Imagine being a recovering alcoholic whose only job skills are working in a bar, whose love of her life was killed in front of her, whose worldly possessions consist of 5 worn-out changes of underwear and a couple of tops and jeans and not much else, but who has an abiding desire to help find people who have disappeared as have their cases, now consigned to the "cold" category. As far as a stretch as it may seem, Lisa Gardner, inspired by women who take on these cold cases not for money but to fulfill deep needs within themselves, has written a compelling, sympathetic novel that I could not put down, even when I had figured out who was the villain but not why LiLi and her friend Livia had gone missing. In a lesser writer's hands this story would not have sung as it does under Gardner's fine pen. Whether or not this becomes a series, I'm glad to have had the chance to get a peek into Frankie's life and her fifteenth solved cold case..

Frankie helps people find missing family members. This time she is in the Boston area looking for Angelique who has been missing for approximately 1 year. She investigates separately from the police and has been successful in finding 14 missing people so far, unfortunately they have been found murdered. This time there is evidence that Angelique is still alive, but can Frankie find her before it is too late?

This thriller is very engaging. Frankie is exploring a lower-income Boston neighborhood, trying to figure out what led to Angel's disappearance. The neighborhood of Mattapan is described in such vivid detail throughout. With the help of Angel's family, the neighborhood police liaison, and her friends from AA she is able to piece together the facts little by little. The way the story is mixed together with Frankie's own past is unique and interesting - you just get little glimpses of her past here and there which leave you wanting more. This book was compulsively readable, the ending was unexpected and I really enjoyed it.

I was interested to learn that this is Gardner's first standalone novel in many years and I hope not her last.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I really enjoyed this read. It covered some angles and situations I hadn’t read about in other thrillers (fake students visas, immigration issues, intelligent teenage female victims). You can tell the author did a ton of research. I also did not have the mastermind pegged, which I usually do rather quickly as I read way too many thrillers. I sincerely hope Gardner writes more standalone novels!

Before She Disappeared
Lisa Gardner
January 19, 2021

Frankie Elkin, a recovering alcoholic, succeeds one more time at finding a lost soul. Lani Whitehorse was assumed to have left her home to head for other places. Tribal police had given up finding her, Lani’s mother cried when she heard the news that her daughter’s body had been found in the bottom of lake in an old chevy truck. It was time for Frankie to move on, continue on a journey to Boston. Her last cases had been in small country towns, such a change it will be. Large populations, busy city streets, but the case she had chosen begged her to carry on. Angelique Badeu is only 15 years old. She disappeared eleven months ago. An excellent student from a poor but loving home she was finishing high school early and taking classes from a local college to get a start on the road in medicine. You say, is Frankie Elkin a private investigator? A police detective? Who pays her way? What challenges her to continue such a path? Well Frankie is 9 years and change sober. Yes she has had a setback or two but after getting back on the path she carries on. She makes her living as a bartender. Tries to get a room to connect with the job. When she arrives at Stoney’s Bar and Grill dragging her one suitcase, she makes her way into a smoke filled, dark room. Stopping to assess the new digs she discovers that she is the only white person in the room.
Now I have read many Lisa Gardner books and enjoyed her mysteries. This one is so intriguing. I was drawn completely into Frankie’s life immediately. Her job must be very difficult let alone switching her world around after each case is completed. She needs to convince the victim’s family that she is not asking for anything but finding their loved one. She makes no guarantees that he/she will be alive, only that their lost relation’s case will be solved.
Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner will be published by Dutton of Penguin Random House on January 19, 2021. Mystery lover? This book is not to be missed. This is an independent novel as most of her publications are. I was so impressed by this latest endeavor. Gardner tells the tale of Elkin’s daily life, as a diary. This one is 5+ stars. Here’s hoping you enjoy it as I did.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Frankie Elkin finds people - people who are missing and no one is looking anymore. She comes into town, does her job, and moves on to the next case.

Angelique Badeau has been missing for 11 months when Frankie appears on the scene in Boston. Can Frankie find Angelique before it is too late?

I really enjoyed this book - fast-paced, but a little bogged down in parts - it still kept me guessing and interested all the way until the end.

I already know I’m going to love Frankie. She’s a white, middle-aged woman who has dedicated her life to looking for missing people, especially those people that some have given up on. She has her demons though, which I spend much time trying to piece together. I also believe this book has come at such a perfect time, touching on racism and discrimination.

“So many of our children have vanished. Too many will never be found, often based solely on the color of their skin. Maybe the question shouldn’t be why am I doing this, but why isn’t everyone looking?”

For 11 months Angelique Lovelie Badeau, known to her friends as Angel, has been missing in Boston. There is a bit of a white savior complex in this book but over time you see how much Frankie works with the locals. With a steamy side romance that has me hooked on this story even more. Whenever I think I know what’s going to happen, I’m thrown off by a new turn of events. An ending I speed-read through because I have to know all the pieces. I honestly didn’t see it coming, which I usually don’t in Lisa Gardner books and makes me love the book even more.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC copy of this in return for my honest review.

There is a missing teen in a Haitian neighborhood of Boston. The trail is cold and no leads are left. In enters our protagonist, Frankie Elkin. She’s a white, alcoholic, drifter with a quick wit and lots of determination. Will she be able to find our missing girl?

This book grabbed me at the beginning and was an amazing read. The character, Frankie, had so many different layers and I couldn’t get enough of her. Perhaps Lisa Gardner will develop more stories featuring her? We can only hope because it will be much anticipated! There is so much to love about this quick paced crime novel. Ms. Gardner has hit this one out of the park!

Loved the main character, Frankie!!! This mystery had me on the edge of my seat the entire time! Full of clues and questions. Great book by a great author!!!!

I received an ARC copy of #BeforeSheDisappeared from #NetGalley for a review.

This was an excellent read. I loved the way it was written from the main character's POV. It really allowed her personality to come through, making her that much more likeable. The story really sucked me in & I read most of the book in one day. I really hope there will be more books featuring this character.

This missing person mystery was very convoluted, but everything was brought to a reasonable conclusion in the end.

Our new heroine was a smart, sassy, skinny white girl who was carrying waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much baggage. I very much appreciated the relationship she developed in the book with the locals (mostly Haitian) in Mattapan. I also appreciated the way our author presented the development of trust and friendships in that situation.

It was very interesting and definitely worth a read.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, in exchange for an honest review.

Lisa Gardner never disappoints. A great mystery to curl up with during the pandemic to escape reality and get lost. Some mystery writers are predictable but not Lisa Gardner

Fast paced, suspenseful, and gritty makes this stand alone mystery one hard to put down. Frankie, fighting her own demons, is surviving only by fighting for others. Doggedly trying to find an missing fifteen year old Haitian girl, Frankie will go to extremes to obtain information about her whereabouts. When one missing teen becomes two, the mystery deepens into many rabbit holes to explore. At times Frankie's past will shed light to where she's been and provide glimpses of why she is the way she is. I loved the details of the neighborhood and it's residents. The local flavor added much to the story. Piper is a special addition to the bar -- loved him! Highly recommended!!

I really loved Lisa Gardners latest psychological thriller, Before She Disappeared. The premise of the story was really intriguing. A broken woman name Frankie, takes to the streets investigating missing person cases across the country. She has nothing to lose, as she has already lost it all .Every day is a fight to maintain her sobriety and escape the demon of her one true love, Paul. Frankie fights to locate underprivileged missing youths, when the families and authorities have already given up. The story of Angels disappearance was heart pounding! I found myself speed reading to learn what happened and who was responsible.. I felt a connection to both the victims, their families and Frankie. A great read. 4 stars.

Before She Disappeared
A Novel
by Lisa Gardner
Read an Excerpt
PENGUIN GROUP Dutton
You Like Them
Dutton
General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 19 Jan 2021 | Archive Date 19 Feb 2021

I really enjoy Lisa Gardner thrillers. This is her first stand-alone I believe in 20 years. It was worth the wait. A great book that kept me interested. I will recommend this to our patrons. Thanks to Penguin Group Dutton and Netgalley for the ARC.
4 stars

This was my first book by Lisa Gardener but it definitely won’t be my last! I’m a new fan! I was shocked to see this was her first standalone book in 20 years and boy did it deliver. I enjoyed this slow burn thriller about a woman who spends her life searching for missing persons. The premise was intriguing and the plot delivered.

Before She Disappeared is a solid, gripping standalone mystery that will definitely appeal to many. It follows the chilling disappearance of a 16-year-old girl, that gets more and more complex as new discoveries come to light. The characters are well-executed, and I thoroughly enjoyed the dialogue and the dash of romance. If you’re looking to meet an incredible heroine, regardless of how the mystery in question unfolds, I think you’re in for a treat with this one.

Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner

Frankie Elgin is a recovering alcoholic with such guilt and heartbreaking memories that she lives her life like a death wish in action. For the last ten years she has been on a one woman mission to find the missing. She has succeeded in finding sixteen missing persons, all the cases that she has taken on, and she has no plans to stop looking for more missing people as long as she is alive. Frankie has no home, no friends, no possessions other than what she can carry in a bag and she has no plans to ever change that fact. Nothing is going to hold her down and no one is going to tell her what to do.

Frankie's latest case brings her to Mattapan, a Haitian Boston neighborhood where she stands out in every way possible, including the fact that she goes walking around at night, a middle aged, white woman drawing attention to herself by her very existence, in this neighborhood who doesn't want her there. But often, people will talk to Frankie when they won't talk to law enforcement and Frankie makes quick inroads on the case of missing sixteen year old Angelique Badeau. Frankie is going to find out what happened to Angelique or die trying. I became fond of many of the side characters in this story and would love for there to be another one featuring Frankie and this neighborhood but Frankie isn't likely to allow such a thing because any attempt to grow roots or attachments to people are snuffed out as soon as Frankie finds what she is looking for. 

This was my first story by Lisa Gardner and now I plan to go way back to her early writing to start her series that features Detective D.D. Warren. Thanks to my friend DeAnn, for suggesting that I do so. We have a lot of fun reading ahead of us. 

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP/Dutton and NetGalley for this ARC.

Was able to read only an excerpt from this book. From the description, as well as the excerpt, I look forward to reading the entire novel.

I am reviewing this editorially for Library Journal so you will have to see the Mid January issue for my thoughts on this novel

I am a big Gardner fan, and this latest effort will continue that -- in spades. We are introduced to an interesting character, a reformed alcoholic woman who tries to find missing children around the country. She works as a pickup bartender for tips but her real passion is as a civilian advisor to the cops. Only one thing -- she usually finds her targets -- but too late, after they die at the hands of their abductors. Determined not to extend that record, she comes to suburban Boston and starts shaking up the missing case of a talented teen who doesn't come home from school one Friday afternoon. The clock is ticking and the clues starting piling up. With this latest missive, you don't miss some of Gardner's old characters one bit, and I hope she follows up with a sequel. Highly recommended.