Sunday, March 8, 2020

Review: When You See Me by Lisa Gardner

When You See Me (Detective D.D. Warren, Book #11)
by Lisa Gardner
Release Date: January 28th 2020
2020 Dutton
Kindle Edition; 385 Pages
ISBN: 978-1524745004
ASIN: B07RTTDCBR
Genre: Fiction / Mystery
Source: Review copy from publisher

5 / 5 Stars

Summary
FBI Special Agent Kimberly Quincy and Sergeant Detective DD Warren have built a task force to follow the digital bread crumbs left behind by deceased serial kidnapper Jacob Ness. And when a disturbing piece of evidence comes to light, they decide to bring in Flora Dane who has personal experience of being imprisoned by Ness.

Their investigations take them to a small town deep in the hills of Georgia where something seems to be deeply wrong.

What at first seems like a Gothic eeriness soon hardens into something much more sinister as they discover that for all the evil Jacob committed while alive, his worst secret is still to be revealed.


My Thoughts
When you See Me is the eleventh book in the Sergeant Detective Warren series, but also features two of my other favourite characters, FBI Special Agent Kimberly Quincy and Flora Dane. To have all three of these characters in the same book is heaven, and I couldn't wait to read it.  I definitely was not disappointed.

I have been a huge fan of this author for years and this book was fantastic.  It is complex, exciting, intense, and emotional; I thought I would be emotional as I learned more about Flora Dane and how she was coping after her traumatic kidnapping, but oh no, the author had to go and throw in another huge twist and another major character for me to become emotional over, someone who will probably be featured in future books.  That being said however, Gardner has such a way of developing her characters that you become invested in them, to the point where I have become fearful that if someone dies I might be traumatized. (Think Angela Marsons and her DI Kim Stone books.) 

The book is told in multiple POV which I loved. Considering it features three very strong female characters, I was hoping she would write it this way as it definitely added to the suspense and the intensity of what was happening.  And this author is masterful at building suspense. At first, the town appears quaint, beautiful, the perfect tourist spot. But as the action progresses, you can feel the tension in the people as the cover-ups are revealed and the horrors are slowly bared open and it was much worse than I originally thought.  I have to admit, the red herrings this authors throws down at you are really good and although I suspected a certain person was involved, I did not figure out the whole thing, which I loved.  

I really enjoy how the author manages to intertwine old cases with new ones almost seamlessly.  Flora was still dealing with her abduction and torture at the hands of Jacob Ness, and in this case she finds out a lot more than she expected which finally gives her an opportunity to maybe lay to rest some ghosts and maybe seize a future that she'd thought she'd lost.  I have followed her story for so long now that I was so happy for her to finally break through her shell and see something more, realizing that life does hold a lot more for her than she thought.  Compelling stuff.  It was refreshing to read about Flora amidst the current case, especially as the body count rose and the reasons became more horrific.

Verdict
When You See Me was a terrific read and I enjoyed it so much.  I was thrilled to have three of my favourite characters in one book and hope to see them work together again.  The story was intense, with so many red herrings that I didn't figure out the ending, which I loved.  There are definitely some hard-to-read things in here as human trafficking is a major topic as well as torture, but the story is so good.  I don't think you necessarily have to read previous books in order to enjoy this one, but it does help to get the history of the major characters involved.  Highly recommended!!


3 comments:

  1. Nice review, thanks for sharing your thoughts

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  2. great review. i'm off to check the library. unfortunately my library is seriously lacking in ebooks and isn't a part of hoopla. :-( i'll be asking them about that next time i make an onsite visit
    sherry @ fundinmental

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