This was my first Charlie Donlea book and I’m sure it won’t be my last. This was a well done audio book with a good flow and narration. The story gripped me from the very start of the book and I blew through this audio book in a few sessions. I loved how this fiction novel added some real facts about how ancestry websites are able to use DNA samples to solve cold cases. That is fascinating to me so this story was right up my alley.

Sloan Hastings is working toward being a forensic pathologist and has landed a highly sought fellowship in the field. Her dissertation topic is forensics in genealogy.

She submits her DNA to a site. She was hesitant because she was adopted and never sought out her history. But it could be good for her career to do this and her adoptive parents are supportive.

This definitely opens a can of worms. Secrets come out. Regarding her birth parents AND her adoptive parents.

The final reveal is shocking and well done! The audio was fantastic and this book had my attention from start to finish.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Books for an eARC and RB Media for an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Dr. Sloan Hastings is beginning a two-year fellowship in forensic pathology under the legendary Dr. Livia Cutty. Not only will she have to complete the required number of autopsies, but she will also have to present research on a project. Sloan’s project is forensic and investigative genealogy, where a person submits a sample of a perpetrator’s DNA to different genealogy websites to find a match.

Sloan decides to start with her own DNA. Since she was adopted, she isn’t sure what to expect when she submits her DNA sample. However, the results are shocking. Her DNA profile reveals that she is Charlotte Margolis. Baby Charlotte captured the nation’s attention in July of 1995 when she and her parents disappeared from Cedar Creek, Nevada. Sloan naturally heads to Cedar Creek to investigate. Upon her arrival, it seems the Margolis family has many secrets. Will Sloan be able to uncover their secrets and find out what happened to her parents almost 30 years ago?

This was my first book by Charlie Donlea and it definitely won’t be my last. I have been interested in forensic and investigative genealogy ever since the Golden State Killer case. Donlea does a great job explaining the process in this book. The short chapters drew me in. I enjoyed the past (1995) and present (2024) timelines. I honestly had no idea where the story was going and the twists totally surprised me, which is hard to do since I read a lot of thrillers. The narration by Vivienne Leheny was perfect. I highly recommend it to fans of thrillers! I give it 5/5 stars.

I loved the two timelines and the creative plot and the way they overlap via sloane—even the final fence post was satisfyingly grotesque in a Flannery O’Connor way.

Sloan, a medical examiner in training is given her thesis topic. She has a year to research and deliver her presentation to a number of professionals in her field. Her topic leads her to submitting her own DNA. This would show her the wealth of information available to lay persons and investigators.
To everyone’s surprise, her results yield the astonishing fact that she wasn’t just adopted, but that she was the missing child - Baby Charlotte.
With the help of Sheriff Eric Stamos, they start their own investigation of the disappearance of Charlotte and her parents. Together, they unravel the web that includes a fake adoption, the influential Margolis family and Eric’s father’s death.
There were so many twists and turns and an ending I didn’t 100% expect.

Thank you to @charliedonlea & @netgalley for the ARC Audiobook to review. Vivienne Leheny presents this with such a calm intonation. Not only is her voice mesmerizing, the story is captivating.

This was a great book! From the very beginning I was hooked. Ancestry searching has always been an interest of mine. I actually have a kit, at home to send in, but I haven’t. Wanna know why? Because my father said it may not be a good idea. YUP! Do I want to find myself in a Baby Charlotte situation? Nope. But thankfully I look just like my parents so I don’t think I have to worry about that. lol
It starts off as a genealogy project, but ends up in an intense search for the truth about Sloan’s origins. It felt real and believable. Everything from the public’s interest, media circus, and the FBI’s presence seemed legit. I felt like I was glued to a CNN livestream the whole time. The media gets information at the same pace this book deals it out. I waited with each chapter for the next clue. Highly suspenseful.
As an audiobook, the narrator nailed it. I felt the emotion in her voice with every new surprise she uncovered. This really added to the overall vibe of the story. I felt completely immersed in the story.
I definitely feel like this should be the first book in a series. I’d love to see more of Sloan, especially in her career as a medical examiner. Now that we know where she comes from, I feel like there’s more in that family we need to hear from. With her media fame, I also believe Sloan could get big cases in her field. I seriously hope Charlie Donlea brings her back.

Where has this Author been all my life?! Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for an advance copy of this book.

Loved the story, it had me interested and cheering them on right from the beginning. Good character development and they were likeable, as well, which goes a long way with me, lol.

I will definitely be looking for more books by #CharlieDonlea

Reverting! You won’t want to put the book down. The author made this book so realistic and authentic. A great read.

Thank NetGalley for the ARC of this Audiobook. This story was catchy from the beginning with the discovery of the main character’s DNA matching to a missing family. The pace of this book was fast and entertaining the entire time. I love all the shocking discoveries and twists and this book unfolded. The narrator was great and was perfect for the main character,

I really enjoyed this book! It kept me interested from the beginning. I highly recommend the audiobook!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publishers for the ARC!

So I liked the narrator, I thought she was fine. I also really enjoyed the premise of this book but the actuality of it was just meh for me. Didn’t love Sloane and thought the whole thing was predictable in parts. Not a bad read, but just a meh one.

I'm usually more a fan of YA thrillers, but this one kept me on my toes for the entire time. The storyline is very easy to follow even if it has dual timeline and the narration is really good. I just wish in the end it took more a darker path but I still enjoyed it.
Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for a digital listening copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks netgalley for the audiobook arc. This was my first Charlie donlea book and I’m excited to read more. This was a great thriller and a quick read. I liked the genealogy aspect of it. The narrator did a great job. There were a few annoying parts, like the detailed descriptions of her CrossFit workouts. But overall a great summer read and I would recommend it! Also posted on goodreads.

harlie Donlea does it again! I love this man! From the second I pressed play I was sucked into the world of Sloan Hastings and her quest to find out why her family tree revealed that she is the biological child of a couple who disappeared and she was presumed to be with them. As she learns more about her biological family her whole world comes into question. Where are her biological parents? Who can she trust? How did her adoptive parents get her.....and why is a sherriff's connecting Sloan's disappearance to the death of his own father?

I am telling you I couldn't stop. If you are not familiar with Charlie Donlea you do need to know about his writing. He fills you in on EVERY detail. Meaning yes he does repeat information quite often and points out some pretty obvious facts (like how cameras in the 1990's had film that had to be developed....not on a screen, yeah Charlie, we got that,) But the more you read his books you see he does this to actually walk the reader through the process and it helps you understand. It builds suspense . For instance in this bok the characters are developing film in the blackrom and it is a very pivotal part of the book and you feel like you are in there doing it with them and you just want to go HURRY UP HURRY UP!

I thoroughly loved this book! I had the pleasure of listening to the audio version (Amazing narraration as well, and double bonus for some of the book taking place in Raleigh!). I listen to a lot of my books while I run, and on my day off I was so furious I couldn't listen so I couldn't wait the next day to tune in! I promise you will love it!
You will be chompin on the bit to find out what happens!




SO Neils why didn't you give it 5 stars....I had to drop a full star due to the fact at the end there is a particular detail of how the killer is revealed just was so not possible (view spoiler), I truly think he could have figured out another way .

Thank you Net Galley and Charlie Donlea for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this amazing thriller! I was not influenced or paid for this honest review

I'm always intrigued by forensics and genetics, so Long Time Gone was right up my alley. This book hooked me from the start. It was fast paced, interesting, and hard to put down because I was intrigued and invested in the story. I enjoyed the character development as well as the characters themselves, particularly Sloane Hastings. The twists were mostly great and unpredictable, and while the end was a bit graphic it wasn't overly abrupt and the story wrapped up nicely.

Vivienne Leheny's narration of each character was very well done. Another winner by Charlie Donlea. A solid 4.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, RB Media, and Charlie Donlea for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Long Time Gone is a gripping, addictive, amazing, edge of your seat thriller that will have you flipping those pages until you get to the end. Once I started this one I was completely hooked, I couldn't stop, I needed to know. I was so immersed in this story. The amount of knowledge, research and detail that Donlea has put in this book is AMAZING.

I loved that we got to revisit characters from previous books, that was really fun, as you already have their background stories. Sloane was an amazing FMC so strong and resilient. I loved that I truly had no idea who the culprit was. The pacing and suspense in this book is constant, everything is revealed expertly and at the perfect time. Which makes for a great thrilling ride.

@charliedonlea is truly a master storyteller. I am completely OBSESSED ! There were multiple things happening, but never did I get confused, it was all perfectly done, the jumps from past to present were also very well indicated. The way he made all the storylines connect was just PERFECTION, I am absolutely in love with his writing style and his stories.

🎧 The narration by Vivienne Leheny was really good. She did a fantastic job at keeping the suspense high throughout the whole book and at keeping the listener engaged. She was great with the voices, the emotions and the tones. Amazing performance, highly recommend the audio !

𝕽𝖊𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖊 𝕯𝖆𝖙𝖊 : May 21st 2024

𝕸𝖞 𝕽𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 : ✭✭✭✭✭

✨️ Thank you to @netgalley, @rbmedia, @kensingtonbooks & @charliedonlea for my gifted ALC & ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The field of forensic genealogy is relatively new, and Charlie Donlea does a good job of introducing the concept in Long Time Gone. Dr. Sloan Hastings has been given a research assignment to learn more about the field for her fellowship and submits her DNA to a genealogy site. The information that comes back is life-changing and sets the stage for Donlea's novel.

Overall, this was a fun ride and a good use of forensic genealogy. There were a few spots that felt slow, but the unraveling of the mystery of the kidnapping of baby Charlotte kept me along for the ride. The audiobook has a fantastic narrator and was easy to lose myself in the story while listening. Highly recommend for mystery thriller fans.

Sloane Hastings is assigned a fellowship project on how DNA testing is now being used by the police. What she finds out when submitting her own DNA changes her life forever.

I read this as an audiobook for Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is easily a 6 star book for me. I love forensics, and all it can do, so I was very excited about the premise of this book. The way the book is written is so smooth and very realistic. The plot twists were entertaining, and I actually thought other people did the stuff, and I was wrong. Charlie Donlea has become a must read author for me and I can't wait to read his other books!

This was a great audiobook thriller. I was hooked immediately. I love Charlie Donleas books and this one did not disappoint. Overall a solid 4 because I love mysteries will missing kids being found.

This was great!!! Super solid detective story with a bomb going off in the end haha I loved the focus on forensic genetics. Had no idea who was guilty until the very end! This is only my second Donlea book but I look forward to more. Really enjoyed this narrator too.