5 stars out of 5
Believable? Kinda. Sorta. Sometimes, even,
not so much. But so what? This one put me on a wild ride at the git-go and didn't let me off till the end.
What makes it extra-special is that it brings together three of the author's characters - Boston Homicide Detective D.D. Warren, FBI special agent Kimberly Quincy and recovering torture victim Flora Dane - characters with whom I've developed a kinship of sorts over the years. They are three totally different people, with totally different personal lives, but they come together here with a single purpose: ferreting out who's responsible for the bunch of human bones in the backwoods of Georgia that likely are tied to late serial killer Jacob Ness. Flora joins in because she's his only victim to survive (even though she's been trying hard to find some semblance of normalcy ever since she escaped).
During an intensive search of the area in which the original bones were found, Flora and her computer geek friend, Keith, find another burial site; ultimately, the remains of three more bodies are unearthed. All that leads the team to a tiny town that may be holding deep, dark secrets that are tied to Ness but go well beyond the horrific murders he committed years ago. One of their best hopes of getting to the bottom of things is a teenage girl who works as a maid at an inn operated by the local mayor and his wife. Clearly, she's intelligent; but previous injuries left her unable to speak, read or write; so no matter how much she knows that's crucial to the investigation, accessing that information doesn't appear to be within the realm of possibility. The only thing the investigators know for sure is that no one in this town or surrounding woods can be trusted - not even the local sheriff whose help they've enlisted.
All told, the action never lets up - keeping me glued to my Kindle with time out only when household chores (like feeding my long-suffering husband) and the need for sleep intervened. Thoroughly enjoyable - and I hope to see these three strong women come together again in future books (hint, hint). Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.
When You See Me by Lisa Gardner (Dutton, January 2020); 400 pp.
5 stars out of 5
Over the past few years, I've read four books by this author, and every single one earned a 5-star rating from me. As such, I wasn't too worried about this one. And guess what? It carries on the tradition of high marks; quite literally, I didn't want to put it down once I got started.
The "stars" of the show are D.D. Warren, a sergeant detective in the Boston Police Homicide Division, and her feisty street-wise informant, Flora Dane. Once a tortured kidnap victim, Flora mostly works as an advocate for survivors of similar crimes; she's far from healed emotionally, but her horrific experience turned her into a force to be reckoned with.
The story begins with a pregnant Evie Carter, who returns home to find that her husband of 10 years, Conrad, has been shot and killed. She admits she believes he'd been cheating - and also to picking up the murder weapon and "killing" his computer with several well-placed shots. But she insists she isn't his killer. D.D. gets called in on the case, and immediately there's a problem: Several years earlier, Evie's father was shot and killed in a similar fashion. Evie admitted to the shooting, but swore it was an accident (a claim backed up by her mother). Ultimately, her father's death was deemed an accident. D.D. investigated that years-ago case - and she's always had doubts about Evie's innocence. The second time around, something really stinks; D.D. just doesn't buy the coincidence thing.
And that's not the only coincidence; as D.D. leaves the latest crime scene, she spots Flora across the street. D.D. learns that Evie's husband may have had a connection to Jacob Ness, the awful man who kidnapped and tortured Flora. As the chapters shift from the points of view of D.D., Evie and Flora, the connections between the latter two women and the men they knew get stronger and stronger - as did my eagerness to know how the whole thing would turn out. If Evie really didn't kill her father, who did? Was her husband of 10 years and the father of their unborn child keeping dark secrets from her?
I know the answers, of course, but I'll [insert book title here]. What I will do, though, is recommend this one - another one well done!
Never Tell by Lisa Gardner (Dutton, February 2019); 414 pp.
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.
