Review: Gone Too Long by Lori Roy

Gone Too Long by Lori Roy

Published: June 25, 2019

Publisher: Dutton Books

Format: via audiobook

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

On the day a black truck rattles past her house and a Klan flyer lands in her front yard, ten-year-old Beth disappears from her Simmonsville, Georgia, home. Armed with skills honed while caring for an alcoholic mother, she must battle to survive the days and months ahead.

Seven years later, Imogene Coulter is burying her father--a Klan leader she has spent her life distancing herself from--and trying to escape the memories his funeral evokes. But Imogene is forced to confront secrets long held by Simmonsville and her own family when, while clearing out her father's apparent hideout on the day of his funeral, she finds a child. Young and alive, in an abandoned basement, and behind a door that only locks from the outside.

As Imogene begins to uncover the truth of what happened to young Beth all those years ago, her father's heir apparent to the Klan's leadership threatens her and her family. Driven by a love that extends beyond the ties of blood, Imogene struggles to save a girl she never knew but will now be bound to forever and to save herself and those dearest to her. Tightly coiled and chilling, Gone Too Long ensnares, twists, and exposes the high price we are willing to pay for the ones we love. 

My Thoughts

Gone too Long is the story of how the Ku Klux Klan still has a very strong hold in the South.  It focuses on Imogene and her family after the death of her father. There is a mystery about a ten-year girl who went missing after the death of a teenager years ago, but Imogene has no idea how much her family is involved in this event.

Imogene is trying to get over a very hard tragedy in her life, the death of her husband and child. After the funeral of her father, she realizes there is someone in the basement of an old shack on the family property and when she discovers its a young boy her mind races as to who he is and more importantly who had him down there. She first thinks her father had something to do with it, but as she slowly unravels the truth she finds out there is way more to the story than she ever thought possible. Once the truth is revealed she must decide to do the right thing, which might hurt her family or make sure justice is served no matter the price it might mean to her life. Gone too Long is a story that shows us that the mean and sick dealings of the Ku Klux Klan are still very much alive and how these teachings are still going on. Imogene was raised with these teachings but knows that they are wrong and these are very bad individuals. She knows what is right and what is wrong and she knows she must do everything she can to make sure the past doesn't repeat itself.

This story is about survival and for standing up for what's right. Imogene is a survivor in all forms, she overcomes the death of her husband and child and learns that the person she thought was her father really wasn't, meaning she could escape her past and help her family live a new life. This is a page-turner one that has you wondering what will happen next. I love how most of this novel is told through Imogene and we can see how she sees her family and their connection to the Klan from the inside. This is an interesting story with a few storylines that all tie in at the end, with an ending that was surprising. This is one read that had me from page one and kept my attention until the very end.