ARC Review - The Lost by Sarah Beth Durst

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Publication date: May 27th, 2014.

Book summary:

"Lost your way? 
Your dreams?  
Yourself? 
Welcome to Lost.

It was supposed to be a small escape. A few hours driving before turning around and heading home. But once you arrive in Lost...well, it's a place you really can't leave. Not until you're Found. Only the Missing Man can send you home. And he took one look at Lauren Chase and disappeared.

So Lauren is now trapped in the town where all lost things go-luggage, keys, dreams, lives-where nothing is permanent, where the locals go feral and where the only people who don't want to kill her are a handsome wild man called the Finder and a knife-wielding six-year-old girl. The only road out of town is engulfed by an impassable dust storm, and escape is impossible....

Until Lauren decides nothing-and no one-is going to keep her here anymore."

         There are books that dance on tightrope between reality and imagination and all I can say for this one is - it's quite a dancer. I have no idea which genre to put it in. For me this book was everything I needed without knowing so. It captured me and took me to another world I did not expect to see. 

         Welcome to Lost! One sign, one city which changes everything. Without giving away too much it's a city of lost - dreams, hopes, lives and rebuilding and recreating them. It's a city where Missing Man residence and he is the only one who can send you back. Only Lauren doesn't seem to be in his good graces. She is not alone, though. It's a city full of Lost people, who are expecting to be Found. The trick is that they don't know what they are looking for. Then there is also Claire, a girl who was older than her years gave away and of course Peter aka the Finder who helps people to be found.

         Questions, questions! Well now you all might ask me for a place, or significance of this city and I wouldn't be able to tell you more than you assume. The Lost is all you want it to be, it can be a dream, metaphor, another world or reality you are well aware of. You can see it as a place you want to escape to and find yourself again.

         Final thoughts. To say that The Lost surprised me would be an underestimation. Everything about it was new, unexpected and original -  characters with different lives and ideas, to the world building which took my breath away. But at the same time this book is not for everybody. Those who need to be familiar and grasp the story might be a bit let down, as many things here are left unanswered and there is a veil of mystery still covering it.

         If you like that kind of book and looking for something different and new, then you should go for this story and I'm sure losing yourself for a few hours will be worth it.

My rating: 5 stars.

Happy reading, 

Copy of this book was provided to us by publisher, Mira INK, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.