What do you think?
Rate this book
Not Long Ago Persons Found
A forensics team investigates the murder of a child and is drawn into a chilling international coverup
The body of a young boy is found floating in a city river with pollen in his lungs from a warm river valley far from the country where he died. Who is he? Why was he carrying only a library card and decorative clay bottle? How is it that he came so far, only to meet such a violent fate?
A biological anthropologist and her husband, the forensic team’s translator, are tasked by their agency to gather evidence from the far away country and deliver an explanation—preferably one that suits the political regimes of both countries. But as the scientists’ clandestine, parallel study of recent mass graves brings them closer to finding a link between the boy and “the disappeared,” the full forces of bureaucracy, fatalism, and forgetting are marshalled against them.
The body of a young boy is found floating in a city river with pollen in his lungs from a warm river valley far from the country where he died. Who is he? Why was he carrying only a library card and decorative clay bottle? How is it that he came so far, only to meet such a violent fate?
A biological anthropologist and her husband, the forensic team’s translator, are tasked by their agency to gather evidence from the far away country and deliver an explanation—preferably one that suits the political regimes of both countries. But as the scientists’ clandestine, parallel study of recent mass graves brings them closer to finding a link between the boy and “the disappeared,” the full forces of bureaucracy, fatalism, and forgetting are marshalled against them.
- GenresMystery Thriller
176 pages, Paperback
Published June 10, 2025
4 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 5, 2025
[4.5+]
Today there are protests all over the country, so a good day to review a book about corruption, governmental treachery, and “disappeared” souls.
Two honest, forthright scientists—one a forensic scientist, and her husband the team’s translator—visit another country that has experienced a violet regime change. They are there investigating the death of a little boy that they are confident comes from this river valley; the pollen in his lungs, clothes and digestive system correlates with the pollen found there. It is a strenuous and exacting process, collecting samples of air, grasses, soil, rainwater, and what was deposited in the boy’s lungs, bones, and stomach. He was found decapitated, with his head elsewhere, his hands not with his body.
The scientists attempt to investigate the murder discreetly, but they run into an absurdist and Kafkaesque nightmare ---of bureaucracy, blackmail, and threats to their well-being by shady, unethical functionaries. During their probe, the couple makes shocking discoveries, reminiscent of past dictatorships that made history, such as in Argentina. They uncover mass graves and the many bones of others, bodies that were disappeared.
The tension increases as the scientists attempt to fly home with their samples and evidence intact. Osborn is magnificent at conveying mood, atmosphere, and tension, with lean prose and the power of suggestion. The menace mounts and the answers are riddled with questions. Clues can be left open to interpretation.
“My wife told me that the reason we were together was that she wanted to disappear into me; she wanted to become me, not herself. Alternately, I would be the window she would jump out of.”
If you want a story that is neatly tied up, this isn’t where you’ll find it. The narrative portrays a country that wants you to forget, or at least act like you do. Revisionist history, anyone?
Thank you to Bellevue Literary Press for sending me an ARC to review.
Today there are protests all over the country, so a good day to review a book about corruption, governmental treachery, and “disappeared” souls.
Two honest, forthright scientists—one a forensic scientist, and her husband the team’s translator—visit another country that has experienced a violet regime change. They are there investigating the death of a little boy that they are confident comes from this river valley; the pollen in his lungs, clothes and digestive system correlates with the pollen found there. It is a strenuous and exacting process, collecting samples of air, grasses, soil, rainwater, and what was deposited in the boy’s lungs, bones, and stomach. He was found decapitated, with his head elsewhere, his hands not with his body.
The scientists attempt to investigate the murder discreetly, but they run into an absurdist and Kafkaesque nightmare ---of bureaucracy, blackmail, and threats to their well-being by shady, unethical functionaries. During their probe, the couple makes shocking discoveries, reminiscent of past dictatorships that made history, such as in Argentina. They uncover mass graves and the many bones of others, bodies that were disappeared.
The tension increases as the scientists attempt to fly home with their samples and evidence intact. Osborn is magnificent at conveying mood, atmosphere, and tension, with lean prose and the power of suggestion. The menace mounts and the answers are riddled with questions. Clues can be left open to interpretation.
“My wife told me that the reason we were together was that she wanted to disappear into me; she wanted to become me, not herself. Alternately, I would be the window she would jump out of.”
If you want a story that is neatly tied up, this isn’t where you’ll find it. The narrative portrays a country that wants you to forget, or at least act like you do. Revisionist history, anyone?
Thank you to Bellevue Literary Press for sending me an ARC to review.
March 5, 2025
“When you know the ending, you have a chance to understand the meaning.”
This line, which occurs later in this haunting and chilling debut reminds us that nothing is ever precisely as it appears.'
None of the characters are named in this shadowy story, which (for me) evoked Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled. But make no mistake, J. Richard Osborn has a voice all his own.
It begins in the middle: a seven-year-old boy was found floating in a city river, brutally dismembered. An agency hires a biological anthropologist and her husband, the forensic team’s translator, to find out who he is and why he died. The more they gather evidence in a distant and corrupt river valley, the more the couple slide down the rabbit hole.
I know nothing about biological forensics and was fascinated by the masterful and never dull descriptions. All of us, wherever we live are subject to pollen that’s all around us: in our lungs from the air we breathe, in our stomachs from the food we eat. It’s important to geographically determine an area where plant species intersect and where minerals match the isotope profiles in our bones.
In an interview, the author said, “Science, too, has the power to disrupt, to break open the dead husk of ideology, social conventions, political control. As the couple gets closer to some kind of truth – not necessarily THE truth, but A truth – more and more questions arise. How did a young child travel far from what certainly appears to be his village of origin? Why is he carrying a decorative clay bottle and what is he doing with a library card? We find out early on that witchcraft may have been involved, but what kind of witchcraft – and why?
As other factors play in – for instance, the couple’s parallel study of a secret mass gravesite and “the disappeared”- the truth's murkiness begins to fade. At the same time, an honest resolution floats further away. It becomes increasingly evident that the truth does NOT set us free; rather, we just move on. J. Richard Osborn reminds us that science needs as much help as it can get – including good stories. Thank you to Bellevue literary press for enabling me to be an early reader in exchange for an honest review. 4.5 stars.
This line, which occurs later in this haunting and chilling debut reminds us that nothing is ever precisely as it appears.'
None of the characters are named in this shadowy story, which (for me) evoked Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled. But make no mistake, J. Richard Osborn has a voice all his own.
It begins in the middle: a seven-year-old boy was found floating in a city river, brutally dismembered. An agency hires a biological anthropologist and her husband, the forensic team’s translator, to find out who he is and why he died. The more they gather evidence in a distant and corrupt river valley, the more the couple slide down the rabbit hole.
I know nothing about biological forensics and was fascinated by the masterful and never dull descriptions. All of us, wherever we live are subject to pollen that’s all around us: in our lungs from the air we breathe, in our stomachs from the food we eat. It’s important to geographically determine an area where plant species intersect and where minerals match the isotope profiles in our bones.
In an interview, the author said, “Science, too, has the power to disrupt, to break open the dead husk of ideology, social conventions, political control. As the couple gets closer to some kind of truth – not necessarily THE truth, but A truth – more and more questions arise. How did a young child travel far from what certainly appears to be his village of origin? Why is he carrying a decorative clay bottle and what is he doing with a library card? We find out early on that witchcraft may have been involved, but what kind of witchcraft – and why?
As other factors play in – for instance, the couple’s parallel study of a secret mass gravesite and “the disappeared”- the truth's murkiness begins to fade. At the same time, an honest resolution floats further away. It becomes increasingly evident that the truth does NOT set us free; rather, we just move on. J. Richard Osborn reminds us that science needs as much help as it can get – including good stories. Thank you to Bellevue literary press for enabling me to be an early reader in exchange for an honest review. 4.5 stars.
January 8, 2025
What an arresting, unusual, and thought-provoking novel “Not Long Ago Persons Found” by J. Richard Osborn, turned out to be!
Husband and wife forensic scientists are asked by their government to investigate the death of a seven-year-old boy found floating in a river in their country.
He did not drown. In his lungs and stomach, they find pollen from a far away country that has recently experienced a violent regime change. The couple has also been investigating mass graves in that country; this activity is secret and has not been sanctioned.
Was the boy murdered for political reasons? Was it a satanic sacrifice? Do the authorities really want to discover the truth? If the couple finds the scientific evidence they seek, will it even matter?
With a propulsive plot and a Kafkaesque setting, Osborn’s debut novel sweeps the reader into a horrific world of atrocities, corruption, and violence. Osborn’s writing is spare with nary a wasted word, yet he skillfully builds suspense and disquiet.
Many thanks to Bellevue Literary Press for this short novel that packs a punch!
Husband and wife forensic scientists are asked by their government to investigate the death of a seven-year-old boy found floating in a river in their country.
He did not drown. In his lungs and stomach, they find pollen from a far away country that has recently experienced a violent regime change. The couple has also been investigating mass graves in that country; this activity is secret and has not been sanctioned.
Was the boy murdered for political reasons? Was it a satanic sacrifice? Do the authorities really want to discover the truth? If the couple finds the scientific evidence they seek, will it even matter?
With a propulsive plot and a Kafkaesque setting, Osborn’s debut novel sweeps the reader into a horrific world of atrocities, corruption, and violence. Osborn’s writing is spare with nary a wasted word, yet he skillfully builds suspense and disquiet.
Many thanks to Bellevue Literary Press for this short novel that packs a punch!
December 31, 2025
last book of 2025. fitting
December 19, 2025
interesting, and if I was cleverer maybe I could work out the message it's telling.
However even I could sense the overall depressive nature of this subject. And as I look at the world around us now, it's hard to imagine any country at all caring about one child.
However even I could sense the overall depressive nature of this subject. And as I look at the world around us now, it's hard to imagine any country at all caring about one child.
August 18, 2025
Not Long Ago Persons Found by J Richard Osborn took me a little while to get into but once I did I was rewarded with a work that gave me a lot to think about.
I was intrigued by the story right off the bat, it was the writing that took a little to get comfortable with. This isn't about good writing vs bad but the disconnect between what I was thinking it might be like and the way it was. Basically, once I felt like I was in sync with the style and tone, I could appreciate both the story and what the style added to the story.
There are several avenues into the book and most readers will likely travel a couple of them simultaneously. I was fascinated with some of the forensic science involved and how it could be used. I was also very aware, largely because of the current political environment in the world and in my country, about the authoritarian rules that are designed to obscure and control/intimidate rather than govern and improve life. About the way such governments disregard and even erase facts if it serves the purpose of the powerful few. And such governments aren't limited to just the blatantly authoritarian but also to ones that pretend to be "for the people" but are sprinting toward dictatorship.
Because of all of the intrigue, the hints of conflict as well as the obvious conflicts, the book keeps the reader wondering exactly what is going on. While many readers might not like the ending, I think it fit with the ambiguity throughout the book. Many things we can't be sure of, even at the end. Did you read it with an optimistic or pessimistic mindset? A resistance or a compliance mindset? These things will likely influence how you understand the end.
I would highly recommend this to readers who like a good story that also makes you look at our current world and think about the what-ifs we're facing. I would probably recommend less enthusiastically to readers who prefer a tidy ending with all questions answered and a nice pretty bow on top. This ain't that book.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
I was intrigued by the story right off the bat, it was the writing that took a little to get comfortable with. This isn't about good writing vs bad but the disconnect between what I was thinking it might be like and the way it was. Basically, once I felt like I was in sync with the style and tone, I could appreciate both the story and what the style added to the story.
There are several avenues into the book and most readers will likely travel a couple of them simultaneously. I was fascinated with some of the forensic science involved and how it could be used. I was also very aware, largely because of the current political environment in the world and in my country, about the authoritarian rules that are designed to obscure and control/intimidate rather than govern and improve life. About the way such governments disregard and even erase facts if it serves the purpose of the powerful few. And such governments aren't limited to just the blatantly authoritarian but also to ones that pretend to be "for the people" but are sprinting toward dictatorship.
Because of all of the intrigue, the hints of conflict as well as the obvious conflicts, the book keeps the reader wondering exactly what is going on. While many readers might not like the ending, I think it fit with the ambiguity throughout the book. Many things we can't be sure of, even at the end. Did you read it with an optimistic or pessimistic mindset? A resistance or a compliance mindset? These things will likely influence how you understand the end.
I would highly recommend this to readers who like a good story that also makes you look at our current world and think about the what-ifs we're facing. I would probably recommend less enthusiastically to readers who prefer a tidy ending with all questions answered and a nice pretty bow on top. This ain't that book.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
September 5, 2025
I read a review that characterized Osborn's first novel as a "fever dream," and that's about as accurate as it gets. Osborn is an incredible descriptive writer, stringing words together in a crafty, and almost sultry, way. Most impressive is his ability to construct a believable strained relationship between an unlikely couple indicative of a male character's relentless(if not blind), devoted nature and a female character's manic nature, each partner attached to the other by a chain of incessant desperation. It's a devastatingly beautiful depiction of a relationship between a flight-risk and a devout follower, but for what?
There is something to be said here of the half-statements made by Osborn's novel. There are blurry outlines of commentary about government corruption and international secrecy, immigration debate and homeland security, but the sharpness of these concepts is made fuzzy by an overwhelming sense of being halfway there. Everything is agonizingly vague, apart from the intensity of the forensic descriptions. It didn't feel so much like a novel as it did a concept, or maybe a short story. Readers are left with more questions than insights, more abandonment than fulfillment. As emotionally overwhelming as this book is, you end up feeling like the "wife" in the story did: full of displaced anger and confusion. The rapid-fire energy would lend itself well to an installation in a short story anthology, and I think that Osborn's craftiness would constitute a great collection, indeed. Though this book felt rushed to me, I think there is a great amount of promise for a future of more cohesive works with time and practice.
There is something to be said here of the half-statements made by Osborn's novel. There are blurry outlines of commentary about government corruption and international secrecy, immigration debate and homeland security, but the sharpness of these concepts is made fuzzy by an overwhelming sense of being halfway there. Everything is agonizingly vague, apart from the intensity of the forensic descriptions. It didn't feel so much like a novel as it did a concept, or maybe a short story. Readers are left with more questions than insights, more abandonment than fulfillment. As emotionally overwhelming as this book is, you end up feeling like the "wife" in the story did: full of displaced anger and confusion. The rapid-fire energy would lend itself well to an installation in a short story anthology, and I think that Osborn's craftiness would constitute a great collection, indeed. Though this book felt rushed to me, I think there is a great amount of promise for a future of more cohesive works with time and practice.
June 26, 2025
I was really drawn in to this new mystery by J Richard Osborne and was tremendously impressed by the level of storytelling craft in an inaugural novel. I had the experience as I was reading it of the protagonists progressing inexorably into darker and darker realms that I was not expecting. And the main characters themselves very subtly reveal themselves to be something a little different than I had assumed.
I’ve seen comparisons to J.M Coetzee and I agree, and not only because of the similarities in subject matter. It shares Coetzee's ability to be outwardly about one thing, but reveals itself to be about another larger and more important thing. It may also remind you of Kafka in its slow-rolling sense of inevitability. Even toward the conclusion of the book, new contextual twists were still emerging that left the events eerily unmoored from time and place, but firmly attached to the anxieties of our day-to-day world.
This is a nuanced, literary novel, a compact narrative that is best read carefully and savored. Perfect for me!
I’ve seen comparisons to J.M Coetzee and I agree, and not only because of the similarities in subject matter. It shares Coetzee's ability to be outwardly about one thing, but reveals itself to be about another larger and more important thing. It may also remind you of Kafka in its slow-rolling sense of inevitability. Even toward the conclusion of the book, new contextual twists were still emerging that left the events eerily unmoored from time and place, but firmly attached to the anxieties of our day-to-day world.
This is a nuanced, literary novel, a compact narrative that is best read carefully and savored. Perfect for me!
September 23, 2025
A biological anthropologist and her husband travel to an unnamed country to collect samples of soil, river water and pollen to try to determine where a child, found murdered in their country, came from. They are collecting samples, but they are also working with local groups to help dig up mass graves, in order to find out what happened. The new reform government claims the mass killings ended long ago, but the bodies being unearthed were killed recently. They are not safe in this country and few people are willing to speak with them.
At home again and they are engaged in a difficult and exhausting charade of working for the government and secretly testing evidence themselves and sending it out to a secret lab even as they do the tests and inquiries their boss requires. Are they safe? Are they safer than when they were in the other country? As this novel progresses, the husband realizes that his wife doesn't even trust him and in the shifting sands of an authoritarian government, can they find out the truth about the dead boy?
This was a novel that often felt insubstantial, with both countries unnamed, although the authoritarian. country felt like a version of the US, and the other country somewhere south of there. No one is named, except with their professions and given that the story is told by the husband, that is part of his caution in revealing anything. This is a novel of atmosphere and suspicion, the ambiguity of the setting serving to enhance the feelings of dislocation and uncertainty.
At home again and they are engaged in a difficult and exhausting charade of working for the government and secretly testing evidence themselves and sending it out to a secret lab even as they do the tests and inquiries their boss requires. Are they safe? Are they safer than when they were in the other country? As this novel progresses, the husband realizes that his wife doesn't even trust him and in the shifting sands of an authoritarian government, can they find out the truth about the dead boy?
This was a novel that often felt insubstantial, with both countries unnamed, although the authoritarian. country felt like a version of the US, and the other country somewhere south of there. No one is named, except with their professions and given that the story is told by the husband, that is part of his caution in revealing anything. This is a novel of atmosphere and suspicion, the ambiguity of the setting serving to enhance the feelings of dislocation and uncertainty.
October 28, 2025
Not a book that lets you get particularly close, but the sense of paranoia and corruption is effective.
May 26, 2025
4.5 ⭐️ I really enjoyed this one! I’m never disappointed by anything published by Bellevue Literary Press and this was no exception.
This reminded me of Kafka, of Calvino and Borgese - of the horrors of bureaucracy and the lengths that governments will go to cover up history. J. Richard Osborn weaves a poignant mystery that could have easily happened in the past but still feels incredibly relevant today.
This story doesn’t have a neatly tied up ending - the answers leave you with more questions and many things are left up to interpretation. I enjoyed that but if you want a clear cut answer, you won’t find it here.
This reminded me of Kafka, of Calvino and Borgese - of the horrors of bureaucracy and the lengths that governments will go to cover up history. J. Richard Osborn weaves a poignant mystery that could have easily happened in the past but still feels incredibly relevant today.
This story doesn’t have a neatly tied up ending - the answers leave you with more questions and many things are left up to interpretation. I enjoyed that but if you want a clear cut answer, you won’t find it here.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews