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- Title: Long Gone
- Author: Alafair Burke
- Narrator: Tamara Marston
- Length: 10:11:00
- Version: Abridged
- Release Date: 21/06/2011
- Publisher: HighBridge Company
- Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Horror, Suspense
- ISBN13: 9.78E+12
It’s not every day you stumble across a mystery that hooks you like a fish on a line in the open sea, but Alafair Burke’s “Long Gone”, narrated by Tamara Marston, does just that. I first pressed play on this audiobook while winding through the dusty roads of northern New Mexico, the kind of place where secrets feel baked into the earth itself. The story unfolds like a desert horizon – slowly at first, then all at once, revealing a landscape of deception and danger that kept me gripping the steering wheel a little tighter.
Alice Humphrey, our protagonist, is a woman I couldn’t help but root for. After months of scraping by post-layoff, she lands what seems like a dream gig: managing a shiny new art gallery in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. It reminds me of a time when I took a chance on a freelance gig in Lisbon – everything felt too perfect until the rug got yanked out from under me. For Alice, that rug comes in the form of a dead body, a vanished gallery, and a setup so slick it could’ve been painted by a master con artist. Burke crafts her descent into this high-tech criminal conspiracy with the precision of a seasoned storyteller, layering suspense like the spices in a Oaxacan mole.
The themes here hit close to home – trust, betrayal, the shadows cast by family legacies. Listening to Alice unravel the lies around her, I thought back to those evenings in Oaxaca, sitting cross-legged on a woven rug as the grandmother of the house spun tales of lost loves and hidden truths. Her voice had this way of pulling you in, making you feel the weight of every word. Tamara Marston brings that same magic to “Long Gone”. Her narration is warm yet sharp, like a friend recounting a wild night over coffee – except this friend knows how to pace a thriller. You can almost hear the creak of the gallery floorboards, taste the bitter edge of Alice’s panic, feel the chill of a New York morning as the plot thickens.
Burke’s writing thrives on tension, and Marston’s performance amplifies it. The way she shifts from Alice’s quiet determination to the clipped tones of a detective grilling her is seamless, building an atmosphere thick with dread. The audiobook experience feels personal, intimate – like someone’s whispering these secrets right into your ear. At just over ten hours, it’s the perfect length for a road trip or a long weekend curled up with a pot of tea, though I’ll admit I burned through it faster than I’d planned, too hooked to hit pause.
What I love most is how Burke weaves the mystery with emotional stakes. Alice isn’t just solving a crime; she’s digging into her own past, unearthing family secrets that sting like salt in a wound. It’s a journey of transformation, not unlike the ones I’ve chased across continents – those moments when you realize the map you’ve been following was drawn by someone else entirely. The high-tech conspiracy angle adds a modern twist, a nod to the digital age we’re all tangled in, and Burke handles it with a deft hand, never letting the tech overshadow the human heart of the story.
That said, it’s not flawless. The pacing stumbles a bit in the middle, with a few tangents that feel like detours on an otherwise gripping ride. And while Marston’s narration is spot-on for Alice, some of the secondary characters – like the elusive Drew Campbell – come off a little flat, their voices blending into the background. It’s a small hiccup, though, in an otherwise stellar listening experience. The audio quality itself is crisp, courtesy of HighBridge Company, with no distracting glitches to pull you out of the story.
Compared to other suspense audiobooks, “Long Gone” sits comfortably alongside Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl” – both feature women caught in webs of deceit, though Burke’s take leans more on family ties than twisted romance. If you’ve enjoyed Lisa Gardner’s knack for blending personal stakes with pulse-pounding plots, this’ll be right up your alley too. It’s a mystery-thriller that doesn’t just ask ‘whodunit’ but ‘why,’ and that’s where it shines.
I’d recommend this to anyone who loves a good suspense yarn – whether you’re a road warrior like me, listening through miles of open highway, or someone who savors a tale of intrigue from the comfort of home. It’s especially perfect for those who appreciate a narrator who can turn words into a living, breathing world. And if you can snag it as a free audiobook – say, through a trial at Audiobooks.com – well, that’s just the cherry on top.
Reflecting on it now, “Long Gone” feels like one of those stories that sticks with you, the way a good meal lingers on your palate long after the plate’s cleared. It’s got the suspense to keep you guessing, the heart to make you care, and a narrator who brings it all to life. Driving through New Mexico with Alice in my ears, I couldn’t help but think of how stories – whether told by a grandmother in Oaxaca or spun through a pair of headphones – have this way of connecting us to something bigger. This one’s a journey worth taking.
Until the next tale finds us, happy listening, Marcus Rivera
