"Long Gone" by Alafair Burke

Alice Humphrey is in a bit of a tough spot.  The daughter of a famous Holly wood director, she has always had the opportunity and financial stability that not every woman living alone in New York has had.  But then she cut herself off from her father's help (responding to all those sleazy rumors about him actually being true) and then found herself unemployed. A chance meeting at an art opening lands her the dream job of a lifetime - even if it seems a little "off".....  and she goes for it.  Two days after the opening, the man who set her up with the job is found murdered - and it looks very much like she's the culprit.

This book is a fast paced thriller with loops and turns on almost every page.  This was the kind of book where I picked it up to read for a few minutes, only to realize when I put it down that I had read 100 pages.  Alice is a nicely developed character, and just about everyone else is vague enough to be suspect.  She did some not-so-smart, naive things - beyond accepting the job in the first place - but I think it was all in character for her.  The story went to some pretty crazy places plot-wise, but I think you have to allow a few things like that in this genre. I am always a little disappointed in happily-ending love matches in books like these, but I know that most other people are comforted by that.  In all, I think that anyone who likes a good page-turner suspenseful thriller will definitely enjoy this book.

*****
Long Gone                 
by Alafair Burke
Harper, 2011
368 pages
Source: ARC from publisher for review