Find Her (Detective D. D. Warren) Paperback – October 18, 2016

Who is Flora Dane, and what has happened to her during the time she was held captive? For 472 days, Jacob Ness, a long haul trucker, held her captive after kidnapping her in Florida while she was on spring break from her Boston college. Now, seven years later, she is attacked again, after two years home, and something unexpected happens during that event. Her Victim Advocate, Samuel Keynes, comes running when she calls. What is the nature of the special relationship between these two? Close-mouthed and hiding secrets, they know more than they are saying.Or so believes Sergeant Detective D. D. Warren, who is called to a horrific scene near a garage in a Boston neighborhood. What she discovers is unexpected…and changes how she sees the “victim.”As D. D. tries to piece together Flora’s story, from the past and now the present, we catch a glimpse of how she works, and what her life looks like these days. Felled by an injury, she is on “desk duty,” supposedly, but more often than not we’ll see her in the midst of the action. I always love D. D. Warren’s unique perspective on events, and enjoy visualizing a birds-eye view of how she pieces together the puzzles of her daily life as a detective. And then there is her home life. Her husband Alex, her four-year-old son Jack. These aspects of her world soften the hard edges she needs for her work. But at a moment’s notice, she is back in her detective mode, focused and skilled.Keynes shares very little, but some believe that Flora has been on a mission to find other missing girls, specifically, Stacey Summers.We learn more about Flora’s story through her first person narrative that takes us into the past and slowly reveals more about her very strange world. Then, after recent events, we watch current events unfold from her perspective. From inside a box to moments outside, rewarded with food and opportunities. Meeting others along the way. How would those meetings come back to haunt her in the future? Her narrative is vivid and descriptive, taking the reader into the box and captivity along with her.Why, after this second attack, and after being home for two years, has Flora gone missing again? Who has taken her? Her first captor is dead. Isn’t he? And how is this latest event different?Find Her is the kind of story that is both fast-paced and made up of slowly unfolding moments: first, there is the action going on in the exterior world, and then the detailed moments in Flora’s interior world. From Flora’s perspective, we learn some of her survival skills, like how she set aside her past life into a box. The memories of her life before captivity are inconsistent with her life as an inanimate object. Her advocate Samuel Keynes shares: “Survival isn’t a destination. It’s a journey. And most of the people I help, they’re still getting there.”Stunning revelations provide the answers to all the questions, and the reader cannot help but rapidly read until the final denouement. 5 stars.

A heavy dose of reality, police procedural, & intrigue. I so appreciated the multidirectional nature of this book. Gardner covered the full consequences faced not only by victims held as long term hostages, but the impact on the families as well. She showed the perspectives of police & the authorities assigned to locate & transition these victims. Good to read a complete & multifaceted representation of abduction.

Great book easy to get hooked and finished it in 2 days

FIND HER is a book that has an unusual yet possible subject matter about a girl being kidnapped, kept for over a year and manages to escape. It will give you an intense look into a survivor's inner self yet the story does not end there. This is a great readThere is never a dull moment. It is both exciting and frightening.Flora Dane was kidnapped and held in captivity for 472 days. It was a horrible ordeal. To survive it she had to give up a part of herself and hope that someday she could recover it again. Throughout the book we find out what happens to Flora during those 472 days and what is happening to her now. Enter D.D. Warren, an investigator who is actually on restricted duty from an injury that could have lost her job for her. That, however, does not stop her from wanting to solve the current case of missing girls and to figure out how Flora is mixed up in the situation. She is literally "a dog with a bone" and will not let go. D.D. is very good at her job so it is only a matter of time before this case will also be "case closed". The ending has one of those moments that will leave you scratching your head, wondering how did I not see this coming.I recommend this book to anyone that likes suspense and mystery. I loved how descriptive the writing was without being over wordy. And the flow is easy going between Flora and the detective without getting confusing. However, I truly dislike Detective D.D. Warren. Talk about a self-centered bitch. Still, I highly recommend this book to everyone!

FIND HER is my first Lisa Gardner book. I must say the book is dark and uncomfortable to read. Flora Dane, a college student from Boston is kidnapped while on spring break in Florida. She spends 472 days in captivity much of it in a wooden box the size of a coffin with little food or water. With her wits she adapts to survive. The worst part for her wasn’t starvation, unwanted sex, punishment, unbearable thirst or the pain of hours in a coffin but tedium and boredom. Through chapter by chapter flashbacks we discover what happened to Flora during her long captivity. A bit of the Stockholm syndrome is evident when she begins to identify and grow sympathetic toward her captor. Upon finding freedom, Flora is again kidnapped but this time manages to kill her captor. Then once again she goes missing. Sergeant Detective D.D. Warren of the Boston P.D. believes Flora sees predators everywhere and has turned into a one-person vigilante taking the law into her own hands. Gardner has written a gut-wrenching psychological thriller, however, I found the story repetitive and a bit boring. I give the book a low 3-star rating.

Slow read but good. Took a while to get into but I enjoyed the ending of the story. Well done.

I read all lisa gardners books in 2 days! You just cant put it down!

Another great Srgt. Detective DD Warren book. I couldn’t stop reading this. Felt like I was right there with Flora and the monster Jacob created. But she wasn’t. She was a survivor. She did what needed to be done to stay alive and survive.Ms Gardner you are an inspirational, creative and mysterious writer. You give awesome details. Keep us on our seats just waiting to get to the next chapter.I hope whoever reads this book especially (I’ve been reading all your books) that this brings closure for some and a way to move on from such trauma. Cuz we’re not all MONSTERS!!!