Last week, Lisa Gardner's The Neighbor was named Best Hardcover Novel of 2009 by the International Thriller Writers. Her new Detective D.D. Warren novel, Live to Tell, was released today. I see no reason why this disturbing book shouldn't be named the best hardcover thriller of 2010.Gardner skillfully ties together the story of three women. It's a hot August night in Boston when Sergeant Detective D.D. Warren is called away from a date to the scene of a terrible mass homicide. An entire family has been slaughtered, with the father, the suspect, rushed to the hospital as a gunshot victim. Self-inflicted, since it appears he killed his entire family? Or, is there something more involved here?
Danielle Burton is a nurse, devoted to her patients in a Boston Pediatric Clinic where she works with mentally and emotionally disturbed children in a locked ward. She knows the trauma in a child's life. She still bears the scars of a family tragedy twenty-five years earlier.
And, then there's Victoria Oliver. She's a devoted mother, determined to protect her troubled son, even if it means giving up the life she's known.
The stories of these three women converge on a path that can only lead to tragedy. And, it will take all of D.D. Warren's skills as the leader of an investigative team to find a killer before more families are destroyed.
Live to Tell is a gripping, disturbing book in which Gardner delves into the world of children who are psychotic. It's hard to avert your eyes from the tragedies portrayed in the pages of Gardner's latest book. Lisa Gardner builds the suspense to an almost unbearable level, before shocking the reader with an unexpected twist. She manipulates the characters and the reader just as beautifully in Live to Tell as she did with The Neighbor. Best thriller of 2010, anyone?
Lisa Gardner's website is www.lisagardner.com
Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner. Bantam Books, ©2010. ISBN 9780553807240 (hardcover), 388p.
*****
FTC Full Disclosure - Gardner's publicist sent me Live to Tell, knowing Gardner was appearing at the library.
