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hilaryrowell's review
3.0
Good but too long
I did enjoy this book although it has some major flaws. It is a good story and has enough sense of mystery and jeopardy to keep you reading. It is too violent for me at times, and this nudges the moments of tension too much towards nauseating. It is also about 100 pages too long, making the reader thoroughly sickened by the caricatured, one dimensional baddies 3/4 of the way through. The central characters Miller and Kate are too self absorbed to be sympathetic, but the sidekick characters of Becca and Hanson are delightful and easily make up for the shortcomings of the others. It is a tour of Europe as the story, which has an interesting structure, takes them to, among other places, Berlin, Switzerland and Rome, and each setting is beautifully described. I would recommend it for a holiday read as it's a cracking story, but with the above proviso that it's not perfect.
I did enjoy this book although it has some major flaws. It is a good story and has enough sense of mystery and jeopardy to keep you reading. It is too violent for me at times, and this nudges the moments of tension too much towards nauseating. It is also about 100 pages too long, making the reader thoroughly sickened by the caricatured, one dimensional baddies 3/4 of the way through. The central characters Miller and Kate are too self absorbed to be sympathetic, but the sidekick characters of Becca and Hanson are delightful and easily make up for the shortcomings of the others. It is a tour of Europe as the story, which has an interesting structure, takes them to, among other places, Berlin, Switzerland and Rome, and each setting is beautifully described. I would recommend it for a holiday read as it's a cracking story, but with the above proviso that it's not perfect.
raven88's review
5.0
Having quickly established himself as one of my particular favourites Ewan brings us, Long Time Lost, which takes us on a chilling adventure throughout Britain and Europe, focusing on the work of a small team on a personal mission to protect individuals under witness protection. From its suspenseful opening to a beautifully weighted unfolding of a dark and dangerous tale, this book totally justifies the label of ‘unputdownable’. What struck me as I was reading was the sheer cleverness of plotting that Ewan demonstrates throughout, fortified by a band of characters that range from emotionally damaged, to quirky, to downright dastardly. The two main protagonists of Nick and Kate are incredibly appealing, and with both having more layers than a proverbial onion, Ewan slowly draws back the curtain on the tumultuous events in their lives that have shaped Nick’s role as a protector, and how Kate’s character evolves as she finds herself increasingly under threat as a valuable witness. Ewan uses feints and red herrings to great effect, wrong footing our perceptions of certain characters as the story progresses. By slickly moving from country to country there is a wonderful momentum and sense of movement so just as you adjust yourself to the mortal danger our protagonists face, you are speedily transported to another setting where more tension awaits you. This also makes it incredibly difficult to know when to stop reading, as there is a real sense of you wanting to see what’s around the next corner. It’s thrilling, unpredictable and engrossing. Highly recommended.
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