A Long Time Gone Summary, Characters and Themes
A Long Time Gone by Joshua Moehling is a small-town mystery that blends a procedural investigation with the emotional terrain of family trauma, corruption, and justice. The story centers on Deputy Ben Packard, a man carrying the weight of his brother’s long-unsolved disappearance, a recent shooting, and the discovery of deep-seated criminal schemes in his Minnesota hometown.
Through a series of murders, bureaucratic interference, and a buried past, Packard’s pursuit of the truth grows more urgent and personal. Moehling crafts a world of moral ambiguity, where the past resurfaces in deadly ways, and redemption is a moving target rather than a destination.
Summary
Deputy Ben Packard’s life in Sandy Lake, Minnesota, begins to unravel when a tragic courthouse shooting forces him into administrative leave. While working security at a property dispute hearing, Packard fatally shoots Robert Clark—a grieving widower who had fired at real estate developer Jim Wolf but accidentally hit a juror.
Packard is left to wrestle with the emotional aftermath and legal scrutiny, especially since his body camera malfunctioned. The fallout from the shooting intensifies Packard’s personal struggles, particularly memories of his brother Nick, who disappeared thirty years ago under mysterious circumstances.
After receiving cryptic evidence from his former boss, Sheriff Stan Shaw, suggesting Nick’s disappearance was likely a murder, Packard reopens the cold case. He revisits old family properties, consults old maps, and attempts to reconstruct the night Nick vanished.
Childhood memories resurface in fragments—some involving a snowmobile ride that might hold crucial clues. He shares partial information with his family, who remain hopeful but skeptical.
As he investigates, Packard encounters Louise Larsen’s death, previously ruled an accident, and begins to suspect foul play. This suspicion grows after he discovers troubling photos, physical evidence at her house, and inconsistencies in witness accounts.
Lisa Washington, daughter of a man who managed Louise’s estate, offers critical support in Packard’s investigation. Through conversations with her father Ray, Packard learns about Abbas Rassin, a local doctor who treated Ray’s wife and may be connected to Nick’s case.
Rassin’s family becomes a key focus. Packard tracks down Rassin’s son, Hamid, who reveals that his half-siblings, Faizah and Faisal, were sent abroad under questionable circumstances.
Among Rassin’s belongings, Packard discovers Nick’s original case file and a personal note from Stan Shaw that affirms his suspicions of a cover-up.
As winter deepens, Packard’s attention shifts back to Louise’s house. He reexamines the site with Lisa and identifies physical signs—blood, hair, and a bent latch—that strongly indicate an assault rather than a fall.
The angle of the basement door and positioning of a wine bottle raise further doubts. Declaring the house a crime scene, Packard takes steps to reopen the case, despite pushback from superiors and legal constraints.
Soon, the case broadens with the discovery of a more sinister development. Packard investigates Tess Reid’s disappearance, a local woman rumored to be connected to Louise.
In Tess’s abandoned home, he finds strange clues: phone books with names marked, printouts of food distribution data, and a utility bill for a deserted building—Janet’s Café. When Packard visits the café, he finds a frozen body locked inside a walk-in freezer.
The dead woman is identified as Deborah Salvo, a former state employee linked to the Minnesota nutrition program.
Deborah’s murder expands the scope of the investigation. Her records and whistleblower actions reveal she was tracking fraudulent reimbursement claims submitted for thousands of meals supposedly served in rural Sandy Lake.
Her death—and Tess’s sudden disappearance—suggest a cover-up involving multiple murders and financial crimes. Louise’s name appears in the fraud records, tied to an LLC used to launder money.
With Lisa’s help and Easton’s return, Packard connects more dots: someone used Louise’s accounts, likely without her knowledge, and continued siphoning federal funds even after her death.
Packard visits Deborah’s workplace in St. Paul and confirms that the FBI is already involved.
A state employee named Maryann secretly shares crucial documents, linking the fraud to fake invoices and falsified co-op records. The Sandy Lake co-op, which supposedly provided the food, denies any involvement.
The rent payments for the building go to a local law firm—Wiley, Washington & Prentis—intensifying suspicions of collusion.
In the midst of the investigation, Packard also rekindles a personal connection with Detective Garrett Easton. Their reunion is a turning point for Packard, offering emotional support and fresh investigative perspective.
Easton helps him build a tighter case by tracing financial records and behavioral patterns of the key suspects. Their cooperation solidifies Packard’s belief that the murder victims—Deborah, Louise, and possibly Tess—were all silenced after discovering the fraud.
As evidence piles up, Packard confronts Andrea Hopkins, a state representative and Louise’s neighbor, whose husband Brian emerges as a potential threat. Brian’s temper, frequent absence, and vague ties to the fraud place him on Packard’s watchlist.
Andrea admits to being in Sandy Lake during the critical timeframe, raising more questions than answers.
By now, Packard is fighting battles on multiple fronts. His authority is undermined by the sheriff’s office, he faces scrutiny over his own shooting incident, and his investigations threaten to destabilize the county’s most powerful people.
But he presses forward, driven not only by duty but by the haunting memory of Nick and the moral weight of uncovering long-hidden crimes.
The web of connections—from a missing child to fraudulent federal claims, from a decades-old cover-up to present-day murders—forms a narrative that exposes the dark underbelly of a seemingly quiet town. Each clue Packard uncovers ties a personal tragedy to institutional corruption.
As he inches closer to the truth, Packard must reconcile the ghosts of his past with the dangerous reality of his present. In doing so, he finds not just answers, but the possibility of justice—however incomplete it might be.
Characters
Ben Packard
Deputy Ben Packard is the emotional and narrative anchor of A Long Time Gone, whose psychological complexity and moral resilience drive the novel’s unfolding mysteries. Packard is a man torn between duty and grief, his stoic demeanor concealing deep emotional scars—particularly the trauma of his brother Nick’s decades-old disappearance and the recent death of his partner Marcus.
His internal landscape is shaped by these twin tragedies, which manifest in his obsessive pursuit of closure and justice. Packard’s moral compass is unshakable, yet he operates in shades of gray, recognizing the bureaucratic decay and corruption surrounding him but refusing to let it compromise his sense of right and wrong.
His investigative instincts are sharp, often fueled by gut feeling rather than hard evidence, but this emotional intelligence gives him an edge, especially in unraveling layered conspiracies. The shooting of Robert Clark only adds another layer to his internal struggle, as he must face both public scrutiny and personal remorse while coping with a malfunctioning body cam that complicates the case.
His reconnection with Garrett Easton represents a fragile attempt at emotional healing, revealing Packard’s yearning for companionship despite his self-imposed isolation. Ultimately, he is a deeply human figure—flawed, compassionate, and relentless in his pursuit of truth.
Nick Packard
Though absent from the present-day events of the novel, Nick Packard’s disappearance remains the emotional and investigative fulcrum of the narrative. Nick’s ghost hovers over Ben’s consciousness, not just as a missing brother but as a symbol of unresolved guilt and familial disintegration.
Nick’s character is reconstructed through memory fragments, photographs, and second-hand accounts, which suggest a boy caught in a volatile social and emotional environment. The ambiguity surrounding his fate—whether he drowned, was murdered, or was hidden—mirrors the uncertainty within Ben’s own identity and fuels his need for resolution.
Nick represents innocence lost, a wound that never healed, and a question that haunts every step Ben takes toward closure. The slow unveiling of potential suspects, including the Rassin children, shifts Nick from a static memory to an active narrative force, suggesting that his story is deeply entwined with the community’s darkest secrets.
Jill Thielen
Jill Thielen serves as Packard’s closest ally and confidante within the department, offering a grounded counterbalance to his emotional volatility. Professional, practical, and unwavering in her loyalty, Jill is an emblem of quiet competence.
She supports Packard not only because of personal allegiance but also because she trusts his instincts and recognizes the corruption within their professional circles. Jill plays a crucial role in helping Packard navigate institutional resistance and assists in combing through cold leads and overlooked evidence.
She is perceptive and tough, but also emotionally intelligent, able to interpret Packard’s silences and offer support without overstepping. Her presence in the narrative underscores the theme of chosen family and trust, as she becomes one of the few people Packard can rely on when the system seems aligned against him.
Garrett Easton
Detective Garrett Easton enters the story as a touchstone from Packard’s past, evoking complicated emotions of grief, attraction, and unfinished business. Once a romantic partner and now a professional ally, Easton brings both personal history and investigative support to Packard’s increasingly complex case.
Their reunion is charged with emotion and longing, revealing the profound impact Marcus’s death had on both of them. Easton is emotionally open where Packard is guarded, and his reentry into Packard’s life forces the latter to confront the vulnerabilities he has long suppressed.
Together, they represent what could have been—a life of companionship and emotional safety—had tragedy not intervened. Yet Easton’s presence also offers hope: he becomes a partner not only in the investigation but in Packard’s tentative return to human connection.
Louise Larsen
Louise Larsen is a posthumous yet central figure in the unraveling of both the murder investigation and the fraud scheme. Initially dismissed as a lonely, eccentric elderly woman who fell down a staircase, Louise is gradually reimagined through the evidence Packard uncovers: blood traces, bent latches, and financial irregularities that suggest she was a target rather than a tragic accident.
Louise’s life was more interconnected with the town’s power structures than it first appeared, and her name was exploited for fraudulent activity after her death. Her house becomes a locus of both memory and crime, and her character evolves from background eccentric to silent victim of a vast conspiracy.
Her story reflects how society often overlooks the elderly, rendering them invisible even in death.
Deborah Salvo
Deborah Salvo’s corpse is discovered frozen in a walk-in freezer, but her story is anything but static. A state finance employee turned whistleblower, Deborah’s character emerges through the investigative breadcrumbs she left behind.
She was brave, meticulous, and driven by moral outrage, risking her life to expose a massive fraud involving fabricated meal programs. Her murder becomes the linchpin in Packard’s evolving investigation, and her dedication to truth echoes Packard’s own journey.
Deborah was a woman caught between institutional complicity and personal integrity, a tragic figure who paid the ultimate price for trying to do the right thing. Her presence in the narrative elevates the stakes, transforming a local mystery into a high-level government conspiracy.
Lisa Washington
Lisa Washington serves as both a connector and a bridge between past and present. As the daughter of Raymond Wiley and a relative of one of Packard’s political rivals, Lisa’s allegiances are initially unclear.
However, she proves to be sincere, helpful, and independent-minded, assisting Packard in reentering Louise’s house and providing access to sensitive personal and bureaucratic information. Her collaboration demonstrates a willingness to rise above inherited loyalties and contributes significantly to the progress of the investigation.
Lisa’s interactions with Packard also provide subtle commentary on generational change and the shifting dynamics of small-town politics.
Sheriff Howard Shepard
Sheriff Shepard embodies the systemic inertia and incompetence that Packard must constantly battle. Ill-prepared for the pressures of his position and more concerned with public perception than truth, Shepard’s character reveals the dangers of political expediency in law enforcement.
His fumbling press conferences and hesitance to support Packard underline his fear of scandal and his lack of leadership. Shepard is not overtly malicious but is clearly out of his depth, which allows corruption and cover-ups to flourish under his tenure.
His inability to act decisively in the face of wrongdoing becomes a foil to Packard’s dogged determination.
Raymond Wiley
Raymond Wiley is a relic of an older, more insular Sandy Lake—guarded, prejudiced, and deeply suspicious of anything that challenges the status quo. His past ties to Louise Larsen and his handling of her estate place him at the intersection of personal and legal intrigue.
Wiley’s interactions with Packard are tense and hostile, revealing not just personal animus but also a worldview shaped by decades of privilege and control. He symbolizes the generational resistance to change and transparency that permeates the town.
Wiley is both a gatekeeper of the past and a potential obstructer of justice, a figure whose motivations remain murky even as his influence is undeniable.
Hamid Rassin and the Rassin Siblings
Hamid Rassin, the tattoo artist son of Dr. Abbas Rassin, offers key insights into his family’s murky history.
Though estranged and largely detached from the drama surrounding Nick’s disappearance, Hamid provides critical links that revive a long-cold case. His older half-siblings, Faizah and Faisal, are enigmatic figures shrouded in suspicion, their sudden disappearance abroad hinting at deeper involvement in Nick’s fate.
Through Hamid’s revelations and Eleanor’s recollections, these siblings become shadowy figures embodying unresolved trauma and possible violence. Their story injects an international dimension into what had seemed a provincial mystery and raises disturbing questions about what lengths were taken to shield the truth.
Themes
Corruption and Moral Decay in Local Institutions
Power structures in A Long Time Gone are tainted by deeply rooted corruption and moral erosion, primarily within the small-town government and law enforcement institutions of Sandy Lake. From the outset, Deputy Ben Packard faces a web of backroom dealings and administrative dysfunction that hampers both justice and truth.
The attempt by real estate mogul Jim Wolf to seize land from a grieving widower demonstrates how legal systems are manipulated for personal gain. This disregard for emotional and ethical consequences manifests again in the town’s response to Packard’s shooting of Robert Clark—a man driven to violence by despair and systemic neglect.
Even more telling is the widespread indifference shown by local leadership and the sheriff’s office to longstanding unresolved crimes like Nick Packard’s disappearance. Stan Shaw’s quiet defiance in hiding sensitive evidence reflects a pervasive mistrust within the institution he once led.
As Packard investigates further, he uncovers not just individual acts of wrongdoing, but a vast fraudulent scheme exploiting federal nutrition funds. That such a financial crime could be carried out over months—undetected or perhaps quietly tolerated—signals a broader institutional rot.
Local attorneys, state officials, and political figures either participate in or look away from crimes that devastate real lives, and the silence around these misdeeds speaks volumes about the ethical bankruptcy at the heart of the community. Corruption in A Long Time Gone is not just about money or cover-ups; it’s a reflection of how collective moral compromise poisons justice at its roots.
The Lingering Grief of Unresolved Loss
Ben Packard’s search for his missing brother is more than a cold case—it is a wound that never healed, shaping his emotional core and professional choices. Thirty years after Nick’s disappearance, the absence still dictates how Packard interacts with his family, his colleagues, and even himself.
His compulsion to reconstruct the past by digitizing every scrap of memory and documentation is less about closure and more about emotional survival. This unrelenting drive bleeds into his other investigations, including those of Louise Larsen’s suspicious death and Tess Reid’s disappearance.
The act of exhuming buried secrets is both cathartic and destabilizing. Grief in A Long Time Gone is cumulative; it is not limited to Nick but extends to Marcus, Packard’s former partner, and the many victims whose deaths were dismissed or forgotten.
The grief manifests physically and psychologically—Packard’s strained relationship with his mother, his complicated reunion with Garrett Easton, and his frequent recollections of trauma are all symptoms of unresolved emotional pain. There’s also a cultural grief suffused through the novel—a small town mourning its decaying values, a family unraveling across time, and institutions failing to memorialize or make amends.
This emotional inertia breeds frustration, stagnation, and eventually, reckoning. Packard’s journey shows how personal and communal grief can fester when truth is ignored, and how uncovering the truth, though painful, is a necessary act of emotional reparation.
The Burden and Isolation of Duty
Ben Packard is portrayed not merely as a detective but as a man carrying the weight of a community’s secrets on his shoulders, often alone. His sense of responsibility—to his brother, to the truth, to the victims of the fraud and murders—is not shared equally by his peers.
Whether sidelined by his department, scrutinized by the BCA, or forced to operate independently to find answers, Packard consistently functions as an outsider within the very systems he serves. Even his temporary reinstatement after shooting Robert Clark comes without institutional trust or support.
This repeated professional isolation mirrors his personal one. Packard’s estranged family dynamics, his guarded relationship with Easton, and his hesitancy to fully reveal what he knows or feels all point to a life spent buffering others from hard truths—while carrying those truths alone.
His role in A Long Time Gone is not heroic in a traditional sense; it’s burdensome and thankless. Duty here is framed as a moral calling that often conflicts with self-preservation or institutional protocol.
This theme underscores how duty, when untethered from community or support, becomes a lonely and corrosive endeavor. For Packard, fulfilling his obligations brings some sense of peace, but not freedom.
It is a burden passed down by people like Stan Shaw and sustained by a system that expects silent servitude. The weight of duty isolates him from the very world he seeks to protect, rendering justice a personal and solitary mission.
The Fragility of Truth in a World of Silence
Information in A Long Time Gone is elusive, fragmented, and often manipulated—shaped more by omission than revelation. Packard’s investigation is consistently obstructed by gaps: a malfunctioning body cam, unfiled reports, concealed letters, forgotten case files, and long-dead witnesses.
Even people who want to help, like Lisa or Maryann, are hesitant or afraid, caught in the inertia of small-town silence. The disappearance of Nick, the murder of Deborah, and the fraud carried out under Louise Larsen’s name all share a common thread: the truth was buried deliberately and left to rot beneath years of apathy and fear.
There is an unspoken social contract in Sandy Lake—do not ask too many questions, and you won’t have to lie. Packard breaks this silence, but the process is arduous and slow.
Each breakthrough requires emotional sacrifice, legal risk, or personal confrontation. His conversation with Hamid, for instance, reveals how even familial memories can be distorted by distance and disuse.
The truth, once unearthed, often brings discomfort rather than relief. Characters like Ray Wiley or Andrea Hopkins resist confession not just to protect themselves, but because they fear the destabilizing consequences of truth.
In this context, truth is fragile not because it’s hidden well, but because no one wants to look closely enough to see it. The book questions whether truth in such a system can ever be complete, and whether its pursuit brings justice or simply more questions.
Truth exists, but in A Long Time Gone, it is scattered, suppressed, and always at risk of being forgotten.