In this thrilling finale to the Ben Packard series, Joshua Moehling delivers a fast-paced, emotionally filled read. As Ben investigates his brother’s disappearance from long ago, secrets and small-town corruption come to light.

Well-paced and thoughtful, the novel blends suspense with real-life issues and extraordinary character development.

Rating: 5/5 – A strong, satisfying end to an incredible and emotional series.

After surviving a high stakes shooting, former detective Ben Packard is forced to confront the ghosts of his past. While on leave, he uncovers new information about a cold case that has haunted him since childhood. The disappearance of his own brother, who he was the last to see. Determined to finally find closure, Ben dives back into the case. But the question lingers, how far is he willing to go for the truth?
I did find some of the humor around characters’ sexual orientation a bit jarring. It felt more harmful than helpful to the story. While I appreciated the inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters, at times it seemed like the jokes came at their expense rather than adding depth or representation.
I also found myself wishing for a dual timeline that explored the immediate aftermath of Ben’s brother’s disappearance and how the family and town responded. And perhaps a deeper look at the suspect which would have led to a more powerful twist. Still, if you're a fan of character driven mysteries, this one might be right up your alley.

*Thank you to Joshua Moehling, Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the audio copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is the last installment I believe in the Ben Packard series and unfortunately my least favorite. Book 2 was my overall favorite and as a whole the series was good. I think I had higher expectations about his search for Nick, his employment after losing the election, and just his life in general but it fell pretty flat for me. The ending felt like something the former sheriff would've been able to figure out and it should not have taken over 20 years. The town is just not that big. As I said, all three books together average a slightly higher rating, but I was personally disappointed in the last installment.

Pub Date: Feb 04 2025
⭐⭐⭐

This was another solid installment in this series. I like the character of Ben and enjoyed learning more about he and his family in this one. The story itself was okay, a little slow in parts, but engaging enough to keep my attention. The narration was done well telling this story.

What a wonderful, suspenseful story with great a plot. This book is a must read. I highly recommend it!

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the arc for my honest opinion.

I have really enjoyed this series so far, I think "A Long Time Gone" might be my least favorite so far because it was a bit slower than the other two books, I do think it is building up for the next book in the series. We finally get some answers about Ben's brother, but I would have like to see more of his dog Frank in this book. I really like how quirky Ben's mom is, I would love to see more of her in the books to come. I look forward to continuing this series.

I hope Joshua Moehling writes at least two new Packard books a year. I love this series - it is the best new series with interesting characters, unexpected plot points (like him not winning the sheriff race) that keep it interesting. It is also a very own voices books with him being gay not being a plot point that is harped on so much that it becomes "othered" and "special". He's just a normal guy, living his life, and doing his job. I did find the reveal of what happened to his brother to be a little on the nose, but it did lend to the story. I'm excited to see where this series continues to go. I'd love to see a TV series.

I really enjoyed this book in the narrator. It was very suspenseful in the story and plot were very good. I like the way the author writes and have read all of his story so far. I hope he continues to write in this series because I find it to be very good.

Loved this book, now I have to read the first two in the series! Glad to discover another great author. :)

By far the best in the serie
This is a very slow pace book but I was pleasantly surprised that I still enjoyed it as I am not usually a fan of slow pace book.
The narrator was very good so it did help

A Long Time Gone by Joshua Moehling
This was an amazing thriller, and although it’s number three in a series, I read it as a stand alone and I didn’t even know.
Ben Packard is a formidable character and I will now go back and read the first two.
Ben was just a kid when his brother walked out the door, never to return. Decades later, now as a Deputy, Ben finds himself almost obsessed with the cold case that tore his family apart. New evidence is found and it throws him between the old case and a new one, one that his friends and neighbors want him to drop.
This is a gripping, suspenseful thriller, with two mysteries, his brother’s disappearance and a neighbors’ death.
The characters are wonderful, Ben’s mother will have you laughing, and the mysteries will keep the pages turning. It does start a little slow but like most great mysteries, it builds and hooks the reader until the end.
The audio narration was perfect with great personalization of characters and the storytelling was wonderful. It made the book experience awesome! 5/5⭐
I would like to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

You don’t have to read the first two Ben Packard books to love this one. With two mysteries tied in one it will keep you hooked the entire way. The relationship between Ben and this mother kept me gripped the entire way. She, in particular, is humorous but also unlikable in many ways that makes you think about the entirety of the plot and how the book is going to end.

I was very excited to see this series on NetGalley. I read the other two last year and enjoyed them. The story line is interesting. I enjoyed all the elements of the characters and how everything unraveled. Definitely a must read for anyone who likes crime/ murder mystery books. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely love Deputy Ben Packard’s character! I wasn’t shocked by the current case’s reveal, but was by the way Ben’s brother’s past unraveled. The audiobook was very easy to follow along and had a great narrator.

This is the third book in the Ben Packard series. After losing the election for Sheriff, Ben finds himself stuck in a less-than-ideal job—monitoring the courthouse metal detector and checking purses for weapons. It’s exactly where the new sheriff wants him.

But things quickly take a turn, landing Ben on administrative leave. That doesn’t stop him, though. With time on his hands, he dives into two cases: one involving the search for his brother’s remains and the other uncovering the truth about a family friend’s death.

Adding to the story’s charm, Ben’s mom is absolutely hilarious—I found myself laughing out loud at her sharp remarks and antics. I can’t wait for book #4!

I got to listen to this audio book as an ARC and let me tell you the narration and the story line was perfect. It did answer the questions to his previous book Where the dead sleep. I didn't realize that it was part of a series until it had me remembering of a previous book I read and turns out it was where the dead sleep and summed up the questions we were left wondering for Ben Packard. Im so glad we got to see Ben get the answers he and his family were desperate to find out. I love these crime thrillers. Definitely was a plot twist of the killer I had so many thoughts on who it could've been.

I didn't notice this book was #3 in a series when I first requested the ARC, but not reading the first two books didn't take away from me liking this one. Although I think I would've had a slight better understanding of the character dynamics and Packard's backstory, I still really enjoyed this read.

Ben Packard is an amazing, well-rounded, witty character. I also love the LGBTQ+ representation in this book/series. The mystery felt refreshing, not your typical whodunit, with a lot of interesting characters & angles. Overall, this was a great read & I'm looking forward to going back & reading the first two of the series!

Deputy Ben Packard is back! Given the amount of set up that was introduced in book two I thought for sure book three would be all about Ben's brother, Nick. For me the story started off slow and the first half of the book is mostly the building of a case in a death the department has already deemed solved. It took me a while to get invested in this separate case as I went in with the assumption we would be looking for anything related to Nick's disappearance. Several of the town characters were very unlikable and this also hindered my interest in the new case. This is genius writing on Joshua Moehling's part as I got caught up in my extreme dislike of these characters instead of paying attention to the details and solving the crime, so I was quite surprised by who did it when everything came together. Very clever! Packard's mom was a pure delight and her comments and actions made me laugh. There is a lot for Packard to overcome in this story, both personally and professionally, and he does so with grace and intelligence. I have really enjoyed this series. I can't quite decide from the book's ending if there will be a fourth book. If there is, I'll be ready to take on new cases with Ben!

Linda Jones narrates the audiobook. I have come to know her as the voice of Ben Packard's universe. She does a great job bringing all the characters to life.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the LRC in exchange for my honest review.

Ben Packard is on leave. He shot a man at the courthouse where he was working security. The man had a gun and tried to kill another man. But that doesn't necessarily matter to Ben. He can't help thinking about what happened. And he's having nightmares that he's the shooter and he's killing people he knows. He can't be on leave. He can't sit still. So he decides to look into the disappearance of brother 20 years ago and ends up embroiled in a more recent murder mystery.

This was my first Joshua Moehling book and it will not be my last. I love Ben Packard. He's complicated and real. He is so well-written. I loved his mother and his partner. I thought this story was excellent and the plot twist and the who-done-it were all surprises to me. If you like murder mysteries and complicated, real characters, you will definitely love this book.

I liked that simple writing style that avoided overdrescribing almost everything. A downside to this is that I found the characters and plot kind of basic.