This is my second time reading Anne Frasier, and I think I’m officially a fan. Her particular style of twisted mystery really works for me. There’s something unexpected about the choices she makes, stylistically. The setting, the character traits, the dialogue… she brings it all together in such a way that I’m transported into a story that feels familiar but new. Frasier takes the familiar and breathes fresh air into it, using character development that is super rich, an intense setting that becomes as much a character as the characters themselves, and a demented twist on the father/daughter relationship.

But the pacing has issues, mostly coming from the flashback scenes that played flat, dragging things down. And the ending was… definitely a choice.

Still, I will be back for the next book in the series.

This took me a bit to get into, but once I did I was hooked! For how short of a book it is, there was so much to it and I loved it! So glad there’s a second book to read!

I feel like this trope has been played out. I would much have an average person figure ou the crimes than an FBI agent because it would be more relatable

Great thriller which kept me turning the pages well into the night. Great characters and plot. Highly recommend to others!!

This one is a real page turner! Fairly simple plot that jumps between 3 time frames giving different perspectives and keeping you on your toes the entire time. The layers are thick with our characters and their motives, leaving you guessing at who you can trust and what really happened.

I really enjoyed the setting, being in California between palm springs and the Mojave desert the author does a beautiful job of weaving the importance and significance of nature into the story.

" Bad things had happened to both of them, but nature brought solace"

Just found out there's a sequel to this one, interested to see how book 2 is!

Great book. Highly recommend and will most defiantly read more by this author and suggest to others!

Anne Frasier's dark thriller Find Me has a chilling premise. Imagine a little girl being used as a bait to lure innocent, young women to their deaths at the hands of a serial killer. What if she thought it was just a game she was playing with her loving, caring father? Benjamin Fisher, nicknamed the Inland Empire Kiler, because he murdered and buried his numerous victims somewhere between L.A. and Mojave Desert, Benjamin Fisher was Reni Fisher's loving and caring father.

Caught when Reni was eight years old, after one of his victims escaped and identified him (he was her university professor of psychology, Benamin never revealed the places where the bodies were buried. Now he wants to talk. He is willing to lead Detective Daniel Ellis to those shallow graves. It might be true or it might be just a trick to get out of the prison for a day. Daniel doesn't care. He will do anything possible to give the victims' families closure. The only problem is that Benjamin Fisher has a condition. He wants his now 38-year-old daughter to be there. Reni hasn't seen him or been in contact for the last thirty years, since the day of his arrest.

Daniel, who is nothing if not determined, finds Reni and manages to persuade her to cooperate. Reni is a former FBI profiler. Daniel once attended her talk at Quantico and even asked her if she felt complicit in her father's crimes. I won't tell you what she replied, because the whole book is the answer. Daniel also has a personal agenda, although not many people know about it. His mother,who was raising him alone, disappeared when he was a child and he has always suspected she was one of the Inland Empire Killer's victims whose bodies were never found.

The protagonists are well-written characters whose whole lives have been marked by what happened to them when they were children. Reni's mother warns Daniel that Reni is fragile, psychologically vulnerable. There is a reason why Reni had a breakdown and later chose to live as a hermit in a desert cabin, making pottery and healing in the only way she knows. Reni has always had a complicated relationship with her mother, who claimed she didn't know anything about Benjamin's crimes…We all know that memories are not always reliable and we often re-assess and modify them to fit the picture which emerges from later experience/evidence. Reni is still struggling trying to make sense of her memories and what was really happening.

The writing is very engaging -it's almost impossible to put this short, compelling book down. You think you have everything figured out and then twists start coming right, left, and centre until the nail-biting end which becomes a race to survive and save another person's life.

The setting of the Mojave desert is very atmospheric. It isn't just gorgeous sunsets and majestic Joshua trees, it's a place that can kill or heal you, depending on how prepared and how attuned you are to nature. This is the only place Reni feels safe in, because it's the place that lets her be herself, not an accidental passenger in other people's journeys. The place that helps her sort her memories, feelings and dreams.

To be honest, the book ends in an open way. It could have been a standalone- there is a sense of closure and most things are cleared and explained. There are other things which remain a secret and might or might not be revealed in the next book. Can't wait to read it and find out which direction Anne Frasier chose for this fascinating series.

Find Me by Anne Frasier

9781542005623

282 Pages
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Release Date: July 1, 2020

Fiction, General Fiction (Adult), Mysteries, Thrillers, Suspense, Serial Killers

Daniel Ellis’ mother went missing when he was just a boy. He believes she was a victim of the Inland Empire serial killer, Benjamin Fisher. Now as a police detective, Daniel has arranged a meeting with Ben to see if the man will finally reveal the locations of the bodies. Ben has a few conditions, one of which is that his daughter Reni must go with them.

Reni Fisher has spent her life feeling guilty for being her father’s pawn. She became a profiler for the FBI then then had to take a leave of absence for mental health issues. Now Daniel has come knocking on her door asking her to step back into her old life.

This book is dark and disturbing, and I could not put it down. It was fast paced with unexpected twists. The characters are well developed, and it was written in the third person point of view. If you love a good thriller, you will enjoy this book. The next book in the series is Tell Me and I cannot wait to read it.

It's a bit trope-y and out there at times but this is still a good read. Fans of the genre should give it a try. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I love discovering new authors, and Frasier was that kind of author to me. This is the first book in a series called «The Inland Empire». I love tropes about serial killers, so the description here on Netgalley got my attention. And, the beginning of the book was promising, but I had a hard time swallowing some of the things that happened. There are parts of this book that is very good, but when I do not believe in the characters and what is happening to them, my interest in the book and story plummets.

The blurb for this is undeniably intriguing, and the book did hold my attention through a full week of terrible insomnia (awake at 3am, can't get back to sleep; might as well read). It's very by-the-numbers – every time an interesting plot point is introduced, the very next chapter will wrap that plot point up neatly, meaning as a reader I had very few questions in my mind to keep me reading. The characters were fine but very simplistic, and the plot twist was obvious very early on. Essentially the book just unfolds in a fairly plodding sort of way with no big reveals or surprises. But it did keep me reading to the end, which not all books do lately.

Loved this one! So easy to read and lots of twists and turns along the way. Definitely a quick read and one I recommend.

This was a fabulous start to an intriguing series! Find Me explores the life and story of Reni, a woman who, as a child, was used as bait by her serial killer father. I was pleasantly surprised with how engrossed I was while reading this. The characters are fascinating and leave you wondering who to trust for most of the book. I loved the backdrop of the desert and the psychological depth of the characters. It was a wonderful combination. I found myself flying through this book and can’t wait for the next one!

A well written mystery thriller that I really enjoyed reading. An engaging plot and such unexpected twists, this book was unputdownable.

This is first book I've read by Anne Frasier but definitely won't be the last. I loved the characters Reni and Daniel and rooted for them the whole way through. I'm already excited about another book in this series and to see what answers are given to the questions that I want to know from reading this book.

Anne Frasier has landed a place in my auto-buy pile by this novel!

I love how witty her plots are. Even if they go into the dark foray, there is always a strong logic behing the build-up of her killers and their worlds (one of the reasons for my crituques always are the unexpected motives and/or killers simply out of the blue, and they so often have so many supernatural skills and intelligence! Not here.).
This novel is as dark as they go, yet it is intelligently plotten and all the darkness is believable (or at least imaginable).
And the characters - I love my characters raw and messy and complicated and here they are! Even Benjamin Fisher, the so-called Inland Empire Killer, goes against all of the cliches and patterns of the serial killers (and there is a very good reason for that!).
So, enter the world of Reni Fisher, the former FBI profiler - and the very daughter of a serial killer. Who she has helped to lure and kill his victims. Unknowingly. Or not?

Next volume in this series can not come fast enough for me!

It's been quite a while ago that I read this book, so the fact that I vividly remember the story is especially telling. Reno, the daughter of a serial killer, has had much to overcome in her life. She now lives alone in the dessert, and lives her life the best she is able. Until, she is drawn into the case, trying to find the virus of her father's many victims. The investigator himself has his own motives and this is a big part of the story a well.

Loved the twists and turns, facts uncovered as the investigation is ongoing. I also loved the dessert setting and these two very sounds and vulnerable characters. This is a evenly told story, both plot and character driven, fairly fast paced as well. It's the first in a series and a series of which I intend to follow. I was thoroughly drawn into this story and look forward to the next.

This book reminded me of an episode of Criminal Minds and the imagery really brought the scene to life. Having visited the general area where the book was set, I felt like I could really recognize the landscape and understood how this story could take place there. Will definitely be reading more from this author.

You guys, I may have found a new author to obsess over. It’s early as this is the first book by Anne Frasier I have read, but it’s definitely not going to be the last! Thank you Thomas and Mercer for approving me for Find Me, the first in the Inland Empire series.

Find Me follows the stories of Detective Daniel Ellis as he tries to find the long buried victims of convicted serial killer Benjamin Fisher. The only catch is that the killer will only lead them to the graves if his daughter comes along for the ride. It’s been 30 years since he used his daughter to lure young women to their death and the trauma still follows her everywhere, will she step back into his world?

I really liked these two characters. They both had such a rich backstory and I could see why they would both work so hard to find these long lost graves. The serial killer story was so complicated and the ending really shocked me! I loved how it all came together and the plot moved quickly despite all the characters and past memories needed to really tell the story.

I hadn’t even finished before I was looking up more by this author. Definitely missed the boat on Anne Frasier but I am glad I have discovered some new series to read!

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Wow, that was... a roller coaster lmao wild read with lots of twists, interested to see where the series will go