I apologize, but I could not finish this book. I started this book and was immediately turned off by what seems to be a white savior trope and was really put off by the language used to describe the main character, Frankie Elkin's ,job of going into "minority" communities and trying to find "forgotten" missing people (to expand on this a little - just because mainstream media doesn't cover it, doesn't mean the community itself or the families themselves have forgotten these people).

"My name is Frankie Elkin and finding missing people - particularly minorities - is what I do" is honestly a really problematic line in my opinion. I see what Lisa Gardner is trying to do and I applaud her for trying to bring attention to very real issues, but the set up of Frankie's character truly screams white savior and this book is not for me.

Best of luck, I apologize I couldn't give a more detailed review.

BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED by Lisa Gardner is a standard mystery. I wouldn’t categorize this one as a thriller. We follow Frankie who has devoted her life to finding missing people. In this case she’s trying to find Angelique a teenage girl who went missing from school. I found this book an easy quick read but the storyline wasn’t engaging. I wasn’t curious to learn how it would all end. It all felt very standard with the protagonist with her redemption arc, her attraction with the local cop and all the characters were pretty stereotypical. I’m honestly disappointed with this one but I think I’d still try another book from this author.

This is my first Lisa Gardner book, and I definitely enjoyed it. A clever, unique protagonist who solves a very different, but a bit long-winded mystery.

Thank you NetGalley and Dutton Publishing for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Before She Disappeared comes out January 19th.

Frankie Elkin is a recovering alcoholic who specializes in finding missing people, cold cases in particular. She’s not a detective, just a regular day civilian but in the last 10 years she has helped provide closure for 14 families. Her next case takes her to a Boston suburb to search for Angelique Badeau who has been missing for 11 months. As Frankie asks questions, she begins to find answers and hopefully she can find Angelique alive and bring her home.

This book was extremely disappointing. The book just didn’t seem that believable. I can’t imagine that a detective would share so many details of an open case with a civilian. The book was also full of racial biases. I lost track of how many times she mentioned the race of all the characters in the book, how terrible and unsafe the neighborhoods were. Spoiler alert: She wasn’t in white neighborhoods. I also lost track of how many times the author clarified Frankies race and how many of the characters didn’t like her at first because of that. Spoiler alert: She’s white. Many of the black characters portrayed as criminal too. I liked the idea of a civilian helping solve cold cases but overall this whole book just left a bad taste in my mouth. Especially when in the first chapter is says, “My name is Frankie Elkin and finding missing people–particularly minorities–is what I do. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never bothered to care, I start looking” I guess it felt a little too white saviorish to me.

Before She Disappeared : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
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This is my fave book of December hands down! Great story, great writing, and the author does such a great job differentiating and building the characters. I felt transported , like I was watching a movie. There action, suspense and a tiny bit of romance .
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I will have to admit I was a little bit nervous when I started reading because stories like this can turn real stereotypical and savior complex-ish really quick, but the author did such a great job honoring the culture
And heritage of the characters and I was very pleased with the sensitivity that was used .
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This story started out with a bang! I knew from the first couple of pages that i was going to love this . In this story we meet Frankie , a recovering alcoholic , who travels from place to place taking on missing person cases that local law enforcements has given up on. Frankie ends up in Boston in a predominantly Haitian neighborhood looking for a missing girl . She infiltrates herself into this community, doing everything in her power to bring this girl home alive even if she lose hers in the process.
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My heart broke for Frankie , who struggling with her past. She’s such a likable character , although flawed like we all are, but she has a good heart. I also loved her personality , sarcasm is always a plus in my book.

Frankie Elkins is a recovering alcoholic and a crime fighter. She has no permanent home and has spent the last ten years traveling from town to town trying to locate missing children. Frankie has no formal training as an investigator, only a burning drive that keeps her focused. She volunteers her services to poor, marginalized families that tend to be forgotten by the police.

The missing child is a Haitian high school student named Angelique Badeau who disappeared 11 months ago. She is from a run down area of Boston, called Mattapan. Frankie’s first task in investigating this case is to embed herself into the community; she gets a job bartending and lives above the bar. She wants to get the vibe of the neighborhood. People are very suspicious of this white, middle aged woman asking questions in this Haitian neighborhood. Frankie has the determination and fearlessness to investigate this disappearance by asking many questions of people in authority.

Frankie is determined that Angelique will be found, dead or alive. Her mission is to bring closure to the family.
Another great read from Lisa Gardner.

I'm on the fence about this one. The mystery was really new--I haven't ever read anything like it--and the characters in the missing person case were diverse. BUT, I just didn't really like the main character. Her backstory was unclear, but not in the way that it made me want to know more. It was more of a distraction. Spoiler: I also didn't love how it ended...if this becomes a series and she just leaves at the end...I doubt I'll continue.

I enjoyed Before She Disappeared more than expected. It kept me guessing until the end with the suspense. I didn't really find the main character likable, but that did not take away from the story.

Imagine being a recovering alcoholic whose only job skills are working in a bar, whose love of her life was killed in front of her, whose worldly possessions consist of 5 worn-out changes of underwear and a couple of tops and jeans and not much else, but who has an abiding desire to help find people who have disappeared as have their cases, now consigned to the "cold" category. As far as a stretch as it may seem, Lisa Gardner, inspired by women who take on these cold cases not for money but to fulfill deep needs within themselves, has written a compelling, sympathetic novel that I could not put down, even when I had figured out who was the villain but not why LiLi and her friend Livia had gone missing. In a lesser writer's hands this story would not have sung as it does under Gardner's fine pen. Whether or not this becomes a series, I'm glad to have had the chance to get a peek into Frankie's life and her fifteenth solved cold case..

Frankie helps people find missing family members. This time she is in the Boston area looking for Angelique who has been missing for approximately 1 year. She investigates separately from the police and has been successful in finding 14 missing people so far, unfortunately they have been found murdered. This time there is evidence that Angelique is still alive, but can Frankie find her before it is too late?

This thriller is very engaging. Frankie is exploring a lower-income Boston neighborhood, trying to figure out what led to Angel's disappearance. The neighborhood of Mattapan is described in such vivid detail throughout. With the help of Angel's family, the neighborhood police liaison, and her friends from AA she is able to piece together the facts little by little. The way the story is mixed together with Frankie's own past is unique and interesting - you just get little glimpses of her past here and there which leave you wanting more. This book was compulsively readable, the ending was unexpected and I really enjoyed it.

I was interested to learn that this is Gardner's first standalone novel in many years and I hope not her last.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I really enjoyed this read. It covered some angles and situations I hadn’t read about in other thrillers (fake students visas, immigration issues, intelligent teenage female victims). You can tell the author did a ton of research. I also did not have the mastermind pegged, which I usually do rather quickly as I read way too many thrillers. I sincerely hope Gardner writes more standalone novels!

Before She Disappeared
Lisa Gardner
January 19, 2021

Frankie Elkin, a recovering alcoholic, succeeds one more time at finding a lost soul. Lani Whitehorse was assumed to have left her home to head for other places. Tribal police had given up finding her, Lani’s mother cried when she heard the news that her daughter’s body had been found in the bottom of lake in an old chevy truck. It was time for Frankie to move on, continue on a journey to Boston. Her last cases had been in small country towns, such a change it will be. Large populations, busy city streets, but the case she had chosen begged her to carry on. Angelique Badeu is only 15 years old. She disappeared eleven months ago. An excellent student from a poor but loving home she was finishing high school early and taking classes from a local college to get a start on the road in medicine. You say, is Frankie Elkin a private investigator? A police detective? Who pays her way? What challenges her to continue such a path? Well Frankie is 9 years and change sober. Yes she has had a setback or two but after getting back on the path she carries on. She makes her living as a bartender. Tries to get a room to connect with the job. When she arrives at Stoney’s Bar and Grill dragging her one suitcase, she makes her way into a smoke filled, dark room. Stopping to assess the new digs she discovers that she is the only white person in the room.
Now I have read many Lisa Gardner books and enjoyed her mysteries. This one is so intriguing. I was drawn completely into Frankie’s life immediately. Her job must be very difficult let alone switching her world around after each case is completed. She needs to convince the victim’s family that she is not asking for anything but finding their loved one. She makes no guarantees that he/she will be alive, only that their lost relation’s case will be solved.
Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner will be published by Dutton of Penguin Random House on January 19, 2021. Mystery lover? This book is not to be missed. This is an independent novel as most of her publications are. I was so impressed by this latest endeavor. Gardner tells the tale of Elkin’s daily life, as a diary. This one is 5+ stars. Here’s hoping you enjoy it as I did.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Frankie Elkin finds people - people who are missing and no one is looking anymore. She comes into town, does her job, and moves on to the next case.

Angelique Badeau has been missing for 11 months when Frankie appears on the scene in Boston. Can Frankie find Angelique before it is too late?

I really enjoyed this book - fast-paced, but a little bogged down in parts - it still kept me guessing and interested all the way until the end.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC copy of this in return for my honest review.

There is a missing teen in a Haitian neighborhood of Boston. The trail is cold and no leads are left. In enters our protagonist, Frankie Elkin. She’s a white, alcoholic, drifter with a quick wit and lots of determination. Will she be able to find our missing girl?

This book grabbed me at the beginning and was an amazing read. The character, Frankie, had so many different layers and I couldn’t get enough of her. Perhaps Lisa Gardner will develop more stories featuring her? We can only hope because it will be much anticipated! There is so much to love about this quick paced crime novel. Ms. Gardner has hit this one out of the park!

Loved the main character, Frankie!!! This mystery had me on the edge of my seat the entire time! Full of clues and questions. Great book by a great author!!!!

I received an ARC copy of #BeforeSheDisappeared from #NetGalley for a review.

This was an excellent read. I loved the way it was written from the main character's POV. It really allowed her personality to come through, making her that much more likeable. The story really sucked me in & I read most of the book in one day. I really hope there will be more books featuring this character.

This missing person mystery was very convoluted, but everything was brought to a reasonable conclusion in the end.

Our new heroine was a smart, sassy, skinny white girl who was carrying waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much baggage. I very much appreciated the relationship she developed in the book with the locals (mostly Haitian) in Mattapan. I also appreciated the way our author presented the development of trust and friendships in that situation.

It was very interesting and definitely worth a read.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, in exchange for an honest review.

Lisa Gardner never disappoints. A great mystery to curl up with during the pandemic to escape reality and get lost. Some mystery writers are predictable but not Lisa Gardner

Fast paced, suspenseful, and gritty makes this stand alone mystery one hard to put down. Frankie, fighting her own demons, is surviving only by fighting for others. Doggedly trying to find an missing fifteen year old Haitian girl, Frankie will go to extremes to obtain information about her whereabouts. When one missing teen becomes two, the mystery deepens into many rabbit holes to explore. At times Frankie's past will shed light to where she's been and provide glimpses of why she is the way she is. I loved the details of the neighborhood and it's residents. The local flavor added much to the story. Piper is a special addition to the bar -- loved him! Highly recommended!!

I really loved Lisa Gardners latest psychological thriller, Before She Disappeared. The premise of the story was really intriguing. A broken woman name Frankie, takes to the streets investigating missing person cases across the country. She has nothing to lose, as she has already lost it all .Every day is a fight to maintain her sobriety and escape the demon of her one true love, Paul. Frankie fights to locate underprivileged missing youths, when the families and authorities have already given up. The story of Angels disappearance was heart pounding! I found myself speed reading to learn what happened and who was responsible.. I felt a connection to both the victims, their families and Frankie. A great read. 4 stars.