Gone, But Not Forgotten

By: Phillip Margolin

Narrated by: Tanya Eby

Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's Summary

Darkness has fallen on the city of Portland, Oregon. One by one, the wives of affluent and respected men are vanishing from their homes. The only clues to their disappearance are a single black rose and a note that reads, “Gone, But Not Forgotten.” It is the rebirth of a horror that has already devastated a community at the opposite end of the country — and, as it did then, terror and death will follow.

Defense attorney Betsy Tannenbaum is trapped in a nightmare as the shadows of a killer darken her world. And she will soon be risking everything she has and everyone she loves to defend a cold, powerful, and manipulating client who may be a victim... or a monster.

©2011 Phillip Margolin (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"A bona fide ‘page-turner’.... There are those books that grab readers by the gut and won’t let go until the final word has been read in breathless relief.... Gone, But Not Forgotten is just such a book.” ( Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Margolin hitting his stride, but ???

Margolin is beginning to show his potential in this third novel, published in 1993. It deals with an unlikely-but-frightening possibility: What if a monstrous serial killer managed to negotiate a pardon and total immunity from prosecution, in exchange for the lives of hostages who would otherwise die? Margolin explores the ramifications of such a scenario in this well-written audiobook. In fact, I recommend "Gone, but Not Forgotten" to any legal-thriller lover who doesn't mind the narration quality too much. This audiobook deserves a better narrator, like Barbara Rosenblat, for instance. Tanya Eby sounds like a Valley Girl, with little range of voices or accents. She might do well with romances; but "Gone, but Not Forgotten" deals with pretty serious concepts. The publishers made an appropriate decision to use a female actress for the narration; but I wish that they had hired a grown-up for the job. Bottom line: Story = 4 stars; Performance = 2 stars; Average = average.

Great listen!

First book I ever read cover to cover as a young adult and listening to the plot and the characters come alive was well worth the time!

Groan!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Nothing could have saved this.

Has Gone, But Not Forgotten turned you off from other books in this genre?

Turned me off the author and the reader for sure.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Horrible prissy tight reading. Her rendering of male voices was cringeworthy.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

I couldn't listen to it all the way through. Anger at myself for such a bad choice.

Any additional comments?

When I am only issued one credit per month and I make this kind of mistake, it makes me think about looking at different audiobook providers.

Beware Heavy Subject

Is there anything you would change about this book?

This subject was too dark for me. Too much like Karin Slaughter and/or Dennis Leane. I have many of this author reads done by Jonathan Davis, who is my new fave male reader, that are much lighter. The graphic descriptions were too much for me. Torture of women is more than I want in a story.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I have purchased this author due to the readers so check out each story reviewers if this author is a first for you. I WOULD NOT buy this first as author has done better in his other works. The story is good, and the flow is like this authors' other style, but author just did not pull this work off as well as his others. A bit choppy is a description I would use. Maybe a bit better editing or re write.

Did Tanya Eby do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

T.E. AKA Tatiana Sokolov has deeper males voices so if you like her, her recent reads have improved so much. She did an excellent job on female and good on male. She brought out the anguish each of the characters were going through.

Was Gone, But Not Forgotten worth the listening time?

Not this one...not every book can be great. The highs were good but, then story would kind of fade a bit so, I just could not really put my finger on why this missed the mark. After Dark blew me away so maybe my expectations were too high or I may have listened to the authors' work too close to one another.