REVIEW A Longer Fall (Gunnie Rose #2) by Charlaine Harris

A Longer Fall (Gunnie Rose #2) 

by Charlaine Harris
Rating: 4 Stars
Reelase Date: January 14, 2020
Format: eBook (Kindle Unlimited) + Audiobook (Borrowed from Library)
Publisher: Saga Press

In the second installment of Charlaine Harris’ Gunnie Rose series, A Longer Fall, readers once again return to a world where the United States we know are no more, having split into multiple different smaller territories. If you enjoy genre-bending novels with a bit of a Western flair, this would be a great choice for your next read. 

Lizbeth Rose is a “Gunnie”, a sharpshooter gifted with firearms and a boon to any crew she’s on. After the events of the last book left her all alone with a dead crew, the new crew she’s on has been given the job of guarding a piece of cargo as it makes its way across the continent. Things don’t go to plan though, as her crew is (unsurprisingly) ambushed and the cargo is taken. Once an old friend shows up, Lizbeth realizes that things are much more complicated then she anticipated and they must retrieve the cargo or die trying. 

Lizbeth and Eli are a unique pairing. While they are not a traditional ‘couple’, they fit together well and make a great team. On paper, their chosen professions would never have them even meet let alone interact for an extended period of time. However, fate has them partnered together and they make the most of their time (both professionally and in a personal, intimate way). The two characters definitely carry the book; while the side characters helped to move the action along, I couldn’t really recall any memorable details about any one in particular. 

The setting is still a bit jarring, but I can appreciate the unique take with the alternate history the author has crafted in this book. You’d think that the dystopian thriller western vibes that Ms. Harris has going on in this book would read as somewhat discordant, but I think it blended together well. 

Audiobook narrator Eva Kaminsky once again did an excellent job bringing Lizbeth’s perspective to life with her performance. This book leaves a clear starting point for the next book, and I’m excited to see what’s next for Gunnie Rose and Prince Eli in The Russian Cage. Additionally, I’m also excited to get to see Felicia get her time in the spotlight starting with the fourth book in the series, Serpent in Heaven. 

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Racism, Slavery, Domestic Violence, Lynching, Gun Violence

About the Book

In this second thrilling installment of the Gunnie Rose series, Lizbeth Rose is hired onto a new crew for a seemingly easy protection job, transporting a crate into Dixie, just about the last part of the former United States of America she wants to visit. But what seemed like a straight-forward job turns into a massacre as the crate is stolen. Up against a wall in Dixie, where social norms have stepped back into the last century, Lizbeth has to go undercover with an old friend to retrieve the crate as what’s inside can spark a rebellion, if she can get it back in time.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse mysteries and Midnight, Texas trilogy) is at her best here, building the world of this alternate history of the United States, where magic is an acknowledged but despised power.

About the Author

Charlaine Harris has been a published novelist for over thirty-five years. A native of the Mississippi Delta, she grew up in the middle of a cotton field. Charlaine lives in Texas now, and all of her children and grandchildren are within easy driving distance.

Though her early output consisted largely of ghost stories, by the time she hit college (Rhodes, in Memphis) Charlaine was writing poetry and plays. After holding down some low-level jobs, her husband Hal gave her the opportunity to stay home and write. The resulting two stand-alones were published by Houghton Mifflin. After a child-producing sabbatical, Charlaine latched on to the trend of series, and soon had her own traditional mystery books about a Georgia librarian, Aurora Teagarden. Her first Teagarden, Real Murders, garnered an Agatha nomination.

Soon Charlaine was looking for another challenge, and the result was the much darker Lily Bard series. The books, set in Shakespeare, Arkansas, feature a heroine who has survived a terrible attack and is learning to live with its consequences.

When Charlaine began to realize that neither of those series was ever going to set the literary world on fire, she regrouped and decided to write the book she’d always wanted to write. Not a traditional mystery, nor yet pure science fiction or romance, Dead Until Dark broke genre boundaries to appeal to a wide audience of people who simply enjoy a good adventure. Each subsequent book about Sookie Stackhouse, telepathic Louisiana barmaid and friend to vampires, werewolves, and various other odd creatures, was very successful in many languages.

The Harper Connelly books were written concurrently with the Sookie novels.

Following the end of Sookie's recorded adventures, Charlaine wrote the "Midnight, Texas" books, which have become a television series, also. The Aurora Teagarden books have been adapted by Hallmark Movie & Mystery.

Charlaine is a member of many professional organizations, an Episcopalian, and currently the lucky houseparent to two rescue dogs. She lives on a cliff overlooking the Brazos River.