Jim's Reviews > Look for Me

Another page turning, can't stop reading now, thriller from Lisa Gardner featuring Boston Detective D. D. Warren and survivor / vigilante Flora Dane from Find Her. From the opening detailing a dorm room slaying to the climatic ending where the perpetrator is revealed this book was hard to put down and the only reason I did was because I have a job and other responsibilities.

The story alternates between three different voices. D. D. Warren, Flora Dane, and Roxy Baez. Roxy is a sixteen-year-old girl who’s gone missing after her entire family was murdered. Was she lucky to have been away at the time? D. D. and the entire police department are looking for her. If she is innocent why can't she be found? Flora Dane recently started a group for survivors and Roxy had reached out to the group. Flora contacts D. D. While the two of them may not have declared a truce they do form a reluctant alliance. The rest of D. D.'s squad is not thrilled. In fact one of them tells D. D. - "You're crazy". Only someone close to her could get away with saying something like that. In fact while D. D. and Flora are opposites they are very similar. Both have passion and resolve and won't back down. They make a great team.

Roxy's voice is heard through a writing assignment for school. What is the perfect family? Her mother is an alcoholic. She doesn't know who her father is. Neither does her mother. Roxy has had to assume the role of parent in caring for her younger sister and brother because her mother, in her addiction, can't. At one point they get put into the foster care system. A system that is meant to help but often fails those who need the help. It is no wonder that Roxy has difficulty trusting adults and authority figures. It makes for some painful reading.

This is a very enjoyable series and I like how the character of D. D. Warren has developed. She has always been tough, dedicated, and driven but over the course of the series she has gotten married and has a son. She is learning to balance career and family life which is not easy. In this installment they have decided to grant her son's wish for a dog. Now D. D. has to adjust to another member of the household. She is thrilled for Jack but is worried about her shoes.

If you enjoy Angela Marsons's Kim Stone, Robert Dugoni's Tracy Crosswhite, or Linda Castillo's Kate Burkholder series I think you would enjoy this series. While it can be read as a stand alone I would recommend reading in order to see how the character(s) develop.