Lisa Gardner has written 23 novels! I have probably read a couple of the others. So I was happy when Penguin Random House sent me her latest, Before She Disappeared. This one has a very interesting storyline:
A recovering alcoholic with more regrets than belongings. Frankie Elkin has devoted her life to doing what no one else will - searching for the lost and forgotten. When the police have moved on, 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 learned she's asking questions someone doesn't want answered. But Frankie will risk it all to discover the truth, even if it means the next person to go missing could be her.
I'm a big fan of flawed protagonists because, after all, aren't we all flawed to some extent? Frankie has her demons, even as she is trying to locate Angelique. We see throughout the book the willpower it takes for Frankie to stick with it even as those demons threaten to overwhelm her. And Lisa does a good job of giving us supporting characters who are interesting in their own right.
Aside from the plot line, I was fascinated to learn a lot about alcoholics and alcoholism. Fortunately, I've never had to face it myself, but, like any addiction, it sure seems like something tough to deal with on an ongoing basis. I admired Frankie for finding a support group to attend as soon as she got to Boston. She made a habit of doing that in every new city she came to.
Before She Disappeared is a solid read. I think you will get caught up in it pretty quickly, just as I did. And let's face it, any author who has published 23 novels must be doing something right!
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