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Long Lost
David Morrell
Grand Central Publishing (March 31, 2003)
384 pages
www.davidmorrell.net
Long Lost is a perfectly fine one day read. When is a perfectly fine read not a perfectly fine read? When you expect more than you get. The problem for David Morrell is that he is a good writer who has delivered some great reading over the years with the likes of First Blood, The Fraternity of the Stone, The Brotherhood of the Rose. Having delivered the goods on so many occasions it was an easy decision to grab yet another title to add to the bookshelf.
Had Long Lost been a first novel by a new writer the complaints would be standard fare: The “punch line” was so obvious that you could see it coming from the beginning of the novel. The end was never in doubt. There is no real suspense at any point in the novel. There is a definite lack of tension but other than that the writing is tight, the narrative moves smoothly and is easy to follow and the characters are reasonably well drawn. If this were a first time novel it would show promise that in the hands of a decent and slightly more demanding editor this writer could produce something of interest. Long Lost is a substandard Morrell novel and a letdown for Morrell fans.
Brad Denning is a successful architect who has built a successful business and a great family life though he is haunted by the long ago disappearance of his little brother Petey. Petey went missing between the baseball park and home when Brad was just a kid and had unkindly sent his brother away so he could play with his friends. Imagine his surprise and amazement when Petey shows up one day – after you have done that imagine the possible storyline that would make this a “suspense thriller” and you will probably get it right. There are no surprises in this pedestrian effort Long Lost should have stayed that way.