Thank you NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Minotaur Books for the complimentary audiobook and ARC!

I would highly recommend reading Long Gone by Joanna Schaffhausen. This is fantastic sequel to Gone for Good following Detective Annalisa Vega. It can be read as a standalone, but I'd highly recommend both books.

Things I loved about it:
A strong female detective lead - Annalisa is amazing!
A murderer dressed in a full on diving suit.
Annalisa's relationship with her partner which also happens to be her ex-husband.

I have no criticisms which is why this is a five star read for me!

I listened to the audiobook. I loved the narrator and felt that it was very easy to follow.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a lot of moving parts which added interesting layers to the story. Overall the story was interesting with the story of crooked cops looking to cover their tracks by framing a decent cop who was looking for the truth. This was a good listen and kept my interest throughout.

I went into this book totally blind. I didn't know when I started this book that It was #2 in a series (I got an ARC audiobook). There was a lot of this book that I didn't 'get' because I didn't read the first book. There's a lot of sub context that shapes the way the MC (main character) acts that is flushed out in book 1.

That being said. I fully enjoyed this book. Even if the villain was deemed 'the frog man' which I found kind of silly for a detective thriller. Annalisa is a detective that comes across as a woman with a huge heart. Someone who wants to make the world a better place. Even if you kind of want to grab her by the shoulders and shake her and scream “woman, stop it!” but I think a lot of my most beloved characters are like that. To be honest, I think my best friends are like that too.

In this book, you're taken back to the 'fantastic four' and follow their career a bit, when one of them wind up dead. But are they really as “fantastic” as they seem. Annalisa sets off to solve the murder and winds up falling down a rabbit hole and solving a year's old unsolved murder and uncovering so much more.

You can read this as a stand alone, but I think you miss a lot of the subtext and 'inside jokes' without reading book 1.

Thank you to Netgalley & Dreamscape Media for the ARC audiobook
Thank you to, Joanna Schaffhausen for introducing me to this series. I love Annalisa and this world. I can't wait to go back and read book one and to continue reading this series as you release more books! I am totally hooked.
Thank you to, Kelsey Navarro for lending your voice to the characters in this book. I'm honestly fangirling a bit. I've followed you on tiktok forever, and this is the first audiobook I've had a chance to review. I didn't know it was yours until I went to write this part of the review. I was a fan of you personally on tiktok and now I'm a huge fan professionally. Great job! You really brought this book to life. And even at the speed I listen too books at for my brain, you still have so much personality and life! You can feel the character's anxiety come through you!

Annalisa Vega is back! If you read Gone For Good, you already know that Annalisa is a big hearted detective with a strict moral code. She’s isn’t afraid to take down perpetrators, even if they’re family. In Long Gone, she is dealing with the ramifications of solving her previous case, while taking on another.
I was fully invested in this story from the beginning. The narrator of the audiobook, Kelsey Navarro, has one of those sexy but stern voices that capture who Annalisa is. She kept the pace of the book moving with the emotion she puts into her voice and the ability to play other roles and genders within the story. I didn’t want to stop listening to her voice! The only thing that might have made the audio better would have been a male voice for Nick.
Joanna Schaffhausen is so good at making her villains kind of weird, keeping the reader interested. I also love the way she dives into the coverups and scandals within the police system. Nothing is off limits, and you never know what to expect.
This was a great quick read. I really recommend it if you read the first book

I really loved book one and that made me a little nervous for book two. But much to my delight, it too was good. The author does a good job of weaving an old cold case forward into the present. Book two deals with the fallout from Annalisa’s choices in book one and continues her inner battle to deal with her choices at work and with her family.

What I really like in this series is the characters are flawed which makes them real. They are complex and you root for the best for Anna. I was guessing through much of the book and I love when that happens.

This one never stalled and like the first one, it relies on a solid plot with a few surprises and misdirections. I have absolutely nothing in common with Anna, but I really connected with her and her struggle to pick up the pieces after her choices.

I was able to listen to this one and enjoyed Kelsey Navarro’s narration. She did a good job of drawing you in and not distracting from the story.

This is a great police procedural that reminds of books before suspense and thrillers relied on the big twist. I can’t wait to see what happens in book three and how her personal life rebounds.

I enjoyed the second installment of the Detective Annalisa Vega series. This story started off stronger than Gone For Good (which was great!). I loved that we got to hear from multiple characters, it kept me more engrossed thoroughout the story. However, there was a point when there were simply too many characters to track and I found myself losing interest. The story started to drag on and I found that I didn't care figuring out whodunnit. I did enjoy the twist of the wetsuit and who was in it. I also really enjoyed the ending.

As with the first installment, I enjoyed hearing Kelsey Navarro narrate this.

Overall I give it 4 stars.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media for providing me with an ARC.

This is a case where I first listened to the audio book and almost a month later decided to read the e-book version. Enjoyed both. The Narrator had a pleasant voice and with a small change between male and female voices it was a pleasure to listen to.
This was nice follow-up to the first book in the series
After having turned in her father and brother in the first book Annalisa is dealing with the results. Not feeling welcome in her parents’ home. Her sister-in-law, previous best friend is at odds with her, and the already strained relationship takes a turn for the worse when Annalisa finds out that she is dating a previous accused murderer.
If her problems within the family aren’t enough dealing with her coworkers hasn’t improved. Having corrupt cops in this group makes life even more difficult.
The story takes a lot of twists and turns, you might guess some of the outcome but not all.

I loved this story! I really enjoyed the first book but I loved this one so much more. I feel like it's rare to enjoy a sequel more than the first book, but this one just really sank in for me. I liked that we got to know Annalisa more in this book. She's so stinking cool. I want to be friends with her. There are some tense moments throughout the story and I couldn't stop reading. I have a feeling we haven't seen the end of Annalisa and I cannot wait to find out what she investigates next!

This was a great sequel! I would recommend you read the first one before you read Long Gone or you will be a little lost. The narration was good and I enjoyed everything about it.

Annalisa Vega is a wonderful protagonist—she is driven to do her best as a Chicago detective, but conflicted and seemingly thwarted at every turn by her family, friends, and colleagues. I started this book not knowing that it was the second in a series, but enough of her backstory was revealed that I didn’t feel at a loss for not having read the first book. However, I plan on reading the start of this series ASAP! This is a complex mystery involving current cases and cold ones, and a thousand threads connecting them. It was a riveting story and I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook, narrated by the excellent Kelsey Navarro. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this audiobook!

Long Gone was a really delightful sophomore series novel. Joanna Shaffhausen dove right in where we left off with Annalisa in book 1 and threw us into the familial angst now being experienced by the Vega Family.

My only complaint with the book was that we simply had too many victims and too many "who done its". We have the victim that's stated in the descriptor, Tom who was murdered in his bedroom by a someone in a diver's wet suit. (Yes, you read that right). We also have two older cases that involve the victims Josie Blanchard, a French medical student and Sandra Romero, a waitress at a shady club.

Schaffhausen takes us back in time several years and also introduces us to The Fantastic Four; a group of police officers who had lots of gang and drug busts under their belts. In my opinion the Josie Blanchard murder only added to the story by adding increased familiay conflict amongst the Vegas. It's unnecessary given the the events that occurred in Book One. The tension is already there. Let that in itself be enough.

The Sandra Romero story did contribute to the plot and added knowledge for readers. Two who-done-its is enough given that we then have increased characters, more timelines and events to keep track of.

The overall writing is well done and I love that Schaffhausen doesn't dump tons of police, legal jargon on us. There's some of that but I would never label this as a "cop drama". Yes they're police officers but I would label it more familial mystery (if that's a thing). The Vega family continues to be the main focus and descriptions of Mother Maria's meatballs, Sunday meals and around the table banter still are a central focus. I'm looking forward to Book 3, hopefully in Summer 2023!

The audio book was excellent! The narrator didn't have any hokey voices and she spoke clearly. She alternated her voice just enough for male parts without making the changes distracting and jarring.

This is one of my new favorite series. Long Gone is the second in the series but except for some of the personal stuff, could totally be read alone. You will immediately go back and read the first book so do yourself a favor and start there.

I love a good detective story. One with a strong, badass female lead is even better. I cannot wait until the next book in this series.

I listened to the audiobook version and I enjoyed the narrator.

Fans of Meg Gardiner will love the Long Gone series. I enjoyed it so much.
Reads just like a true crime show.
I hope she continues with this cast of characters.

#LongGone #JoannaSchaffhausen
#DreamscapeMedia #NetGalley #MinotaurBooks

This is a review of the advanced listening copy.

When Chicago detective Leo Hammond is murdered, Detective Annalisa Vega and her partner and ex-husband Nick are on the case.

Looking at motives leads them to Max Bocks, who had beaten a murder charge a few years earlier, for the murder of a young mother. Leo had been looking again into that unsolved murder and it seemed to provide a motive for Max Bocks to kill him.

As part of the investigation, Annalisa takes a closer look at the old murder, discovering startling truths in the process.

Undeterred by resistance from fellow cops, Annalisa and Nick battle on, determined to find the truth that connects the old murder with the death of Detective Leo Hammond.

Annalisa Vega comes through as a strong, female protagonist.

The story is fast-paced and the suspense is sustained until all is revealed in the end.

I liked the story and the great narration by Kelsey Navarro.

Happy pub day to LONG GONE! Thank you @minotaur_books and @netgalley for my review copies and ALC of LONG GONE by @joannaschaffhausen ! I really enjoyed this second book in her detective Annalisa Vega series! This one is out today!

I read the first book in this series, GONE FOR GOOD last summer and loved it! So I was excited when I got approved for both the digital and audiobook on netgalley, and then received a physical arc as well!

I really enjoyed being back with Vega- she is such a strong female MC and isn’t afraid to take down the bad guy, even if it is family. Or out herself in dangerous situations to catch the bad guy. While I wouldn’t say the ending of this one was as shocking as in Gone for Good, it was still intense and I didn’t figure it out in advance!

The audio was well done and I basically listened to it in a day, and followed along in the physical copy too when I could!

If you have read Gone for Good, or any of the author’s other books, I recommend this one! If you like detective thriller books, read this one! I do recommend reading the first book as it does provide some key background info.

I dearly love summer. One of the main reasons is some of my favorite authors have book releases during the summer. Joanna Schaffhausen second series is released in August, just when I need a reminder of just why I love summer. Schaffhausen’s August treat for this year is Long Gone (Detective Annalisa Vega #2) a terrific book that lays to rest any doubt about Schaffhausen’s longevity as a master storyteller.
Reviewing Long Gone grabs you from the beginning and does not let you go until the very last drop. See, easy enough. Oh, wait, I guess I’m supposed to explain how the book works its magic.
In the first book of the Annalisa Vega series, Gone for Good, Chicago detective Annalisa Vega tears her family apart and guts the thin blue line of the Chicago Police Department over a murder that took place twenty years ago. Annalisa also lost the love of her life for the second time during all of the fallout.
Now, Annalisa is paying the price for her actions in solving the murder of a beloved neighbor. Everyone seems to forget she also solved the murder of a prolific serial killer. Annalisa’s only visible allies now are her supervisor and her ex-husband, now partner, Nick Carelli.
Annalisa and Nick are called to the palatial home of Chicago P.D. detective, Leo Hammond. He is a long-time member of The Fantastic Four. The Four are famous for their high solve rate, personal injury rate, and high body count. The remaining three detectives show up on the scene, beyond distraught, but still immediately objecting to Annalisa’s presence. Despite the animosity, the detectives do give Annalisa a viable suspect, Moe Bocks, since Bocks and Leo had a very unpleasant encounter recently.
Bocks was the only suspect in the murder of a girl he dated 20 years ago. The Fantastic Four, with good cause, zeroed in on Moe Bocks; they just couldn’t quite make a case. Annalisa’s hopes she might do better in solving both the old and new murders since forensics seem to improve every month.
Annalisa has extra motivation to solve both the twenty-year-old garroting of the girl and the shooting of Leo Hammond when she discovers Bocks is dating her former sister-in-law.
Unfortunately, Hammond’s trophy wife, Kayla, gives her own bizarre accounting of her husband’s murder including a frogman, “You know, a frogman. Like the diving people? He had a mask and flippers and everything.” Trophy wife, a win for originality. Kayla’s a witness and a suspect, so she can’t be totally discounted;
The book begins with a prologue. Of which Annalisa and Nick are totally unaware of. Soon Annalisa and Nick intuitively realize with the murder of Leo Hammond what’s “past is prologue” is certainly true in one way. There is no high school teacher or old lady reviewer pointing out The Shakespeare. However, there are several pasts they instinctively know to investigate to even figure out there is a prologue.
Most of us forget Shakespeare’s real meaning to the actual quote, it takes a while, but maybe Annalisa gets it, she can write her own future. Schaffhausen is subtle, she trusts the reader to understand the underpinnings of Annalisa’s occasional good decisions.
Schaffhausen writes wonderfully flawed characters, and those are usually the good guys. Annalisa consistently risks her life, her job, and her family. With Annalisa, her second greatest flaw is the pair of blinders she dons, refusing, just like the Fantastic Four, to deviate from the narrative they have independently constructed. A narrative that leads them all into blind alleys. Just like real police work.
Schaffhausen makes me feel the slush leaking into my run-down boots from the melting snow of a Chicago winter; the icy wind that seems almost permanent. I’m experiencing most everything the characters are experiencing. Yeah, thanks for that.
Annalisa stood for the dead in Gone for Good; and most everyone saw that as a betrayal. It was betrayal, the fact that she did the right thing provides cold comfort to anyone affected. Now most everything in her life is in shambles, it’s her fault, and may be impossible to mend.
The consequences continue through Long Gone as Annalisa’s family once again is affected by Annalisa’s investigation. There is one move Annalisa can make that might help rebuild her family, but she balks. She seems not to have heard Shakespeare’s “The Quality of Mercy monologue from The Merchant of Venice.
Annalisa cannot get beyond her tamped down rage, her greatest flaw. The rage is directed at most everything in her life including the greatest loss she will not admit to. The rage Annalisa keeps well hidden, especially from herself.
Schaffhausen doesn’t give her any easy outs, and few moments of grace. Her depiction of total anguish and painful conflict might require a few tissues
Long Gone, is not an easy read; it is intricate but not confusing. Again, just like life. It is also fascinating and original, and will stay with you for a long time. Chances are you will close the book thinking, ‘Now that’s a book.’
Long Gone, is at heart, an original police procedural with characters who will resonate for a long time. For those who are first discovering Annalisa Vega, you can read this exceptional book without missing any important plot points from Gone for Good. However, you will be doing yourself a great disservice if you don’t read it and the Ellery Hathaway series.
I was also been fortunate enough to receive the audiobook of Long Gone, from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, narrated by Kelsey Navarro. For the most part Navarro did a good job. A bit too much of the falling tone at the end of narrative sentences, after awhile I adjusted. Here’s the thing, Navarro did a great job of really bringing the personalities to life. I found myself having different opinions and reactions to characters and actions then I did when reading it. Certain scenes seemed creepier, while I found myself almost liking certain characters who did not deserve it. Talking about you, Kayla, Ms. Homewrecker, Druggie, Airhead of 2022.
Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books for an ARC for review purposes. (less)

Blue Wall of Silence/Blue Shield/Blue Code: These all refer to an informal unspoken code that says a police officer won’t speak up against a fellow officer if they become aware of his/her wrongdoing.

Headstrong Chicago detective Annalisa Vega is back and she’s feeling the repercussions of her actions in the first book of the series Gone for Good. For spoiler reasons I won’t go into detail, other than to say that the men in blue from the Chicago PD aren’t her biggest fans this time around due to her perceived breach of the above mentioned code, which has hurt her own family members most of all.

You know the old saying “Jumping from the frying pan into the fire”? That’s Annalisa. As if her current mess isn’t big enough, she decides to start digging into a cold case involving the murder of a young woman Josie Blanchard, in addition to her assigned investigation into the murder of long-time cop, Leo Hammond. They both have ties to the same suspect, if Annalisa can just prove it. The thing is, the three surviving members of the “Fantastic Four”, Leo’s fellow cops Tom Osborne, Frankie Vaughn and Paul Monk all have dark secrets from the past they'd like to stay hidden, and they don't need Annalisa shining the light on them.

When the death count starts to rise and the threat to Annalisa gets closer, can she and her ex-husband, Nick Carelli, solve these cases before one or both of them become the next victims?

I’ll say this: Annalisa knows her own mind, and if she’s convinced of something - stay out of her way! She has a strong moral code and definitely doesn’t let pity guide her decisions. She really wants to do right by people, even if it comes at a personal cost to her, and I always admire her dogged determination, despite her overwhelming lack of common sense at times! Her complicated relationships with Nick, her family, her childhood love, Colin Duffy, and her best friend/sister-in-law, Sassy add nice depth to the story, and it’s a cast of characters that I’m coming to care about as the series progresses.

If you’re looking for a good, solid mystery thriller, with some police procedural tossed in, it’s a great next entry in this series. It can be read alone, but I think you’ll get far more enjoyment out of it if you’ve read the first book and get to know the characters and backstory. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Kelsey Navarro, who did a fabulous job with all the voicing, though initially it seemed all the male cop characters sounded the same - a bit like ‘40s gangsters. I adjusted and it was all good!

★★★★

Thanks to St. Martins Press, Dreamscape Media, NetGalley and author Joanna Schaffhausen for this ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest opinions. It’s due to be published August 9, 2022.

Long Gone by Joanna Schaffhausen is the second in the Detective Annalisa Vega series, and it is excellent!
This thriller finds Annalisa investigating the death of a veteran cop, Leo Hammond. She and partner and ex-husband Nick Corelli seek out the killer, and also surprisingly turn up clues to an old cold case as well as a look at the unpleasant underbelly of the Chicago Police Department.
This is a terrific murder mystery/police procedural. But the amazing character development sets this book apart and above many similar novels. Annalisa is a complex character: flawed, beleaguered by her fellow officers as a woman and honest cop, but with an unerring moral compass. She is tenacious, smart, and fearless when faced with personal danger. Yet she is fiercely devoted to her family and plagued by her decisions regarding her father and brother (no spoilers here—please see Gone For Good, book one in the series).
This is an atmospheric thriller showcasing the neighborhoods of Chicago with a strong, complex protagonist.
I enjoyed the audiobook version, with narrator Kelsey Navarro, who hits just the right note of police grittiness combined with Annalisa’s humanity.
I highly recommend this book to readers looking for smart police procedurals and strong female characters.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the audio AC. This is my honest review.

If you’ve been following my feed for a while, you know how much of a Joanna Schaffhausen fan I am. Her Ellery Hathaway series is one of my absolute favorites, and I’m becoming just as attached to Annalisa Vega.

For me, the beauty of a series like @joannaschaffhausen creates is the connection to a main character. Instead of a quick snapshot into their lives, we really get to know them and how their lives evolve. Because this is only Book 2 of Annalisa’s story, we’re still filling in details, and I’m here for all of it, but, Joanna, Annalisa needs a pet. I miss Bump.

Link to 8/7./2022 Instagram post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg-IYr1An5g/

“Sometimes no one went to jail. There was no trial or chance to lay out all the evidence. No explanation, no accountability. Sometimes the end was all you got.”

Annalisa Vega shattered her own life when she turned in her ex cop father for murder. Her fellow cops no longer trust her, so when detective Leo Hammomd turns up dead, she has nothing to lose by investigating the secrets Leo held behind the thin blue line.

“A crooked cop messed up even the straight cases.”

I read. A lot. Some books stay with you, others not so much. I read Gone For Good, book one in this series, in August of 2021. And when I started this one I was immediately back in Annalisa’s world. That right there has to tell you something about this story in particular. I did enjoy that one a bit more, but this one had an ok mystery, some police procedural drama, and quite a bit of family drama. The murder mystery just didn’t quite grab me like it did in book one unfortunately.

I was also gifted the audiobook but there was something so distracting about the narration. I can’t quite put my finger on it…but it is almost like listening to a television reporter-with that tone that they use, you know the one-reading this whole book just like they would report on a story. Every single sentence is ended in the exact. Same. Tone. Awful, and very distracting.

Thank you to Netgalley, St Martin’s Press, Dreamscape Media, and the author for the ALC and ARC in exchange for an honest review.