His politics were gone, his passion, his drive, his motivation. He imagined it like a tornado, peeling away his compassion and his sense of humor and his sense of charity. “The past five years had been a whirlwind, and the wind had stripped away all the elements of himself that Ben like best. Being in the band and having Stan leave him have not been healthy for him: Here he’s no longer strong he’s the weak one and doesn’t feel like the same character.

He is nearly unrecognizable from the man he was in the first book where he was so kind, caring, loving and gentle while supporting Stan and keeping him alive. It’s an interesting concept – to flip-flop the entire dynamic between the main characters – and author Anna Martin succeeds in demonstrating the give and take between two people at the worst of times, not once, but twice.īen is so pathetic it’s disturbing. Whereas The Impossible Boy focuses on Stan’s anorexia, this book picks up five years in the future and is all about Ben’s struggle with drug addiction, his interaction with the band, and Stan’s role in rescuing him. Martin! I love this couple I want them together. But then I read the blurb and was shocked to see the words, “Ben’s EX-boyfriend Stan”! Say it isn’t so, Ms. I have been eagerly anticipating the release of The Lost Boy because of how much I enjoyed its predecessor, The Impossible Boy, with Stan’s vulnerable, gender-fluid character, and Ben’s strong, supportive one. Ben has to decide whether he’s going to stay with Ares and keep making music, or find another path for his future. The band have to finish their album before Christmas but without Ben, work has stalled. He hasn’t been back to London since he and Ben broke up, but that seems like the right place to go-along with Tone-to try and shock Ben out of his unhealthy lifestyle.

Stan Novikov is living in New York and thriving in his career as a fashion journalist. In a final attempt to save Ben’s life, his best friend Tone does something desperate-he calls Ben’s ex-boyfriend Stan and begs him to help. He’s holed up in a mansion in Los Angeles while he fights depression and a dark drug addiction that threatens to destroy everything.

Five years after his band Ares shot to success, Ben Easton is struggling.

The Lost Boy by Anna Martin