LOOK FOR ME

5 stars out of 5

I really like D.D. Warren, a woman who hasn't quite reached "normal" after a very shaky past despite loving, understanding husband Alex and 5-year-old son Jack. Here, she teams up with Flora Dane (a character from previous books), who's also making strides toward normal after more than a year of being kidnapped and seriously abused. Both women bury themselves in their work; D.D. as a sergeant detective with the Boston P.D., and Flora as an advocate who helps other crime victims find new and productive lives.

Neither trusts the other; but sometimes, two heads really are better than one no matter how reluctantly they bump together. In this instance, the motivation to join forces follows the grisly murder of a family of two adults and two children. An older daughter, Roxanna, somehow escaped - presumably because she was out walking the family's two blind dogs.

They seemed like a typical family, but they weren't without issues; the mother, a recovering alcoholic, lost her three children to a frightening foster care experience for a time, only recently turning her life around, getting them back and moving to a small but cozy house. To that end, the question of why the family was murdered in cold blood needs to be answered before they can determine the who. And speaking of the latter, why hasn't Roxanna turned up? Surely she's heard that her family is dead - could it be she's in hiding because she's the killer?

As much as anything, this book is a study in character - or more to the point, how people act (and react) when bad things happen to them. D.D. and Flora are trying to help themselves by helping others; but the Baez family, from mother Juanita to Roxanna, her younger sister Lola and even their much younger brother, Manny, have found their own, very different, ways of coping. Chapters shift from the perspectives of D.D., Flora and Roxanna, each revealing bits of what's going on until they blend together in a far from perfect - but somewhat hopeful - ending. 

And from my perspective, I say another one well done. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Look for Me by Lisa Gardner (Dutton, February 2018); 400 pp.