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The Long-Ago Dead
Sydney Fleet was an assassin once. A good one.
But that was a long time ago. In a different place. An era of pain and loss.
Now, that past is haunting him. Someone is calling him back. He’ll have to face the ghost of all that misery—in all-too-human form. He’ll need to protect those closest to him. He’ll need to protect his remaining honor and his good memories. It’s time to stand up and face down his destiny. Before it’s too late.
THE LONG-AGO DEAD is a throwback noir in the vein of the genre greats. Cold, calculating, ruthless. Hitch a ride with Fleet as he’s drawn from California to Colorado, hellbent on righting age-old wrongs and setting the stage for a brutal last stand against his own history.
“A beautiful noir novel for the 21st century!”
—Scott Phillips, author of The Ice Harvest and The Devil Raises His Own
“Jason Bovberg knows how to write a go-for-broke crime novel!”
—Eric Beetner, author of The Last Few Miles of Road
“Bovberg writes characters who get into your head and under your skin. You won’t shake this one easily: It’ll stay with you long after you read it!”
—Terrill Lee Lankford, author of Shooters and Angry Moon
“Jason Bovberg is a fresh new voice in noir!”
—Wallace Stroby, author of the Crissa Stone series
But that was a long time ago. In a different place. An era of pain and loss.
Now, that past is haunting him. Someone is calling him back. He’ll have to face the ghost of all that misery—in all-too-human form. He’ll need to protect those closest to him. He’ll need to protect his remaining honor and his good memories. It’s time to stand up and face down his destiny. Before it’s too late.
THE LONG-AGO DEAD is a throwback noir in the vein of the genre greats. Cold, calculating, ruthless. Hitch a ride with Fleet as he’s drawn from California to Colorado, hellbent on righting age-old wrongs and setting the stage for a brutal last stand against his own history.
“A beautiful noir novel for the 21st century!”
—Scott Phillips, author of The Ice Harvest and The Devil Raises His Own
“Jason Bovberg knows how to write a go-for-broke crime novel!”
—Eric Beetner, author of The Last Few Miles of Road
“Bovberg writes characters who get into your head and under your skin. You won’t shake this one easily: It’ll stay with you long after you read it!”
—Terrill Lee Lankford, author of Shooters and Angry Moon
“Jason Bovberg is a fresh new voice in noir!”
—Wallace Stroby, author of the Crissa Stone series
- GenresThriller
224 pages, Paperback
Published April 8, 2025
2 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
Jason Bovberg
8 books122 followersJason Bovberg is the author of Tessa Goes Down, Loser Baby, the Blood trilogy (Blood Red, Draw Blood, and Blood Dawn), and The Naked Dame. He is the founder of Dark Highway Press, which published Robert Devereaux’s controversial Santa Steps Out, as well as the highly acclaimed weird-western anthology Skull Full of Spurs. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, with his wife Barb, his daughters Harper and Sophie, and his canines Rocky and Rango. You can find him online at www.jasonbovberg.com.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 27, 2025
“For the next hour, Fleet wandered Denver, the agricultural town that would never give up, a rural waystation for some reason blooming with skyscrapers and industrious throughways. A young, wounded, prematurely aging urban beast.
His belly growled.”
Sydney Fleet is back home to take care of some old business that has become pressing new business. This old/new business was never really anything but an ever present danger. It was like keeping a rattlesnake in a cabinet you need files from every day. Ford and Carter are squaring off, and though Fleet has no interest in politics, there was no escaping the fervor of the 1976 election. I was nine that year, and it was the first election I was ever really cognizant about. I can remember feeling sorry for Ford when he lost, not because I was a supporter, but because even I could understand that he lost for reasons that weren’t his fault. Fleet has so much baggage: like Ford he inherited most of it, and like Sisyphus he pushes that boulder everyday, only his boulder isn’t round, but jagged and unruly, a boulder that requires steadying every few seconds.
“His dreams were blunt and savage.”
Fleet’s father killed him, tried. A bullet in the head usually does the trick, but by some miracle of geometry Fleet survived.
His father is still alive, and the old bastard is the pressing business that has brought Fleet back to Denver.
”At Colfax he headed east. The city opened up before him--into squalor. It was no longer the era of streetcars and theaters or even teen cruising and motor lodges and strange tourism. Ever since the 1-70 had carved its concrete path to the north, the sheen of Colfax had faded. Now, an hour before dusk, it was forgotten, unclean. A line of strip joints led to the Bluebird, a few hookers marking their territory. Alleyways were shadowed and dank, filled with trash.”
I might have been on Colfax when Fleet was there. I might have even seen his bald head speeding by, or maybe my eyes were too busy looking at things I’d never seen before, like motor lodges with swimming pools and restaurants with dusty windows and broken neon signs. My most distinct memory was of my wide-eyed mother looking out the side window at an auburn haired woman in high heels and asking my father if she was a whore. I, too, peered where she was looking and saw a flash of a short red skirt, a belly button bullet hole, and pale slender legs. My first woman of ill repute!! although my mother could most certainly name a few women back in Phillips County she didn’t consider models of Christian morality. Colfax was the first major city street I ever cruised, although it would be another decade before it was me gripping the wheel on pilgrimage to the Tattered Cover.
Reading about Fleet driving around Denver brought back some faded polaroid memories.
So Fleet is overmatched, outgunned, and out of time. He’s got a sister and a niece who need his protection, even if at times they believe his protective wing throws too much shade on their lives. He feels responsible even when they don’t hold him responsible. They can’t hide forever, and Fleet has no choice but to return to his old haunts and face the devil he tried to leave behind.
You won’t find any spare words or fat sentences or bloated paragraphs in this novel. The prose is lean and conveys the menacing silence of Alain Delon in Le Samourai. The descriptive terms are succinct and as stark as Martin Terrier in Manchette’s The Prone Gunman. The cool calculations that Fleet makes in a microsecond remind me of Frederick Forsyth’s The Jackal. The violence is explosive and short-lived like real encounters, not like those epic fights that Hollywood and audiences have become so enamored with. An advantage is found quickly, and death follows swiftly. It is brutal and final.
Clearly, Bovberg was a surgeon, cutting away at his prose, leaving many bleeding little darlings on the floor at his feet. The remaining words tremble at the decimation of their numbers, not convinced that they are going to survive the next revision. Hemingway shudders and smiles. Dialogue and action are used to describe the scenes. Superfluous adverbs and adjectives have all had their throats cut. I can guarantee you that you will not read another novel like this all year or for many years, certainly not one so polished it gleams. The literary discipline is extraordinary and yet not distracting, in fact the opposite. Bovberg keeps the pedal to the metal, leaving the reader little recourse but to buckle up and ride the blazing, hood-rattling .390 all the way to the final line.
There are no winners in this novel. Can anyone survive is the question? The ghosts might never go away. They can moan and jangle their chains in the hallways of a mind, but if Fleet can overcome some steep odds they won’t be able to pull the trigger or bury the knife again.
"They can be killed. The real assholes can be killed.”
― Jean-Patrick Manchette, Fatale
His belly growled.”
Sydney Fleet is back home to take care of some old business that has become pressing new business. This old/new business was never really anything but an ever present danger. It was like keeping a rattlesnake in a cabinet you need files from every day. Ford and Carter are squaring off, and though Fleet has no interest in politics, there was no escaping the fervor of the 1976 election. I was nine that year, and it was the first election I was ever really cognizant about. I can remember feeling sorry for Ford when he lost, not because I was a supporter, but because even I could understand that he lost for reasons that weren’t his fault. Fleet has so much baggage: like Ford he inherited most of it, and like Sisyphus he pushes that boulder everyday, only his boulder isn’t round, but jagged and unruly, a boulder that requires steadying every few seconds.
“His dreams were blunt and savage.”
Fleet’s father killed him, tried. A bullet in the head usually does the trick, but by some miracle of geometry Fleet survived.
His father is still alive, and the old bastard is the pressing business that has brought Fleet back to Denver.
”At Colfax he headed east. The city opened up before him--into squalor. It was no longer the era of streetcars and theaters or even teen cruising and motor lodges and strange tourism. Ever since the 1-70 had carved its concrete path to the north, the sheen of Colfax had faded. Now, an hour before dusk, it was forgotten, unclean. A line of strip joints led to the Bluebird, a few hookers marking their territory. Alleyways were shadowed and dank, filled with trash.”
I might have been on Colfax when Fleet was there. I might have even seen his bald head speeding by, or maybe my eyes were too busy looking at things I’d never seen before, like motor lodges with swimming pools and restaurants with dusty windows and broken neon signs. My most distinct memory was of my wide-eyed mother looking out the side window at an auburn haired woman in high heels and asking my father if she was a whore. I, too, peered where she was looking and saw a flash of a short red skirt, a belly button bullet hole, and pale slender legs. My first woman of ill repute!! although my mother could most certainly name a few women back in Phillips County she didn’t consider models of Christian morality. Colfax was the first major city street I ever cruised, although it would be another decade before it was me gripping the wheel on pilgrimage to the Tattered Cover.
Reading about Fleet driving around Denver brought back some faded polaroid memories.
So Fleet is overmatched, outgunned, and out of time. He’s got a sister and a niece who need his protection, even if at times they believe his protective wing throws too much shade on their lives. He feels responsible even when they don’t hold him responsible. They can’t hide forever, and Fleet has no choice but to return to his old haunts and face the devil he tried to leave behind.
You won’t find any spare words or fat sentences or bloated paragraphs in this novel. The prose is lean and conveys the menacing silence of Alain Delon in Le Samourai. The descriptive terms are succinct and as stark as Martin Terrier in Manchette’s The Prone Gunman. The cool calculations that Fleet makes in a microsecond remind me of Frederick Forsyth’s The Jackal. The violence is explosive and short-lived like real encounters, not like those epic fights that Hollywood and audiences have become so enamored with. An advantage is found quickly, and death follows swiftly. It is brutal and final.
Clearly, Bovberg was a surgeon, cutting away at his prose, leaving many bleeding little darlings on the floor at his feet. The remaining words tremble at the decimation of their numbers, not convinced that they are going to survive the next revision. Hemingway shudders and smiles. Dialogue and action are used to describe the scenes. Superfluous adverbs and adjectives have all had their throats cut. I can guarantee you that you will not read another novel like this all year or for many years, certainly not one so polished it gleams. The literary discipline is extraordinary and yet not distracting, in fact the opposite. Bovberg keeps the pedal to the metal, leaving the reader little recourse but to buckle up and ride the blazing, hood-rattling .390 all the way to the final line.
There are no winners in this novel. Can anyone survive is the question? The ghosts might never go away. They can moan and jangle their chains in the hallways of a mind, but if Fleet can overcome some steep odds they won’t be able to pull the trigger or bury the knife again.
"They can be killed. The real assholes can be killed.”
― Jean-Patrick Manchette, Fatale
October 4, 2025
Review to follow. It’s 7:15a.m. It’s unseasonably cold (low 40s) and I’m listening to Freddie Hubbard and just had my second cup of coffee.
Reason I’m listening to Freddie Hubbard - main character in this novel (Sydney Fleet -an assassin, hitman, contract killer) is a fan.
He has ghosts. Bad memories. And a bullet still lodged in his head from an affair that involved a serious double cross seven years earlier. The bullet causes Sydney terrible, debilitating headaches , so agonizing that he has to self medicate with a fistful of pharmaceuticals a day. The guy enjoys relaxing to Jazz greats… mostly 1970s stuff, like the artists who released their records on CTI Records, like Freddie Hubbard.
Which reminded me I haven’t played Freddie Hubbard in a long spell - maybe 10 years.
The novel is set in the early 1970s, Ford’s still president. The author doesn’t beat the 70s references to death, which I appreciated. But I love that our hitman protagonist doesn’t have to sweat 21st century technology. Cameras on the sides of every building, traffic light, house, light pole in sight, spying on the citizenry.
I’m not doing a plot synopsis. I’d only wind up spoiling key moments that propel this excellent tale to its heart-in-throat ending.
This isn’t my first Jason Bovberg novel. I’ve read two previous novels -his Loser Baby was completely brilliant; while The Naked Dame was a very well-done and enjoyable crime thriller. I understand that “Dame” was his first published novel. Impressive debut.
The author states in his afterword that this particular novel was inspired by the writing of Jean Patrick Manchette. I’ve never read Manchette.
Author states that his protagonist is also inspired by Alain Delon in the French neo-noir classic film Le Samourai and suggests thinking of his own character, Sydney Fleet, as an older, tired Alain Delon. That’s a great film. I’ve seen Le Samourai 3 times. It’s not my favorite foreign Film Noir… but it’s something every noir fan should see.
I found this novel absolutely thrilling to read. So many questions the reader has early on. Most are resolved. The dialogue is believable and the narrative is terse, clipped, to the point.
For me - my first impression was that this was the kind of book I’d been looking to discover all year. Something along the lines of say Dan Marlowe’s early “Earl Drake” novels, Westlake-Stark’s “Parker”, Block’s “Hitman” series…
I needed a book featuring a remorseless loner with nothing to lose and vengeance to disperse. I wanted a different voice from the old school hardboiled classicists. I needed something to dull the sharpness of this present nightmare reality we’re facing.
I needed escape and this book provided me with a temporary exit from the world of politics I’ve been muddling through.
This is the work of a true master of crime thrillers in the making. As far as I’m concerned, Jason Bovberg has arrived at the threshold of true greatness. I could live the rest of my life reading variations on this hardboiled, bleak world of remorseless killers Jason has created here.
Highest Possible Recommendation
Reason I’m listening to Freddie Hubbard - main character in this novel (Sydney Fleet -an assassin, hitman, contract killer) is a fan.
He has ghosts. Bad memories. And a bullet still lodged in his head from an affair that involved a serious double cross seven years earlier. The bullet causes Sydney terrible, debilitating headaches , so agonizing that he has to self medicate with a fistful of pharmaceuticals a day. The guy enjoys relaxing to Jazz greats… mostly 1970s stuff, like the artists who released their records on CTI Records, like Freddie Hubbard.
Which reminded me I haven’t played Freddie Hubbard in a long spell - maybe 10 years.
The novel is set in the early 1970s, Ford’s still president. The author doesn’t beat the 70s references to death, which I appreciated. But I love that our hitman protagonist doesn’t have to sweat 21st century technology. Cameras on the sides of every building, traffic light, house, light pole in sight, spying on the citizenry.
I’m not doing a plot synopsis. I’d only wind up spoiling key moments that propel this excellent tale to its heart-in-throat ending.
This isn’t my first Jason Bovberg novel. I’ve read two previous novels -his Loser Baby was completely brilliant; while The Naked Dame was a very well-done and enjoyable crime thriller. I understand that “Dame” was his first published novel. Impressive debut.
The author states in his afterword that this particular novel was inspired by the writing of Jean Patrick Manchette. I’ve never read Manchette.
Author states that his protagonist is also inspired by Alain Delon in the French neo-noir classic film Le Samourai and suggests thinking of his own character, Sydney Fleet, as an older, tired Alain Delon. That’s a great film. I’ve seen Le Samourai 3 times. It’s not my favorite foreign Film Noir… but it’s something every noir fan should see.
I found this novel absolutely thrilling to read. So many questions the reader has early on. Most are resolved. The dialogue is believable and the narrative is terse, clipped, to the point.
For me - my first impression was that this was the kind of book I’d been looking to discover all year. Something along the lines of say Dan Marlowe’s early “Earl Drake” novels, Westlake-Stark’s “Parker”, Block’s “Hitman” series…
I needed a book featuring a remorseless loner with nothing to lose and vengeance to disperse. I wanted a different voice from the old school hardboiled classicists. I needed something to dull the sharpness of this present nightmare reality we’re facing.
I needed escape and this book provided me with a temporary exit from the world of politics I’ve been muddling through.
This is the work of a true master of crime thrillers in the making. As far as I’m concerned, Jason Bovberg has arrived at the threshold of true greatness. I could live the rest of my life reading variations on this hardboiled, bleak world of remorseless killers Jason has created here.
Highest Possible Recommendation
September 16, 2025
Fifty-year old Sydney Fleet is the lead character in Bovberg’s latest crime novel. Bovberg writes: “His name was Sydney Fleet. He was midsized, compact, built for motion. He had a presence not borne from height or weight but rather from proportion. Behind knockoff sunglasses, his eyes were slate-gray as if rendered colorless over hard years.”
As the story opens, Fleet is in sun-soaked bikini-clad Huntington Beach, incongruously disposing of a target in a quick moment of violence. It’s 1976 and the news channels are blaring about the Carter-Ford race. Between killings, Fleet worries about seeing his daughter Emily and taking her to Disneyland. Previously, Fleet survived a bullet in his skull.
He is a complex individual who still funds accounts for his ex-wife Mandy and daughter, but Mandy wants perhaps for him to set them up in a small town in the middle of nowhere where they can forget about everything, including him.
His latest assignment consists of six targets, Gia Ricci, a beautiful older woman of probable Italian descent, and five men. And, … Herbert Charles, Fleet’s father, which again, makes it complicated.
Fleet may be an action hero, but he’s a middle-aged one who has to take his pills and the hell he’s walked into is very very personal.
As the story opens, Fleet is in sun-soaked bikini-clad Huntington Beach, incongruously disposing of a target in a quick moment of violence. It’s 1976 and the news channels are blaring about the Carter-Ford race. Between killings, Fleet worries about seeing his daughter Emily and taking her to Disneyland. Previously, Fleet survived a bullet in his skull.
He is a complex individual who still funds accounts for his ex-wife Mandy and daughter, but Mandy wants perhaps for him to set them up in a small town in the middle of nowhere where they can forget about everything, including him.
His latest assignment consists of six targets, Gia Ricci, a beautiful older woman of probable Italian descent, and five men. And, … Herbert Charles, Fleet’s father, which again, makes it complicated.
Fleet may be an action hero, but he’s a middle-aged one who has to take his pills and the hell he’s walked into is very very personal.
April 19, 2025
I had the pleasure of reading Jason's newest novel, which is a fast-paced, brutal tale of revenge. A father and son are hitmen who hold a family grudge and are also adversaries. The prose is lean and mean, and it is well worth the read.
"Grief and time play hell with the best of us."
-Jason Bovberg
"Grief and time play hell with the best of us."
-Jason Bovberg
March 30, 2025
Sydney Fleet was born into a life of killing. Once a paid assassin, he now must look back on a life of pain and loss. A past that has now caught up to him and is now yanking him back in. The question becomes, can he fight his own demons and his own past injuries long enough to protect the ones he loves and still face down the looming threat?
I’ve read and enjoyed Jason Bovberg’s novels before and am truly thankful I discovered this author for myself. He’s proven himself using different narrative styles, from horror to hard-boiled crime and noir. On the acknowledgments page of this book, he states that this one is of a different narrative style than his previous books. It is certainly hard-hitting and brutal and reminds me of the best of Dashiell Hammett and similar genre giants. But at the same time, he has not fallen down on any of his own best practices, especially when it comes to substantive plotting, character development, and scene setting.
Interestingly, he also uses a sort-of minimalist style and in fact, never even states the time period of the piece. The reader is left to determine this from various clues, whether the make and model of the automobiles or the fashions and hair styles of the characters. (For those who do need extra assistance we do hear an off-hand remark referring to the current Nixon/Ford administration.)
Among my favorite writers are those that can bring an entire city to life and make it as vibrant as a main character, the way Raymond Chandler does for LA or Phillip Kerr does for Berlin. Here, Sydney Fleet travels to Denver and, as a person who knows that city well, I can vouch for the way it’s depicted in the era in which the book takes place. Not an easy task, I would imagine, but Jason Bovberg does it splendidly.
Above all, this is an entirely enjoyable read. Simply stated, Jason Bovberg can tell a really good story. Do yourself a favor and check out this author’s work. “The Long Ago Dead” is an excellent place to start.
I’ve read and enjoyed Jason Bovberg’s novels before and am truly thankful I discovered this author for myself. He’s proven himself using different narrative styles, from horror to hard-boiled crime and noir. On the acknowledgments page of this book, he states that this one is of a different narrative style than his previous books. It is certainly hard-hitting and brutal and reminds me of the best of Dashiell Hammett and similar genre giants. But at the same time, he has not fallen down on any of his own best practices, especially when it comes to substantive plotting, character development, and scene setting.
Interestingly, he also uses a sort-of minimalist style and in fact, never even states the time period of the piece. The reader is left to determine this from various clues, whether the make and model of the automobiles or the fashions and hair styles of the characters. (For those who do need extra assistance we do hear an off-hand remark referring to the current Nixon/Ford administration.)
Among my favorite writers are those that can bring an entire city to life and make it as vibrant as a main character, the way Raymond Chandler does for LA or Phillip Kerr does for Berlin. Here, Sydney Fleet travels to Denver and, as a person who knows that city well, I can vouch for the way it’s depicted in the era in which the book takes place. Not an easy task, I would imagine, but Jason Bovberg does it splendidly.
Above all, this is an entirely enjoyable read. Simply stated, Jason Bovberg can tell a really good story. Do yourself a favor and check out this author’s work. “The Long Ago Dead” is an excellent place to start.
October 9, 2025
One of the most compelling things I found about Jason Bovberg's writing in this novel is the balancing act he performs with what he chooses to give the reader and what he chooses to keep in his pocket. It's difficult for any writer to pull off because the reader can feel held back from learning important details, but here, I felt continuously propelled forward, and I felt I could trust Jason to answer the questions I had.
Jason pays off that trust in this story in big ways. Plot twists are one thing, but The Long-Ago Dead deals in mystery and revelation, each act coming to close in a way that changes the way you see each act that came before, and by the novel's conclusion, you get a full picture. The experience is something akin to having a blurry picture that sharpens over time until you can see it all in vivid detail.
Speaking of detail, Jason's prose is steeped in details, providing a rich, compellingly visceral experience. The masterclass in prose writing, however, is in how Jason works details into a narrative that continually flows forward. He never stops the story to paint a big, sweeping picture. If details aren't explicitly important to the story, they at least enhance it in some way. Never does Jason provide anything out of a sense of obligation. He writes every word with intention and leaves anything he doesn't need out.
Also notable for me in The Long-Ago Dead is the subtle and casual brutality. It's as if Cormac McCarthy responded to the writing prompt that led another writer to John Wick. Sydney Fleet works without hesitation, without reservation. If he needs to hurt or kill someone, that's simply a matter of fact. It avoids any melodrama, and there is something deeply tense about a man who simply says, "I am going to kill you now" and then does it without any ceremony or flourish. He does it with efficiency and expediency because he's done it so many times before it is a matter of fact.
The Long-Ago Dead stands out in another vital way, too. Sydney Fleet isn't just a killer. He's a man with ordinary problems and ordinary motivations, and that side of his character makes him feel not only relatable but authentic. There are aspects to Jason's writing that elevate The Long-Ago Dead above the typical noir genre, and this is maybe one of the more effective rungs he climbs. Simply put, Jason has woven a classic noir plot set in the 70s with a contemporary context and standard for deep characterization that doesn't merely exist to build those characters out but serves the narrative in a holistic way.
There are writers, and there are storytellers. Jason is the latter. Simply put, Jason Bovburg is a stone-cold storyteller. I highly recommend this one for noir, crime, and thriller readers, or anyone who's curious about those kinds of stories.
Jason pays off that trust in this story in big ways. Plot twists are one thing, but The Long-Ago Dead deals in mystery and revelation, each act coming to close in a way that changes the way you see each act that came before, and by the novel's conclusion, you get a full picture. The experience is something akin to having a blurry picture that sharpens over time until you can see it all in vivid detail.
Speaking of detail, Jason's prose is steeped in details, providing a rich, compellingly visceral experience. The masterclass in prose writing, however, is in how Jason works details into a narrative that continually flows forward. He never stops the story to paint a big, sweeping picture. If details aren't explicitly important to the story, they at least enhance it in some way. Never does Jason provide anything out of a sense of obligation. He writes every word with intention and leaves anything he doesn't need out.
Also notable for me in The Long-Ago Dead is the subtle and casual brutality. It's as if Cormac McCarthy responded to the writing prompt that led another writer to John Wick. Sydney Fleet works without hesitation, without reservation. If he needs to hurt or kill someone, that's simply a matter of fact. It avoids any melodrama, and there is something deeply tense about a man who simply says, "I am going to kill you now" and then does it without any ceremony or flourish. He does it with efficiency and expediency because he's done it so many times before it is a matter of fact.
The Long-Ago Dead stands out in another vital way, too. Sydney Fleet isn't just a killer. He's a man with ordinary problems and ordinary motivations, and that side of his character makes him feel not only relatable but authentic. There are aspects to Jason's writing that elevate The Long-Ago Dead above the typical noir genre, and this is maybe one of the more effective rungs he climbs. Simply put, Jason has woven a classic noir plot set in the 70s with a contemporary context and standard for deep characterization that doesn't merely exist to build those characters out but serves the narrative in a holistic way.
There are writers, and there are storytellers. Jason is the latter. Simply put, Jason Bovburg is a stone-cold storyteller. I highly recommend this one for noir, crime, and thriller readers, or anyone who's curious about those kinds of stories.
March 15, 2025
After the superb 'Blood Red' trilogy - a wildly enjoyable apocalypse/zombie-ish thrill ride - he cleanly shifted genres with 'Loser Baby' and 'Tessa Goes Down', which fell under what I affectionately dub the darkly-humorous-adventures-of-engagingly-oddball-characters-meshed-with-crime-and-violence genre. Really fun stuff, in other words.
With 'The Long-Ago Dead' things are much more direct and brutal, festooned with a heavy 1970s noir vibe. The lead here is the very definition of anti-hero, a hard-boiled man with no hesitation for sudden violence against those who have wronged him.
The story centers on the aforementioned Syd Fleet (who for some reason always reminded of a less cartoon-ish Marv from Sin City - and that is meant with the highest of compliments) who does questionable work for questionable people - usually with explosively violent results. Fleet soon finds himself immersed in a job that has deep, deep roots into his past, and he is forced to do what he does best in order to save those closest to him.
This is bleak and dangerous from page one, with the man-of-few-words Fleet - a walking bundle of old wounds and injuries - following leads and battling through all sorts of nefarious types on his way to the source of all his problems.
Highly recommended!!
With 'The Long-Ago Dead' things are much more direct and brutal, festooned with a heavy 1970s noir vibe. The lead here is the very definition of anti-hero, a hard-boiled man with no hesitation for sudden violence against those who have wronged him.
The story centers on the aforementioned Syd Fleet (who for some reason always reminded of a less cartoon-ish Marv from Sin City - and that is meant with the highest of compliments) who does questionable work for questionable people - usually with explosively violent results. Fleet soon finds himself immersed in a job that has deep, deep roots into his past, and he is forced to do what he does best in order to save those closest to him.
This is bleak and dangerous from page one, with the man-of-few-words Fleet - a walking bundle of old wounds and injuries - following leads and battling through all sorts of nefarious types on his way to the source of all his problems.
Highly recommended!!
March 6, 2025
"You're familiar with the phrase, 'I'm gettin' too old for this shit'?"
"Sure, just never thought you'd use it."
Jason Bovberg's latest, THE LONG-AGO DEAD, is his coldest and most merciless crime novel to date, a compelling page-turner residing somewhere between literary noir and paperback pulp fiction. The tale of an aging assassin, Fleet, confronting demons from his past in a bid to secure a future for himself and those he loves the most, this is crisp and brutal prose, a snapshot of a world where brutality is businesslike and family is a lot more complicated than bloodlines. There are car chases and showdowns and emotional reunions, but Bovberg makes even prosaic day-to-day observations compelling, with a canny knack for nailing a phrase: of windows, "a feeble breeze attempts entry", and blue skies "throb with muted menace".
Jean-Patrick Manchette meets Donald E. Westlake and bullets fly. Highly recommended.
April 1, 2025
Noirish mid-70-era story of a mysterious hitman in his early 50s who has various adventures. I am deliberately being elliptical because figuring out what’s going on and learning more about the protagonist is a key part of the fun in reading this book. The dialogue is very reminiscent of “The Friends of Eddie Coyle“ in that you have to stop and think every couple pages to make sure that you are following everything that’s going on. The plot is linear and straightforward but there are plenty of flashbacks, cul-de-sacs, and shoutouts to keep it from being boring; the pace is steady and, page by page, we start to get a better picture of exactly who Sydney Fleet is. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
September 26, 2025
Jason Bovberg's work should be in the Hard Case Crime library, and it's a crime that it's not.
I read this in no time flat, feeling as though I was reading something from this year and also from forty years ago. Is that timeless? I don't know if that's the right word, but god damn. The pace is steady, and everything fit just the way it was supposed to. The action bits are tight and furious, the bits in-between alternating between tense and restful perfectly. I don't know what the hell it took for the author to get into this mind set, but give him more of it.
I'm off to find the rest of these crime books.
I read this in no time flat, feeling as though I was reading something from this year and also from forty years ago. Is that timeless? I don't know if that's the right word, but god damn. The pace is steady, and everything fit just the way it was supposed to. The action bits are tight and furious, the bits in-between alternating between tense and restful perfectly. I don't know what the hell it took for the author to get into this mind set, but give him more of it.
I'm off to find the rest of these crime books.
March 16, 2025
READ MY FULL REVIEW AT Best Thriller Books
Make sure to check out the full review
Make sure to check out the full review
September 30, 2025
The Long-Ago Dead is a captivating throwback to classic noir. The author masterfully crafts a lean, hard-hitting narrative that will keep you on the edge of your seat. With its vivid setting and a protagonist you can't help but root for, this is a must-read for fans of the genre.
May 14, 2025
Jason Bovberg has done it again! I loved this book so much that I read it twice. The first time I found myself racing through it, not able to put it down for long. The second time around I read it more slowly, savoring the feel and the vibe, and taking in the details in the background. Having grown up in the 70's, I enjoyed how Jason's tale transported me back in time with descriptions of gas station attendants who check the oil and actually visiting a bank to make a deposit. In addition to the nostalgia, Jason delivers an action packed sleepless race from Southern California to Denver and back again and introduces us to a different kind of hero who faces some extraordinary challenges in his quest for peace and closure. I am a long time reader of Jason's books starting with the Blood trilogy which was set in my home town and I loved. I do believe that I have read all of Jason's books and I loved them all. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.
April 26, 2025
The Long-Ago Dead is a compelling crime novel which slowly drags you into the conflict and collapse of Sydney Fleet's life. The places and people are vivid, concrete and written to be completely visible to the minds eye. Violence with a side of poetic resolution.
The start is slow, but worth hanging in for the story to take shape.
Jason Bovberg stylistic choice to keep everything impartial POV (we never sit in the mind of any character) is a bold choice. It creates distance between the reader and characters, making them both endearing and alienating.
Echos of later-day gunfighters can be heard in The Long-Ago Dead, with the man of violence forced to face his past and use violence to bring peace for the innocent. Peace for the gunman is always an illusion until death. Sydney Fleet is forced to face this problem, and does so with his guns loaded.
The start is slow, but worth hanging in for the story to take shape.
Jason Bovberg stylistic choice to keep everything impartial POV (we never sit in the mind of any character) is a bold choice. It creates distance between the reader and characters, making them both endearing and alienating.
Echos of later-day gunfighters can be heard in The Long-Ago Dead, with the man of violence forced to face his past and use violence to bring peace for the innocent. Peace for the gunman is always an illusion until death. Sydney Fleet is forced to face this problem, and does so with his guns loaded.
March 25, 2025
A departure for me! THE LONG-AGO DEAD is my homage to Jean-Patrick Manchette's THE PRONE GUNMAN, which employs a perfect noir style. Manchette meticulously avoided describing the thoughts or emotions of his characters, instead relying on the cold, ruthless action and dialog of his straight-forward narrative to convey the "inner." This was a challenging book to write, but I had a blast. Hope you enjoy it!
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