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Lara Reznik
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The Girl From Long Guyland: a psychological thriller Kindle Edition

by Lara Reznik (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 920 ratings
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MEMOIR MEETS THRILLER: Set against a 1969 psychedelic love-in backdrop, The Girl From Long Guyland is shared through the eyes of Laila Levin when decades later, an unsolved murder pulls her reluctantly into her past. A dramatic collision of then and now -- entwining family, marriage, profession and ethics. Laila enjoys a successful marriage and a thriving career as an I.T. executive in Austin, Texas, but she can't quite shake her lifelong sense of not truly belonging anywhere. When her company announces a major layoff, Laila finds herself caught between an unscrupulous CEO and her promiscuous boss. Then news of her college roommate's suicide stirs up a dark secret involving three devious friends from her past. One has betrayed a vow, another wants to rekindle their romance, and the third is out for revenge.

Suddenly for Laila, it's 1969 again. She's only seventeen, and she's left her sheltered home in Long Island for college in Connecticut. Amid protests of the Vietnam War, she's tempted by the sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll that rule her generation. Laila gets swept up in a deceptive love triangle with two older locals and initiated into their unethical hippie family. Too late she realizes her search to belong has led to tragedy.

Laila must now juggle the demands of her perplexed husband and her baby boomer past forcing her to make choices that endanger her survival and challenge her conscience. She learns that the lines between right and wrong are often blurred, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.
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  1. Print length
    360 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    April 3, 2014
  5. File size
    4448 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"In Reznik's debut novel, a woman confronts long-buried secrets when an old college friend commits suicide. . . . While effective as a page turner, the novel also tells a timeless, universal tale of a woman's journey toward self-acceptance. An exciting tale of past crimes and dangerous friendships." -Kirkus Reviews

"Laila Levin is an I.T. executive in Austin, TX, with a happy marriage and a successful career. But her life is about to get much more complicated. Laila is forced to confront a dark part of her past that she never shared with her husband. . . . Readers, particularly those who remember the late 1960's, will find this and entertaining read." -Publishers Weekly

★★★★★ "I love a mystery and I love stories about the late 60's/early 70's and this book has both. Really fun read." -Barbara Gaines, Executive Producer, The Late Show with David Letterman ★★★★★ "It's one of those books that takes two different time periods in a woman's life and as the story unfolds weaves them together gradually in a very clever way. . . . As someone who is selective about what I read, this book didn't disappoint. Great mystery and suspense. Add a star if you were a "flower child" from the sixties. -Les Goodstein, Former President and COO of the New York Daily News. ★★★★★ "Gone Girl in the sixties." Amazon Reviewer

From the Author

This book is dedicated to all baby boomers who survived the late 60's and 70's, as well as those that didn't. Hope you enjoy the ride. --Lara

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00A45OYD0
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ ENCHANTED INDIE PRESS (April 3, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 3, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4448 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 360 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1938749030
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 920 ratings

About the author

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Lara Reznik

Lara Reznik

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Lara Reznik, a native New Yorker, escaped to New Mexico in the 1970s in a Karmann Ghia that she jump-started cross-country. As an English major at the University of New Mexico, Lara studied under the late esteemed authors, Rudolfo Anaya and Tony Hillerman.

Ambidextrous from birth, Lara preferred her right-brained creative side but discovered she could make a better living with her left-brain skills so entered the I.T. field in 1985.

Since the breakout success of The Girl From Long Guyland in November 2012, Lara retired from her day job in I.T. to write full time. The M&M Boys followed in January 2014. In 2018, Bagels & Salsa, a prequel/sequel to The Girl From Long Guyland was launched. Currently, Lara is working on her new psychological thriller, The Inlaws, The Ex-laws & the Outlaws.

Lara lives with her husband and two mini-Australian Shepherds in Austin, TX and is a Pickleball enthusiast.

She would love to hear from you at larareznik23@gmail.com or on her author page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LARAREZNIK23/. Or visit her website at www.larareznik.com

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
920 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

C. Denny
5.0 out of 5 stars A juicy novel full of suspense that takes me back in time
Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2017
Verified Purchase
The Girl from LongGuyland is a great read. The story goes back and forth between two time periods; the late 60’s/early 70’s and 40 years later. Laila, the central character, was young, going off to college and looking for fun and adventure as many young people do with their new found freedom. She was smart, but easily swayed by drugs, rock and roll, and cunning young men who took advantage of her vulnerability. Along the way, she made several bad choices, and found herself in some very dicey situations. The novel weaves around a murder mystery as the central plot, which you’re drawn into immediately. There are elements of danger, suspense, lies and deceit, with an added portion of romance. I found the characters well-developed where I could say, Oh, yea, I knew someone just like that! I loved how, Laura, the author, was able to take me back in time to the early 70’s with such vivid detail! As a baby boomer I can totally relate and loved the trip down memory lane. This novel is well-written, draws the reader in immediately and keeps you page-turning till the very end. I highly recommend it!
12 people found this helpful
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John New
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but too much drama
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2013
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I enjoyed reading this book. It was well-constructed, alternating between past and present, and seemed to flow nicely leading to a plausible conclusion.

However, a few things puzzled me as I wondered how true-to-life everything was. For example, I wondered how so few characters could have so much drama so often. How the family could appear to be friends, constantly stab each other in the back, and yet remain friends. How the US legal system could be so erratic in prosecuting a case.

In the end, it seemed to me that the need for drama overtook the requirement to remain true-to life to a fairly well-known period of history. If the book had a few down-time moments, with a few sane sensible characters, who acted sensibly and not impulsively, I think it would have been more balanced and better.

Still, if you're looking for a book with plenty of twists and turns and don't mind some implausible drama, this is the book for you.
7 people found this helpful
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Reading Junkie
3.0 out of 5 stars A Disservice To Intellectuals and Activists of the 70s/80s
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2013
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This was a freebie from Amazon and I had high hopes for this book after reading the description. I really, truly, genuinely, wanted to love this book. But I just couldn't.

Here's what I liked:
1. The 60s and 70s. I'm an 80s baby so I have no clue what it was like to live in such a time period. I was hoping to gain some perspective from this book.
2. This was the perfect book to scare me away from any and all recreational drugs.
3. Lessons were learned about the effects of naivete, lack of independence, and loose morals.
4. Reminds me of the importance of *gasp* PARENTING. Maybe these people would've been more adept to handle the "challenges" of peer-pressure, protected sex, pregnancy, with some parental guidance.
5. There was such a high level of intrigue, mystery and suspense.
6. The lesson learned: your past does catch up to you, no matter how much you try to bury it (literally and figuratively in this case).

Here's what I didn't like:
1. The main characters didn't draw me in at all. They did not appeal to me and I could not relate. In fact, I pretty much hated them all. In my personal opinion, they all came off as rather privileged, BORED, misguided youth with absolutely no ambition. The pity parties Laila and the gang threw for themselves were amazing. As if there were no choice in the matters at hand. Woe is me, I *have* to sell/transport/buy drugs to get through college. Woe is me, I *have* to resort to a botched abortion because I'm sleeping with too many darn guys without protection. Woe is me, I have to keep the peace in our makeshift family by doing any and everything that the menfolk tell me to. Woe is me, my friends killed someone and I *have* to arrange transportation to drive this dead body across state lines to dump it. This was too fantastical for me.

2. There were no smart characters. Actually, I take that back, Chris and Ben were the masterminds but I think that's because they kept using their sexual prowess and Jedi mind tricks to get the girls to do what they wanted. So correction, there were no smart FEMALE characters. Past and present, they were all dickmatized or too drugged up to figure out that they were being used so relentlessly. If this how the 60s/70s genuinely were, glad I wasn't part of it. Who knows what I would've become? I thought at one point Ivy might be the smart female of the bunch, but she gave up a long-lasting marriage, reputation and career in some misbegotten attempt to set up Laila (at the behest of Chris and Ben).

3. Umm Laila. In short, she was and continued to be a complete dunce. How do you allow yourself to be so easily duped time and time again? In the past AND the present? What's worse, she KNOWS she being taken advantage of! Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me a billion times and screw up my entire life? Come onnnn, she garnered no sympathy or pity from me. Just disgust and anger.

4. The ending. Umm so Laila lies about everything and admits to possibly loving another man that is not her husband, but still rides off into the sunset? Where are the repercussions? Chris, Ben, Doc, Ivy, Laila, Kate were all party to the DEATH of a human being but ah well, it was the age of the baby-boomers. Too much time has passed. Why disturb everyone's life with jail-time because "poor decisions" made years ago? Malarkey. Again, the characters came off as privileged individuals that got away with murder. Way to go American justice system.

Because I didn't live in the 60s or 70s, it is clear that I simply was not the intended audience for the book. Which if that's the case, the intended audience seems to be limited to those who grew up in the 60s or 70s. Financially and profit-wise, not a great marketing scheme for the author. If you're like me and grew up in a different generation, you probably won't be able to relate and the plot comes off as insubstantial and completely avoidable. The characters and plot left me scratching my head as to how a generation could be so self-absorbed and amoral, while parading as activists and intellectuals. I know many contributions were made from members of the baby boomer generation but this book didn't depict them. In fact, it completely discredits the actual intellectuals and activists of the time.
6 people found this helpful
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R. Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous Writing
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2013
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This was a marvelous story with believable characters and a great plot. Laila, the protagonist, falls in with an amoral bunch in her first year at college. Even though she suspects that her new"family" members were not on the up and up, she was so concerned about falling in love or lust with two of them that she puts those concerns on the back burner. Friend Joey dies from a fall from a third story window, and it wasn't an accident.

Forty years later, an investigation was opened into the suspicious death, and her former friends blame Laila for it. At the same time, Laila's supervisor at work entraps Laila in a corporate move that goes bad right away, and as a result, Laila loses her job. To add even more stress, the FBI detective on the suspicious death case just happens to be a childhood friend of Laila's husband, and she's out to get him for herself.

The truth comes out quickly at the deposition that Laila was not responsible for Joey's death, but there's not enough evidence to charge anyone with murder, which was a let down.

The writing was fantastic, but I thought there quite a few stretches to accept. For example, Ivy's re-entry into Laila's life after forty years was not believable, as was the woman detective's childhood relationship with Laila's husband. I believe both characters could have been dropped, and it would not have hurt the story.
8 people found this helpful
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EmmaPetal
4.0 out of 5 stars Probably better than I felt
Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2019
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This is going to sound like a negative review, but it really is not.

Every step of the story is laboriously detailed. Perhaps I would have appreciated the author's effort more if the story connected with me. I am post-Baby Boomer generation, so nothing about the Summer of Love or the hippies resonates for me except as history.

I give it four stars, because I know this book IS good. It just did not work for me.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on July 4, 2018
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Loved it
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Julie
5.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgia is not what it used to be.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 26, 2018
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A nostalgic journey into a life of a grown up hippy. Intrigue and memories combine to make this memorable for the characters and the reader.
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René Bredow
2.0 out of 5 stars Kecker Titel, aber irgendwie ziellos
Reviewed in Germany on February 4, 2013
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An sich ist das Buch eine interressante Geschichte, allerdings vermittelt es den falschen Eindruck, dass jugendliche Unvernunft und Umgang mit Drogen offenbar ohne Folgen bleiben. Die dargestellten Personen begeben sich zwar in Gefahren, aber letztlich schaffen es die meisten sich unbeschaded herauszumogeln und sich gut zu posittionieren..
Es vermittelt fast den Eindruck, als verarbeite die Autorin eigene Erfahrungen aber ohne daraus Konsequenzen zu ziehen.Wenn das so wäre ist es schade, dass sie nicht eindinglicher warnt.
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Beverly Larson
4.0 out of 5 stars Nice read.
Reviewed in Canada on October 27, 2018
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The relaxed writing style makes this book an enjoyable read. I liked the way the author brings together the past and present.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars The girl from Long Guyland.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 20, 2019
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A complex story with some some very complex characters from different backgrounds.

The flash of youth certainly comes across strongly with errors of judgement catching up. It is hard to ascertain what each character wanted ultimately and which of them achieved it.
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