Review of "Long Time Gone: A Thriller" by Charlie Donlea

Dr. Sloan Hastings, who lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, just finished a clinical pathology residency and is entering a two-year program to become a medical examiner.

During the first year of her training Sloan will be required to assist with autopsies and complete a research project. Sloan's project, assigned by program director Dr. Livia Cutty, is forensic and investigative genealogy.



Forensic and investigative genealogy works something like this: law enforcement officials send the DNA of an unknown perp (perhaps from a rape kit) to a national DNA database; if there's a hit, that person is related to the perp. This technique was used to catch the notorious Golden State Killer.



Twenty-nine-year-old Sloan has always known she was adopted, but never considered sending her DNA to a site like Ancestry.com to find her biological parents. As part of her research project, though, Sloan decides to send in her DNA, and the results are shocking. Sloan is actually Charlotte Margolis, who disappeared nearly three decades ago.



Sloan learns that her biological parents are Preston and Annabelle Margolis, who - along with their baby Charlotte - vanished from Cedar Creek, Nevada in 1995.



Preston was the scion of Cedar Creek's VERY rich and powerful Margolis family, and the disappearance led to an extensive search and national publicity. However, no trace of the trio was found.....until now.



Once word gets out that Sloan is actually 'baby Charlotte', the press descends on Raleigh in droves. Someone else comes as well: Sheriff Eric Stamos of Cedar Creek, Nevada.



The sheriff tells Sloan that the disappearance of her biological parents might be related to the (supposedly accidental) death of his father, Sandy Stamos, who was once sheriff of Cedar Creek. In 1995, Sheriff Sandy Stamos was investigating the hit-and-run death of Baker Jauncey, a partner in the Margolis Law Firm.



A car belonging to Annabelle Margolis (Sloan's biological mother) was found near Baker's body, but Annabelle insists she was home that night. As it turns out, the circumstances of Baker's death are NOT what they seem, and Eric thinks his dad learned something that led to his murder.

To cut to the chase, Eric convinces Sloan to 'go west' to meet her Margolis family in Cedar Creek, Nevada. Once Sloan is accepted into the clan, she can do an undercover investigation into the disappearance of her biological parents AND the death of Sheriff Sandy Stamos. Sloan agrees, and takes a plane to Cedar Creek.



When Sloan arrives in Nevada, her biological grandparents and aunts and uncles make a 'welcome Charlotte' party, and Sloan is provided with a comfortable guest cottage for her visit.



Sloan makes it her business to snoop around.....



.....and also secretly meets with Sheriff Eric Stamos, to further their joint inquiries.



The story alternates back and forth between the 1995 and the present, and surprising secrets are revealed in both timelines.

I enjoyed this edge-of-your-seat suspense novel, which is well-plotted and well-written. Highly recommended to fans of thrillers.

Thanks to Netgalley, Charlie Donlea, and Kensington for a copy of the book.

Rating: 4 stars