Before She Disappeared focuses on an investigator, Frankie, who focuses on missing person cases, trying to track down people who have gone missing free of charge. Frankie arrives in Mattapan, Boston, where teenager Angelique lived with her aunt and brother, before she went missing 11 months ago.

Author Lisa Gardner has written an atmospheric story which kept me wanting to read on. The characters are interesting, although I struggled to really connect with Frankie until quite far into the novel. She is, overall, a likable character though and she is really trying to atone for her past. She feels well developed as a character as the novel continues.

I didn’t find myself hugely addicted to the plot but I did find it intriguing and enjoyable.

The plot is complex enough without being too complicated, and the story builds up the tension nicely. I enjoyed this atmospheric read and, although it seems Lisa Gardner hasn’t released a standalone novel for a long time before this one, I really enjoyed this book – it makes me want to read more by her, and try some of her other, very well known, series.

A really enjoyable mystery thriller! 

In America there's a group of people who's main goal is to find missing people. They are not trained professionals but amateurs who look into cold cases because like the author says sometimes you just need the right person to ask the right questions at the right time.
This is the premise of this book. They don't do it for money or fame but to try and unite loved ones. 

The main character is as flawed as you can get. A recovering alcoholic who is being chased by ghosts from her past.  She likes to get into peoples faces and is not scared to ask tough questions. She has set her mind on finding a girl from Mattapan in Boston who disappeared eleven months before. Will she finally be able to find someone alive and will she be able to lay her demons to rest? 

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

This was so good, the writing was like you was there following the clues as Frankie got them to find the missing girls. Best book of the year so far, I enjoyed every bit of it.

A fast paced thriller which is cleverly written and entertaining to read. I skipped through it in a couple of days, very keen to find out how it would end.
Frankie Elkin is a recovering alcoholic and a loner. She moves from place to place searching for missing persons on whom the police have all but given up.
She arrives in Boston in order to find Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who has been missing for almost a year.  Angelique disappeared after school one day and never made it home to her aunt and brother who live in a poor part of the city. 
Frankie has her own secrets and regrets- the book is written in the first person and gradually her story is revealed as she searches desperately for Angelique, hoping against hope that she will be the first of her 14 missing person cases to be found alive.
I really liked Frankie as a character- she hides a lot of herself  from other people, not keen to give too much away and consequently she does not make friends easily, yet she’s great at asking the right questions and putting herself in the shoes of the missing. She is desperate to find Angelique, it’s almost as if she is searching for her to atone for her own perceived guilt for something that has happened in her own past.
Guilt and atonement seem to be a major part of this book. However hard Frankie tries she cannot escape from her own past.
It seems to me that this novel could be the first in a new series featuring Frankie Elkin and I would definitely be keen to read another to see how she progresses as a character.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the drifting mystery solving character of Frankie- seemingly rootless and purposeless but with a real talent for finding the tiny clues that solve old disappearances and finally provide answers to families.
The disappearance of a teen from her high school attracts her attention and she ingratiates herself with the family and police and begins the process of untangling all the previously unseen hints, clues and strange occurences that ultimately tease out the truth. Frankie consistently sees things or reaches conclusions that the police either did not see or dismissed as unimportant and she leads them to the resolution of the case in an unassuming way that belies her talent.

What a fabulous story that kept me guessing right to the end. Fiction Book of the last 12 months for me, rated against the 70+ that I have read. It is only when you get to read something outstanding like Before She Disappeared that the other books that you have read lose a bit of their lustre.

A totally original piece of fiction that is tied to the fact that there are amateur "missing person" groups out there. I loved it and I believe you will too.

A salutary read given how many people go missing every year without trace. I always used to enjoy Without A Trace. Started really well but then went rather slow and my attention wavered and wandered. Overlong too.
If you see it in the bookcase at a hotel and you need something to read by the pool you could do worse

Thanks to Penguin Random House and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book. It resonated with me from the very first page... but before I say anything else here's a little more about the book.
Before I even opened a page, I was drawn to this book for many reasons. Firstly, I've
been waiting for a new Lisa Gardner book for what seems like an eternity,  so no way was I going to miss the chance of reading this. Then, there's the subject matter - the idea of someone close to me going missing without trace sends shivers down my spine and the fact that there are so many missing people out there is chilling. However, until I read the acknowledgments of this book I was unaware of just how many ordinary people dedicate their lives to bringing resolution to the families of the missing by investigating what happened to them.  Before She Disappeared is a tribute to all of those selfless people who do just that. It is also an extremely well-written, well- researched story which gets to the heart and emotions of the subject. 
Frankie Elkin fascinated me. What would drive a woman to live a nomadic lifestyle, moving with her belongings in her back pack from one missing persons investigation to another? Frankie's demons follow her wherever she goes and it is this dynamic that makes her so interesting. Unlike the police Frankie is able to get under the victims' families' reserves. She is tenacious, dedicated and completely fearless. Yet, there lurks a vulnerability about her that makes you want to find out more about her. I found it refreshing to see a main character who is a middle-aged woman too. 

Taking us into the heart of the Haitian community near Boston and with sensitivity and honesty Gardner delivers a narrative that brings the community and neighborhood to life - from the food, to the problems with immigration, to police attitudes and friendships. 

The search for Angelique Badeau, the missing girl, is nuanced with detail, emotion, realism and is also balanced and thoughtful. With action , threats and prejudice to contend with Frankie will no be diverted from her path to find the girl and work out why she went missing. 

I hope we haven't seen the last of Frankie Elkin, because I for one am a committed fan. 

Before She Disappeared is my favourite read of 2021, so far and it will take a whopper of a read to shift it from that position.

A brand new stand-alone novel from Lisa Gardner, our protagonist Frankie Elkin is a recovering alcoholic who is on a mission to help families find their missing loved ones. 

This was fast paced from the get go - I was hooked from the first chapter to the last page. I really enjoyed the new addition of Frankie Elkin, and I'm hoping we see her added to the characters we see regularly. With being set in Boston and with scenes, I was hoping we'd see my favourite D.D. Warren but sadly we don't. However, there is so much going on and a great storyline to follow that you don't really miss her.

I really really enjoyed this and would recommend to fans of thrillers and of course anyone who has read any previous Lisa Gardner novels.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review</i>

This is my first book by this author and I'm sure it won't be my last. I absolutely loved the heroine of this tale, Frankie Elkin, a middle aged ex-alcoholic with demons of her own. She's made it her life's mission and crusade to look for the missing people once the police stop looking.

The story is set in tough Mattapan, a neighbourhood in Boston and to help her survive while she's looking for missing Haitian teenager, Angelique Badeau she takes a job which comes with a room in a local bar. The locals are suspicious of this white stranger and it takes a while for her to be accepted.

The Police understandably are unhappy and say they're leaving her to it. The lead cop in Angelique's investigation helps her out from time to time and they become friends of sorts. I found the story action packed with very interesting characters and I felt the author really knew the Mattapan area well.. I love how once Frankie starts a job she just doesn't stop. I'm hoping this is the first in a long line of Frankie Elkin stories. I absolutely loved it.

#BeforeSheDisappeared #NetGalley just finished reading this mystery thriller by 
@LisaGardnerBks  and what a good story, with likeable characters, keeping you guessing to the very end, keeps you turning the pages to read more and more.

I’m such a fan of Lisa Gardner that I always preorder her books as soon as they are available, even if they are still without a blurb! She’s a must read for me and so I was really looking forward to Before She Disappeared-and I wasn’t disappointed!

Before She Disappeared introduces us to Frankie Elkin, a woman with a traumatic past who searches for missing people when everyone else has given up. Her latest “case” is searching for a young Haitian girl who disappeared into thin air one day after school but moving into the rough neighbourhood where Angelique lived means that she is fighting against pretty much everyone to get any information about the girls life…

I love a flawed character so Frankie was a total gift for me! What has happened to her in the past has severely damaged her and she is fighting her demons every single day but her determination to find the missing people she seeks and bring closure to their families gives her what she needs to get up in the morning. Well, if she could without injury! A new flat mate means that the dangers she faces are much closer to home than expected! The characters Frankie meets on her journey are memorable-some likeable, others not, but all have a story to tell.

This is a powerful thriller with some topical subjects at the forefront of the plot delivering a believable and relatable storyline. Lisa Gardner has once again kept me on the edge of my seat with her vividly described and atmospheric setting and a protagonist that I took my heart. A brilliantly conceived idea for a novel that was carried out to perfection!

I have only good words about this book, it captured me since the first page. I don’t know if this will be a series in the future or it will stay like a standalone novel, but I really liked the main character; Frankie Elkin, a woman with a very interesting background that devotes her life to find missing people. She is not a detective or does it for money, as she says her “clients” are the missing ones and she devotes to them, no one else.
I’ve read a lot of books where there’s a missing person and a detective tries to find them or a private investigator that has a case; but never someone that does it as a way to redeem herself, because this is the point of Frankie, she is trying to stop her guilty conscience by finding missing people. In none of the previous cases she had participated in, she was able to find the missing person alive, so she is hoping that this case will be different.
The case is interesting too, there’s a girl who has been missing for almost a year, the police doesn’t have any clue but the family still believes that something fishy happened and that there’s something more behind the mysterious disappearance. I will not say more about the case, there are so many secondary plots and characters that make this story so full and amazing that I don’t want to spoil it.
But you have to know that Frankie is not a rich woman, in every case she moves to the neighborhood where the victim lived, near the family/friends. She searches for a job and a place to live when she is investigating, it doesn’t matter if the neighborhood is dangerous, it doesn’t matter if she risks her life for the missing person, she only wants to find them.
I enjoyed every page of this book, it was so addictive and I can’t stop recommending it; if you are only reading one book this month, believe me, this is the one! It will be on my top ten this year, don’t doubt it.
Ready for “Before She Disappeared”?

Easy five stars!
What a great read. Unputdownable, depriving myself of sleep to carry on Frankie's adventures. Just what I needed to get me out of a reading slump! 
Frankie is a FANTASTIC character, with layers of personality and instantly likeable, I now commence pestering Gardner for a Frankie series. It also helps that I am fascinated by missing person stories, and they get under my skin too, so I definitely felt an affinity with the protagonist.
The pace was brilliant, constant twists and additional secrets to keep you guessing. 
I hope there's more from Detective Lotham too, although he is based in Boston so logistically I can see why there might not be. There was a great connection between him and Frankie.
Lots of threads that all link together, and lots of characters but they were cleverly arranged and explained so I had no trouble at all keeping track.
Gardner's best novel yet. Go and buy it!

I’ve read this author’s books before and think she’s great. This book is no different. Well written, fast paced and a real page turner

I have all the books Lisa Gardner has written and have never been disappointed. This being a stand alone ms Gardners first in 20 years, it’s a read doesn’t disappoint either. With an absolutely gripping plot line, you are kept engrossed throughout. I couldn’t turn the pages quick enough.

Frankie, is a great character, a recovering alcoholic, who has had past struggles and trauma throughout her life. For the lat 10 years she has been going from city to city working on cold cases of missing women, cases that no one else is working on, the police may have given up on the cases or have very little new information to help the investigation. So far she has managed to actually close 14 cases but the end results have never been happy, she has yet to find a survivor. But could her latest case be different?

Angelique  known as Angel lived with her aunt and brother but had disappeared eleven months earlier, in Boston, a largely Haitian part of town, a mainly run down area Mattapan. Angel had last been seen leaving school, but since then nothing the case was cold, no new evidence or sightings.

Frankie manages to find a job at a local pub, and persuades the owner into renting her the apartment above in exchange for working 5 days a week. Unfortunately she does have to share the flat with a feisty cat, which does add some humour to the story at times. Frankie has a way with people, an ability to engage in conversation and make friends, whilst trying to get information. She gets to know some women who frequent a local donut shop, they help her find her way around Boston’s commuter train and bus system, as well as being a good source for local knowledge, back ground information and gossip.

Gradually getting to know and gaining the trust of Angel’s aunt and brother, she tries to understand more about Angels life. What 15 year old doesn’t have secrets? Even secrets her best friends don’t know about. 

When contacting the detective who had worked the case, Detective Latham, she is told that they covered all the angles and to just go home, but then she starts to gain some of his trust, and could there be a little more?

As Frankie delves deeper, her life gets put in danger, as someone wants her to keep her nose out of it. The tension builds with a brilliant ending. Is this the start of a new series? If it is I can’t wait for more, Frankie is a great character that you really get to like, she is believable and likeable, I will be watching out to see if there are more of these to come.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #RandomHouseUK for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

This author is amazing, she manages to pull you in, take you on a thrilling journey and then spit you out wanting more. 
Such a strong female lead coming head to head with a scarily realistic bad guy. A very unique book- defiantly worth reading.

I’d like to thank Random House, Cornerstone and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Before She Disappeared’ by Lisa Gardner in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Frankie Elkin is a woman in her forties who travels from town to town never putting down roots.  She arrives in Mattapan, a rough district on the outskirts of Boston, gets bar work at Stoney’s, and begins her search for fifteen-year-old Haitian Angelique Badeau who’s been missing for eleven months, connecting with Officer Lotham of the Boston Police Department who at the beginning considers her a nuisance but gradually warms to her.  When a second teenager, Livia Samdi, also disappears Frankie believes they’re connected and she now has two missing people who are reliant on her finding them.  

‘Before She Disappeared’ is the compelling and heart-stopping story of Frankie Elkin, a recovering alcoholic who has no money and few belongings but dedicates her life to finding missing people without asking for payment.  The author has brought to life a character who I’ve empathised with from the beginning, the descriptions so good that the further I got into the story the more I liked Frankie and those she came in contact with.  The description of Frankie’s feral room-mate grabbing her ankle made me laugh as it’s exactly what my own cat does to get attention.  This is an excellent story with drama, suspense, tension and twists and turns, and the closer I got to the conclusion the more exciting it became.

Wow what a gripping read hooked from first page action packed lots of twists and turns The characters are good you love to hate them I like most of them  I read in a day the writing style so easy to read your just pulled into the plot I recommend to anyone

This is the first book written by this author that I have read and it certainly will not be my last. 
The writing is gritty, engaging, fast paced and took me to the places that were being described.
Our heroine is Frankie Elkin, a 9 year sober alcoholic who has had a troubled past that we learn snippets about during the telling of this story. Frankie has sold almost all
of her worldly goods and is an unpaid solver of cold cases, especially looking for lost people to bring them home. So far she has yet to find any alive.
I am hoping that this will be the start of a new series as I would very much like to hear more about Frankie and her adventures.
Very gripping read that I would highly recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.