In this case that’s not a bad thing because we have plenty of personality with Flora and the narrative doesn’t necessarily need more distraction, it’s just that when Warren (I refuse to call her D.D., which is stupid) DOES get a bit more emotive it doesn’t really come across. The novel is told through two narratives: that of Flora, both in the past (as a captive) and the present (as a vigilante), and that of Warren, who is a lot less interesting. Gardner goes a little overboard on the psychoanalysis during Flora’s inner monologue, but it’s not quite as bad as it was in the last book I read of hers. Ultimately, Flora’s a survivor and she’s taught herself things no-one else could have taught her. Flora is a likeable, interesting protagonist straddling that line between vulnerable and tough really well. So maybe my expectations going into this were low, but surprisingly, I enjoyed it. That one had a lot of warbling about little girls and princesses trapped in towers. This is the second Lisa Gardner book I’ve read and in all honesty, I didn’t think I’d try her again after the first one. Then the first thing she does is call the FBI, which, if we’re led to believe cop shows and thrillers, is always a good thing if you want to piss off the police. Warren because she sets fire to the man who kidnapped her.

Not at the start of the novel, though: Flora invokes the wrath of investigating detective D.D. She’s clever, inventive, has good intuition, but she’s also traumatised and vulnerable and it’s clearly a matter of time before she finds someone who outsmarts her. In search of meaning, she sets out to find other missing women by going to bars, getting drunk, allowing men to pick her up and then turning into a fury when they try to hurt her.

Though she’s eventually found she struggles to find her place in society, to reform the bond with her family. Seven years ago, young college student Florence ‘Flora’ Dane was kidnapped by a truck driver who keeps her as his personal toy for over four hundred days.

Find her by lisa gardner