BOOK REVIEW: Find Her (DD Warren #8) by Lisa Gardner

Publication Date: October 18, 2016 Format: Paperback  Genre: Mystery

Publisher: Dutton Length: 414 pages Buy: Paperback | Kindle

Synopsis

Seven years ago, carefree college student Flora Dane was kidnapped while on spring break. For 472 days, Flora learned just how much one person can endure.

Miraculously alive after her ordeal, Flora has spent the past five years reacquainting herself with the rhythms of normal life, working with her FBI victim advocate, Samuel Keynes. She has a mother who’s never stopped loving her, a brother who is scared of the person she’s become, and a bedroom wall covered with photos of other girls who’ve never made it home.

When Boston detective D. D. Warren is called to the scene of a crime—a dead man and the bound, naked woman who killed him—she learns that Flora has tangled with three other suspects since her return to society. Is Flora a victim or a vigilante? And with her firsthand knowledge of criminal behavior, could she hold the key to rescuing a missing college student whose abduction has rocked Boston? When Flora herself disappears, D.D. realizes a far more sinister predator is out there. One who’s determined that this time, Flora Dane will never escape. And now it is all up to D. D. Warren to find her.

Review: 

Thank you to the free little libraries in our area for this great find! 

Although this is the 8th book int he DD warren series its the first one that I have read and I didn't feel lost. It reads very much as a standalone.  DD warren's reason for being on special duty was explained and I didn't need to follow too closely to the why's since the main mystery really held my attention. 

Flora is a very interesting character and I loved how Gardner wove in her story from being kidnapped and being kept in a coffin to her slow release from the box as a reward, up to how Flora was ultimately "saved".  Flora in the present was very broken and we didn't have a clear motivation for why she seemed to find herself in situations that ultimately lead to her having to fight her way out but we get the reason in the end.  

This is a brilliant mystery and Flora is just a fantastic character.  Her flaws, her hardships and her broken family life all stemming from spending 472 days held captive, raped, beaten and broken.  It was the best portrayal of a character who has been subjected to this type of torture that I've read.  

DD Warren is an interesting detective, driven, focused, and a workaholic trying to balance her family life with her FBI husband and son and her team of officers. I will absolutely pick up another book in this series. 

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