REVIEW for Long Gone

Thank you to HarperCollins UK for sending me a copy of this book.

TITLE:              Long Gone

AUTHOR:        Alafair Burke

GENRE:           Thriller

RATING:         4 Stars

I stopped reading thrillers a while ago because I was kind of tired of reading the same plotlines over and over again.  Fortunately, I have always enjoyed Alafair Burke's books and picked up Long Gone with a lot of "hope".

I was not disappointed.  First, I have to say that the plotline was completely original (at least I had never read anything similar) and worked very, very well to capture my interest and, more importantly, keep it!

Alice's life has not been going that well, until she meets Drew Campbell who hands her her dream job - running an art gallery where the anonymous owner promises to "stay out of the way".  Of course, to everyone but Alice this seems a little strange, but she is determined to make it work.

One day, as she arrives for work, she realizes that the gallery simply does not exist anymore.  In fact, it is as though it never actually existed in the first place and well - there is a body AND a missing girl that seem to be linked to Alice somehow.  Alice is innocent and sets out to prove it.

Yep, this book gave me the chills.  Can you imagine knowing that the place you worked at (and loved) has simply disappeared? For some reason, this freaked me out a little bit, which only enticed me to read on :)

What follows is a story with a perfect tone.  I loved the pacing (which is something that is incredibly important to me) and although I was pretty sure that Alice was innocent, at times, when confronted with the "reality" I found myself questionning it again and again.  I also loved the Alice character who finds herself in an extremely odd situation which might have sent somebody else over the bend - but she just keeps on investigating and is determined to fight on.

Some of the twists in this book were great - and it takes a lot to surprise me - so this was a great surprise.

Overall, a wonderful, wonderful thriller.