Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
“See It End” is the third novel in the “Dr. Gretchen White” series, by author Brianna Labuskes. As a criminologist, psychologist and certified sociopath, Gretchen has consulted on many police investigations. Using her instinct, her experience and her knowledge, there are some cases that only White can help solve. In the newest novel, White’s partner in the police force, Lauren Marconi, is arrested for a grisly murder but Gretchen seems to be the only person who knows Lauren is innocent. Forced to team up with Lauren’s partner, IA officer Lachlan Gibbs, Gretchen has more on the line than ever as she works to save her closest, and only, friend.
“See It End” is the first novel I’ve read by Labuskes, so I jumped into the Gretchen White series completely blind, without background knowledge of the characters. I was completely intrigued by the sociopath criminologist that is Dr. White, and when combined with a murder investigation police procedural? I couldn’t turn it down. That being said, I do regret not reading the other novels in the series. Although this novel was not completely unreadable, I struggled to keep up with the complicated character relationships that had been developed in the other novels.
I enjoyed the character of Gretchen, as I knew I would, and the plot was gripping and entertaining. The story is told by both Gretchen and Lauren (as well as another woman named Martha who is integral to the plot), in both the past (before Lauren is arrested) and the present. As the story develops, I found it easier to follow the plotline and was even able to relate to the female protagonists. The ending was solid, with a few openings for future novels in the series, as you’d expect.
The male suspects (Grant and Owen) had an intricate and confusing relationship, and I found the plotline with these two individuals challenging to follow. I am not sure if they were around in the other novels, but it didn’t seem like it. Labuskes seemed to throw Owen in to distract readers from the real killer, but then had to make up a complicated and detailed storyline to make him fit.
Overall, Labuskes has creativity and ingenuity when it comes to plot development, and “See It End” was able to keep me engaged through to the end, even without reading the previous novels. This is one of those stories which is far more entertaining to those who have read the series in its complete and proper order. I will, however, gladly take a chance on Labuskes again, without regret.

This is my first book I’ve read by Brianna Labuskes and I was surprised to read that it was the third in the series because I never felt I was missing any prior knowledge about the characters.

It is a fast paced thriller. The chapters alternate between several characters, some written in the present and some are flash backs.. Young boys are missing and suspects are uncovered. But it is not that simple and the book takes many twists and turns along the way as unawares are unraveled.

I am very happy that I was chosen to read and review this book. I will be reading all the prior books written by this author., and look forward to reading anything else she writes and publishes.

Absolutely thrilling and kept me turning the page and on the edge of my seat. I loved it and will highly recommend to others.

This is a well written book and a first read for me from this author! All the characters were fantastic and each played a valuable part within the story. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

First thank you Netgalley for an advance copy for my honest opinion.

This book is a page-turning, can't put down, and keeps you guessing thriller.

The characters were likable and each contributed their own clues to the plat. They were well-developed.

This was my first read by this author and I will definitely be reading more.

I highly recommend this title!

See it End, by Brianna Labuskes, is an impossible to put down, fast paced suspense. This one kept me up long past bedtime! The characters are interesting, complex and a few are even more than a little likable.
Dr. Gretchen White and Detective Lauren Marconi are back! This time Gretchen needs to rescue Lauren after she's been arrested for a murder that she says she committed. No matter the evidence or what Lauren has told her, Gretchen has no doubts that she is innocent. The only thing she needs to find out is why is Lauren lying about having done it.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was my first book by Brianna Labuskes, and I couldn't put it down! The MC, Dr. Gretchen White was a unique and interesting character. See It End was so hard for me to put down. The twists and suspense kept coming and I just enjoyed this one so much! Now I have to go back and read the first and second books in this series. I'm not sure how I missed that this was book #3.

Highly recommend this suspenseful and twisty read!

Another day, another series

SUMMARY:
Gretchen is a consultant for the Bostson Police Department. One day after she finishes her date, she finds her friend Lauren Marconi, who works as a homicide detective, approaching her with hands full of blood, and Lauren asks to promise her "Don't investigate". Then, not long after that, Lauren is arrested by police for murdering someone, but Gretchen is convinced that her friend is hiding something, so in order to prove Lauren innocent, she begins to investigate the case. As she starts digging for the truth, it turns out that something is hiding behind the darkness...

👁️‍🗨️This story is told in third person POV alternate among (Gretchen, Lauren, and Martha)

🕰️There are Multiple Timelines in
here.(Before, Then, and Now)

MY THOUGHTS:
📌 I urge you to read this series in order if you want to totally understand and not miss anything from each character's backstory.

📌 At the beginning of the book, I couldn't connect with the story (my brain was miles away from my kindle), so I had to re-read some chapters again, but even after re-reading it, I felt like I was missing something.

However, once I understood the main case here, it began to be more exciting. Though the multiple timelines were messing with my mind, but it was still okay.

📌 Though this book has 377 pages (Kindle version), I did not feel it was long or even boring.

📌I loved the plot, and the execution was great; it totally lived up to my expectations when I picked up this book. Twist after twist is served right into the pages. There were things that caught me off guard.

I really thought it would be an easy-to-read book with a simple case and a predictable twist, but hell no!

📌 Also, every character had their own important role and a balance portion; even their kids played as a very important clue and twist. Nothing is unlikeable character in here, well...despite the bad guys.

📌 For me, the ending was satisfying, and justice was well served.

MY PROBLEM:
⚠️ I wish I had read this series in order so I could fully understand the characters, because I wanted to know them better. So maybe I could give it a higher rating than 3 stars, but these 'puzzled' feelings stopped me from rating it higher.

EXTRA THOUGHT:
There is one character named Lauren Marconi, and whenever her name is written on the page, I kept pronouncing it as macaroni. Now I'm thinking maybe I should cook my macaroni that have been lying on my kitchen counter for a while.(I have to check out the exp date first🤣)

CREDIT:
Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer, for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was completely hooked from the very beginning! The murder mystery in this book was absolutely thrilling, and I loved the dynamic between Gretchen and Lauren. It was great to see their relationship grow and evolve over the course of the story. I also appreciated the inclusion of Lauren's boyfriend, Lachlan, who added an interesting layer to the plot.
The pacing of the book was spot-on, with just the right amount of suspense to keep me guessing until the very end. I was genuinely surprised by the killer's identity, which is always a sign of a well-crafted mystery. And, as always, the writing was top-notch and kept me engaged throughout.
Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good psychological suspense novel. And if you haven't read any of the books in this series yet, do yourself a favor and start at the beginning! The characters are fantastic and the stories are always captivating.

Brilliant addition to the series, once again throwing our characters into something which takes a lot to work through.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy.

This drama began with a murder confession by a police detective (Lauren Marconi) to her forensic psychologist best friend (and sociopath), Gretchen White. Lauren got into Gretchen's car with blood on her hands, stating "I did it. Don't investigate." This mystery was intertwined with a larger mystery of kidnapped boys, presumedly murdered.
Gretchen did not believe that her friend Lauren actually committed the murder because as an experienced detective, she would have never left clues that would lead to her (over and above her confession). She teamed up with the head of Internal Affairs with the Boston PD (where the murder occurred) and in spite of their tense relationship, (he was also Lauren's boyfriend), managed to track down the true story. No spoilers here...
The twist was lightly hinted throughout the story, but I wasn't completely surprised with it and the ending and resolution was satisfying and well developed.
The story was told by 3 different women - Gretchen (now), Lauren (then) and Martha (before) in a nonlinear time structure that wove the stories together. I found it confusing and felt that it diluted the impact of the story especially with the many other characters who made short appearances, often with backstories that were completely unrelated to this story, and the multiple venues in both this story and the back story.
I received a complementary ARC of this book, and the opinions expressed are completely my own.

🌟🌟🌟🌟
The third book in the Dr. Gretchen White series not only has Detective Lauren Marconi arrested for murder but she admits to doing it! While everyone else might be able to accept this and consider the case closed, Dr. Gretchen White knows that if Lauren had committed the murder, she wouldn’t have been caught.

This was my first book by the author and I jumped into it without reading the first two in the series. I was hooked from the start and didn’t feel lost by joining the party while it was already in full swing. Now I’m super curious and want to know more about these intriguing and damaged characters…especially Dr. White the Sociopath!

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer for providing this gifted ARC through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

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What a brilliant book and can't wait to read more in this sequence. A great, clever and intriguing and very interesting and intelligent book xx

See It End by Brianna Labuskes
Thomas & Mercer
Publication: 18 April 2023
5 ⭐️

"See It End" is the third book in the Dr. Gretchen White series. I didn't realize this book was part of a series when I requested it on Netgalley. I just found the synopsis quite interesting. Technically, you can read this book without having to read its predecessors, as you are reminded of them in this book. However, I did go ahead and read "A Familiar Sight" and "What Can't Be Seen" because I wanted to get the whole experience of Dr. Gretchen White, and I'm glad I did. I enjoyed the plot and characters of all three books. Fingers crossed 🤞🏾 this series will continue on!
Thank you, Netgalley, Thomas & Mercer, and Brianna Labuskes, for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Boston Police Department Detective Lauren Marconi was waiting outside the restaurant where she knew her friend and coworker, Dr. Gretchen White, the criminologist, was having dinner. With literal blood on her hands, her shirt, and under her nails, Lauren confessed to killing Owen Hayes. Hayes was a man she long suspected to be the one who kidnapped and killed her young son, Elijah, and many other young boys between the ages of seven and nine as well; however, he always had a convenient alibi as to why he was in the same place at the same time. Lauren asked Gretchen to leave it alone, and to promise she wouldn’t investigate, confessing to killing Hayes execution-style, with two bullets to the back of his skull. Leaving Gretchen, Lauren went directly to the head of Internal Affairs and confessed. Enlisting the help of Lauren’s boyfriend, Lachlan Gibbs, Detective of Internal Affairs and straight-arrow, Gretchen set out to investigate in order to clear Lauren of the charges. Gretchen insisted that if Lauren really did kill Hayes, there is no way anyone would have known, nor would she have blood on her the way she did. After all, Lauren was a homicide detective and knew how to kill a man without a trace. Once Gretchen is forced to dig in to Lauren’s secrets, she begins to doubt herself, as it seems she’s uncovering more questions than answers. However, Gretchen knows better than most that not everything is as it seems, and Lauren’s future depends on her seeing this investigation through to the end.

“See It End” is another well-written, exciting, action-packed thriller/police procedural from author Brianna Labuskes. The characters are well-developed, and the dialog is believable, plus there are twists, turns, and red herrings to keep the reader guessing. Dr. Gretchen White is a fascinating character, complex, dramatic, and realistic, Lachlan is a pretty wishy-washy boyfriend though, in my opinion. He is more concerned with watching his own back and not bending any rules than about the woman he supposedly loves. If not for his badge, I doubt Gretchen and Lachlan would have ever teamed up together; Gretchen has a fabulous network of contacts that provide all of the information she needs! Gretchen may have her own psychopathy, but she certainly has a soft spot for Lauren, who has never given up on Gretchen and found a way to work quite well with her, developing a bond that Gretchen honors. I was definitely hooked from the beginning, throughout the changing of characters with the chapters and the back and forth between present and past. That doesn’t always work for me, but I found it worked very well here. I would highly recommend this work to fans of thrillers and police procedurals. Though this was Book 3 of the Dr. Gretchen White series, it was the first I’ve read and worked exceptionally well as a stand alone.

I’d like to thank NetGalley, Brianna Labuskes, and Thomas and Mercer for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Such a well written story. I did read this as a stand-a-lone so I did miss the background of Gretchen but other than that, I made it through just fine. I really enjoyed the suspense and mystery from the beginning. This story kept me glued to this book and couldn't wait to get through to the end. I can't wait to go back and read the first two books.

This Sociopath Makes A Very Good Friend

The novel opens with Dr. Gretchen White on a dinner date. She immediately demonstrates her personality in the first sentence as her date is boring, and she wonders if her steak knife was sharp enough to open up her date’s carotid artery. She decides that it would be better if she just gets up and just walks out. Once outside, she checks her recent text thread with her friend, Det. Lauren Marconi. During the dinner, she sent a text of a series of steak knives. Lauren had received the text but had not responded yet that she usually does immediately. She walks to her car and opens the door. She sees Lauren sitting in her car. Gretchen starts telling her that she is going to sue her over this dinner date when she notices blood on her fingers. Gretchen jokingly asked who she killed. Lauren said that she did it. Then, she tells Gretchen not to investigate. Lauren immediately exits the car and disappears. The next morning, Lauren turns herself in. From this surprising start, the novel starts.

The main storyline consists of three threads. The chapters are labeled as before, then, and now. The novel starts in the then period when Lauren is a patrol officer in Montpelier, Vermont. She is called to an isolated farmhouse and learns some disturbing information of possible serial young boy abductions. The storyline follows her investigation in Montpelier, through her investigation while a police officer in Amherst, and finally as a detective in Boston. The new thread is narrated by Gretchen as she tries to unravel what started all those years ago and how it led to the current murder. As her unofficial investigation proceeds with the help of a Boston Police detective, flash backs to the before or then threads provide a first-person view of what they saw happening. The author wove this jumping back and forth into a very captivating storyline. The suspense was heightened by the danger of continued abductions that included Lauren’s son, and son of her friends. Also, the abductions may have been more extensive and may still be happening. Of course, there is the pending conviction of Lauren for murder to which she already is pleading guilty. I literally could not stop reading this novel.

The B-storyline in this novel is exceptionally rich. The reader is treated to how Lauren acts in Montpelier to threats to her and friends’ families, and her deep relationship with her police chief. Her character is shown through her persistence in the investigation, and how she learned from her early mistakes to minimize the threats to her professional life. After reading this novel, I had a much more knowledge of what made Lauren’s character. I enjoyed this very much.

For the aspects of this novel that turns off some readers, first there are not any sex scenes though there are a few quick references to that occurring. There is some vulgar and rude language. Most of it comes from Gretchen as she is an acknowledge sociopath who is quick to use bluntness and colorful language to belittle anyone who bores her. Most of the violence is implied or described after the fact, but some is described in the more edgy as it occurs. These aspects for me were noticeable but not near an objectionable level for me. Also, I believe that you can read this novel first in this series as I did not find any unexplained references to a previous novel in this series that I have read.

For my personal assessment, the jumping back to non-sequential times and back to the present makes this read a little challenging. With one of the main characters is a sociopath and while I do not appreciate them in real life, in this novel Gretchen is a marvelous character whose unfiltered comments and thoughts provide an interesting insight into her and other characters in an entertaining manner. I found that all loose ends and questions of mine that arose while reading were answered, I was happy with the ending even though I did find it a little bittersweet.

I have read two previous book by this author, included one in this series. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this and the two other books. I have raised the author’s rating up to my Must-Read category. As a result, I have purchased the missing novels from this and a previous series. I recommend reading this novel and am looking forward to reading her future novels. I rate this novel with five stars.

I received a free prepublication e-book version of this novel through NetGalley from Thomas & Mercer. My review is based only on my own reading experience of this book. I wish to thank Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.

4.5 ⭐️‘s
Marconi and Gretchen are partners for the Boston Police Department. When Marconi shows up one night with blood on her hands, she told Gretchen “I did it”. Everything looks cut and dried, but Gretchen doesn’t believe it.

Nine years ago Marconi worked in Montpelier, Vermont. When she is called out one snowy night on a domestic, her whole world is about to change. Marconi is sure there is a serial killer in their midst. Marconi won’t let go, but without evidence, she only gets herself in trouble and opens up her own life to overwhelming pain.

Gretchen has her own set of issues and doesn’t always go by the book. She has a head start since it’s the weekend and she’ll do whatever it takes to prove Marconi’s innocence.

This book was quite twisty with a gritty plot and flawed characters. A definite page turner from start to finish as secrets are slowly revealed. This was the first book I’ve read by Brianna Labuskes and I’m looking forward to reading MANY more!!

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Thank you to the author, Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book in a series, which I did not realize when I requested an ARC. I had not read the first two books in the series and found reading this as a stand-alone a bit of a challenge. It felt as though I was missing some key information to be able to understand the protagonist and her POV. Crumbs of this information were dropped in, but I didn't feel like I really had a handle on who the protagonist was and what shaped her behavior and choices. This made the story as a whole a more disjointed reading experience than it should have been. I am sure that for those familiar with the backstory, this will be a compelling read.

It’s always a different read when I pick up one of Labuskes books. As the third book in the series we’ve already met Gretchen and Lauren. Gretchen is an acquired taste, genius, educated and self important. Lauren is the no nonsense police detective with an unknown past. They aren’t working together this time as Gretchen works with Gibbs to get Lauren out of a jam. Missing boys, a basement, secrets, and assumptions. It’s up to Gretchen and Gibbs to follow Lauren’s breadcrumbs and find the true predator and/or killer. The story is told in alternating views from Gretchen in present time and switching to Lauren in the past as she research/stalks people. I’ll admit it’s a tough read to follow the dots, the twists and turns, and making the same leaps as Gretchen. I was able to read an advanced copy from NetGalley and leave this review voluntarily.