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  • Published: 21 January 2021
  • ISBN: 9781473593213
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
  • Format: Audio Download

Before She Disappeared




From the Sunday Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner, a gripping thriller featuring an ordinary woman who will stop at nothing to find the missing people that the rest of the world has forgotten.

From the #1 global bestselling author of WHEN YOU SEE ME

'Sharply-written, tension-filled yarn full of twists readers are unlikely to see coming.' DAILY MAIL

'Lisa Gardner has always been one of my favourite writers, and this time she truly hits it out of the park. Frankie Elkin is a heroine for the ages, a fierce female Shane who's out to save the world - one missing person at a time.' TESS GERRITSEN
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A gripping thriller featuring an ordinary woman who will stop at nothing to find the missing people that the rest of the world has forgotten.

Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman with more regrets than belongings who spends her life doing what no one else will: searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking.

A new case brings Frankie to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a rough reputation. She is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from her high school months earlier.

Resistance from the Boston PD and the victim's wary family tells Frankie she's on her own. And she soon learns she's asking questions someone doesn't want answered.

But Frankie will stop at nothing to discover the truth, even if it means the next person to go missing will be her ...
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'I just read Before She Disappeared in a day and a half. It was that gripping. And Frankie is one of my new favourite characters. Highly recommended!' SHARI LAPENA, author of The End of Her and The Couple Next Door

'To read Lisa Gardner is to put yourself in the hands of a master storyteller. In BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED, she gives us a crackling mystery, gritty atmosphere and an unforgettable heroine.' RILEY SAGER, New York Times bestselling author of Home Before Dark
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Readers love Lisa Gardner's brilliant thrillers:

'A fabulous read with amazing, interesting, complex characters and I was absolutely hooked, from start to finish.'
'Once again Lisa Gardner delivers as one of my favourite crime thriller authors, she creates a complex and magnetic character in Frankie'
'Frankie is a wonderful character, full of grit and personality, and I love her inner monologues so much! I really hope we will get to see more of her in the future!'
'An entertaining and engaging thriller with a great central protagonist that I think many of Gardner's fans and other crime and thriller readers will love.'

  • Published: 21 January 2021
  • ISBN: 9781473593213
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
  • Format: Audio Download

About the author

Lisa Gardner

Lisa Gardner started her writing career aged seventeen. Having caught her hair on fire while working in food service, crafting a novel seemed a safer bet. A mere ten years later she became an overnight success with the publication of her first thriller, The Perfect Husband.

Now an internationally bestselling author and winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for best suspense novel, Lisa lives in the mountains of New Hampshire with her family.

When not glued to her computer, she can be found hiking the mountains with her dogs and/or researching new and interesting ways to get away with murder.

Also by Lisa Gardner

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Praise for Before She Disappeared

It's hard to tag just one stand-out element here, between the multidimensional portrayal of Mattapan's Haitian expat community, Frankie's humanizing demons and straightforward investigative technique, and a page-turning plot with all its ends tucked in unpredictably tight. Tense and immersive, Gardner's latest...is a sure bet both for readers drawn to gritty gumshoe fiction and for the growing legion of true- crime podcast fans.

Booklist

Fans of this incredible author, police procedurals, timely immigrant stories, strong determined women, and tales that are not tied up with a pretty bow at the end will not be able to get enough of this intense page-turner.

The Library Journal

In this rare standalone, the prolific Gardner has come up with one of the most original characters in recent crime fiction, a woman readers can care about even while not being entirely sure of what to make of her

Washington Post

This book, the best-selling author's first stand-alone novel in 20-years, is a sharply-written, tension-filled yarn full of twists readers are unlikely to see coming. The most compelling element, however, is the character of Frankie, a recovering alcoholic whose obsession with the missing is a penance of sorts for the burden of guilt and grief she carries over a past trauma that took the life of a man she loves.

Associated Press

Before She Disappeared introduces what may be the most powerful sleuth of the decade, an "ordinary" woman driven to uncover the truth at any personal cost. There's only one thing to ask for by the time the book ends: please, please, a sequel and a series.

New York Journal of Books

The plot itself is intricate, beautifully sad, and totally outraging. Lisa Gardner outdid herself with this superb piece of fiction that feels real enough to leave a lasting impact on you.?????

Chocolate’N’Waffles

Wow-what a story, what a book! I knew that I would love it, I mean it is a Lisa Gardner book for starters, but she is prolific in sucking you into her world and feeling everything your characters feel

ZooLoo Blog

This story gripped me from the start with its rather intense opening. The ending was very clever and took me completely by surprise. I can't wait to read more from this author in the future

Over The Rainbow Book Blog

Before She Disappeared' is a well-paced mystery that really packs an emotional punch. This may have been the first Lisa Gardner book that I've read but it won't be my last

Elementary Watson

Before She Disappeared is another sophisticated, gritty, unnerving read by Gardner that may be the first standalone novel she's written in a while but still has all the twists, turns, suspense, in-depth character development, and forensic analysis we've come to expect and love from all her previous novels

What's Better Than Books

Frankie is one strong, independent and determined lady and she does not give up. Got to praise her for that. Can she find the girl before it's too late? A very clever story one that I didn't know much about to be honest. Very clever. Highly recommend. A huge five stars from me. Brilliant read!

BTP Book Club

This is action-packed, fast paced with an underlying humour. I absolutely loved it. Frankie Elkin is a character that I want to see more of. 5 Stars

Write Results

Before She Disappeared is a fantastic novel and one that had me hooked from the beginning. It's a great concept, and I liked the approach to solving a missing persons cases as Frankie's role gives a different perspective to the more common police procedural and journo angles. Highly recommended

Jo's Book Blog

This is a truly gripping novel, full of tension and a surprisingly emotional core, with characters and story which kept be completely gripped from the off. I know I'd be happy to meet up with Frankie again in the future, but for now I'll settle for heading back to the Lisa Gardner back catalogue, see what other treats there are waiting for me

Jen Med's Books

With a stunning sense of place, a complex mystery, and a well-rounded cast of supporting characters, Before She Disappeared is the definition of a page-turner.

Amazon Book Review