Gone The Next (Roy Ballard Mysteries)

Nice Read! Roy Ballard is an insurance investigator with a problematic past. He is on probation for assault and his daughter was kidnapped while in his care some years ago. While on an investigation for insurance fraud, he is sure that he saw a recently kidnapped little girl with the fraud suspect. Because local police think he does not have credibility, he starts investigating the kidnapping himself. Roy is very witty with quick comebacks. Book moves along at a good pace with a few twists.

The main characters in this book were likeable and the story made you want to be part of the adventure. You were rooting for them to uncover the well laid plot and solve the mystery. Very well written and I'm looking forward to more in this series!

In my mind? Author Ben Rehder hits a home run in "Gone the Next," a fast-paced mystery with fabulous and funny repertoire. That's particularly true in his conversations with Mia, a woman with whom he works and maintains a "push me, pull me" relationship. Yeah. A developing love relationship going on there. But first, some quick background: Ballard is a videographer who works mostly for insurance companies trying to discern the truth behind questionable claims from falls or illnesses. He follow those claimants and surreptitiously watches what they do. Back issue? Then why is the claimant bowling? Yep, Ballard captures it on video, submits it and his job is done. On the down side is Ballard's tragic and well-documented history in the mysterious disappearance of his young daughter decades earlier. The daughter was never found and as the father, well, fathers are always prime suspects — a problem that dogs Ballard emotionally and professionally nearly always. Thus, you can imagine his interest in a case that involves someone else's missing daughter and his pursuit of information even when he's repeatedly told to back off. I needn't tell you the conclusion. Let's just say that for a videographer he makes a damned fine detective. With Mia working with him, his information gathering is all the faster and better, despite plenty of setbacks and false leads. Ben Redher, who writes in first person, is one of the most skillful authors I've discovered who can pen a story so smoothly, so believably, and so wonderfully paced. You won't get bored. You won't hit overly done descriptive passages. You'll just get hooked. Worthy of being slammed onto your no-doubt bulging "to be read" pile. Get it, anyway. And then consider adding more of the author's "Roy Ballard Mysteries." This one was No. 2 in the series. I'll be grabbing up others, myself.

Gone The Next (Roy Ballard Series Book One) by Ben Rehder, 286 pages, September 15 2012, Genre: Mystery/Suspense. Warning: May Contain Spoilers. Review by Leigh Holland. Every year, about 200,000 children are abducted in America. Seventy-eight percent are abducted by the non-custodial parent. 58,000 children were abducted last year by people who were not family members. Of those, 40 percent were murdered last year. When a child goes missing, time is crucial to recovering the child safely. As a parent, I can attest that nothing in the world is more terrifying than the thought of losing your child. Jason Voorhees? No problem. Freddy Kruger? Piece of cake. Missing kid? Parents lose a tiny bit of our minds just thinking about the possibility. If you could see inside our souls at that moment, it’d look a lot like “The Scream” by Edvard Munch, a perpetual state of frozen terror. In this first installment of the Roy Ballard series, we follow a wise-cracking insurance fraud videographer (Roy) as he sets out to prove worker’s compensation claimants aren’t injured and are defrauding the insurance companies that provide him with lucrative pay for his services. Roy is divorced. He had a daughter from that marriage named Hannah. We’ve all done the same thing at some point- turned away for a minute. But when we look back, our child is there. Roy lost Hannah in the park one day when he turned away for a minute. The nightmare still haunts him, having shaped him. One day as he does routine surveillance on a claimant, he thinks for a moment he glimpses a famous recently missing girl standing in the man’s doorway. He hesitates, he’s unsure if the child was the missing girl. He reports it to the local police who ignore it as having no real merit. Roy continues to try to work with the police as he and his newly acquired partner Mia discover more evidence. But the police don’t want to waste time or resources unless there’s enough evidence to think it’s definite. Finding no help from the cops, Roy and Mia decide to do a little surveillance and investigating of their own. A child’s life hangs in the balance. Roy is worried time is running out to find the girl. I enjoyed Roy’s sarcastic one liners, his feelings as a defender of women and kids, and willingness to put himself at risk for others. When he does contemplate a wrong or stupid choice, he has Mia there to set him on the right path. Mia is supportive of Roy and considers him her best friend. She’s smart, good-looking, and outspoken. Roy and Mia make a good team. There was limited, appropriate cursing. I found no issues with the grammar or spelling. The plot had a couple of interesting twists. I had to keep reading to find out if they saved the little girl. Rehder does an excellent job of evoking every parent’s worst nightmare. I really enjoyed this book. It was a page turner for me. I look forward to reading more of Ben Rehder’s series in the future. I’d recommend this to Mystery lovers who enjoy a witty, unconventional private investigator.

Eh, it's okay. I haven't finished it (bought it maybe 8 months ago), and that tells me a lot. Since I started reading it, I've finished at least 45 books and set aside two others. 10 years ago, I would have read it through, but now I don't bother if I'm not really engaged, and this book just didn't fully engage me. I may pick it up again in the future, since the writing is decent and, unlike so many e-books, someone took the time to a) listen to an editor and/or b) proofread it, so that the actual reading isn't a chore. The story is predictable, the characters not quite one-dimensional, but they're not quite real. I can't say what exactly is missing; it's been a month of so since I last read any of it. There's something missing, though. This might make a good beach or travel read, something you read for a while because it's better than a cereal box, then drop it on a bench for someone else to pick up.

I chose to listen and read this book. I enjoyed the hunt with twists and turns. The book kept my attention until the end. Every time I had to put it down, I could not wait to find time to read some more. Action and mystery. A good read.

I hadn't read Rehder before and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the story-telling here. In a variation on the Gumshoe theme our hero- a contract videographer, gets a glimpse of a missing girl in the clutches of a guy he's staked out for another reason. This taps into a personal tragedy in his own life and even after the original reason he's monitored the suspect- a workman's comp claim, is negated, and in spite of the disbelief and scorn he gets from law enforcers, he cant let it go. Good, meaty stuff here. The good stuff- Character development. Strong, well fleshed out characters Writing- above average with lively narrative and dialogue that keeps your interest -Reminds me of Harlen Coben Plot- engaging with some clever twists tossed in as you are propelled toward the end. The not so great stuff Mainly the ending. The story line stops very abruptly with no closure given to the several new relationships the main character begins. Another 15-20 pages would have helped here. Bottom line- a strong tale and well worth your time

Story twists or a protagonist's a-ha! moments are what make a good mystery ... when one of these occur and the reader can think back and say "Of course! Why didn't I see that!?", well, that's why a reader wants to keep turning pages. Too many times a mystery writer will throw in a twist that makes no sense or the main character will come up with a theory that has no basis or, worse, that the evil-doer appears out of the blue without the reader even having an suspicions at all. Not so with Gone The Next. This is a well-written mystery with a plausible story that progresses logically. As the plot thickens it makes sense because all the right ingredients have been added in a proper order. The characters are plausible, too. Roy Ballard, the main character, could eaily be a real person and not some superhero who somehow skirts dangers at every turn without a scratch nor is he the kind of guy whose mouth always utters ridiculous one-liner comebacks every time he engages in conversations. (I admit that Roy does do it a bit too often which is why I gave the book four stars instead of five.) Mia is not thrown into the book just to appease a female element. Her presence makes sense. She, too, could be a real person. Looking forward to reading the next book in the series to see what kind of tangled web of mystery Roy and Mia fall into.

Funny but gripping too. Good plot and I liked the characters. Roy Ballard is clever but works old style. He is very thorough and sees things through chasing up leads via social media and property registers. Enjoyed this book and can recommend

I gave this book 5 stars because it was tense a good sense of humour from Roy Ballard . Look forward to reading a other book by the same Author

Eine sehr spannende Lektüre. Videograph Roy Ballard der Versichrungsbetrüger entlarven soll, gerät bei seiner Arbeit in einen Entführungsfall. Aufgrund seiner eigenen Vergangenheit hat er es mit der örtlichen Polizei sehr schwer und muss auf eigene Faust ermitteln. Nebenbei erhält man Einblicke in die Geschichte eines entführten Mädchens, was es damit auf sich hat soll hier nicht verraten werden. Man glaubt lange zu wissen wer das Kind hat und wer der Entführer ist und ich hatte schon mit einem langweiligen Ende gerechnet (wie es leider öfter der Fall ist), aber hier geht es am Ende actionreich zu und es ist spannend und überraschend bis zum Schluss.

I found the novel amazing. Very good read after a long time of reading so many suspense stories. The author has done excellent job in making the plot interesting by mixing fun, humor and thrill together. Every page keeps you hooked and does not let you leave. Simple yet shocking.

I thoroughly enjoyed Gone the Next, the first in the Roy Ballard Mysteries series. I hadn't heard of this book or the author before, but I saw it listed on the BookBub email and the blurb was intriguing. Roy is an insurance fraud investigator who spends his days trailing after people on workers compensation to ensure they're not crooked. During a standard case, Roy spots a young girl he thinks has recently been kidnapped. When he goes to the police his own history stands in the way as police dismiss him. Together with his new business partner Mia, Roy, heads out to track down clues and find the kidnappers. Gone the Next was really enjoyable. It's fast paced and the weight of the story sits squarely on Roy's shoulders. This is his starring vehicle. Everyone else is nothing but window dressing and support. That said the support characters are enjoyable to spend time with as well, even if they aren't completely fleshed out. This is the first book of Ben Rehders that I've read. I'll definitely be getting the rest of the Roy Ballard Mysteries.