DNF @ 15% - the writing style just wasn’t it for me. normally I love a detective-police procedural, and maybe I’ll pick it up again at a later time, but I just couldn’t get into it… it was definitely a choppy, ton of little detail, dialogue and monologue plot (which was a tad too much and kept getting me lost). I was invested in the plot about shaw’s younger sister, but I just couldn’t get past the writing style and didn’t want to skip multiple chapters of fingerprinting details that felt like overkill… but a huge thank you to minotaur for sending me an early copy to preview!

Gillian French is a great author and this story is a great one! It's a page-turner and definitely kept me intrigued and interested. The story takes place in Maine and I felt the New England vibes as I read it. I love crime fiction and this was top tier. The characters are likable and interesting to read about. A great thriller!

3.5 stars rounded up-Shaw Connolly Lives to Tell is a thriller where a missing persons case has haunted a family for years. Shaw Connolly is a fingerprint analyst for the police department, a career that can be linked to her obsession to find her sister, Thea. Currently Shaw has a stalker who keeps calling to tell her details of her sister’s disappearance and death. Her marriage has fell apart and her elderly father lives with her to help care for her boys. Their lives are darkened by Thea’s disappearance and an apparent threat from Shawn’s stalker. Stalking progresses to arson and murder as Shaw follows every lead for herself. The story is suspenseful but there’s not a deep dive into the characters that allows for a little detachment overall. The whodunnit is never really questionable but the action and suspense builds until the end. This is a little better than average and would consider reading another novel based upon these characters. My voluntary, unbiased, and non-mandatory review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.

Gillian French's first foray into the world of adult fiction is definitely worth the read - interesting plot, intricate characters, and well-paced.

This had a great start and compelling initial mystery, but found the characters to be rather flat. Writing style left much to be desired in the overall execution. Not terribly impact as an overall read.

Shaw Connolly Lives to Tell has some compelling moments, but overall, it left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. The premise is intriguing, and there are flashes of strong storytelling, but the pacing drags in places, and some character arcs feel underdeveloped. While I appreciated certain twists, the execution didn’t fully pull me in, making it a somewhat uneven read that didn’t quite live up to its potential.

I unfortunately didn’t like any of the characters and the story. It wasn’t a bad book it just didn’t interest me.

I was really excited for this book — particularly the parts on fingerprint analysis — but it didn't hold my attention. The dialogue came off forced (I kept thinking "Who actually talks like this?" which is not a great sign) and the plot wasn't enough to keep me reading.

Well written but don't think it is right for my students, parts are too graphic and many have dealt with stalkers, missing family members so might be triggering. The fingerprint info is informative and up their alleys but overall not right book for me to suggest to them

This book was both interesting and at times hard to get through. Shaw, a fingerprint analyzer, is obsessed with solving her sister's cold case. This affects all her relationships, her husband who has left, her father who lives with her and her two sons and exposes her to danger. This is a disturbing man calling her, claiming to be the killer. Tense book

I had high hopes of liking this one but I did have a hard time connecting to the characters. It was fascinating to learn about the science behind fingerprint analysis and the suspense was well done. Just not as I expected. I will be giving other books by this author a shot.

The thriller elements are undeniably compelling—especially the tension in Shaw’s pursuit of justice—but the story felt more like a family drama than a traditional thriller. I really appreciated the many characters (dad, ex husband, sons, sister) and at times they reminded me of my own family. It was sometimes inspiring to see Shaw chase justice for her sister but there were moments when I wished she had given up because it was greatly affecting her loved ones. The push and pull of those moments stood out to me.

The dialogue at times felt a little cringey, though I do think this was intentional - it seemed that Shaw was meant to be the cringey, out of touch older sister (in more ways than just dialogue).

Overall I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read Shaw Connelly Lives to Tell. I did like this book. I love mysteries, This is a Coldcase,where someone has been missing for 16 years. The missing person is Shaw's sister, Thea. Someone has been contacting Shaw, claiming to be her sisters abductor. This has affected her family, her husband and their marriage. Shaw needs to put his mystery to rest, and find out just what happened to her sister and why. The more she learns, the more she puts herself and her children at risk. She can't stop until she knows, and she could die trying. I give this book a 3.5 out of 5.

I had really high hopes for this one. I found Shaw irritating and her personality and attempts at jokes made me uncomfortable. The twist wasn’t really a twist and it honestly took a long time to get interesting. Too many pages and filler of characters that didn’t matter, instead of laying the pieces that tied together the killers existence in her life. The last 30% of the book was fast paced and exciting.

A page-turning, compelling thriller about a woman who will stop at nothing to uncover the truth behind her sister’s disappearance. This is a real thrilling novel and dont read it at night.

Shaw Connolly Lives to Tell by Gillian French
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Shaw Connolly has a stalker. And not just any stalker, this man keeps hinting that he knows what happened to her sister who went missing sixteen years ago. Shaw never gave up looking for her sister, but now she is desperate to find out what happened to her while keeping what’s left of her family safe.
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What I liked:
-Shaw is a fingerprints analyst and I loved learning more about what is involved in that job. Also I really liked all her coworkers.
-I love cold case books. Yes, bestie, let’s solve this cold case that police couldn’t.
-The dog was just the bestest dog.
-I love stories that show a family enduring and learning to become closer, and by the end I could see how that was happening here especially between Shaw and her remaining sister.
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3.5⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 For the most part I enjoyed Shaw’s story. The mystery was really good and I wanted so badly to know what happened to Thea.
The story is a little slow and felt longer than it actually was. Also, I liked Shaw as a character but her sense of humor was a little all over the place.

3.5/5
Thank you @stmartinspress @minotaur_books #partner for the gifted copy of this eARC!

This book was a first for me by this author! Shaw Connelly is very familiar with the seedier side of life. She is a fingerprint analyst that has been witness to a lot of terrible crimes. This time, however, the case is very personal to her. Her sister has disappeared and she becomes obsessed with finding the answers. During the investigation Shaw is receiving calls from a mysterious person named Anders claiming he knows what happened. This only fuels her fire for finding the truth and subsequently everything else in her life is negatively impacted by her need to find answers.

If you like intense cat and mouse books featuring police procedural events and investigations consider this one! I personally really liked how she was a fingerprint analyst and the details surrounding her job. It definitely made the book more interesting to me! I did find the start of the book a little slow and harder to get invested in the characters at first but the ending brought everything full circle and had a satisfying conclusion. The threats and the chase made this book tense at times which I definitely appreciated. This book is perfect for any slow burn police procedural lovers out there! Thank you to my friends in the #sleuthcrew for reading this one with me!

Shaw’s relentless quest to uncover the truth behind her sister’s disappearance collides with her unraveling personal life, creating a gripping exploration of obsession, grief, and resilience. As an analyst grappling with gruesome crime scenes and a menacing caller who knows far too much, Shaw’s journey is both heart-pounding and heart-wrenching. French masterfully builds suspense, intertwining the haunting mystery of Thea’s fate with the escalating danger to Shaw and her family. This novel is a compelling blend of psychological drama and edge-of-your-seat tension, keeping readers hooked until the final revelation.

Sadly, this one was not for me. I love the cover, the plot and the atmosphere of the story, but all in all I did not care for the character's drama and traumas and in the second half of the book everything sounded so predictable and cliché that it totally lost my attention.
The writing, in my opinion, is OK but it doesn't pay off for the rest of the issues this book has.
I wish I had loved it, because I love the cover and the vibes, but it was a huge miss for me.
I'm sure this book will have its audience, but I'm not part of it.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martins Press for the advance copy of this book.

Shaw Connolly is no stranger to trauma. As a fingerprints analyst, she’s one of the first on-site for crimes, including murder scenes and a mysterious string of arsons popping up throughout the rural Maine community her department serves. But the tragedy of her little sister’s disappearance sixteen years ago has always weighed on her the most; Thea is never far from her thoughts or dreams, and Shaw knows that her obsession with finding the truth about Thea is driving her husband away and impacting her two boys. Still, she can't let it go and has even started taking disturbing calls from a man named Anders Jansen who all but claims to have committed the crime.

Anders taunts Shaw with hints and innuendo about what supposedly happened all those years ago. His calls go to the next level as he reveals just how much he knows about Shaw’s personal life, like her stalled career and ruined marriage. As his stalking escalates to threats on her and her family's lives, he begins to show just how dangerous he might be. Shaw is too desperate for answers to hang up now, just when she's getting close to finding proof. The only question left is what she must lose to learn the truth.

I found the book very slow and predictable. I found thewriting disjointed and couldn't really connect with the characters.

2 out of 5 ⭐️