Book Review: GONE by Lisa Gardner

GONE

By Lisa Gardner

Bantam Hardcover, December 2006

Suspense

Buy Link for mass-market paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Lisa-Gardner/dp/0553588079

 

An abandoned car—motor running, door open, purse still on the seat. Sergeant Kincaid of The Oregon State Police has seen it before and it’s never good. It usually means a suicide. But in this case he’s wrong, as the kidnapper contacts the local news with his ransom demands. When ex FBI profiler, Pierce Quincy is called in, it’s not to profile the case, but because the missing person is his wife, Lorraine (Rainie), an ex-cop who now works freelance cases with her husband.

While dealing with an especially heartbreaking case of the rape and murder of a mother and her young daughter, Rainie becomes obsessed with the case, as well as similar ones. This leads to severe depression and a resumption of her drinking problem after fifteen years of sobriety. Quincy loves his wife, but sometimes love just isn’t enough and he moves out in an effort to shock Rainie into coming to her senses. Now she’s gone and he’ll do anything to get her back.

Neither Quincy nor Rainie have led charmed lives. Both have ghosts and enemies from the past. With the kidnapper continually making impossible demands, Quincy comes to believe it’s not about money, but is personal. Has one of the ghosts from Rainie’s past finally caught up with her and is now seeking revenge?

GONE starts with an interesting premise and the plot moves along pretty well for the most part. I read the book straight through, so it definitely held my interest. This was my first Quincy/Rainie story by Lisa Gardner, but I know there are others featuring this same hero/heroine. Perhaps if I’d read those first, I might have been more sympathetic to their plight. Unfortunately I just couldn’t seem to generate a lot of interest in these two. Rainie seemed more pathetic than courageous and Quincy, although great hero material, was just boring. I guessed the kidnapper’s identity very early on, but that wouldn’t have mattered if I’d cared more about the protagonists. 

The story is well written and the suspense fairly high, but I found the characters more boring than interesting and some of the scenes totally unbelievable. When a woman is bound—hands and feet, blindfolded and gagged, it’s just not realistic to believe she could come anywhere near close to besting her attacker. Even for a tough ex-cop, this would be ludicrous, especially after being so apathetic in the beginning. In another scene Rainie moves around and fights like someone in peak fit condition—this after a severe beating, messed up knee, no nourishment for several days and half freezing. Sorry, but I didn’t buy it.

If you love Lisa Gardner and her Quincy/Rainie characters, you’ll probably love this one as well. If you’ve never read any other stories featuring these same people, I suggest you read the other books featuring them before reading this one.

–Willow

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Book Review: Two Little Girls In Blue by Mary Higgins Clark

Two Little Girls In Blue

By Mary Higgins Clark

Suspense

Simon and Schuster, Hardcover, 2006

Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Two-Little-Girls-Blue-Novel/dp/0743264908

 

The house on Old Woods Road is a fixer upper, but it’s all Margaret and Steve Frawley could afford. With Steve’s great new job and his career on the upswing, the couple hope to slowly turn the run down old place into a nice home for themselves and their three-year-old twins. What they never imagined was returning home from a dinner party one night to find their babysitter sent to the hospital and police surrounding their home. A parent’s biggest nightmare come true. Twins, Kelly and Kathy have been kidnapped and the kidnappers are demanding eight million in ransom.

When Steve’s company agrees to pay the ransom, only Kelly comes home. Her twin, Kathy, reportedly died and her body dumped at sea. Kelly refutes this, but no one takes her seriously, except Margaret. Believing her daughters to be communicating telepathically, she’ll risk anything to prove Kathy is still alive. When Kelly implies Kathy is seriously ill, Margaret becomes more determined than ever to find her.

TWO LITTLE GIRLS IN BLUE is an edge of your seat page-turner. The well thought out plot moves the story along at break neck speed. The suspense is terrifyingly genuine and being a mother, I felt every ounce of Margaret’s pain at discovering her daughters gone. I suffered with her when she was told of Kathy’s death and cheered her on when she went about trying to prove her daughter was still alive. The characters are alive, the writing superb, and I found the villains indisputably realistic to a chilling degree.

I found the hardcover of this book in a library sale along with a few other hard covers in the same genre and, loving suspense, paid my small fee and brought them home. Having a little free time, I decided to delve into my very first Mary Higgins Clark novel. And although my first, it certainly won’t be my last. Even with limited time, I finished the book in one day only putting it down for necessary chores. If you like suspense and haven’t had a chance to read this one by Mary Higgins Clark, I highly recommend you pick up a copy.

—Willow

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Book Review: Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child

Gone Tomorrow

Lee Child

Delacorte Press, 2009

Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Tomorrow-Jack-Reacher-No/dp/0385340575/

Try as I might, it’s never been easy for me to turn lemons into lemonade. What can I say? I’m not a “glass half full” kind of gal. But if anything good can come out of a teacher spending the first three days of her summer vacation with torn ligaments and pulled back muscles, then I would have to say that one thing would be three full days of sitting, feet propped on a chair, and reading. Completely uninterrupted by household tasks. Completely guilt-free. And I would have to say that hands-down Lee Child’s GONE TOMORROW would be the perfect book.

If I am not a “glass half full” kind of gal, I am even less a fan of tough guy, blood and guts fiction, so when a friend recommended this book, I don’t mind telling you, I was skeptical.

The story opens with the novel’s hero, Jack Reacher, sitting in a New York City subway car at two o’clock in the morning. An ex-Military cop, Reacher is well trained in the arts of defense and survival. He knows what a suicide bomber looks like. And on that muggy, September morning he’s pretty sure he’s sitting across the aisle from one…

The first chapter of this book consists of four pulse-pounding, tightly written pages. By the time I reached the words Chapter Two I was thoroughly hooked. With his broad knowledge of all things Military and a super-keen eye for details, Lee Child creates a story full of compelling characters and provocative situations that continually shift, keeping the reader perpetually on edge. Mystery. Suspense. Political intrigue. GONE TOMORROW has it all.

Downsized from the army after thirteen years of service, Jack Reacher is smart, tough, and oh-so-sexy. But he is far from perfect, and it is his flaws that make him so endearing. Reacher sometimes feels his age. He makes mistakes. But he learns from them, and comes back tougher and more determined than ever. The novel’s secondary characters, Theresa Lee, a NYC cop with a conscience, John Sansom, a clean politician with a terrible secret, and Lila Hoth, a beautiful millionaire with ties to Al Quaeda, are cast dead-on in their roles without being stereotypical. They add flavor and credibility to this fast paced, NY City story.   

Judging from the inside flap, I’ve got some catching up to do. GONE TOMORROW is Lee Child’s thirteenth in the Jack Reacher series. I definitely won’t wait for another back injury to get reacquainted with my new favorite tough guy!

 …Honeybee

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