Before She Disappeared: the gripping must-read crime thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author

I don't tend to read a lot of missing person type novels as they can be quite distressing, but couldn't pass up the chance of Lisa Gardner's latest book - and it is a cracking read! Frankie Ellon is a bit of a nomad; she owns very little and travels around to wherever there are unsolved missing person cases - ones that are no longer being worked on although there is no satisfactory resolution. It's something she's good at, so she travels around to wherever she feels she is needed to help families find closure. This is how this slight, white woman finds herself in a rough, mainly black, area of Boston where a teenage girl disappeared eleven months ago and her family have been left in limbo. Frankie seeks no fame, fortune or notoriety; only to put matters to rest - one way or the other. As she begins to dig deeper, someone out there doesn't like Frankie's presence.. This is an author who is always worth reading; even though I couldn't see where things were heading at the beginning, nothing would have stopped me from continuing and before long I was completely engaged in an exciting tale. People go missing all the time; we hear about them but rarely discover the whole truth. The characters are skilfully crafted and fully rounded with a wide range of likeable and unlikeable traits. Frankie herself is quite fearless - like her roommate - and she is both tenacious and admirable. I can see why she's so slim - she never stops! The story plays out beautifully with several moments of breath-holding and hearing my hammering pulse! With everything neatly tied off by the end, this is a thrilling novel and one I'm happy to give 4.5*.

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