Let me start by saying: I loved this book! It is exactly the kind of book I like to read. It has a strong plot; fabulous, believable characters; and suspense aplenty.

Right from the very first page, I enjoyed this book. Frankie Elkin is a fantastic, flawed protagonist, and her voice really speaks to me. She tells us from the beginning she is an alcoholic, so there is always a background worry of will she take a drink? But she doesn’t She is strong and she has people around her to help. And those characters are all equally brilliant. Charlie — love him! Stoney, Viv, Emmanuel, J.J., and, of course, the lovely Lotham: the detective on whose toes Frankie is determined to step and under whose skin she is determined to get. I really enjoy all the scenes where they are together. They play off each other brilliantly.

The plot is twisty and turn-y, and, while I had a suspicion about who was behind the murders, I also suspected a few of the other people. So I don’t think that really counts as guessing ‘who dunnit.’ But so much of the key to keeping me interested was the central story of the two missing girls. Angelique and Livia. How did they meet? Where did they meet? What were they into that pissed someone off so much that they were abducted? The answers came gradually, leading up to the exciting end. The whole scene where Frankie enters the rec centre at night is really well written. I was on the edge of my seat; the danger was palpable. Great writing from Lisa Gardner.

My only criticism is that, about two thirds of the way through, it started to feel like I was learning the same information over and over. I wanted the author to get on with moving along to a resolution. It was a little soggy at this point. But, this feeling soon passed.

I am definitely going to read more from this author. I love her easy style of writing, and I love this genre. I’ve already downloaded one of her books, and I can’t wait to get stuck into that.

People who love crime fiction or psychological thrillers. People who love great characters. Heck, I'm going to say it's good for everybody.

Lotham. Aw. He's great. Frankie is a fantastic, flawed protagonist. I loved her character. The ending is superb. Veery exciting.

That section of around sixty or seven pages where my mind started to drift a little.

Read another book by Lisa Gardner.

Excited. Happy. Sad.

I've never read Lisa Gardner before, but I know for sure I will read many books from her in the future.

It's really exciting. It will keep you guessing up to the end. It's clever and smart, and the characters are fab.

I've given an overall score of 4, but, really, it is 4 1/2.

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Created Oct 02, 2021 at 6:26am • Submit your own review...