#CharlieDonlea – Rosepoint Publishing

Long Time Gone by Charlie Donlea – #AudiobookReview – #womensleuthmysteries

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

In this engrossing, masterfully twisting new thriller from the #1 internationally bestselling author, a forensics trainee learns through a DNA test that she mysteriously disappeared as a baby thirty years ago—and her life is still in danger …

When Dr. Sloan Hastings submits her DNA to an online genealogy site for a research assignment, her goal is to better understand the treasure-trove of genetic information contained on ancestry websites. Brilliant and driven, Sloan is embarking on a fellowship in forensic pathology, training under the renowned Dr. Livia Cutty.

Sloan has one reservation about involving herself in the experiment: she’s adopted. Grateful for a loving home, she’s never considered tracking down her biological parents. The results of her search are shocking. Sloan’s DNA profile suggests her true identity is that of Charlotte Margolis, aka “Baby Charlotte,” who captured the nation’s attention when she mysteriously disappeared, along with her parents, in July 1995. Despite an exhaustive search, the family was never seen again, and no suspects were named in the case.

Sloan’s discovery leads her to the small town of Cedar Creek, Nevada, the site of her disappearance. It also leads her to Sheriff Eric Stamos. The Margolis family’s influence and power permeate every corner of Harrison County, and Eric is convinced that in learning the truth about her past, Sloan can also help discover what happened to Eric’s father, who died under suspicious circumstances soon after he started investigating her disappearance.

Slowly, over the course of a stifling summer, Sloan begins getting to know her relatives. Though initially welcoming, the Margolis family is also mysterious and tight-lipped. Not everyone seems happy about Sloan’s return, or the questions she’s asking. And the more she and Eric learn, the more apparent it becomes that the answers they both seek are buried in a graveyard of Margolis family secrets that some will do anything to keep hidden—no matter who else has to die …

My Review:

Don’t you just love it when the blurb saves you the time of reading the book? I listened to it anyway and for the most part found it very engaging.

It’s fun when a big topic of interest is used to create a unique book plot and the author takes this one and really runs with it. At the beginning, I found Sloan Hastings to be intelligent, independent, a pathologist who secured a fellowship under a forensic pathologist, an avenue Sloan was keen to explore. Her assignment is a DNA study and she is required to submit her own to create her dissertation.

Oops! She’s always known she was adopted, but isn’t sure how her adoptive parents will receive that news. But no prob. They’re cool with it.

There is a shocker, of course. She is “Baby Charlotte” (Margolis) who disappeared with her birth parents almost thirty years ago. Now for the fun part.

The Margolis family are very well to do and pretty much have the little town of Cedar Creek, Nevada wrapped up. They appear to receive her with open arms, thrilled at the discovery she is not only alive but back to discover her birth family. It’s her chance to dig into the mystery of her birth parents and get some history.

And here’s where it changes for me from her being a brilliant pathologist to a naïve, under-educated woman who requires detailed explanations that had me rolling my eyes and slapping my forehead.

Can she learn what happened to her parents and discover secrets buried for thirty years? The switch in timeline provides insight into Sloan’s birth parents, but you’ll have to start swallowing some disbelief. Twisty plot, interesting and engaging characters, and fast pace keep you flipping pages (sometimes looking for credulity). And I must admit, though I had my suspicions (eeny, meany), I picked the wrong one.

It’s entertaining. I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Women Sleuth Mysteries, Psychological Thrillers, Women Sleuths
Publisher: Recorded Books
ASIN: B0CQZ3GZ48
Listening Length: 9 hrs 19 mins
Narrator: Vivienne Leheny
Publication Date: May 21, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Long Time Gone [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Charlie Donlea is the USA Today and #1 International bestselling author of propulsive, female-driven thrillers including The Girl Who Was Taken, Don’t Believe It, Twenty Years Later, and Those Empty Eyes. His eighth thriller, LONG TIME GONE, explores the science of forensic genealogy.

A late bloomer, he was twenty years old when he read his first novel–THE FIRM by John Grisham–and knew he would someday write thrillers. Published in forty countries and translated into nearly twenty languages, his books have sold more than 1.5 million copies in the U.S. alone and have been optioned for film and television.

Praised for his “soaring pace, teasing plot twists” (BookPage) and talent for writing an ending that “makes your jaw drop” (The New York Times Book Review), Donlea has been called a “bold new writer…on his way to becoming a major figure in the world of suspense” (Publishers Weekly).

He was born and raised in Chicago, where he continues to live with his wife and two children. Learn more at his interactive website at CharlieDonlea dot com.

happy thursday!

Twenty Years Later: A Riveting New Thriller by Charlie Donlea – #BookReview – #psychologicalthriller

Book Blurb:

Avery Mason, host of American Events, knows the subjects that grab a TV audience’s attention. Her latest story—a murder mystery laced with kinky sex, tragedy, and betrayal—is guaranteed to be ratings gold. New DNA technology has allowed the New York medical examiner’s office to make its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years. The twist: the victim, Victoria Ford, had been accused of the gruesome murder of her married lover. In a chilling last phone call to her sister, Victoria begged her to prove her innocence.

Emma Kind has waited twenty years to put her sister to rest, but closure won’t be complete until she can clear Victoria’s name. Alone she’s had no luck, but she’s convinced that Avery’s connections and fame will help. Avery, hoping to negotiate a more lucrative network contract, goes into investigative overdrive. Victoria had been having an affair with a successful novelist, found hanging from the balcony of his Catskills mansion. The rope, the bedroom, and the entire crime scene were covered in Victoria’s DNA.

But the twisted puzzle of Victoria’s private life is just the beginning. And what Avery doesn’t realize is that there are other players in the game who are interested in Avery’s own secret past—one she has kept hidden from both the network executives and her television audience. A secret she thought was dead and buried . . .

His Review:

September 11, 2001 was an American tragedy. Crimes committed on that day were negated or over-shadowed by the event. The justice system realized that you could not try the persons killed in the blast. Avery Mason also realized this as she prepared for her highly-rated crime expose: ”American Events.”

Network executives are very frugal when it comes to their expenditures. A low-ball offer is on the table for Avery and she is not happy. The network had offered her a paltry ¾ of a million per year for five years. A slap on the face with a rotten fish could not have been any more of a putdown. Her predecessor, Mack Carter, had been paid eight million a year for the same job!

She had closed the year out with the highest-rated show on television. Putting her life on the line to educate people on how to get out of a vehicle submerging in a lake closed the season with a bang! So why were the network executives offering such a low-ball offer?

Avery has more personal problems as well. Her father had been a Wall Street high flyer who was running a very effective Ponzi scheme. He had disappeared three years earlier with an estimated 15 million dollars of his investor’s money and the justice system wanted him badly.

Charlie Donlea spins a very interesting tale of greed and avarice among the New York and Wall Street elite. The “sins of the father” are hard to overcome in the dog-eat-dog world that is Wall Street business. This tale explores the problem with someone who is the offspring of one of these tycoons. Before Tammany Hall and the other rulers of Wall Street developed the methodology, the stage was set to fleece the rich persons’ greed.

I found the book enlightening and a bit disgusting. The theme is that there is never enough money to satisfy the greed and avarice of the very rich. 5 stars – C.E. Williams

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thrillers, Women Sleuths
Publisher: Kensington Books
ASIN: B091M75X6J
Print Length: 404 pages
Publication Date: December 28, 2021
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: Twenty Years Later [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

The Author: Charlie Donlea is the #1 internationally bestselling author of Summit Lake, The Girl Who Was Taken, Don’t Believe It, Some Choose Darkness, The Suicide House and Twenty Years Later. Praised for his “soaring pace, teasing plot twists” (BookPage) and talent for writing an ending that “makes your jaw drop” (The New York Times Book Review), Donlea has been called a “bold new writer…on his way to becoming a major figure in the world of suspense” (Publishers Weekly). A late bloomer, he was twenty years old when he read his first novel––THE FIRM by John Grisham––and knew he would someday write thrillers. His books have now been translated into more than a dozen languages across thirty countries.

He was born and raised in Chicago, where he continues to live with his wife and two children. Visit him online at CharlieDonlea.com.

[He spends a part of each year fishing with his father in the far reaches of Canada, where the roads end and lakes are accessible only by floatplane. These majestic trips to “God’s Country” inspired the setting for his first novel, Summit Lake. Goodreads profile]