A gripping psychological thriller that kept me hooked from start to finish! Sloan is a compelling protagonist, and the family drama intertwined with a DNA mystery made for a riveting listen. Vivienne Leheny's narration was superb, bringing Sloan and the diverse cast of characters to life with skill and nuance. I couldn't stop listening!

Now that's what I call a thriller!

Charlie Donlea's Long Time Gone is such an easy read & great on the ears by narrator Vivienne Leheny. Most days you would prefer to listen to a soothing voice reading out a good mystery and that should be the number one reason why you choose this book. Apart from being a great find on NetGalley, I felt it was a bit too long with 74 chapters and there was room to make the storyline a little more crisp. No regrets anyhow.

On other counts, Dr Sloan Hastings is studying to be a forensic pathologist. She lives with her adopted parents and has led a good life. She never felt the necessity to track down her biological parents. Until now. Information for her research needs her to submit her DNA to a website that studies genealogy, which would aid her to gather a treasure trove of information for her assignment.

The DNA results dig up age old secrets. Sloane's DNA seems to match the ancestry connections of the famous Margolis family of Cedar Creek, Nevada. Her DNA claims her to be a "Baby Charlotte" who had mysteriously disappeared with her parents in 1995. No search party could dig up information as to where this family could have gone.

A Margolis family member contacts Sloane over the DNA website suggesting they meet. This fateful meeting leads Sloane to meet a huge family - her family supposedly and also Sheriff Eric Stamos. She comes to know that the Margolis family was extremely influential and had connections all over the place. Eric fills Sloane with incomplete information about how his father was investigating the disappearance of her biological parents when he was found dead with the blame that he was high on drugs.

Would the Margolis family accept Sloane to be one of theirs? Where did Sloane "Baby Charlotte"' s parents disappear? How did she end up in an adoption agency? What does Eric, along with Sloane unearth in this far off small town that would shake the very ground from their feet?

Do pick this up once it is released. For those who like Alice Feeney, Karin Slaughter etc, you would strike gold with this one.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Charlie Donlea for the complementary advanced audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

I rate this book as a solid 4 stars. I really dug into this book and found that I wanted to know more and continue listening. I really like the whole genealogy set up and its relationship to an old cold case. Donlea makes sure that the tension remains high throughout the book. The pacing is really well done as well. Done presents a unique story I haven’t come across yet in all my reading.

I loved Sloane’s parents, and their love and support for her. I really liked Eric as a character. He’s always so calm and collected - and you can see him working through the case. You also learn about his personal connection to the case and so when it’s solved, you feel relief for Eric and closure. I appreciate how he worked with Sloane, instead of always trying to handle her (which is common in books with this set up). Sloane is a good character as well with being so persistent and determined. I also liked that she is a bodybuilder/exerciser - so you know that she isn’t just a typical frail MC. The only thing that I don’t like about Sloane/Charlotte is how naive she is. I’m her age and live in the same area. I know the basics of genealogy testing - especially with all the commercials for 23&me and ancestry. I also know the history of cameras - they still had the cameras you had to get developed when I was a kid…so how Sloane is just so ignorant to all this just puts me a little off from connecting to her.

I really liked the ending of this book - and how it slowly unfolded with the use of photography. I was expecting part of the ending, but I was not expecting the other half of it. I think Donlea did a good job of giving you a plot twist you weren’t expecting. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to listen to this audiobook and review it. I have read this author before (listened to a different audiobook) and found him to be a great storyteller. Unbeknownst to me, this new book, Long Time Gone is actually featuring a character I got to know in the other book. This story is all about Sloan Hastings, who is in her final two years of training before she is fully licensed as a medical examiner. Her first year of Fellowship at the local morgue in Raleigh, North Carolina is comprised of being assigned a research topic that she has the year to study, research and somehow advance. Her topic is Forensic Genealogy. At first, she's unsure what to do with this subject, but gets on it quick and finds out about cold cases that have been solved using DNA that was uploaded into Geneology/trace-your-ancestors type sites. Sloan finds out, when she submits her own as part of her research, that she is actually the very same infant, who almost thirty years prior, went missing. Baby Charlotte Margoles and her parents Preston and Annabelle disappeared without a trace nearly 3 decades prior. So begins Sloan's journey to figure out how she got to be adopted and raised by her current parents and what happened all those years ago. She gets in touch with her birth father's family, who are based out of Cedar Creek, Nevada (where she and her parents were living at the time of their disappearance). She meets her Aunt by marriage, Nina, her Uncle Ellis (Nina's husband) and her grandparents...the very rich and very influential Reed and Tilly Margoles. There is a very tangled web of murder and deceit that Sloan has to untangle with the help of her newly found Aunt Nina and her new friend, Sheriff of Cedar Creek, Eric Stamos (who's father originally investigated Sloan's parents' disappearance and was later mysteriously found dead). Things slowly get unraveled and we get a surprising reveal...or two! Well paced, interesting and a great job by the narrator as well. I'll look forward to more by this author!

To say I devoured the new Charlie Donlea book is an understatement. "Long Time Gone" was a wonderful book with a great reader. Loved it.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC Audiobook of Long Time Gone by Charlie Donlea.

Dr. Sloan Hastings is starting her fellowship in forensic pathology. Her mentor assigns her forensic genealogy for her research topic. Sloan is adopted, so when she takes a DNA test she is surprised to find out that she is part of a missing case from years ago. Turns out she is "Baby Charlotte" from the powerful Margolis family.

In this dual timeline we follow Sloan as she attempts to find out what happened to her missing parents, and we follow people closely related to the case days before the disappearance of the family.

I enjoyed this thriller and didn't figure it out until right before the reader finds out.

I became a Charlie Donlea fan after reading Twenty Years Later. I usually read and listen to the book as I love the narrator. I was thrilled to get the audiobook Long Time Gone. What can I say. This book was fabulous and I am pretty picky. I have done an extensive family tree so this story really hit me. I am also an aunt to 5 adopted nephews and nieces so again, this book hit me. The characters were real, the narration perfect, the story never got boring and the ending awesome. This is truly my kind of book and now I am bummed it is over.. Even the picture on the front was great. Thank you again...5 starts from me

this is a review of the Audiobook that I was gifted from Netgalley.
So this was the first story I ever read/listened to by this author and was not disappointed in the least.
What would you do if you found out your true identity? The one you were born with before you were adopted by loving parents? What would you do if you found out that identity was tied to a 30-year-old mystery?
That's the premise behind Long Time Gone by Charlie Donlea. I don't like to go into too much in reviews because I like readers to unfold the story in their own time, but this was a really good read, with an excellent plot.
There were a few things that kept it a four point 5 star for me and not a total five star.
the repetition of "Baby Charlotte."
the repetition of "Sloane Hastings."
And I was getting weary of all the mentions and details about CrossFit. I get it, though, because it tied into the ending. It was just boring to read so many descriptions about it but that's just me.
The narrator was amazing. The best I've heard to date. I will be looking for more things she's narrated in the future.
So Book/storyline 4.5 stars
narrator 5+ stars
Thanks, Netgalley for a sneak peek at this story.

Excellent plot, perfect pacing, fantastic narrator, dual timelines, and great characters - this book has it all!

This one kept me engaged right up until the overly easy resolution. I liked the way the genetic ancestry test triggered the start of the mystery and the characters were engaging. The story was compelling as it went back and forth between what happened in the past and the attempt at uncovering the mystery in the future. However, I was disappointed with the way the ending took the easiest, most obvious way out and tried to make up for it with the "thrill" of gratuitous violence rather than a more intricately plotted answer to the mystery.

A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Thanks so much for the audio Arc!

This is my second Charlie Donlea & I’ve really enjoyed them both. I love listening to this type of book on audio. It gets your heart racing and the surprises are that much more shocking.

Sloan Hastings is beginning her journey as a forensic pathologist. We meet her as she’s starting her program. She enters her DNA to contribute to the research she’s learning from. But when it comes back- her whole life changes.

She always knew she was adopted. But it turns out she may be a missing child. Her biological parents have been missing for years. Her case had gone cold. How did her parents adopt her? Are they suspects? Who is safe in her world?

We also meet podcaster Ryder who helps dig into this case. She also stirs up the public interest. This adds a layer of challenge in Sloan staying under the radar.

There were so many twists as we follow Sloan to figure out who she really is and what really happened to her and her parents. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I could picture it as a mystery/thriller movie as I listened. I enjoyed the narrator as she had me totally hooked.

I enjoyed this story and would love future adventures with Sloan. Part of me was hoping Eric would show up at the last minute to rescue her but kinda glad it turned out the way it did. I don’t understand why her aunt didn’t stick around after her dissertation.

This very well might be the best book Charlie Donlea has ever written. He had me until the very end trying to figure out what happened. A whole family disappeared? Sign me up. Holy crap what a mystery. I devoured this in less than 24 hours. I did listen to the audiobook, and the narrator was marvelous and did a fabulous job at keeping the reader engaged with the story.

I have been dying to read a book by Charlie Donlea, so I was very excited to be approved to read and listen to this one. I have heard great things about this author, and this book did not disappoint!

Starting with the premise - The premise of this book was so good! A pathologist who has to do a 2 year fellowship under a pathologist she looks up to. Sloan is asked to submit her DNA to a genealogy site as part of her fellowship. She gets the go ahead from her adoptive parents, and soon finds out that not only did her and her bio parents go missing 30 years earlier, but that her adoption was not above board. Sloan and her parents disappearance was national news c30 years ago, and no one has seen or heard from anyone in the famil until Sloan’s DNA results come back letting her know she was baby Charlotte who disappeared 30 years ago. Sloan then sets out to find out what really happened to her and her parents 30 years ago. To do this, she has to reunite with her birth family, the Margolis family. They are wealthy and very powerful in the small town where they live.

From this point on, things get WILD!! The plot was riveting, the character development was fascinating, and the twists and turns were jaw-dropping! I really enjoyed this book, and flew through it at a rapid pace. I had to know what was going to happen. The story was engrossing from the beginning all the way to the very end. Donlea’s writing style pulled me right into the story, and I was completely immersed in what was happening. I am definitely a new fan!

Vivienne Leheny knocked it out the park with her narration! She made the story come alive.

Thank you NetGalley, Edelweiss, Kensington Publishing and RB Media for the ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review.

After taking a DNA test for a research assignment, Sloan Hastings discovers that she is in fact the mysterious Baby Charlotte who went missing with her parents many years ago.
Living a great life, raised by fantastic parents, Sloan never questioned who her bio parents were. But this new discovery causes her to leave town in search of some answers. What will she find? Will she uncover the mystery of her families disappearance? Only time will tell!

This book was gripping right from the beginning! So good and had me not wanting to put it down! I loved the storyline.
Once we got to the wrap up though, I found it a bit unbelievable and some parts were repetitive.
I gave the book 3.5 stars based on that, and a solid 5 stars for the narrator, leaving my final rating 4 stars.
I’m looking forward to reading more books by Charlie Donlea.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced listening copy of this fun thriller!

Sloan Hastings thinks she has a pretty good handle on her life as she is about to begin her fellowship in forensics. She is assigned a research assignment on genealogy and submits her DNA to a website, knowing she is adopted and that she could unearth some interesting information. She gets more than what she bargained for when she is identified as Baby Charlotte, the child of wealthy parents who vanished years ago without a trace.

Donlea is quickly becoming an auto-read for me! He is so skilled at building interesting cases and I loved the cold case element here. Sloan was so likeable and the multiple perspectives kept it so fascinating! I was flipping pages, dying to know what Sloan could uncover.

thank you Netgalley for my ARC!!!! another great book by Charlie Donlea!!! Sloan Hastings is working under Dr. Livia Cutty (from prior Donlea book) in her forensic apprenticeship. Sloan is assigned genealogy for her thesis to advance forensic pathology. She submits her DNA into a database and discovers her DNA matches that of "baby Charlotte," a missing infant from a 30 year old cold case. Sloan is adopted, and her birth parents went missing.

Sloan meets her aunt Nora through the genalogy database, and she tries to discover where her birth parents disappeared to. She befriend a detective Eric, who's dad was also tragically killed when attempting to solve this mystery. There was also another Margolis (Sloan's birth fam last name) business partner who was killed, and it appears he uncovered some unsavory details with the Margolis family business.

We also get introduced to Ryder who is writing a podcast about this entire cold case and Sloan's efforts to solve the crime.

Aunt Nora ends up being very sweet and helpful. Her husband, Ellis.... not so much. A lot of Margolis family drama is unveiled.

A lot is happening in this book between Sloan solving the cold case of her own disappearance, her birth parents disappearance, a mild love story between Sloan and detective Eric, and then the podcast element. Overall, it was a good book!!

I received a free audiobook copy from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

You know the joke "How do you find out if someone does CrossFit? Don't worry, they'll tell you"

Did Charlie Donlea get a dollar every time he mentioned CrossFit? I hope there was a paid promotion deal. Cause it sure seemed like it. And honestly, that's what I remember most about this book, which is too bad because the story was pretty intriguing. A DNA test helps Sloane Hastings uncover her past and solve the mystery of a missing family.

Without giving too much away, Sloane discovers family she didn't know she had when she submits her DNA for testing in order to complete her post-doc fellowship assignment, and finds out she was abducted as a baby. Family hijinks ensue, and an absolutely bizarre (yet completely original) proof of wrongdoing is finally produced to end speculation.

Am rounding up to 4 stars, just for the gumption of the evidence procurement. What a ride.

I wasn't able to get to this one, but I am still really thankful to the audio publication company, the publisher, and the author for granting me advanced access before publication day.

Great story that I just couldn’t stop reading and was totally ok with that because as I kept reading it just kept getting better and better. The suspense was very on point and had me throwing out so many suggestions of who did it. I would recommend this one for sure and would love this to be a series.