Look For Me ~ Lisa Gardner (earc) review [@LisaGardnerBks @DuttonBooks]

Look For Me (Detective D. D. Warren #9)
Dutton
February 06, 2018
400 pages
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In #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner's latest twisty thrill ride, Detective D. D. Warren and Find Her's Flora Dane return in a race against the clock to either save a young girl's life . . . or bring her to justice.

The home of a family of five is now a crime scene: four of them savagely murdered, one—a sixteen-year-old girl—missing. Was she lucky to have escaped? Or is her absence evidence of something sinister? Detective D. D. Warren is on the case—but so is survivor-turned-avenger Flora Dane. Seeking different types of justice, they must make sense of the clues left behind by a young woman who, whether as victim or suspect, is silently pleading, Look for me.

"Whatever she was about to see, it was not her job to feel. It was her job to fix." (Pg 14)

Boston Sergeant Detective D.D. Warren is back in the ninth entry to the series (well, ninth full length novel).  It was supposed to be a nice day with her husband and son, doing something not cop related, but once again work calls. The home, now a crime scene, is horrible but also leaves one question: where is the last member of the family?

Sixteen-year-old Roxanna Baez is missing (along with the family's two elderly dogs) and D.D. doesn't know if Roxy is victim or suspect.

Look for Me really steps things up from the previous novels in the series. I loved them and the way that we also had the perpetrator's point-of-view (or a perpetrator). It added anxiety to the story because you often knew something bad might be going to happen, you only hoped the good guys would stop it in time. In this book, though, we get things from D.D.'s perspective and from Flora Dane's.

Putting aside the fact that I am really, really happy we got more of Flora Dane (she was part of Find Her, which you really should read first), the way this story was presented was great. It made the most of the mystery and allowed readers some great insight into all of the main players. We don't know Roxy's role in everything so you think you want D.D. and Flora to figure things out, but some revelations are painful and tragic enough that I wondered if I really wanted the truth.

Roxy's perspective is made a part of the tale, but through a medium different than narration. It is not her present that readers receive, but glimpses into her past. This keeps the mystery going, but also lets us see that things have not always been so normal and safe and happy for Roxy, Lola, and their family. What we learn of their past is all the more heartbreaking because of basis in reality.

I absolutely enjoyed the way we had D.D. and her family, how she tried to balance that with her (often gruesome) work; then we had Flora, her past and how she was trying to make a present for herself; and the Baez family with its past - its secrets - and what that meant for their present.

As with each of the preceding books, I loved finding out more about D.D., Jack and Alex, unraveling and ultimately solving the mystery. I also hope that there will be more of Flora Dane in future books, she plays against D.D.'s character really well and its great seeing how far (or not far) she's come since we met her.







digital review copy received from publisher, via NetGalley

Top Ten Tuesday: Best of 2017 (So Far)

hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's Ten:

Top 10 2017 Reads So Far
(2017 releases but some were read in 2016)

Daughter of the Pirate King (#1) by Tricia Levenseller

Goodreads // review

Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner
Goodreads // review


Blacksouls (Blackhearts #2) by Nicole Castroman
Goodreads // review

Gilded Cage (Dark Gifts #1) by Vic James
Goodreads // review

The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown
Goodreads // review

The Ship Beyond Time (The Girl from Everywhere #2) by Heidi Heilig
Goodreads

Traveler (#1) by L.E. DeLano
Goodreads // review

Right Behind You (Quincy & Rainie #7) by Lisa Gardner
Goodreads // review

One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul

Goodreads / / review

Alone (The Generations Trilogy #3) by Scott Sigler

Goodreads  // review

What can be learned from this list? Apparently I am quite fond of books with pirates in them and, more importantly, 2017 has been a great year for book's with pirates in them!

Please leave a comment and let me know your favorite reads from 2017!

Right Behind You ~ Lisa Gardner (earc) review [@LisaGardnerBks @DuttonBooks @PenguinUSA]

Right Behind You (Quincy & Rainie #7)
Dutton
January 31, 2017
400 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon

Lisa Gardner's next thriller following her runaway New York Times bestseller Find Her takes her wildly popular brand of suspense to new heights.


Is he a hero?

Eight years ago, Sharlah May Nash’s older brother beat their drunken father to death with a baseball bat in order to save both of their lives. Now thirteen years old, Sharlah has finally moved on. About to be adopted by retired FBI profiler Pierce Quincy and his partner, Rainie Conner, Sharlah loves one thing best about her new family: They are all experts on monsters.

Is he a killer?

Then the call comes in. A double murder at a local gas station, followed by reports of an armed suspect shooting his way through the wilds of Oregon. As Quincy and Rainie race to assist, they are forced to confront mounting evidence: The shooter may very well be Sharlah’s older brother, Telly Ray Nash, and it appears his killing spree has only just begun.

All she knows for sure: He’s back.

As the clock winds down on a massive hunt for Telly, Quincy and Rainie must answer two critical questions: Why after eight years has this young man started killing again? And what does this mean for Sharlah? Once upon a time, Sharlah’s big brother saved her life. Now, she has two questions of her own: Is her brother a hero or a killer? And how much will it cost her new family before they learn the final, shattering truth? Because as Sharlah knows all too well, the biggest danger is the one standing right behind you.

Right Behind You was the first Quincy & Rainie book I have read, so I can tell you that you do not have to have read books one through six first. We get enough of their backstory to understand who they are, what they do and to see why Sharlah is such a great fit for them.

I really loved Sharlah's character and how she fits into the events of the story and into Quincy and Rainie's life. Her past is an undoubtedly painful one and she still has those scars - both physical and emotional - but is working at moving on, forming a new, healthy life. The past she shares with Telly, how that became part of the story, the conflicts it created and the contrast it provided really makes you feel for all of the characters.

For Sharlah, for Telly, even for Quincy and Rainie, it isn't that the past is in the past and everything is just fine and shiny, happy now. What they've experienced has shaped who they are today, for better or for worse. I really liked how Sharlah's personality was, in so many ways, an effect of those first few years of her life and how that affected the decisions she makes in the story.

From Sharlah's personality to Cal and the SAR involvement to Luka and what he can and does do to the crime and the response, all of Right Behind You feels like Lisa Gardner really did her research, really understood who and what she as talking about. It is all fictional, but every bit feel realistic and true.

There were elements of the story, certain developments or events, that I thought I could predict and, sometimes, I was even right. What really kept this novel surprising, tense and thrilling, however, was that the how or why or when things happened wasn't easy to guess. Things that were so seamlessly integrated into the characters or the story that you never questioned them would end up having much more impact than you'd ever imagine.

Right Behind You does a fantastic job not only providing a thrilling mystery, but including SAR searchers, super smart (and loving) dogs, and unconventional family situations. It all comes together  to make for a superb read. This  may have been the first Quincy & Rainie series book I read, but it won't be the last.

(This is a book that shows both a pit bull and a German shepherd in a positive light, something I love the book (and author) all the more for doing!)








digital copy received for review from publisher, via NetGalley

Find Her ~ Lisa Gardner (earc) review [@LisaGardnerBks @DuttonBooks]

Find Her (Detective DD Warren #8)
Dutton Books
February 2, 2016
400 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon

** review contains some spoilers for Fear Nothing (Detective D.D. Warren #7) **

Flora Dane is a victim.

Seven years ago, carefree college student Flora was kidnapped while on spring break. For 472 days, Flora learned just how much one person can endure.

Flora Dane is a survivor.

Miraculously alive after her ordeal, Flora has spent the past five years reacquainting herself with the rhythms of normal life, working with her FBI victim advocate, Samuel Keynes. She has a mother who’s never stopped loving her, a brother who is scared of the person she’s become, and a bedroom wall covered with photos of other girls who’ve never made it home.

Flora Dane is reckless.

. . . or is she? When Boston detective D. D. Warren is called to the scene of a crime—a dead man and the bound, naked woman who killed him—she learns that Flora has tangled with three other suspects since her return to society. Is Flora a victim or a vigilante? And with her firsthand knowledge of criminal behavior, could she hold the key to rescuing a missing college student whose abduction has rocked Boston? When Flora herself disappears, D.D. realizes a far more sinister predator is out there. One who’s determined that this time, Flora Dane will never escape. And now it is all up to D. D. Warren to find her.

If you aren't reading Lisa Gardner's Detective D.D. Warren series, you absolutely are missing out. I love this thriller, suspense, mystery series and its main character D.D. Warren and the latest installment Find Her was superb.

Though each of the novels can be read on their own, I really am enjoying the development we are getting of D.D.'s character and the progression of her relationships. I particularly liked that, though this book can still be read separate from the others, there was more follow-up to what happened in Fear Nothing (and in the interim, as well).

[spoilers - for #7] D.D.'s shoulder injury impacted not only her ability to fully do her job but also to fully live her life. It would have been possible to make that a non-issue, to jump forward enough in time and say, 'Oh, that? It's all better now. No worries.' That didn't happen and the book - and character - are better for it. It is still a part of D.D.'s life, still impacts how - and even if - she is able to do her job. I was not expecting her role to be altered but liked that (and how) it was. It was an interesting switch. [/spoilers]

The tease of the beginning that was in 3 Truths and A Lie absolutely had me ready to read Find Her but also left me confused as to who our the woman was and what her role in Find Her was going to be. Even better? I don't think I could have told you even after I started Find Her. This one - both character and story - are full of twists, turns, the unexpected, and even some  of the confusing and/or misleading. It's fantastic.

If you've read it, this one reminded me of The Neighbor (Detective D.D. Warren #3) with the character you can't really put a finger on. You don't know if she's the good guy, the bad guy, or some combination of the two. The more we think we learn about her character, her motives, what's really happening and who's doing what, the more questions we find.

There were some great parallels between the characters and their lives that I didn't recognize until the end, but once I did it was easy to see how they'd been present throughout the story and enhanced things. Flora, along with her past and present, provided an thrilling, unpredictable and very satisfying read.

(There's mention of a previous case that may be spoiler-y for Hide, the second book in the series. But unless you read that mention and then Hide right after each other, it's fine. Even then it probably is.)

Really, if you aren't reading this series you need to start.

Don't forget to read 3 Truths and A Lie for an original short story featuring D.D. Warren and a sneak peek at the beginning of Find Her!







review copy received thanks to publisher, via NetGalley

3 Truths and A Lie ~ Lisa Gardner (earc) review [@LisaGardnerBks @DuttonBooks]

Three Truths and a Lie (Detective D.D. Warren #7.5)
Dutton
January 5, 2016
add to Goodreads/buy from B&N/or Amazon

Boston Detective D.D. Warren faces her most brutal adversaries yet—a class of jaded thriller writers—in New York Times Bestselling Author Lisa Gardner’s exclusive e-Book short story

In Lisa Gardner's second short story, after the New York Times bestseller The 7th Month, Detective D.D. Warren takes on her most intimidating assignment yet: a fifty-minute class meant to educate a horde of bloodthirsty thriller writers on the ways of actual police work. Yet sometimes life really does imitate fiction, as D.D. takes the writers through the reality of one of her most twisted cases—a case that involves a seedy motel room, drugs, prostitution . . . and a severed leg.

With Gardner’s trademark suspense, sharp observations, and thrilling storytelling, Three Truths and a Lie is a fascinating chapter in D.D.’s storied career. Includes an early look at Lisa Gardner’s next novel of suspense, Find Her, coming February 9, 2016.

Speaking to a classroom full of thriller writers on police procedure is not exactly Detective D.D. Warren's dream afternoon. She is there at all because Alex is leading his own class. Only, blood spatter, she knows, is going to be so much more appealing to everyone than proper procedure. They are fiction writers after all.

Needing to keep everyone's attention - and keep them awake - D.D. decides to go with one of her more bizarre cases.  As she tells them of the case (involving a severed leg) readers get to experience an abbreviated D.D. Warren story.The mix of D.D. telling the story and the class of writers trying to guess the detectives next move and solve the case, keeps the story exciting. It is a fun combination of what was actually done and what thriller writers might expect or want to happen.

Stories like this one - that pull in some real life thriller writers (which, let's not forget author Lisa Gardner is) into the story and poke fun at the (fictional) detective's view of how those writers view her job - can really be a lot of fun. There is the recognition of some fellow authors, the admission of the difference between exciting, thrilling fictional investigations and the, often, much slower less exciting real life police work.

Even better, the short story is not all that is offered in 3 Truths and a Lie. We also get the first two chapters of the next, full length D.D. Warren story Find Her (out February 9th).

3 Truths and a Lie is a wonderful mix of a smart, even funny short story and a preview of the upcoming novel.

Top Ten Tuesday

hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's Ten:

Top Ten Authors I've Read The Most Books From

*this was last week's (11th) topic but I goofed and posted this week's (18th) last week

Alyxandra Harvey

13 Books

(includes a few novellas)

Goodreads Author Page

post/review tag

Meg Cabot

13 Books

Goodreads Author Page

post/review tag

Sara Shepard

11 Books

Goodreads Author Page

post/review tag

Lisa Gardner

11 Books

Goodreads Author Page

post/review tag

J.T. Ellison

11 Books

Goodreads Author Page

post/review tag

Margaret Stohl

10 Books

Goodreads Author Page

post/review tag

Kami Garcia

10 Books

Goodreads Author Page

post/review tag

Julia Kagawa

9 Books

Goodreads Author Page

post/review tag

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

8 Books

Goodreads Author Page

post/review tag

Spencer Quinn

7 Books

Goodreads Author Page

post/review tag

Please leave a comment and let me know which authors you've read the most - especially if I may not have read them (or read them much)!

Crash & Burn ~ Lisa Gardner (earc) review [@LisaGardnerBks @DuttonBooks]

Crash & Burn (Tessa Leoni #3)
Dutton Adult
February 3, 2014
400 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from TBD/or Amazon

The #1 New York Times bestselling author’s latest stand-alone thriller, with a cameo by her fan-favorite character, Boston Detective D.D. Warren

My name is Nicky Frank. Except, most likely, it isn’t.

Nicole Frank shouldn’t have been able to survive the car accident, much less crawl up the steep ravine. Not in the dark, not in the rain, not with her injuries. But one thought allows her to defy the odds and flag down help: Vero.

I’m looking for a little girl. I have to save her. Except, most likely, she doesn’t exist.

Sergeant Wyatt Foster is frustrated when even the search dogs can’t find any trace of the mysterious missing child. Until Nicky’s husband, Thomas, arrives with a host of shattering revelations: Nicole Frank suffers from a rare brain injury and the police shouldn’t trust anything she says.

My husband claims he’ll do anything to save me. Except, most likely, he can’t.

Who is Nicky Frank, and what happened the night her car sailed off the road? Was it a random accident or something more sinister given the woman’s lack of family and no close friends? The deeper Wyatt digs, the more concerned he becomes. Because it turns out, in the past few months, Nicky has suffered from more than one close accident. . . . In fact, it would appear someone very much wants her dead.

This is my life. Except, most likely, it’s not. Now watch me crash and burn.

Tessa Leoni first appeared in the fifth book of Lisa Gardner's D.D. Warren series, Love You More. Her second appearance came in Touch & Go, the novel that introduced us to New Hampshire police officer Sergeant Wyatt Foster. Now, both Tessa and Wyatt are back - with a bit of D.D. Warren - in Crash & Burn.

When he receives the call, it all seems pretty straightforward: a single car accident, late at night, in a rainstorm.  Soon enough, tough, nearly all of it is called into question.

Nicky Frank not only survived the accident, she pulled herself to safety and got help. Now, she just needs them to find Vero.

Except, the police search dog can't find any traces of Vero and Nicky's husband claims she has a brain injury that leave her unreliable.

Unsure of which of them - if either - is to be trusted, Sergeant Foster begins investigating further, investigating the crash, the Franks, all of it. The more he investigates and the more he uncovers, the messier things become, the more questions there are.

One of the things I love most about Lisa Gardner's novels is that they are told from multiple perspectives, usually the main law enforcement officer and then either a victim, a perpetrator or someone whose role isn't yet clear. In Touch & Go we get things from Wyatt's perspective and from Nicky's.

Nicky is a fantastic kind of character, a great example of an unreliable narrator. From almost the very beginning it's unclear how much truth she's telling. It works especially well because what she's saying may be true, she may think it's true, she may want it to be true . . . or she could be lying. To herself or to everyone.

It's up to Wyatt to unravel her story, her past and distinguish fact from fiction. He was a new character in Touch & Go and I very much enjoyed seeing him back in Crash & Burn. A possible relationship between him and Tessa was hinted at in the earlier book and now we get to see it come to fruition. He's a good investigator and it's nice seeing how the decisions he makes, what he pursues, what he doesn't and his interactions with Tessa (and Sophie).

Even having Nicky's narration alongside Wyatt's, Crash & Burn is full of twist, turns and surprises. Nicky's narration may even increase them as her character, her truth presents more than its share of surprises. I love having what seems like the two sides of the story, but there still being so many unknowns, so many other sides that need to be told.

In some ways it's more of a Sergeant Wyatt Foster novel than a Tessa Leoni one, but that's okay. We get to see Tessa again, see the progression and growth of her character, especially from Love You More. They are both characters - and a relationship - I hope to see in future novels.

As full of revelations, discoveries, truths and lies and Crash & Burn was, it all came together amazingly well. As soon as I thought I had things figured out, something new happened or was revealed that threw things into question again. Yet, when it is all uncovered, when all of the pieces are finally put together, it's very satisfying, a fantastic mystery.

Though this is the third Tessa Leoni novel and the second with Sergeant Wyatt Foster, it's pretty standalone as well. If you haven't read the earlier books, you won't know everything that happened in them, obviously, but the author does a great job mentioning the key points; you won't be lost. (Though, if you read her D.D. Warren series, there is a spoiler if you haven't read Fear Nothing, yet.)



[While I haven't reviewed them, I have read several of Lisa Gardner's novels - the seven books and one novella in the D.D. Warren series, the Tessa Leoni books, and Survivor's Club - and recommend them all as great mystery, thrillers. They are also very good audio listens.]




digital copy received, for review, from publisher via NetGalley - thank you!