After I’m Gone audiobook

****4.5 Stars**** Excellent mystery! I love these sorts of suspense novels where layers are slowly peeled away to expose old family secrets. The mystery concerns a cold case file starting from 1976 when Felix Brewer, a bookmaker, jumps bail and vanishes rather than face possible prison time. He leaves behind his wife, three daughters and a mistress. The murder occurs 10 years later when the mistress turns up missing and eventually found dead. The story is told in flashbacks over three decades and from multiple points of view to reveal how his disappearance deeply affected all these women in his life. There’s plenty of intrigue with a murder, missing money and the mysterious whereabouts of Felix Brewer.While I enjoyed the mystery with all its twists and turns; I was equally captivated with the character study that slowly divulges just how much Felix’s family and friends were willing to risk to keep his secrets and their lifestyles intact. Even though the “whodunnit” was important… figuring out the why was just as fascinating.This novel was very loosely based on the Salsbury fraud scandal on the 1970s. Highly recommended if you appreciate textured characterizations as much as you enjoy an intriguing mystery!

I haven’t read any of the Tess Monaghan series by Lippman, but I am a fan of her stand-alones. Her latest is back to form: excellent, character-driven, and providing substantial scenes that build tension without excessive police work or cat-and-mouse scenes. This novel is more of a study of people and families. The police work reminds us that there is a cold case to be solved, but it doesn’t take over the story. There’s as much “why” (maybe more) as “who.”Widow and retired detective Roberto Sanchez, “Sandy,” is lonely and fills up his hours doing consulting work on cold cases at the Baltimore PD. The case he is trying to solve involves a racketeer, Felix Brewer, who jumped bail before his trial in 1976, left town, never to be found again. He left a wife, Bambi, and three young daughters (one who was too young to remember him). He also had a girlfriend, Julie, who went missing in 2001, and found dead in the woods in 2012. Who killed her? Nobody knows, and Sandy is determined to find out. He believes it is connected to Felix’s disappearance.What unfurls during the course of this novel is a close character study of Bambi and her children, her lawyer, Bert (husband of her best friend), and the bail bondsman who is now in an assistant care facility. Sandy also pieces together the last years of Julie’s life, while simultaneously investigating Bambi and her family. Lippman has a knack for mining the complex domestic troubles, such as Bambi’s children trying to cope while growing up without a father. And…there’s some missing money. Where is it? And what connects the past to the present and future? How does memory clarify or complicate the unraveling of Julie’s murder? Over 35 years has passed, and the contours of a story behind the crime can distort or diminish the facts and the truth.“Did you know the more we tell a story, the more degraded it becomes? Factually, I mean. It’s like taking a beloved or fragile item out of a box and turning it over in your hands. You damage it every time.”As pieces of the crime, backstory, and even the city of Baltimore materialized, I became invested in the outcome. This is a slow, simmering, casually paced novel. Tension builds subtly; characters organically evolve. The structure of the book is a superb framing device, positioning the beginning and end as bookends. In between are non-linear episodes, designed as moments in time and clues to the crime. Impeccable!

I've been a big fan of Laura Lippman ever since Stephen King recommended her works in his Entertainment Weekly column a few years ago. And so when I had the opportunity to grab Lippman's latest novel early thanks to Amazon's Vine program, I jumped at the chance and immediately re-ordered my entire to be read list. After being disappointed by her previous novel And When She Was Good, I had high hopes that After I'm Gone would see Lippman returning to form. The good news is that not only does After I'm Gone see Lippman return to form, but the novel is one of her best. As with many of Lippman's standalone novels, the story is less a whodunnit and more about the impact criminal acts can have on ordinary people. In this case, the ordinary people are the wife, daughters and mistress of Felix Brewer. The novel opens with Brewer slipping out of town in the middle of the night and then fills in (some of) the details leading up to his departure and then looks at the impact it has on his family. Among the central questions concerning many of those caught up in Felix's web of lies and betrayal is was he planning to take his mistress with him when he fled and where did the money that he supposedly through various nefarious activities go?Lippman adds in a murder mystery as well and as with all of her best novels, there are multiple suspects each with a solid motivation for committing the crime. Lippman delves into the lives of the women who are in Felix's sphere of influence, crafting chapters that examine each character and her decisions after Felix leaves. Each of these characters is compelling, interesting and Lippman dolls out clues and information in a way that keeps the pages turning. There were several times I kept saying, "Just one more chapter" and ended up reading two, three or four more to discover the next detail and the next beyond that.If you're not a fan of Lippman yet, this novel is a great jumping in point. And if you're a long-time Lippman fan, After I'm Gone has an interesting Easter egg tie-in to her Tess Monahan series -- one which could signal an interesting new direction for the series, whenever Lippman decides to return to it.After I'm Gone is one of the best novels I've read this year. Add it to your must read list for 2014.In the interest of full disclosure, I received an ARC of this novel from Amazon's Vine Program in exchange for an honest review.

After I'm Gone by Laura Lippman is a February 2014 William Morrow publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.Felix Brewer meets his future wife, Bernadette "Bambi" Gottschalk at a Valentine's Day dance that he and his friend crashed back in 1959. Felix had big plans and promised his wife they would be rich. Well, he did become financially comfortable for awhile, but he didn't make his money the old fashioned way by earning it. He was involved in illegal gambling and in 1976 he was arrested. Looking at a long sentence, Felix decides to leave and go into hiding. The dilemma is he will be leaving Bambi and his three daughters alone and they will have to learn to live a bit more conservatively. That's not all though. Felix has a girlfriend as well and Julie is quite upset about recent developments. As a consolation, Felix signs over a coffee shop to Julie, which was probably his only legitimate business. Ten years pass by while Bambi struggles to raise her daughters and maintain some financial comfort. She remains close with some of her old friends, her attorney and his wife especially. Then ten years to the day that Felix left, his former mistress disappears. Eventually, they find her body, but her murder is never solved.Now it is 2012 and former Baltimore detective, Sandy Sanchez is working as a consultant, mainly investigating cold cases. When he runs across a file on Julie he suddenly recalls the case of Felix Brewer and decides he would like to find out who had murdered his mistress.Sandy could never have imagined the can of worms he was about to open. There were years and years of bitterness, jealousy, resentment, anger, misplaced loyalties and betrayals which may have lead someone to commit murder. At the core of the story is Felix Brewer. His actions set in motion a chain of events that brought significant changes to five women. Bambi was left practically broke after Felix left, but that is not the way Felix wanted it. In fact, it's a mystery as to where all of Felix's money was. Bambi's daughters were also at the center of everything as they had to make adjustments to life without their father. These events shaped each of them in a different way. Then there was Julie. She believed that Felix was going to take her with him all the way up until the last moment when he didn't. She changed after that. Many who knew her before Felix claimed that she turned mean after he left her behind. But why did someone murder her ten years after Felix disappeared?This was a very absorbing tale. One cowardly, selfish man that can't stand up and accept his punishment leave five people behind that will suffer the effects of his actions for the rest of their lives. It takes a dedicated detective to unravel long buried secrets and lies. Family dramas, dysfunction, unrequited love, scandal and an incredible shocker of an ending as the tragic truth finally unfolds. Each character is well drawn and believable. Bambi still maintains her quiet strength and as much dignity as she can muster and makes sure her girls still get the educations and extras they would have if Felix hadn't been convicted. Each daughter has been through difficult times and heartbreak, but they all settled somewhat. I really loved Sandy Sanchez. He was a one smart cookie. We learn he is a widower and is still adjusting to live alone, dealing with regrets and will decide to continue spreading his wings with new endeavors in the future. I loved the story being told from different eras of time beginning with Felix and Bambi meeting in 1959 then skipping to 1976 when Felix leaves, to 1986 when Julie is murdered and then to various times over the years since the murder to the present 2012 investigation. We really get to know the characters that way as we see them in the various stages of their lives. While this is a murder mystery , there is also a tint of women's fiction and drama as well. I'm also a sucker for cold case mysteries. I also found it interesting that the Brewer family was based in part on an actual family that went through a similar experience, but with no murder involved. Overall this one gets an A+

4+ stars...Simple review.... My first experience reading a Lippman and it was a good one! i highly recommend the audiobook version for mystery lovers. The story & secrets are revealed in bits and pieces venturing back and forth through time in the lives of the key characters.

Dead is dead. Missing is gone.Inspired by the Salsbury fraud scandal of the 1970s, After I'm Gone explores how the enigmatic Felix Brewer's sudden disappearance echoes through lives of his wife, daughters, and mistress—the five women he loved and left behind. Both a legal thriller and dazzling sashay through a span of decades, Lippman's newest novel is elaborate, emotionally charged, and deeply probing.In present-day Baltimore, as retired cop Sandy Sanchez reviews a cold case involving the murder of Julie Saxony—Felix's woman on the side—he notices there are discrepancies from every angle, from every testimony, and he can't help but grow intrigued by the seductive, unsolved story of Felix Brewer, his family, and how it could all be connected to a dead Julie Saxony. The novel slips in and out of each eventful decade, from the fateful Valentine's Day of 1959 when Felix and young, fresh-faced Bambi first met, to Felix's unannounced departure and the aftermath thereof, and finally, to Sandy's determined investigation. The toll Felix's desertion takes on Bambi—both financially and emotionally—as well as the way each of his well-fleshed daughters are affected, will raise great sympathy within readers, but will inevitably keep them on edge, itching to find out: how did Felix manage to leave without a trace, and why did he go without seeing to the well-being of his beloved family?After I'm Gone is such a well crafted, well explicated mystery novel. It combines an elaborate, arduous tangle of lies, secrets, and even sacrifice, with a sharp, fast-paced procession of revelations. These continuous shifts, shocking discoveries, and impending truths never stop surprising you until the very end, which I think is a fabulous ploy. It's one of those books where you think you have everything figured out until—bam!—something happens halfway through and changes the entire plot, and then, at the last few chapters, the same thing happens again—and again, and again—bam! bam! bam! The intimate, perplexing glimpses into the lives of the Brewer women through the years of a husbandless and fatherless development really bring the story to life. The way Felix's betrayal affects his daughters' marriages, senses of dignity, and identities transforms this high-stake detective novel into one with human disparities—faults of the flesh—and that's what made it so powerful for me.There's a purposefully vague, but consistently dark and pressing tone to the novel that's both eventful and stylistically entertaining. Readers remain in the dark about Felix's character, which makes him even more puzzling; but then again, it doesn't really matter because it's his reverberations that make up this book, not the man himself. This is the first Laura Lippman mystery I've read, but based off her commanding voice and complicated, wrenching storylines, she's an author I'm now more than eager to try again.ProsRich in historical detail and legalese // Addictive // Reminiscent of the extravagance and flair of the '50s and '60s // Contrived, complicated, original plot // Bambi and daughters are so well portrayed, so lifelike // Mystery seems impossible to solve, and remains unpredictable even until the very end // Weaves complex emotions about family and love within the crime // Will surprise you multiple times—not your average linear whodunnit // Thrilling, engagingConsSandy isn't likable // Too detailed and slow-moving at times // Timeline gets confusing to keep up withLoveIt wasn't pitiable to love someone who didn't love you, or to love someone who didn't love you in the same way you chose, or to love someone more than he loved you. One could even argue that it was brave and pure.VerdictSandy Sanchez doesn't know what he's in for when he takes on two details of a cold case that at first glance, other than the painfully obvious and quickly dismissed suspicions, have no plausible relation: the untimely appearance of Felix Brewer's mistress's dead body, and the means of survival the man's family turned to in his wake. Equal parts murder mystery and narrative family drama, After I'm Gone contains surprisingly touching wisdom about the tragedy of idealism and how nobody, no matter how beautiful their face or honest their soul, ever really gets what they want. Full of unstable alibis, tenderly guarded secrets, and the buildup of multiple unexpected but long-dreaded twists, Laura Lippman's latest crime novel provides soul-searing, electrifying insight on not only greed, selfishness, and cowardice, but also on identity, the gray areas between marriage and unfaithfulness, and the meaning of fatherly love.Rating: 8 out of 10 hearts (4 stars): An engaging read that will be worth your while; highly recommended.SourceComplimentary copy provided by publisher via tour publicist in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you, Harper Collins and TLC!).

I'm not sure what novel most of the other folks read to rate this piece in the mid-three's. I'd place it at a 4-and-a-half without hesitation. I'm withholding a five-star rating only because I know there are better books, but damn, really?Are we becoming too jaded in our reading lives? Is there too much really good stuff within reach of our greedy little hands? I cannot remember the last truly bad book I read. I'm beginning to doubt that I know what a crappy title is. I can't find enough time to read the good books I'm forced to ignore because so many others have captured my attention from the first sentence. My Too Read list extends well past my life expectancy, but I'm destined to be one of those guys who collects a six-months-to-live prognosis from a doctor (or a judge) and runs out to to buy a wheel barrel full of books.Okay, if I die tonight, before I finish this book of Larry Brown shorts (Facing the Music), I will not be sad to say that Laura Lippman wrote the last novel I read, but I will regret not yet reading those remaining few of hers I've not yet made time for. Squeeze her into your life. She fits right in on the top-notch shelf. It must have been in my sleep . . . I'd honestly forgotten I had posted the few words (above) about After I'm Gone (which I'm assigning a 4.49 stars rating) and am shocked to realize I had already added another voice to the chorus of kudos Ms. Lippman earns every time out of the gate. "Earns" being the operative word. We raise our voices in praise and gratitude for her work because she deserves it. So far as I know, she is not in possession of a magic amulet guaranteeing book sales and adulation with the release of each of her novels. Short of selling her soul is such a thing even possible? Ah, perhaps that explains prose that tumbles forth naturally to spin a tale that seems to weave itself effortlessly into a satisfying yarn. Come now, Ms. Lippman, fess up. Is there something we should know? Have you struck a deal? Far be it from me to judge. If you made a deal; okay. We'll marshal the forces of your fans, petition the "highest courts" on your behalf, and rely upon the power of prayer. In the meantime, I'll hold up my end of the bargain to help make your life on this side of the veil sweet. You keep writing them, and I'll keep buying."Dead is dead. Missing is gone." That's the first line of the marketing copy on the inside flap of the dustcover to suggest that you want to read this one. Right. I concur with that opinion.So why not five-stars? I've grown mighty stingy with five-star ratings. I have to round down to four-stars only because this novel didn't stop my beating heart or make my stilled heart jump back to life with a strong new rhythm. No that would be a miracle. Miracles alone generate five-star ratings from me these days. Could it be that I've become jaded? I don't know. I can only tell you that this is one of those novels that I was hoping to live long enough to finish reading. Somewhere out there, there is a novel that will find its way onto my nightstand and remain ignored briefly after I'm gone, until it's packed up and carted to the used book store. A page marker in it will mark my progress. It will be a novel that—in the end—I could die without completing. After I'm Gone will be safely on my shelf. I don't intend to part with it before hand; not any time soon, anyway, not until after I'm gone.

Originally I thought this was a murder mystery...a question of who killed Julie Saxony, the ex-stripper mistress of Felix Brewer, a man who skipped town a decade earlier to avoid prison time. And that question does drive the plot forward, but this is more about storytelling. About the havoc that Felix's disappearance wreaked on his family and friend's fates. Lippman slowly unwinds the lives of Felix's loyal wife, his three daughters, his mistress, his attorney and bail bondsmen, over the 30 years since he left. Lippman shows herself as a master storyteller, creating such individual, flawed characters, revealing the pain, the jealousies, the hurt. You need to know that the novel is riveting, but slow-moving, with it cleverly resolved by the end. The audio was narrated by Linda Emond, who routinely narrates Lippman's novels as well as Kathy Reichs. At first, she doesn't stand out as an extraordinary reader. But as the book progresses, she becomes a pleasure to listen to. Her voice is smooth and pleasant, with subtle emotion. I did notice a number of her words were mispronounced, which is a pet peeve, but enjoyed her performance overall.

Good book, couldn't put it down. Audio version.

One disappearance and then another ten years later. Could both these disappearances have been planned far apart so no one would know the real reason?Felix Brewer disappeared because he wanted to avoid going to jail for his misdeeds. He left his wife and three daughters, but was his wife really surprised he had left? He never really was with her in the first place. He always had a mistress and was rarely home. His mistress, Julie, was his most steady one. To cause more heartache and questions after Julie’s disappearance, Felix's wife wonders if she may have gone with him.The questions about whether they were together or not surfaced twenty-six years later when they found Julie's body.AFTER I'M GONE moves from present to past and from character to character. I actually was not swept away as I had been with Ms. Lippman's other books until the ending pages.It was very confusing even when I was three quarters of the way into the book. I had trouble following the storyline. The detective, Sandy, made the book for me. I had to keep reading, though, just to see if they found out where Felix was and who had killed Julie.I am not going to say I disliked this book, but it just didn't grab me, didn’t pull me back to reading, or have me thinking about the characters or story when I wasn't reading. AFTER I'M GONE definitely has a character-driven storyline even though they were not likeable. Most of them were only worried about themselves.Ms. Lippman may have been trying something different with this book, but I have to say I was disappointed until the end. Whenever I hear Laura Lippman, I normally know I am in for a real treat. The treat was late in coming as it came toward the end of the book as Sandy was wrapping up the investigation. AFTER I'M GONE actually got quite good at this point, and the outcome of “who done it” was very clever.As I turned the ending pages, I said: "I know this person did it," and then I said: "no that person did," but I was wrong. When you find out who really “did it,” you will love it.My rating originally was going to be a 3/5, but the sensational, clever ending that kept me guessing is going to move it up to a 4/5.This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.