Really enjoyed this story of a woman, Frankie, who carries her complete life in a ruckack and travels across states to search for missing people. In doing so, she completely immerses herself in their local community. It started in the same way as many novels but I was soon drawn in to her complex history and to the rich Haitian community of Boston and the secrets it holds. A missing girl, a simmering chemistry with the local police and an ability to empathise with all:  Stoney,  her employer/landlord; Piper, her territorial feline roommate and most of all, the bereft families. The themes of addiction and loss run through the story.

Before She Disappeared is the new fantastic novel by Lisa Gardner and it introduces us to a brand new character: Frankie Elkan, a headstrong and determined woman who travels around the country looking for missing people, particularly minorities, those people that the police has stopped searching but whose families still hope for their return.

The book opens with Frankie on a train to Boston after the end of her latest case. Frankie never stops working and she is in Boston to investigate the disappearance of fifteen-year-old Angelique Lovelie Badueau, Angel to her friends, Lili to her family. Angelique lives with her aunt and her brother in the neighborhood of Mattapan and she was last seen a year earlier coming out of her school. Mattapan is an area mostly of immigrants and Frankie not only has to face the resistance of the police, but also the hostility of the locals who see her as an outsider.

Frankie is an interesting, likable, and authentic character. She is a loner with a tragic past. She doesn’t have a place to call home and she travels around the country with few belongings and a guilt that’s eating her looking for the people no one else is searching. I liked her determination, how she never stops in her search, no matter how dangerous it is and, as much as I found the main plot intriguing and captivating, I was also very curious about Frankie’s personal life and the painful past that it is slowly revealed.

Before She Disappeared is an action-packed, exciting, addictive story with fantastic and engaging characters and, of course, the author’s excellent writing style that make it impossible to put the book down.

Pub 21/1 
4.5* I loved this book. 
Frankie a middle aged white woman, an ex alcoholic has taken on a life with no ties, no stability, no place to call home. Choosing to wander the country looking for missing kids, many from minority ethnic groups as they fall furthest through the cracks. She has spent the last ten years on her crusade. 
Frankie is instantly a likeable character. She is no nonsense, straight talking Ballsy woman. She is extremely astute with her observations and intuitive with people. 
I love the fast paced snappy writing style. It grabbed me by the second chapter. The first chapter with the dream sequence didn’t reel me in. It felt a bit disjointed which is understandable as it was a dream. 
I love Frankie’s humour. 
The reasons it nots a 5* are that it’s a little laggy around 60-70% and a little too much over repetition of the presenting facts. 
I was emotional at the end.

This is a great novel, I couldn’t stop reading it and stayed up far to late one evening to finish it. Frankie Elgin is a recovering alcoholic who has her demons. She travels around finding missing people and she is good at it. This time she arrives in Mattapan, a Haitian neighbourhood of Boston, looking for sixteen year old Angelique Badeau. It is a well written quick paced mystery, I loved the way the characters developed throughout the story particularly Frankie. She is a wonderfully complex woman and I hope to read more about her in the future. Would definitely recommend for anyone who loves a good thriller.

I never repeat the blurb. Goodness me...this was a slow burner, but almost too slow. However, I was pleased I persisted in this unusual glimpse into the world of amateurs who make it their mission to locate the missing people who remain elusive to regular searches.  Glad I stuck with it.

At first when I read the premise I thought it sounded far fetched and that I wouldn’t relate or enjoy however, this book was compulsive.

It’s well written and the layers and layers of mystery unfold in a way that is intriguing and not frustrating. The characters are interesting although ‘Frankie’ is slightly over egged but this does not detract from the story.

I’ve never read a book that unfolded this way and the setting and story stands out to me as truly original in a genre that can be quite predictable.

I usually love Lisa Gardener’s books but this one just wasn’t for me it was a lot more character driven than her usual books and I tend to prefer plot driven books. I couldn’t really connect with the MC and didn’t really like her or understand her purpose.

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story is about Frankie Elkin. She is a recovering alcoholic who travels to different locations to voluntarily help with missing persons cases. She has a high success rate. The case this time is missing school girl Angelique who vanished without a trace after school one day. It is a tough job for Frankie in a rough area of Boston where she finds neither the locals nor the police have any trust in her.

I thought that this book was okay. I was far more interested in Frankie and her personal life than I was the case that she was working. The case veered off into a direction that really didn’t interest me. I also found that some of the discoveries that she made were far too convenient. My mind is still blown how Frankie A, reached a theory based on nothing much and B that it was correct. I would be happy to read more books with this character but I would hope for something a bit more thrilling.

Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner has written a very complex storyline about two girls who disappeared in small town America. The area is very mixed race population, but with many Haitian people living in that area. The main character is a female alcoholic who goes to great lengths to find missing people. Of the fourteen she has found so far, none of them have been found alive.
Will this time be different?

I'm not planning to write a detailed plot summary.  I will only say that Before She Disappeared is a SUPERB READ and should not be missed if you are a fan of mystery/murder/missing kid books.
Frankie is probably an anti-hero(ine) as she has more problems and hang-ups than the entire cast of characters put together but you cannot help but feel for and support her.
She and the main theme of the book are best summarised by this Frankie comment from the book (too good for me to write!) - 'Some modern day Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock sees the answers. I just have a gift for asking the right questions'.  
I loved the way the book takes you down a number of logical paths based on what people say (or don't say)
Enjoyed every minute of it

Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner
I give this book 4 stars 

Ordinary people go missing every day.When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention............Frankie Elkin starts looking.
A new case brings her to Mattapan,She is searching for Angelique Badeau, who vanished from her high school months earlier.
Frankie will stop at nothing to discover the truth, even if it means the next person to go missing will be her.

This is an inspiring well written story with a lot of layers to delve into which l loved.Characters you can connect with especially Frankie who is down to earth, courageous and flawed,l definitely want more from her!!
A good pace throughout the book, an engaging and powerful recommended read about 1 ordinary women bringing families the closure they need.
With thanks to Netgalley,Lisa Gardner and Random House UK for my chance to read and review this book

I’ve not read a Lisa Gardner book for a long while and it was good to get back into her books with this her new standalone.

An interesting story of Frankie who hasn’t had the best past, turning her life around and looking for missing persons when the police have given up.
She’s yet to find one alive and wants to make sure the next one is.
Well written and descriptive.
A little slow paced.
Enjoyable

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this gripping novel

Frankie Elkin an alcoholic, whose aim in life is to bring home missing people, the ones that the police have given up on and the media have forgotten about...she works cold cases without the permission of the police...

all she does is ask questions

 Angelique Badeau is missing and has been for over a year...so frankie arriving in boston finds herself a job as a barmaid and then starts asking her questions...

man oh man what a story...couldnt put the book down...and the kicker about this book is that it is based around the fact that there are people out there that work cold cases for missing people...wow..

brilliantly written as usual and keeps you on the edge of your seat right to the very end..brilliant

I have always loved down at heel, gumshoe detective novels (is that footwear tautology?) Frankie Elkin isn't your average PI though. She sets her sights on a cold misper case, uproots herself and then goes immersive in the neighbourhood of the misper's family. Her payment? Well, fighting her own demons I suppose, but otherwise pro bono. Her ability to find out what the Boston PD couldn't, doesn't make her an instant friend with the detective assigned the case but she soon gets some grudging respect and maybe a little more?
I really liked the story, although thought it rather unlikely, bearing in mind the ages of those at its heart. Very entertaining and a good page turner.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for an advance copy of Before She Disappeared, a stand-alone set in Boston.

Frankie Elkin hunts for missing people. She isn’t paid for it and has no training, a gifted amateur with a need to do it. She comes to Boston to look for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who disappeared without a trace from her school Elenuta months earlier. As a white woman in the overwhelmingly black neighbourhood of Mattapan she is met with suspicion and even more from the Boston PD who wonder what she can offer and still she manages a breakthrough.

I thoroughly enjoyed Before She Disappeared which held my attention from start to finish, to the extent that I read it in one sitting. I was hooked by the initial mystery - how does someone disappear without trace, especially surrounded by so much CCTV? The solution to that is clever, if slightly mundane, when it arrives but it takes a lot of other information and conjecture before Frankie and Detective Lotham get there. By then I was fully immersed in all the whys, hows and whats thrown by by Frankie’s persistent questioning. Having reached the end with all these questions answered I’m not so sure how plausible the plot is. It depends on highly intelligent teenagers with the nous to make connections and some unlikely events, but who cares because it is an entertaining and engrossing read. 

Frankie Elkin is another troubled protagonist, in this case a recovering alcoholic with a traumatic event in her past that is alluded to constantly but not explained until the final pages. It appears to be the motivation for her rootless existence and relentless search for missing people. She is well drawn, if totally inexplicable to me, the homebody.

Before She Disappeared is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

I loved this book, it was a fast moving all consuming thriller leading you to Boston’s gangland and the dark world of drugs, fraud and criminal activities. Frankie, a loner with no permanent abode lived her life moving from one place to the next trying to find missing persons.   This book Frankie is on a quest to find Angelique a young girl who is missing.  As an independent worker she was able to work alone because she was not tied to the rules of police or authorities.    There was so much in this book to captivate with many aspect of human behaviour and emotions.  Of course not forgetting Piper the obnoxious cat whose behaviour made me laugh out loud! 
Would love to read more of Frankie in the future.

A new stand-alone thriller by Lisa Gardner is always a cause for celebration, and Before She Disappeared did not disappoint. It introduces us to Frankie Elkin, in her own words, "a white, middle-class, recovering alcoholic" whose mission in life is to find missing people that the police have given up on. As a lay person, Frankie can insinuate herself into the lives of the disappeared in a way denied to the authorities, and her track record is impressive - though so far all 14 of the cases she has solved have had a tragic outcome. Driven by demons that are explained as the story progresses, she arrives in Boston to investigate the case of 15-year-old Angelique, a Haitian immigrant and model student who vanished without trace from her school some 11 months before. Is she a runaway or a kidnap victim? Is she alive or dead? As Frankie takes a job in a bar and sets about her investigation, quizzing family, friends and teachers to build up a full picture of Angelique's life, she comes up against the might of the Boston police in the shape of Dan Lotham who initially suspects her of being a charlatan. But the pair form a grudging partnership - something Frankie is increasingly grateful for as she finds herself drawn into deadly danger in her efforts to locate Angelique.
This truly thrilling story introduces you to to a world of drugs, gangs and forgery - with humanity at the very heart of it! Frankie's complex, driven character will capture your sympathies immediately, while Angelique, her family and friends form fully before your eyes in descriptive prose that paints a perfect picture of the city they live in, their homes and their lives. From Angelique's heartbroken brother Emmanuel to dangerous gangster Deke, from laconic bar owner Stoney to the alcoholic mother of another missing girl, every character in the book is treated with respect and dignity by the author's pen, and this, coupled with its nail-biting plot, makes this a fantastic read.
Themes of guilt, survival and redemption add even extra depth to an already brilliant story. With the case finally wrapped up, Frankie moves on, but hopefully we won't have seen the last of her ...

Frankie is a loner, always trying to escape events in her past she seems to be trying to atone for. She specialises in finding missing people, not for money or glory just because she seems to have a knack for it. This brings her to a very rough part of Boston where she is determined to find out what happened to Angelique, a young Haitian girl who disappeared about a year ago.
Frankie finds a room and work in a bar and starts looking, she meets and manages to get along with one of the local detectives - Lotham, together they make some progress.
Events move quickly and Frankie unearths more and more leads including a connection between Angelique’s disappearance and that of another young girl. 
A well constructed and fast moving plot. Plenty to keep you engaged until the end. Thanks Netgalley for the advance copy.

A very different story from Lisa Gardner but extremely gripping with twists and turns at every corner. Loved the character of Frankie and her story and I hope we haven't seen the last of her!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ just about 4 stars

This is a book of 3 parts; the first third was a bit hit and miss, slow to get going and a lot of long descriptive chapters. However I liked the characters of Lotham, Stoney, Frankie; they worked well. 

The next third was a tad drawn out and repetitive in places; there was too much of Frankie thinking something, then explaining it to someone else, then repeating it to someone else. 

The last third picked up - the story started unraveling and the pieces being put together. The main thread of the storyline was a little hard to believe and I still have some unanswered questions but I can’t deny the last part of the book kept me hooked to see how it ended.