Published by Dutton Genres: Crime, Mystery, Psychological Thriller, suspense, thriller
Format: ARC
This is one of those books I want to tell everyone to read. Just say READ IT. End of Story. I loved that this book worked perfectly as a stand-alone for me. Not having read the other books in the series, I did not feel as if I was missing out at all. Having said that, now that I have read this book, I am inclined to go back and read both Detective D.D. Warren and Gardner Universe book series. Seriously, how great was it that she combined two of her popular series and combined them? Brilliant!
In this book, Gardner combined three strong and compelling female characters: Detective D.D. Warren, Flora Dane, and Kimberly Quincy. My hand is in the air, enthusiastically waving for more books with this combination of women.
FBI Special Agent, Kimberly Quincy, and Sergeant Detective D.D. Warren have formed a task force to follow deceased serial kidnapper and rapist Jacob Ness. Flora Dane was kidnapped by Ness and having survived her horrifying time with him, is now dedicated to helping the investigators and others who have been harmed as she was.
This trio of women along with Keith, a computer analyst and true crime enthusiast (who has eyes for Flora), has come to Niche, a small town in the hills of Georgia where the bodies are piling up and no one is talking. There they meet a young female, who does not speak except through her art, who has been named “the girl” by “family”. Could she be the answer? Is she the missing link or clue they have been looking for? Will they ever find the extent of the damage that Jacob Ness has committed? Is this only the beginning? Is there even evil out there?
The Hills in Georgia are not alive with the sound of music, they are alive with the sounds of evil. Evil, that has been around a long time. Small towns hold secrets. Secrets that the inhabitants will do anything to keep buried. There is a web of lies, deceit, evil, murder, and depravity.
This book was a real page-turner for me. There was tension throughout the book. I loved how the story was told from various points of view. This added to the tension and helped set the mood for the book. This book was dripping with suspense. There is the mystery of course, but the human factor, really made this book unputdownable for me. I was riveted to the pages and didn’t want to put this book down. Like the team, I was on the case trying to figure out who the evil man was, hoping for Bonita /the girl’s safety, and hoping that everyone makes it out alive.
I really enjoyed that this felt like a fresh, new unique tale. I mention this because lately, I have been feeling as if I am reading the same story just wrapped up in a different package (cover). Not this one. This felt completely original and was a breath of fresh air for this mystery/thriller book lover. Gardner did her research in interviewing a nonverbal subject and spoke with many consultants to get aspects of an FBI investigation correct. You will still need to suspend some disbelief while reading this one, but I didn’t mind and I don’t think anyone else will either.
Highly Recommend.
Thank you to Lisa Gardner, Penguin Group Dutton, NetGalley and Edelweiss who provided me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Honestly, I loved it! All the thoughts and opinions are my own.