GONE BY MORNING
Lake Travis Series, Book One
By LINDA DENNIS
Narrated by Justin Fife
MYSTERY / ROMANTIC SUSPENSE / SERIES STARTER
407 pages
print pub date 8/9/2016
audiobook pub date 5/15/2025
12 hours, 30 minutes
ABOUT THE BOOK: A fierce storm is gathering in the distant hills and in the lives of the people living in the Lake Travis community in Austin, Texas. When two bodies are found wrapped in plastic and buried at the top of the hillside, the community goes on high alert. A neighborhood party brings everyone together on that raging, stormy night but when yet another body turns up, Neil Vienna, Jillian Martin, and Dr. Bill Jasmine find an incriminating spotlight shining directly on them.
Author Linda Dennis interweaves perspectives of unforgettable, enigmatic characters whose lives become permanently intertwined as they seek to peel back the layers of dark and sinister secrets, some of which speak from the grave.
Taking place in the heart of the famous Texas Hill Country, Gone by Morning is a tale of murder, broken trust, quiet obsession, and lives clouded by secrets.
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BOOK REVIEW
I don't spend time on plot summary, so please read the book synopsis above.
HALL WAYS BLOG REVIEW. AUDIOBOOK REVIEW. In Gone by
Morning, readers are given several intriguing and juicy subplots that will hold
them captive until the last page. Author Linda Dennis nails the Lake Travis,
Texas, setting and the affluent vibe of that area, and I couldn’t stop
listening.
As someone quite
familiar with the setting of Gone by Morning, I really enjoyed having a
fictional peek into the lives of the wealthy and their gorgeous houses that most
of us only get to see across the water. The author’s real-life realtor
experience certainly contributed to the rich descriptions and decadence found
in and around the characters’ homes. Mentions of actual Austin-area places,
like The Driskill Hotel, The Oasis, and Zilker Park, bring a level of authenticity
to the story.
ABOUT THE
NARRATION: Justin Fife does an admirable job voicing all the characters, giving
each something unique to help readers keep up with the ever-multiplying cast.
Something odd happens around the last third of the book, and his pacing changes
enough I needed to change my listening speed, and there are some oddly-long and
oddly-placed pauses. This mirrors a similar shift within the storyline, which
suggests perhaps there were re-writes of the manuscript that necessitated some
fixes to it, and created hiccups in the narration.
Upon finishing Gone
by Morning, I had gone from being all-in to being confused; I even thought
I’d missed a chapter because of a huge time jump. There is a huge, delicious
reveal that pops out of nowhere, but sadly, it’s an info-dump that tells
readers what happened instead of showing us. I’m left with more questions than
answers and feel there are some big plot holes.
However, since I learned that the
next book in the series, Cold by Nightfall, is already out, and the series finale,
Die by Moonlight, AND a prequel, From the Shadows, are on the horizon, I’m going to give the author the benefit of the
doubt. My guess is that if one commits to the full series, everything that’s murky
as the waters on Lake Travis will eventually come to light. Stay tuned.
The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: While staying overnight in a home on Lake Travis in Austin Texas, Linda was captivated by the enchanting region, and it set her imagination on fire. The dangerously steep hills, serene lake, eclectic Oasis restaurant, and the lively community seemed the perfect ingredients for unforgettable drama, characters, and adventure. It was then that the seeds of the Lake Travis novels were sown.
Linda is a native Houstonian whose passion for storytelling and her love for the enchanting region around Lake Travis in Austin, Texas, have shaped her creative pursuits.
In addition to her career as a novelist, Linda is also a published poet. Beyond her literary endeavors, she holds a real estate license in the state of Texas, and works as a licensed Realtor®. She combines her knowledge of the real estate industry with her creative flair, further enriching her perspective on storytelling. LEARN MORE ON HER
WEBSITE.
