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Find Her by Lisa Gardner (Review #148)

“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.”

Review:
Alright first off, IT HAPPENED AGAIN. I bought a book not knowing it was a part of a Holmes/Poirot/Strike mystery series. Luckily I don’t need to go read the other books to understand this one. YAAAAAY. But wow I really dropped the ball this time, this is book 8 of the Detective D. D. Warren series. Now, if your a stickler for the rules, go ahead and read the SEVEN other books before coming back here.

I’m too lazy for that fuck shit, personally.

SO LETS BEGIN!

This was hard to get through, I’ll be honest. It’s very serious and very dark. When I read other adult mystery books, like Career of Evil and Dead Girl Running, there was comedic relief. And now more than ever have I seen a necessity for that in Find Her. There was no reprieve from the cases we cover for even a moment.

Therefore, I took a lot of breaks. It was really rough stuff and anyone who reads it knows that shit takes its toll. I feel that if there was some relief from the seriousness every once in a while, It would have been better.

Throughout the story we are trying to piece together, not one, not two, but three kidnapping cases. First, Flora’s first abduction. Second, the abductor we meet in the very beginning of the story, Flora’s most recent target, and finally the second person to abduct Flora and potentially the abductor of Stacey Summers, the kidnap case that has been front page news for months.

And as an audience we’re all trying to figure out how they all connect. We come across secrets with D.D. and relive painful moments of the past, as well as grapple with new tortures of the present with Flora. She’s a survivor and this isn’t her first rodeo, but this new guy is a lot more clever than the last and he seems to know way more about Flora than the average person.

The killer was not a surprise twist, but a character you find only through digging through the case. If you think you can guess who it is in the beginning 100 pages, you’re wrong. It doesn’t come out of left field by any means, like some random no one saw coming, but like I said, only through digging through the cases along with D. D. Can you come to the conclusion.

Overall, this story was an interesting read. Yes, we’re in the throws of solving and surviving a complex case, but the main lesson of this one was that survivors sometimes don’t come back from the horrible things they’ve been through. One line that was consistent throughout the story was “No one wants to be a monster.” And throughout this story, Flora is struggling to decide if she is one.

The story does drag, I won’t lie, but the ending pays off. Thanks for sticking with me, and I can’t wait to start my next read!

Lemme know your thoughts and feels down below!



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