Book Review – Find Her by Lisa Gardner

Imagine being kidnaped. Next imagine being rescued from the kidnapper. Then imagine getting kidnapped again, only this time, having the ability to fight back. That is the basic plot for Find Her.

Author Lisa Gardner has an interesting style. I can’t say I have read all her books but in the stories I have, she keeps a similar style. The hero of the story (Boston cop D.D. Warren) is told in the third person. For lack of a better term, the “victim” is told from a first person point of view. This creates a story where we know what the victim is going through and what it is they are thinking. At the same time, we then get to see the police reaction to events. As in real life, the police are always a step behind so we are left to wonder if or how they will figure it out.

This book is told from the view of Flora Dane. As a young college student on spring break, she was kidnapped. After 472 days in captivity, she is freed by the FBI. Now years later she is obsessed with personal safety. She also seems to be hunting down sexual predators. Allowing herself to be attacked only to fight back, to teach the predators a lesson.

When one attacker ends up dead, Detective Warren is called in to investigate. The case takes a twist when less than a few hours into the investigation of this death, Flora is kidnapped again. Now D.D. Warren needs to put all the pieces of the puzzle together to find Flora.

As with any good mystery, there is a twist. Turns out Flora was trying to find a local missing college student. Meaning it is possible that the person who kidnapped this local girl is also the kidnapper that now took Flora. Meaning Detective Warren has the lives of two girls in the balance trying to work out this case.

There are some dark places this book goes. As a police officer, I enjoy a good story that is not afraid to get into some dark topics. We live in a world filled with some twisted people. Lisa Gardner seems to have a knack for writing these twisted folks. They are not overly cliche creepy, just straight up sick and broken individuals.

Find Her is out on February 9, 2016. If you need a great police procedural I highly recommend it.

A free copy of this book was provided via NetGalley for this unbiased review.