Before She Disappeared is Lisa Gardner's first standalone in 20 years and I was so excited for it. I was not disappointed.

Frankie Elkin is a recovering alcoholic and she searches for missing people that the cops have stopped looking for. She is devoted to this being her life's work and this gives her a purpose and she is good at it.

Frankie does what Frankie wants. This story was gripping and everything I love about Lisa Gardner's writing. Frankie is in Boston trying to find Angelique Nassau before time runs out.

This story is very much character driven and Frankie is a well developed, flawed , complex character.

There are quite a few twists and turns that kept me flipping the pages.

I do hope there are more books in the future with Frankie.

Another stellar book from Lisa Gardner.

Before She Disappeared is an outstanding thriller (and hopefully the start of a new series!) that introduces Frankie Elkin, who specializes in missing person cold cases. And even though it's only January, this is definitely going on my best of 2021 list.

Frankie is awesome--complex, smart but yet aware of her limitations, a woman who cares deeply but can't bring herself to allow anyone in. She's also very, very good at her job. And in Before She Disappeared, she's in Boston, trying to find a teenage girl, Angelique, who has been missing for almost a year.

What makes Before She Disappeared such a great thriller is not just the plot, although it is full of twists and very well done, but the characters. I felt like I gor to know all of them, even the minor ones, and it's a real testament to Gardner's skill that I felt like I knew everything about Angelique, even though her "in person" role is small. I can't stress the wonderfulness of the characterization enough--writing a compelling stand alone thriller means you have to have a killer (!) plot and characters and it can be hard enough to do that, let alone set up a potential new series, but Lisa Gardner has done it, and done it very, very well.

Before She Disappeared is an outstanding thriller and all around great read, and is my first best of 2021 pick. Very, very highly recommended.

Loved this- Gardner has done it again, and readers need to buckle up as she once again kicks off a new year with a great book.

Description from the publisher: “Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman, a recovering alcoholic with more regrets than belongings. But she spends her life doing what no one else will--searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking.

A new case brings her to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a rough reputation. She is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from her high school months earlier. Resistance from the Boston PD and the victim's wary family tells Frankie she's on her own--and she soon learns she's asking questions someone doesn't want answered. But Frankie will stop at nothing to discover the truth, even if it means the next person to go missing could be her.”

My thoughts: This is supposed to be Gardner’s first standalone book in a long time, but I really hope we get more Frankie. Maybe she could join forces with Some of the other bada** female characters that Gardner seamlessly pens.

She’s one of my favorite authors, so of course I love this book, but I think mystery and thriller fans will rejoice when they read this.

Rating: It’s a five star book for me. Just read it. It’s a must, the first MUST READ book of 2021.

**Thank you so much to #LisaGardner, one of my all time favorites, to #NetGalley, and to the publisher, #Dutton, for giving me a free eARC of this wonderful book in exchange for my honest opinion. My opinions are my own.**

This was the first book by Lisa Gardner that I have read. Before I started I looked her up and read about her past work. I will be honest I expected a book along the lines of the Stephanie Plum series, and had fairly low expectations. I could not have been more wrong. This book was incredibly engaging, with characters who were both flawed and amazing. I found myself rooting for Frankie to not only solve the case but also find herself in the process. I did not see all of the twists coming and like Frankie kept asking “why?” for most of the book. Overall, a great read with captivating characters and a story that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Frankie Elkin is a recovering alcoholic who doesn’t own more than she can carry, and never stays in on place longer than she has to. Frankie spends her life looking for missing people whose cases have gone cold and given up on by all. Her latest case brings her to Mattapan, a rough neighborhood in Boston, looking for Angelique Badeau, who went missing almost a year ago. Someone doesn’t want Angelique to be found though, but Frankie won’t stop even if it kills her.
While this is not an edge of your seat thriller, Before She Disappeared is an enjoyable read that kept me completely engaged, and guessing right through to the very end. I hope there are more Frankie Elkin books to come!

Lisa Gardner is a national treasure. We at A Mighty Blaze are going to live interview her and I am thrilled that I will be doing the interview!

This mystery focuses on a flawed independent investigator, Frankie, searching for a missing teenage girl. Current events in the narrative are interrupted by flashbacks to Frankie's past.

I'd recommend this for fans of procedural mysteries. The main character is a former addict with a tortured past, and that trope felt stale. That being said, the investigation itself went off in a direction I was not expecting! I also appreciated the fact that this book draws attention to the disproportional amount of minorities who go missing in the U.S. each year.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Frankie is a recovering alcoholic who wanders the country helping find missing people. Plagued by the demons from her past, she lives a meager life focused on helping others.

Frankie is an normal woman who wants to help reunite missing persons with their families. She came to Boston to solve an 11 month old missing person case involving a teenage girl. Frankie does not fit in with the neighborhood and as a white woman, is the vast minority. Most of the neighborhood is made up of people who immigrated to the US on 10 year visas and their 10 years are almost up.

I loved this story. Outside of the missing person story, there is a story about kids trying not to become gang members or drug dealers. If they can find something they are passionate about they have a chance to leave the neighborhood. Frankie is determined and does not let anything get in her way. She is battling her own past but has a firm control over her life. I love how independent Frankie is and loved the book.

What would you do if your child was missing and the police had stopped looking?

I'd want someone like Frankie, our main character, to rip the world apart until my child was found. Frankie isn't a cop or a P.I.; she's an average, middle-aged woman with a special knack for asking the right questions and for taking the time to truly listen.

Expectations are important. Before She Disappeared isn't the past-paced thriller you might expect from Lisa Gardner. This is a slow-burn character study, a crime novel full of suspense, a social statement. This story is dark and gritty, an unapologetic deep-dive into social, class, and race divides, an exploration of heartache and personal demons, all with an undercurrent of hope that keeps us from drifting into the abyss.

I loved everything about this book.

Ooh this was such a delicious slow burn with witty, snarky writing and I loved it! I love the first person perspective and how damaged and endearing Frankie is. I would love to be her friend! Lisa Gardner’s writing is engaging and absolutely enthralling! I love all of the characters with their own larger-than-life personalities! Oh, and Piper the cat. She’s my favorite!

Thank you so much to Penguin/Dutton and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this book in exchange for my honest review!

Frankie Elkin is addict whose nine years of sobriety is tested every day. Fueled by guilt and a slight death wish, she spends her time looking for the missing that are forgotten. She’s not a PI or a cop, just a white Women with a gift for listening and asking questions. Her latest case is a 16 year old Boston girl who is believed to be a runaway, but the family knows better. Lisa Gardner weaves a thrilling mystery that keeps you on your toes! I read this in 24 hours and enjoyed it very much!

Before She Disappeared was a fast moving mystery featuring Frankie Elkin, a nomadic, recovering alcoholic who travels the country working to solve missing persons cases that have gone cold. She has just arrived in Boston to offer her services to the family of high school student Angelique Badeau who never came home from high school eleven months ago. This was my first Lisa Gardner book, and I don't think it will be my last. I really enjoyed her writing style and characterizations. I do wish we got more background on Frankie. I really liked her, but her motivation seems unclear - I didn't really make the connection between her past and why she feels called to assist the families of the missing. I wish this was the start of a series instead of a stand-alone. I'd like to spend more time getting to know Frankie.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Penguin/Dutton for the opportunity to review this ARC.

This is a gritty yet quick mystery. In a crime ridden, gang infested part of Boston, a teenager that’s known to be a care taker, smart student, and all around good girl disappears into thin air. No trace. Just gone. Frankie, on the other hand, is a battered soul. She’s got a past that’s linked to her ongoing battle with alcoholism. Her way of keeping her demons at bay is to immerse herself into other people’s problems- specifically missing people from cold cases. She’s not a cop. She’s not a PI. She’s not even trained. But she has no fear and asks the right questions. Will this be her chance to finally bring home a missing person that is alive?

While I found this to be a standard mystery right down to the dingy atmosphere and somewhat predictable twists, I also found it an easy, fast read. I was satisfied by the solution and found myself cheering for Frankie.

Thank you to Lisa Gardner, Penguin Group Dutton, Dutton Books, and NetGalley for this free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have read several Lisa Gardner books in the past and she has never let me down. She always tells a dark story filled with twists and turns and has a lead female that is a bad ass, and Before She Disappeared was no different. ⁣
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Frankie is a recovering alcoholic who deals with the demons of her addiction day in and day out. She has difficulties putting down roots and getting attached to people, so she moves around often, bartending or waitressing to make ends meet and does everything in her power to find missing women of cold cases and I mean everything.
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Frankie has found 14 missing women, she travels to Boston trying to find another missing girl, only to find that not one but two girls are missing, and vanished into thin air. The cops don’t want her involved but come to realize they need her. Suspicious criminal acts are found along the way. Frankie has a way of getting people to talk and open up to her. She discovers more and more with each chapter, putting herself and others into danger as well.⁣
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This was a fast paced page turner, I changed my mind a few times about what I thought might’ve happened to the girls. You also learn about the demons Frankie deals with along the way. This story deals with missing women, gang violence, addiction, and points out if you ask the right questions, you may just find out what really goes on in others lives around you.⁣ I would definitely recommend this!
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Thank you @netgallet and @duttonbooks for an ARC for my honest review. ⁣
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#bookstagram #books #crime #thriller #bookcommunity #beforeshedisappeared #netgalley

I love Lisa Gardner, especially her D.D. Warren books, but the ending on this one felt threw in randomly to end the story.

Never before has a thriller caused me to be misty-eyed until Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner.
What I Loved
I loved the impactful manner in which the story handles a variety of social issues. Everything from immigration status to racial tensions to gang violence is covered in this thrilling tale without losing even an ounce of the thrills and suspense I expect from the genre. The impact is even more profound because it never feels preachy or politicized. Instead, it feels like the illumination of a geographical area with that area’s social issues. That makes the events stand out in profound ways.
The main character, Frankie Elkin, is haunted by the past, and that leads her to her driving passion for finding missing people once they become a cold case. She has a knack for asking the right questions, which she prides herself on, and she can find out more information than the police by utilizing this skill. She is a loner and prefers it that way. Attachments cause pain, and she has already faced more than her fair share of pain. Do I like her? Not really, but her character is crafted so skillfully by the author that the fact that she doesn’t want to be liked – she simply wants to find the missing - affects the reader’s perception as well as the perception of the characters she meets along the way.
I also love that the ending elicits strong emotions from me. It is so powerful that I found myself tearing up as I read it. Maybe it was because it was about children, but I decided that it was only part of it. Frankie’s story is so dark and destructive that I couldn’t help but feel a great deal of empathy for all the choices she makes and the consequences she has to face.
If you are looking for a mystery thriller that can move you to tears Before She Disappears by Lisa Gardner will do that and more.

3.5 Engaging ⭐️‘s

This was my first book by Lisa Gardner and I am definitely a fan. I really enjoyed her writing style.

Before She Disappeared pulled me in (or under) instantly. Although this is Gardner’s first standalone book in over a decade, I am absolutely hoping we get more of Frankie Elkin! A flawed, broken, middled-aged recovering alcoholic turned finder of missing people? What’s not to love about a main character with those credentials?
I enjoyed the array of interesting characters, their development, and their unique flaws. The page turning plot, full of twists kept kept me guessing to the very end. All in all an enjoyable crime thriller/mystery I would recommend.
Expected publication January 19th, 2021.

Thank you to #netgally and #dutton for the advanced digital copy of #beforeshedisappeared in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first Lisa Gardner novel and I generally enjoyed it. At the beginning, I was getting some white savior-ship vibes due to how focused the character descriptions were on race and what they were associated with...this put me off a bit, but I pushed on.

As the story progressed, Gardner crafted a female main character that is strong and independent while simultaneously being a real and raw. The depth to Frankie and the side characters added a lot to the story. The plot was unique and the writing was easy to devour quickly. The pacing was good throughout and I for sure did not predict the ending.

I will say it would benefit greatly from another in-depth read through by an editor as there were many, many typos and grammatical errors, but I assume this will be addressed!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

I love Gardner's D.D. Warren series, but I'm not sure about this one.

Frankie is an unusual character and the plot was interesting. However, if the book had not been written by Lisa Gardner, I don't know that I'd be interested in the next book.

Since it is Lisa Gardner, I will give the next book a chance, but what I'd really like is more of D.D. Warren and Flora Dane.