... electrifying ... Roy has always been deft at creating suspense, but she hits a new level with this finely crafted thriller ... Imogene and Beth are strong female characters, and they’re more effective because Roy doesn’t make them into superheroes. Plunged without warning into extreme situations, like Beth’s abduction and Imogene’s discovery of a terrible secret, they don’t behave like they’re in an action movie, they act the way most people do under great duress. They’re confused, they’re disoriented, they’re paralyzed with fear, and that makes their resourcefulness all the more admirable ... Family relationships are key in Gone Too Long, and Roy develops them with believable complexity ... Roy crafts the book’s triple plots with skillful misdirection and sure timing ... a compelling thriller, and a story of how hatred and violence toward the other create a legacy that follows those who hate home.
... outstanding ... quietly unnerving ... Roy wisely avoids salacious violence while showing how hate creates a never-ending circle and the havoc it can wreak on families ... Roy has established a niche for lyrical prose in a noir story. Her standards continue in Gone Too Long, a formidable history of hate.
There’s plenty of social commentary in Lori Roy’s gripping Gone Too Long ... Ms. Roy excels at depicting scenes of consummate tension involving a heroine whose courage has long lain dormant.
The quietly unnerving Gone Too Long persuasively looks at the legacy of violence and hate, and the responsibility to stop the festering bigotry and loathing ... Roy also turns her novel into a look at the banality of evil. On the surface, scenes seem harmless, such as a breakfast of homemade biscuits and gravy for neighbors and a woman measuring the distance between a man's eyes. But everyday situations like this are quietly chilling ... a formidable history of hate.
he space behind Roy’s sensual descriptions of rural Georgia and Imogene’s final, fierce defiance of her father’s legacy is filled with a creeping, entangling sense of danger. It’s the kind of writing you would expect from the Edgar-winning author, but it’s made even more powerful here, filled with the purpose of exposing a hateful legacy and issuing a timely warning of its historical ebb and flow.
This compelling, issue-oriented story by Edgar Award-winning author Roy is a creepy, eerie account of a young girl and a community held hostage by the Klan.
Roy takes her time weaving in backstory and letting her characters reveal themselves, and thriller fans who read for plot might get a bit impatient. But those who settle in will be rewarded with a riveting mystery, brilliantly crafted and weighted with real-world resonance. The fact that hate groups are resurgent in the United States emerges as an essential element of this novel ... A timely thriller that will stay with the reader long after the last page has been turned.
... gripping, gut-wrenching ... Vividly told though somewhat implausibly plotted, Roy’s tragic cautionary tale demonstrates what can happen when decent people allow themselves to be bullied into turning a blind eye while others do their worst, including murder. Greg Iles’s fans will find a lot to like.
