Critic Oline Cogdill raved about Laurie R. King’s new book, Those Who Are Gone. You can read the review below, but you can also see King talk about Those Who Are Gone. She’s appearing at The Poisoned Pen on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 4 PM MST. If you can’t be there, you can watch the event live on the bookstore’s Facebook and YouTube pages. You can also order a signed copy of the book through the Webstore, https://tinyurl.com/ycbhtbxd.
Thank you to Cogdill for the review. It originally appeared in the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Book review: Sisters, secrets and superb storytelling elevate Laurie R. King’s ‘Those Who Are Gone’
Those Who Are Gone’ by Laurie R. King; Bantam; 336 pages; $31
Laurie R. King has a knack for creating memorable characters, as seen in her long-running, best-selling series featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes.
In “Back to the Garden” (2022), King introduced homicide inspector Raquel Laing, whose uncanny insight yet awkward social skills serve her well in the San Francisco Police Department. Now in “Those Who Are Gone,” Raquel returns, handling a case that veers into a more personal investigation.
Mistakes and injuries result in Raquel being transferred to the Cold Case Unit. The work suits her well, as she prefers to work alone. Raquel “based her career on reading the subtleties of human response … but was not actually very good with human emotion.”
At home, her half-sister Dee’s ancestry research has also led to a look into Raquel’s biological parents. Raquel was about 9 years old when she was adopted by Emma and Tom Laing. Dee was 13. Raquel has known since she was a child that her biological father was a drug dealer who was murdered. She has not wanted to know more. Dee’s research brings a rift between the close siblings and also uncovers unknown secrets about the Laings.
“Those Who Are Gone” is about childhood secrets, learning about your parents’ lives before they had children, and making your own life as an adult.
While “Those Who Are Gone” is a procedural, the dynamics between the sisters add another dimension to the plot. Dee and Raquel still live in the Laing home, virtually unchanged since their deaths. Remnants of an “inherited life” persist — a table rescued from a curb decades ago, drinking glasses, the last two chipped plates, a stove never upgraded. Rooms have been repainted but in the exact color as before.
It’s one thing to keep your parents’ belongings, but for the sisters, it’s a matter of inertia.
King’s expert storytelling again shines, this time in “Those Who Are Gone.”