This was a quasi-police procedural that had me hooked from the very beginning. It follows Frankie Elkin, a recovering alcoholic that has experienced some deep trauma in her life. Frankie has replaced one obsession with another - finding missing people. She finds missing persons cases that have gone cold and investigates them herself - just a civilian, no police/detective training. A new case brings her to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a questionable reputation - she is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from her high school months earlier. And Frankie will stop at NOTHING to find her.

I really enjoyed this book - I called it a "quasi-police procedural," because while the police/detectives do play a large role in this book, Frankie herself is just a normal civilian. I thought the book was a little too long - some parts seemed to drag on - but overall I would recommend it! I couldn't see the ending coming, and there was plenty of parts that had my blood pumping. The very ending (not the resolution to the missing persons case but the ending to Frankie's personal life) felt somewhat lackluster - I'd be interested to see if the author turns this into a series so I can see where Frankie goes next!

This book left me speechless afterward and prompted me to pick up so many other works by Lisa Gardner. I'm so excited to read more about Frankie and I'm so happy Lisa Gardner is continuing her story. The portrayal of a recovering alcoholic substituting alcoholism for something else is so realistic and applied to so many other things than just alcoholism. It was also just done so well. I loved the character development and the trip the story took you on, I couldn't get enough of it. I was in a killer reading slump and I can positively say this pulled me right out of it. Highly recommend!

This book seemed very drawn out to me, it may just have been because this book was sort of a “miss” for me. Overall I liked how everything tied up, even tho some of it seem a tad far fetched.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me a chance to review this book.

The best Gardner book I've read! I'm a serious fan of her writing and I couldn't put this one down. My book club read it too! Everyone loved the edge of the seat plot.

This was a good book. The character development was good and I enjoyed the plot. Thank you for letting me read this book.

This review is a 3.5. Overall I liked the book. The book started slow but picked up at the end. Frankie travels the country looking for missing people. She has traveled to Boston to find a missing teenager. The police have had no leads for almost a year. When she first arrives she is met with suspension and hostility. Working with the police and the family she slowing unravels the mystery. I liked the neighborhood and the characters. The mystery was OK but it was easy to solve. I did find the ending of the book sad. Overall it is not a bad thriller

I've been a fan of Lisa Gardner since her first book and she never disappoints. This book was riveting--I stayed up all night to finish!

Ooh, I really loved this one! I love the idea of “regular” people helping to solve crimes, so this story line was right up my alley. I hope to see more novels featuring Frankie!

Even though I only gave this 3 stars, I think it has a good premise for a series. The main character, Frankie Elkin, seems believable and she has made it her life's mission to travel the country and help find "missing" women. The reason for the 3 stars is that I felt there was far too much repetition. They were constantly reviewing where they were in regards to the search and it got a bit tedious. Looking forward to seeing how this series plays out.

Bestselling author Lisa Gardner has penned the first volume in another series at the heart of which is a strong female protagonist. But Frankie Elkins, unlike Detective D.D. Warren, is not a trained professional. Rather, she's an ordinary woman with a troubled past . . . and a mission.

The fictional D.D. Warren is a Detective with the Boston Police Department, a city in which Gardner formerly resided. Frankie once "had a house, a car, a white picket fence . . . " Gardner does not explain what happened, but Frankie has no home now. Rather, she goes wherever the cases lead her and volunteers her time. She has no interest in payment or recognition, and has so far solved fourteen cases without finding a single missing person still alive. Most recently, she located the body of a twenty-two-year old woman locked in a her vehicle at the bottom of a lake. She had been missing for eighteen months. Usually, Frankie finds her next case online, frequenting chat rooms and forums where family members and friends join "crazy people like" her to discuss the investigations conducted by local authorities, and share theories and information. Frankie doesn't own a computer. Instead, she visited the library in the town where her last case concluded.

That has led her to Boston, a city she has never previously visited, in search of Angelique Lovelie Badeau, who was fifteen years old when she disappeared eleven months ago. She walked out of school on Friday afternoon, but never arrived at home. "No sightings. No leads. No breaks in the case." Her friends call her Angel, but she is LiLi to her family.

Mattapan is a Boston neighborhood with the largest Haitian population in the United States, aside from Florida. It is also a rough area populated by poor working people, replete with gang activity and violent crime. That doesn't deter Frankie who arrives determined to find a job and apartment, and commence working the case. She is particularly interested in cases involving minorities.

Frankie is an alcoholic who needs to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings regularly in order to safeguard the sobriety she has maintained for more than nine years. She explains, in the first-person narrative Gardner employs, that she "gave up drinking and took up always being on the move instead." She grew up in a small Northern California town. Her father also drank and her mother worked two jobs in order to support the family. And a man named Paul saved her until she grew strong enough to save herself. She thinks about Paul frequently, but Gardner does not reveal the nature of their relationship or precisely what happened to him. Gardner describes Frankie as "haunted," and "living outside the norms of society — and yet in doing so, finding herself. She is not who the world expects her to be, but she is exactly who she needs to be." She is an endlessly fascinating character, in part because Gardner only offers periodic clues to what motivates her to lead the life she does.

The mystery at the core of this first volume is intricately crafted and populated by intriguing supporting characters. Gardner's story implicates societal issues including immigration, racism, and human trafficking, and is propelled forward at an unrelenting pace as she adds layers of complications, motives, and characters with reasons to keep Frankie from locating the missing girl. Frankie narrowly escapes danger more than once, as she seeks to understand how exactly LiLi went missing, given all of the ways that people's whereabouts are tracked in urban areas. A fifteen-year-old leaves clues through social media, a cellular telephone, friends, and camera feeds located throughout the neighborhood, yet LiLi vanished.

Frankie indeed takes a job in a bar that includes a small, furnished upstairs apartment. An aggressive cat named Piper is included in the deal. Stoney, the owner, is "a man who's seen it all and lived to tell the tale" and can "communicate volumes with a single eyebrow," and he seems to appreciate Frankie and her demons. Frankie's efforts are at first met with skepticism by LiLi's family and, initially, derision by Dan Lotham, the lead detective on the case. But Frankie works to ear the trust of LiLi's family and Lotham recognizes that Frankie gets results -- she has a knack for getting information from people who refuse to cooperate with the authorities -- and if the two of them work together, they might make progress. Because Frankie has no special skills or training, is not a licensed private investigator or affiliated with the local police department, she is not bound by procedures designed to ensure that the rights of subjects or witnesses are not trampled. She can and will submit requests for information in conformity with the Freedom of Information Act or ask the families of the missing to authorize the release of specific documents if law enforcement officials refuse to share information with her. She is committed and determined, and has "a gift for asking the right questions" that Lotham respects and decides to capitalize on. And their attraction is immediate and palpable, but Frankie clearly enunciates her circumstances to ensure that their expectations are manageable and realistic. "Good guys like him have a weakness for train wrecks like me. Just ask Paul," she wryly notes.

Frankie is determined that LiLi's case will be her first real success -- she will find the missing girl alive and return her to her family. But she has to stay alive herself in order to do so. With Before She Disappeared, Gardner lives up to her well-earned reputation as "the master of the psychological thriller." Frankie is a uniquely intriguing, credible character to whom readers will find themselves immediately drawn and invested in her well-being as they strive to understand her. And transfixed to see if she succeeds and, perhaps, decides to remain in Boston with a handsome detective.

Before She Disappeared is Gardner at her very best, which means it is a page-turner that leaves readers clamoring for the next installment.

I love Lisa Gardner and was excited to read this one from her. Love a good crime thriller and this one had all of the elements. It was fast paced and addictive- which made putting it down difficult. Great cast of characters and hopefully the beginning of a new series?

Sincere thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I have been a huge fan of Lisa Gardner through the years. Specifically her D.D. Warren Series. I had drifted away until I recently saw the opportunity to begin a new series.

Well, I will definitely be following up on Frankie Elkin. Simply Frankie is a damaged gal. Mid-life, recovering alcoholic, and amateur sleuth for missing persons. Her story evolves throughout the book and I won't give anything away as it is worth the journey.

This is not Frankie's first case. I realize other reviewers felt we were stepping into the middle of the series as the previous cases are alluded to in the story. Instead we meet Frankie after she has experience in solving cases, has a skillset for questioning people and has guts and nothing to lose. (Personally I like her reflections on some of her previous cases). Gosh I like her. She is willing to drop herself in a tough Boston neighborhood in order to find a young girl who has been missing for 11 months.

I can only tell you it is worth the read and the second in the series is already out and I will be picking it up soon.

Frankie Elkin is running from her past. A very dark past, which includes loss and alcoholism. Rather than running towards serenity and safety, she runs towards trouble. Placing herself right in the middle of missing youth cases, much to the consternation of local authorities and ruffling the feathers of grieving families and hostile community members looking for justice and revenge. Leaving everything behind, Frankie has spent her middle-age years finding answers for stricken loved ones when the missing youth cases have gone cold.

Continued...https://booksuplift.com/before-she-disappeared/

Great new character for Lisa Gardner. I enjoyed the new story line. I will definitely be following this character her future books.

A fast paced book about a recovering alcoholic named Frankie who moves around solving cold cases. Frankies character is likable. She is street smart and has the ability to ask the right questions and pick up on small clues that the police may have overlooked. It’s an interesting concept.

The story line was interesting and the ending was not obvious to me. Although there were kind of a lot of people involved and it was a little hard for me to keep track of some of them.

I liked this book and Frankie’s character and placed a hold for the second book at the library.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book!

This book sucked me in right away, but quickly fell short of my expectations. This book just did not appeal to me like her others.

Lisa Gardner never disappoints. Every time I thought I knew where I was heading the story took another twist. I just couldn't put it down.

BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED is the first time we, as the reader, meet Frankie Elkin. This character starts where others leave off and I love the premise behind that. So many times, mystery and thrillers are centered around detectives or government agents, but Garder changes that with Frankie, our amateur sleuth. Don't fear though, there is still an intriguing investigation and plenty of suspense. This is the first of what I can only hope will be many more books in the series.

Lisa Gardner introduces us to a new tough, intriguing character Frankie who has found her way by searching and finding forgotten missing persons.

“So many of our children have vanished. Too many will never be found, often based solely on the color of their skin” ~ Frankie.

Things I loved

While it took me a bit into the book to warm up to Frankie, I liked that her demons were her regrets and guilt, and she used that to drive her to search for the lost. I felt this gave that broken, tough side a little something different from your typical “broken women” trope. Gardner brilliantly and realistically illustrates Frankie’s struggles with her addiction to alcohol. I loved that Frankie doesn’t fall into those overused tropes used for characters with addiction. While Frankie is an outsider and a loner, she uses that to her benefit to find out what she needs. She is a wise-ass but not cringy, broken but not self-destructive, and tough as nails but not invincible.

“average, middle-aged white woman with more regrets than belongings, more sad stories than happy ones.” ~Frankie

Frankie travels the world searching for missing people cold cases. At first, I questioned who would do that for no money, no recognition, and most of the time with no help. Gardner has taken inspiration from real-life people and shows us through Frankie why.

Frankie searches for teenager Angelique, who doesn’t fit the profile of a typical runaway or type of character often used while relying on the girl missing trope to drive the story forward.

The use of the setting in and around Mattapan. We get a strong sense of community, the streets and what I loved the most is the food. I like to see what and hear what characters are eating and enjoying.

What I didn’t love as much

Here the mystery is solid, something a little different, unpredictable, engaging, and I have no idea how realistic it could be. However, the mystery overshadows the developing characters and their dynamics. I would have preferred a stronger connection to the characters. Often I become more focused on the characters and find them the most appealing part of the story, and the crime becomes second to them.

At times the crime blogged down the story and felt repetitive as Frankie and Lotham hash out what they learn, the clues, and their theories. I wanted to see more into Frankie’s past and what drives her demons of regret and guilt. The pace picks up with the story’s climax, and I enjoy the race against time, and we see Frankie relive some of what drives her guilt

Reason to read this one.

For a solid unpredictable, not what you might expect mystery that even a seasoned reader could be left guessing while trying to figure out the clues as Frankie does. The twists and turns are not shocking or rely on out of the blue didn’t see that coming. It’s a go with the flow and figure out the clues along with Frankie.

This is another well written book by Lisa Gardner. I do not think this is a book I would have picked up if not for who the author was. The story pulls you in right away and is very enjoyable.