Lynn DaVault]

ARC review of
Gone by Nadija Mujagic

5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🙌

This fast paced thriller has you hooked from the first page of the prologue!

It continues the story of Denise and Justin in The Pond Girls but can be read as a standalone.

Intense, well written page turner that keeps you guessing. The person that orchestrated this event will shock you to your core! The ending 🤯 perfect 👌

[Charlene Mattson]

This one is a bit darker in premise and definitely has plenty of tension! I read it in two sessions in one day; it was so bingeable!

Very much reccomended 😁

[Holly Cerutti]

WOW! This psychological thriller grabs you from the very first chapter and doesn’t let go! From the moment little Danny disappears, the tension keeps building, and I found myself completely consumed by this family’s nightmare.

Denise, Justin, and their four-year-old son, Danny, have recently moved to what seems like a quiet, peaceful neighborhood in Arizona. But everything changes when Denise wakes in the middle of the night and discovers that Danny is missing from his bedroom.

He’s nowhere in the house. No explanation. No clues. Just gone.

The police are called, the search begins, and suddenly everyone—and everything—comes under suspicion. Did someone see something? Did the neighbors hear anything? And most importantly, what really happened to Danny?

As if losing their child isn’t devastating enough, Denise and Justin find themselves caught in one horrifying situation after another. Just when I thought things couldn’t possibly get worse, another twist would come along and leave me questioning everything I thought I knew.

Who can they trust? Who is telling the truth? And will Danny ever be found?

The twists and turns in this story are WILD! The suspense is relentless, the emotions run incredibly high, and there were so many moments where I was holding my breath, desperate to find out what would happen next. I definitely lost sleep because I kept telling myself, “Just one more chapter!” 😂

I really enjoyed the multiple POVs because getting inside the heads of the different characters added so much to the story. It kept me guessing and made me constantly question who I could trust.

This was a fast-paced, gripping read that completely sucked me in. If you love psychological thrillers filled with secrets, suspense, unexpected twists, and plenty of OMG moments, definitely add this one to your TBR!

Nadija is quickly becoming a must-read author for me. She has a talent for keeping me guessing and delivering twist after twist, and she never fails to pull me completely into her stories. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

[Ali O]

GONE by Nadija Mujagic
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This intense psychological thriller really starts off with a bang! It’s a definite nightmare for any family!!

Denise, Justin, and their 4 year old son, Danny, have just moved to a quiet neighborhood in Arizona.
Denise wakes up I’m the middle of the night and realizes her son Danny is gone from his bedroom and is nowhere to be found. They contact the police and the search and mystery is on!
Does anyone know what happened to Danny? Did the neighbors see or hear anything?
As if Danny going missing wasn’t bad enough poor Denise and Justin continue to run into horrible situations.
Will Danny be found? Who can be trusted?

The twists and turns are wild in this one! And the suspense is intense, as well as high emotions throughout the story! I definitely lost sleep saying just one more chapter! It’s a fast read that completely sucked me in!
I enjoyed the multiple POV’s; I liked knowing what all of the different characters were thinking.

I’m so lucky to be an alpha reader for Nadija!! She’s a must read author who is consistently able to pull out so many twists and thrills in all of her stories!

♥️This book comes out September 15th and I definitely recommend the read!!📚
**You can pre-order it now**

This is book 2 in the series, but can be read as stand alone.
Book 1 is The Pond Girls, and you do meet the characters Denise and Justine, and it is neat to see the continuation of their lives with this book.

🐣There’s a fun bonus “Easter Egg” in the story from another one of Nadija’s books also!! 🪺

[Tracey]

Book #1 is The Pond Girls and this story continues with Denise and Justin. They now live in a quiet cul-de-sac in Arizona (no pond in sight 👀). In the early hours one morning, their four-year-old son Danny literally disappears from his bed.

The neighbourhood is no longer quiet now, there's Police and FBI in and out of their house. No cameras around but one neighbour saw a dark looking car leaving around the time Danny disappeared.

Denise and Justin spiral as the days drag on with no more leads at all.

Will Danny be found alive, and WHO is responsible?

I loved this book, and it was really fast-paced from the beginning. My spider senses were tingly as I tried to figure it all out - unsuccessfully...

The characters and storyline are relatable, and the narrative is intense. There's short chapters, multiple POV's, and I had feral thoughts about one particular character....😡.

Gone delivers everything I love about a thriller and although I don't have much time for reading now because of long work hours, I couldn't wait to go to bed and read a few more chapters of this fantastic book.

Thanks Nadija, my 17th book of yours. I just love your deep and addictive prose 🥰

[Dom Garcia]

I started Gone this morning and finished it this afternoon, which honestly says everything about the pacing.

At the center of the story is a couple whose young son disappears from their home in the middle of the night, and from there everything starts unraveling very quickly. What I liked is that the book doesn’t waste a lot of time getting into the panic, suspicion, and questions around what happened.

This turned into such a solid popcorn thriller for me. Every chapter seemed to end with something that made me want to keep going, and once the story got moving, it really did not let up.

This is my fourth book from Nadija Mujagic, and one thing I can consistently say about her writing is that she knows how to pace a thriller. Every book I’ve read from her has moved at breakneck speed, and Gone was no different.

It’s a very bingeable psychological thriller with that “just one more chapter” quality that makes it way too easy to lose a few hours.

[Laura Smith]

GONE BY THE AMAZING NADIJA MUJAGIC .
Release day set for the 15th of September 2026.
5 ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨s..
This is book 2 but can absolutely read as a standlone. Book 1 is called POND GIRLS and it was another 5 ✨s.

What an opener 👏

From the get go this story is driven with anxiety and desperation that you can feel throughout the pages.

Talk about so many suspicious characters.
I'll be honest I think there was so many characters that had me second guessing every single thing they did. I was soooo suspicious of every single person apart from one character.
How nadija did that I'll never know.
Such an amazing storyteller and one of my most favourite authors and such a dear friend ☺

This book was absolutely banging and I was here for it.

One of the best thrillers I've read all year.

Bring on the next book girl I need it immediately ♥

[Tracy Bookish]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 STARS — Gone

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Gone! I absolutely loved this book.

From the very beginning, I was completely hooked and engaged. A child goes missing in the middle of the night, and of course, the parents immediately become suspect number one. I had SO many theories about who actually took the child, and by the end, I realized I was only half right—which I love in a thriller!

One of my favorite parts was getting the POV of the kidnapper. It added another layer of suspense and had me constantly questioning what I thought I knew.

Fast-paced, suspenseful, and full of twists that kept me guessing. This was exactly the kind of thriller I love—one that makes me think I have it figured out and then proves me wrong.

An easy 5 stars from me!

[Alyssa Fujimoto]

I was honored to be apart of Nadija’s ARC team for this book! It hooked me from page one, I read it in one sitting literally! Fast-paced, short chapters, & gives you all the feels.

Imagine your child going missing, what would you do to get your child back & reveal the truth? Denise & Justin go through havoc trying to get Danny back after they realized he was kidnapped. The cops & FBI were not moving quick enough for them. So when they moved forward on their own trying to get answers, revealing the truth came with shocking twists you don’t want to miss!

Definitely would recommend this book when it releases but make sure to read “The Pond Girls” first because Denise & Justin’s life starts in that book so you’ll get a background on them first! 💜

[Lee]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Gripping Psychological Thriller!

Gone by Nadija Mujagic had me hooked from the very beginning. A child disappears on a stormy night from a seemingly safe Arizona neighborhood, setting off a tense and emotional search filled with secrets, suspicion, and unexpected twists. The suspense kept building, and every time I thought I had figured things out, the story pulled me in another direction.

The characters felt believable, the pacing was excellent, and the mystery kept me turning the pages late into the night. Nadija Mujagic does a wonderful job creating an unsettling atmosphere where no one feels completely trustworthy. If you enjoy fast-paced psychological thrillers that keep you guessing until the end, I highly recommend Gone

[Jelena Jakovljević]

First of all, I am honored once again to be an ARC reader for the amazing Nadija. Thank you so much ❤️
After the brilliant Pond Girls we get to see how Denise and Justin's story continues in another even more brilliant and jaw dropping thriller - Gone. Nadija never fails to amaze me with every new release, as well as her old books which I still haven't gone through entirely - I'm actually savoring them 💚
If you like domestic thrillers that you will not be able to put down, and you like that moment when you gasp audibly after you hit the twist - this is the book for you! I would give it 10 ⭐!

[Danielle Lundquist]

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

This is the second installment of Denise and Justin. They move on to Arizona to have a new start. One night their son Danny goes missing. They were both suspects at the beginning, but quickly were ruled out. Who could’ve done it? Who took their baby? The kidnapper has sons who are working with him. Things start to not go as they planned. I finished this in 2 days and I was shocked to find out who was behind all of this! I don’t want to give any spoilers, so you will have to grab it on 9/15.

[Thriller Lover]

The kidnapping trope is one of my absolute favorites, and this book delivers in every way! From the very first page, I was on the edge of my seat, anticipating the next move. Danny is taken in the middle of the night, but the why and who don't fully come together until about 75% in — and the wait is so worth it.

So much happens in this novel that my head was spinning (in the best way). It's immersive, beautifully written, and genuinely emotional in more than a few spots. Highly recommend this thriller! Mark your calendars and check it out September 15!

[R.M. Demeester]

I received an advance copy of Gone by Nadija Mujagic and this is my unbias reaview. This is a second book in a series but can't be read as a standalone with a complete story arch. The story is about a four year old boy who goes missing in the middle of the night with his parents desperately trying to find him. I have to say I felt so much anxiety from beginning to end. I couldn't trust any of the characters, and one way or another, I couldn't tell with certain, at least in my mind where the plot was going. Lots of suspense, twist and turns. An overall great read and I highly recommend.

[Denise Little]

Denise and Justin wake to find their 4 year old son gone. No forced entry, and no one saw anything. They know they’ll do anything to get him back.

What a fast paced, race against the clock thriller by Nadija Mujagic! I was completely blindsided by the twist!! I could not put this one down!

Justin and Denise are also in the book The Pond Girls where their story begins.

Release date September 15, 2026

[Morgan Shelton]

I follow this author on social media so when she was selling signed copies I jumped on the chance to purchase a copy before it was released!

I can’t say enough good things about this book, I loved the “surprise” 😉 character. I was on the edge of my seat while my brain was running 100mph trying to put the pieces together and I never imagined this book going the way it did. But it was so amazing! Highly recommend reading this book!

[Laura Harvey]

I loved this book! It was a great follow-up to Pond Girls but it can definitely be reading as a stand-alone. Denise and Justin have recently moved to Arizona when their 4 year old son Danny goes missing. Vanished in the middle of the night. No clues and no apparent motive until they receive a ransom demand. The clues slowly started to appear like the peeling of an onion, until the final shocking truth.

[Maja]

I think for this one it is important that you read Pond Girls first to know about the first half of Denise's and Justin's (also get ready for your heart to be ripped out when you do. Just saying). After that, throw yourself right into this one! Just like the first book, Gone will grip you and not let go. We have fast-paced suspense, a lot of action and the question Who took Danny, and why...???.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Cheryl Tabor]

One if the best Phycological Thrillers this year. Did not see this plot twist coming. So much going on, edge of seat as scenes kept unfolding. A kidnapping of a young boy, parent coming Undone, loosing careers, loosing faith. Trust and love misguided and a lie so deep to destroy everything. A master piece that will blow your mind. Not everyone you love and trust most of your life deserves it.

[mrscorleybrown]

This book starts off crazy & I’m still trying to figure out how it ties in with this book. Long story short, mom, dad, son all go to bed, mom wakes up and son is missing. Now as you read on the 1st thing you’ll notice is mom and dad are most definitely hiding something. But what exactly is it and is it even worth hiding? For me, I figured out early who did it but never understood the why behind it. That part is up to you to read and figure out why. As always, excellent riding. Quick reading, hooks you right away, & nope - you won’t put it down until the end.

Nadija, being confused by the prologue….can we expect another book that ties it all together? Or was it ….#you know who ? Tell me please

[Donna Shell]

This is the kind of book that sucks you in from the beginning and you become a hostage to the book!

This book has all types of characters, the ones you love, the ones that annoy you and the ones you just aren’t sure about.

I won’t give anything away, but you definitely want to add this to your list!

Thank you for allowing me to arc read this Nadija!

[Sabrina]

Thought I had it figured out!

Well that didn’t exactly pan out the way I envisioned! I did have part of it figured out pretty early on but the last twist was not expected! I did enjoy the book overall though :) Very short chapters (which is a bonus for me!) and a quick read overall

[Mandy]

“Gone” has a quiet intensity that really worked for me. The unease creeps in gradually, the atmosphere is chilling, and the twists kept me questioning what was really going on. A compelling, unsettling read that stayed with me long after I finished.

[Joshua Waselynchuk]

Thank you so much Nadija for sending me an arc copy.
This book was a fast paced twisty thriller. What would you do if you child was kidnapped on the middle of the night thriller.

Short chapters ✅
Everyone is a suspect ✅
Twists ✅
Make sure to check this one out when it comes out Sept 15!

[Kari Bowman]

Another great book by Nadija! This is a fast-paced, twisty whodunnit about a 4 year-old boy being kidnapped from his own bed. Everyone is a suspect but who really did it? Grab this one on September 15 and find out!