Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner -a Review

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Description:
Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman, a recovering alcoholic with more regrets than belongings. But she spends her life doing what no one else will–searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking.

A new case brings her to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a rough reputation. She is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from her high school months earlier. Resistance from the Boston PD and the victim’s wary family tells Frankie she’s on her own–and she soon learns she’s asking questions someone doesn’t want answered. But Frankie will stop at nothing to discover the truth, even if it means the next person to go missing could be her.

Review:

Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner is her first standalone novel in about 20 years.  I have read and loved a few of Gardner’s series, as she is a master at creating wonderful thriller series.  In Before She Disappeared, Frankie Elkin is our heroine, and a different kind of lead character, that actually turned into a fantastic one.

Frankie is a recovering alcoholic, who is a loner, having suffered some tragedies in the past; now she devotes all of her time to finding missing people that are no longer being looked for. Frankie moves around a lot, picking her cases, never staying anywhere for a long period; as over the years, Frankie has found 14 missing people, but none of them found alive.  After finishing up a case, she decides to go to Boston, as another missing case intrigued her. 

The missing girl, Angelique Badeau, a high school student, disappeared 11 months ago, and Frankie gets a job in a local bar, in the Haitian neighborhood of Mattapan.  She convinces the bar owner, that even though she is white, in this rough area, she will work 5 days a week, in exchange for renting the upstairs apartment. The fun part of her renting the room, is the other resident, who shares it; Piper the wild crazy cat. LOL In her off hours, she meets with resistance from the detective who was in charge of the case, as well the missing girl’s family, and others she meets along the way.  But in a short time, Frankie gains the respect from many of the local Haitian people; of course, there are dangerous people who do not want her to continue to investigate.

Frankie manages to convince Angelique’s aunt and brother to let her look around, and ask questions; which in time, the brother will be helpful.  She starts finding questionable clues that need answers, and Detective Lotham begins to trust her, and they made a great team. The chemistry between them became hot, though there was no future.   I really liked the bar owner, Stoney, the cook, Viv and some other people who befriended her; the brother was also a very good character. We also get to learn more about a tragedy from Frankie’s past, that gives her nightmares.

What follows is an exciting & intense mystery, where Frankie finds herself in some dangerous situations, with someone following her, even on occasion hearing gun shots. Another disappearance of a young student, changes the game, with Frankie and Lotham exploring why these girls have been kidnapped.  Will Frankie find Angelique?  Will she break the trend and find her alive?

Before She Disappeared was an amazing exciting, action-packed thriller, with many twists and turns that kept me unable to put the book down.  Once again, Lisa Gardner gives us a fabulous story, which though it is supposedly a standalone novel, can very well become a new series.  I suggest you read Before She Disappeared, which was so very well written by Lisa Gardner. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher