LONG GONE

TITLE: LONG GONE

AUTHOR: ALAFAIR BURKE

Pages: 349

Date: 18/10/2011

Grade: 4.5

Details: Stand-alone

Library

When, after months of unemployment, Alice Humphrey is offered the opportunity to manage an art gallery in New York it seems like a dream come true, even if she does have her doubt about the art she’s expected to display and sell, the artist who can’t be contacted and the anonymous person financing this opportunity.

Four weeks later, the dream turns into a nightmare when she walks into the gallery early one morning to find all the artwork gone and the man who hired her dead on the floor. And the nightmare becomes darker when all the evidence the police stumble across appears to point at her being the person who murdered him.

Certain of her innocence but unclear about who might want to frame her or why, Alice has little choice but to start investigating the man who hired her, and everything else involved with the gallery.

She soon discovers that absolutely nothing is as it seemed such a short time ago, but nothing could have prepared her for the shocks that are still to come and the consequences they will have for the way she looks at herself, her family and her life.

This was a fascinating thriller.

I’m not usually a fan of stories in which you know from the start that the main character is innocent and has to find a way to prove that to the rest of the world, but in this book it really worked.

Alice is a realistic and lifelike character almost from the first page, and although I did at some times question how sensible her actions were, she never did anything blatantly stupid or dangerous.

The story in this book has several angles and quite a few important characters besides Alice which means that the reader has to pay attention to the story and to who is doing what. But again, this is a positive because the author seems to assume that her readers have a certain level of intelligence.

The way the story unfolds makes sense, and yet I didn’t see any of the revelations coming, or when I did have some idea, didn’t see the full extent of them.

I really enjoyed this book, and am delighted that I already have another of Alafair Burke’s books ordered from the library.