Long Gone Review

Long Gone
By Joanna Schaffhausen

Annalisa Vega is back in Long Gone! For those of us Gone For Good fans wondering how Chicago Police Detective Vega would put her life back together, your answers are provided in this excellent sequel.

For those of you who haven’t met Annalisa yet, STOP. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Long Gone is not the book you’re looking for…yet. Long Gone is not a standalone novel. You must read Gone For Good first to understand the relationships and conflicts between the characters based on the events of the first book. Would you walk into a theater halfway through a movie and be able to enjoy the rest of that movie? Nope. Don’t cheat yourself of the pleasure of reading the whole story. Once you’ve read Gone For Good, you’ll be ready and eager to grab Long Gone.

Wow, Annalisa was shattered by the end of Gone For Good and is struggling in a new reality where her relationships with family, friends, and coworkers are strained after her actions after solving the Lovelorn Killer case. Partner/ex-husband Nick Carelli seems to be the only one on her side, but even their professional and personal relationships are heading for the crossroads. Vega and Carelli are assigned to track down a cop killer. Some resentful cops see a chance for revenge for Annalisa’s actions in the Lovelorn Killer case and try to frame her for the crimes she is investigating. As more bodies pile up, it gets harder for Annalisa to solve the case and escape being framed for murder. She’ll leave collateral damage in her wake – lives are ruined, some are lost – and considers it a necessary part of solving her case.

Annalisa’s struggling through deeply strained personal relationships. While she claims she wants to rebuild, she plays the victim instead of recognizing others’ pain. She’s hurt but fails to acknowledge that other people hurt too. More than one person asks her to just visit certain family members, but she chooses to wallow in her own pain instead. Then she learns that other strained relationships are mending, and she laments that she’s left out. The only way her relationships will mend is if she makes an effort to rebuild the relationship. Even then, she still expects others to give up their plans and choose hers instead.

I like a flawed heroine, and Annalisa Vega definitely fits that bill. Schaffhausen does an excellent job of showing the motivations behind each of the characters, even though Annalisa remains self-absorbed. I felt frustrated that Annalisa could not see where she was the impediment to repairing relationships. I groaned every time Annalisa told her fellow officers what she was going to do then quickly changed her mind when the mood struck her. It is a delicate balance to make situations clear to the reader when the character remains oblivious, and Schaffhausen expertly walks that fine line. Annalisa makes a number of mistakes, but I was always on her side, hoping she’d figure things out and repair her reputation and her relationships.

Long Gone is an excellent combination of a twisty mystery with deeply developed characters. Thriller fans will enjoy the book…but only if they’ve read Gone For Good first. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing a review copy of the book.