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Published in USA
Jan 2021
400 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner, a propulsive thriller featuring an ordinary woman who will stop at nothing to find the missing people that the rest of the world has forgotten.
Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman, a recovering alcoholic with more regrets than belongings. But she spends her life doing what no one else will--searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking.
A new case brings her to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a rough reputation. She is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from her high school months earlier. Resistance from the Boston PD and the victim's wary family tells Frankie she's on her own--and she soon learns she's asking questions someone doesn't want answered. But Frankie will stop at nothing to discover the truth, even if it means the next person to go missing could be her.
"[O]utstanding...Frankie, who describes herself as an 'average middle-aged white woman,' is a nuanced character whose unflinching honesty and lack of self-pity allows the reader to empathize, if not completely sympathize, with her struggles...Gardner pulls no punches in this socially conscious standalone." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"It's hard to tag just one stand-out element here, between the multidimensional portrayal of Mattapan's Haitian expat community, Frankie's humanizing demons...and a page-turning plot with all its ends tucked in unpredictably tight...Gardner's latest…is a sure bet both for readers drawn to gritty gumshoe fiction and for the growing legion of true crime podcast fans." - Booklist (starred review)
"An exceptional amateur sleuth thriller…a very recommendable read." - Mystery and Suspense
"To read Lisa Gardner is to put yourself in the hands of a master storyteller. In Before She Disappeared, she gives us a crackling mystery, gritty atmosphere and an unforgettable heroine. I loved the damaged, determined Frankie Elkin. You will, too." - Riley Sager, bestselling author of Home Before Dark
"Nuanced and complex, Before She Disappeared proves once more Lisa Gardner knows how to set a hook better than anyone. It's a 'just one more chapter' thriller that will have you reading into the night. I loved it." - Gregg Olsen, bestselling author of Water's Edge
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Lisa Gardner, a #1 New York Times bestselling thriller novelist, began her career in food service, but after catching her hair on fire numerous times, she took the hint and focused on writing instead. A self-described research junkie, she has transformed her interest in police procedure and criminal minds into a streak of internationally acclaimed novels, published across 30 countries. She's also had four books become TV movies (At the Midnight Hour; The Perfect Husband; The Survivors Club; Hide) and has made personal appearances on TruTV and CNN.
Lisa's books have received awards from across the globe. Her novel, The Neighbor, won Best Hardcover Novel from the International Thriller Writers, while also receiving the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle in France. She was also recognized ...
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