I am a big fan of mysteries, and each year I read what seems like a ton of them – especially those featuring a “plucky heroine.” So I was pretty sure I had read Lisa Gardner before, but looking through goodreads and my blog, I see a bunch of Lisas (See, Wingate, Jewell) – but nothing by Lisa Gardner. So I am clearly a bit late to the party here, but thanks to Dutton and NetGalley, I just read Look for Me, Lisa’s latest (published 2018), AND I just learned this is the NINTH novel featuring Detective D.D. Warren of the Boston Police Department. (Like I said, late to the party).

This latest in the series all takes place in a dizzying span of a couple of days, and begins when Detective Warren is called to a homicide scene, where four members of a family have been savagely murdered. The fifth member of the family, a sixteen-year-old girl named Roxanna (or Roxy) is missing, along with the two family dogs.

Roxy is a likely suspect, or possibly she was out walking the dogs and narrowly escaped being the fifth victim, D.D. isn’t sure which. An Amber Alert goes out, and she and her team start an intense search for Roxy (and the dogs). They are joined in the hunt by Flora Dane, who was a crime victim featured in Gardner’s Find Her (#8 in the D.D. Warren series), and now is on a mission to avenge crimes (including burning a rapist to death) and provide support for survivors.

Some of the chapters are told in the first person by Flora, gradually revealing her backstory and explaining the reason she is so hot to find Roxy (no real spoiler here, but Roxy has recently joined Flora’s online chat group, which is by invitation only – Sarah, who is one of Flora’s rescued victims and another member of the group, has befriended Roxy and invited her to join, so Flora has some insider info that D.D. needs). D.D. and Flora both are looking for justice, but it might come in different forms…

There are also chapters that are essays written by Roxy’s little sister Lola, one of the murder victims. She wrote them as a series for a school assignment, and they gradually reveal some of the horror endured by the sisters during their time in foster care.

As a former foster parent, the stories of the children in foster care (and the system that “cares” for them) hit me pretty hard. And the suspense was terrific. I was seriously tempted to turn to the end to find out WTH had gone on, but I persisted J and am glad I stuck with it.

Good characterization, and the whole thing was chilling. I’m still not sure how I have missed this series, and am also not sure if the others can stand alone or should have been read in order to fully appreciate them, but I am about to find out! And I will definitely look for future novels by Ms. Gardner. Anyone who likes a good suspenseful mystery/thriller without TOO much graphic violence and especially fans of plucky heroines and police procedurals (in this case, both!) will enjoy this. Five stars

Another great book from Lisa Gardner! I love her DD Warren series, not a not bad story in the bunch! This is a definite must read! Please keep them coming, can't wait for the next one.

Easily one of the BEST books I have read all year!!! I loved this book for so many reasons, in fact when I looked, I was on page 330... and got so sad, as I realized the book will soon be ending. (sigh). From DD's family to Flora creatively planting herself right into the middle of DD's case, this was an incredibly well told, plotted thriller. I hope Lisa brings Flora back more as the interactions between her and DD were truly special. Thank you for this incredible read! Loved it (in case you couldn't tell).

In this new series entry, Gardner tackles big difficult questions while presenting a fairly conventional mystery of a family’s murder: how do victims survive? What is love? What is a family? What is a perfect family? She tells a compelling and hard-to-put-down story by using three narrative voices: a third person narrative of the police investigation, first-person account told by a survivor of a life-altering crime, and first person essays written by a victim of the current crime. While some readers may find the changes in narrative unsettling, I found them very effective as tools to advance the story while helping readers explore the characters more deeply. Look for Me will appeal to a wider audience than most books in this genre.

I did enjoy the story line and the characters but I hate how the chapters jumped from character to character. That is distracting to the story and the story does not flow from chapter to chapter. The story was very real to life as we see more and more about young kids turning to bad choices

I always look forward to Lisa Gardner's new releases and this one lived up to expectations. Although I will say I had a difficult time with some parts (the dogs, Manny) that just made me sad. I enjoyed the chapters that were written as Roxy's essay assignments. What a sad, sad story and unfortunately the case for many children today (without the mass murder). The plot kept me engaged and I connected with the characters. 3 stars just because this story was a little more depressing than Gardner's other books.

Grab your tissues! This is literally one of the saddest books I've ever read and at the same time I felt it was a must read the more I got into this book. When life is hard, harder than you ever thought it could be or get, you go one of two things; you either let it crush you or you rise up and survive.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.