Lost You

At the start of this engrossing psychological thriller from the pseudonymous Beck (Here and Gone), a woman threatens to jump off a Florida hotel roof with her young son to certain death below. Flash back four years. When Anna Lenihan loses her waitressing job in Pennsylvania and is in a financial bind, she hears about a medical clinic that matches childless couples with healthy female surrogates. The pay is excellent, and Anna is in good health. Anna becomes the surrogate for writer Libby Reese and her husband. As Anna’s pregnancy progresses, Libby behaves irrationally, making herself look like she, too, is pregnant by wearing an ever-expanding prosthetic latex stomach. The baby boy is born prematurely on the same night Libby experiences “labor pains” (actually appendicitis). Anna runs off with the baby and a deadly showdown ensues with consequences that will lead to that harrowing rooftop scene. Beck (Edgar finalist Stuart Neville) tells a richly complicated story about two desperate women and the reality of surrogacy in America. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Assoc. (Aug.)