Long Time Gone: A Novel

by Denis Hamill

It was 1969 on Hippie Hill in Brooklyn, and it seemed as if the world were coming to an end. LONG TIMEGONE 1969: Woodstock and the Moratorium, a man on the moon, Broadway Joe Namath, the Mets take the World Series. It was a year that saw goof balls, acid, thorazine, pot, Seconal, amphetamines, meth, and THC. It was the year the sixties ended, and it was the year in which Danny Cassidy saw his life shattered in a purple haze of drugs and violence. Did he kill the father of the girl of his teenage dreams? Or was he framed to cover up a far darker crime? Thirty-two years later, Danny, now a forty-nine-year-old divorced journalist, returns to his old neighborhood for his father's wake and one last attempt to exorcise the demons of that watershed year. One final chance as well to piece together the lost love of his Erika Malone, now a successful businesswoman whose father's unsolved murder remains the missing piece of the puzzle of both their lives. Denis Hamill's Fork in the Road was lauded by The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, Library Journal, The Irish Voice, and Publishers Weekly, which called it a "lively, sad, humorous tale." Frank McCourt said, "When you read Fork in the Road, make sure your chair is comfortable, because Denis Hamill hooks you and keeps you to the end." Now, in Long Time Gone, Denis Hamill evokes a lost New York and a dashed love affair, both dissolved into the jinglejangle mornings that came following.

Genres: Fiction, Suspense

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[warmdesertwinds · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, another one of those.
A made-for-TV movie put onto the page.
Sex, drugs, crime, violence, and plot twists in every chapter.
Almost exhausting to read at some points.
The ending was so over the top that I had to put the book down and laugh a couple times. I wondered if Denis did the same. One last twisted scenario thrown into the last few pages for good measure.

However it was all very New York, which I very much enjoyed. And I mean yeah, it was an exciting read. Read this if you're drunk or tired or are homesick for New York. That's all I have to say.

[Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75. A little heavy to get through at points but a very satisfying ending

[Roya Lauren Weathers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very true to New York, great plot twists all throughout the story. An exciting read that’s leaves it’s reader fulfilled. Just remember it is fiction so it is unrealistic at some points.

[Jeff Guillot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is freaking awesome!!!

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow starter, but then sucked into the lives of very different people. I will miss them, I think.

[Karen Dunaway · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, maybe it's better than 2 stars - but lots of flaws from the point of view of someone who was there. And lots of flaws for 50-year-olds looking back at that time. Over the top, but a fun trip back anyway.