Finding Claire Fletcher

I love Lisa Regan. I love the Josie Quinn Series. This new series (Claire Fletcher Mystery #1) is a much harder book to like. Put bluntly is is BRUTAL. Every page is a hammer to a broken bone, breathtaking in its depravity, cruelty and horror inflicted by one human being upon another. It is also a brilliant study of one woman’s survival of physical and mental torture as well as psychological terror. It is very, very dark and extremely uncomfortable reading. It is another tour de force for Lisa Regan but reader beware.

This was not your typical crime thriller read, it was far better done than others I have read, and far more laden with emotional impact that heightens and increases the tension, as it also leads the reader into truly horrific imagery. A difficult book to read without wholly immersing yourself in the story, and actually having a visceral reaction to the acts recounted, I had to put this book down often to regroup and regain some perspective, yet it kept calling me back to read more and immerse myself in the story until it concluded.

While any parent’s nightmare is losing their child to some unknown person, there are thousands of children who go missing yearly, without drawing national attention, and Claire is one of those. Ten years show more after having no word and fewer answers, people start appearing at her family’s home, asking about her. Crafted with twists and turns to show all sides of a kidnapped child's existence, we see all of Claire’s worlds, and begin to understand the mentality of the captive.

All of the characters are so well developed and defined that they fairly leap from the page. Told in two points of view, Claire’s voice is surprisingly sharp and strong, despite her situation. Connor’s voice is full of procedural logic, yet drafted with the completeness that makes him a good detective and a good man. Seeing such different character voices as the narration of the story could be confusing and difficult to follow, the author has skilfully adapted voice, meter and personality to clearly lead the reader where she wants them to go. My one reservation to recommending this novel to everyone without reservation is the torturous punishments meted out to Claire by her captor: paedophilia at is most bare sense, those moments were difficult to read and exceedingly graphic in emotional impact. That they are so real will be a difficult sticking point for some.

As a first novel, this author has created a beautifully crafted and highly engaging story, skilfully leading the reader into directions only she has forseen: all good things. Most certainly a book and an author to put on your follow lists, I look forward from more from her.

I received an eBook copy from the author for purpose of honest review for the Innovative Online Book tour. I was not compensated for this review, and all conclusions are my own responsibility. show less

Finding Claire Fletcher by Lisa Regan is a story that would be unbelievable if it were not so true, as we have learned from news stories in the past few years.
Claire Fletcher is fifteen years old when she is abducted on her way to school, and endures rape and mental and physical torture during the ten years she is held captive. She disappeared without a trace, and the police found only slim clues that led nowhere. Her father and sister believe she is dead, but her mother never gives up hope that her daughter is alive and will be found one day.
At the same time, police detective Connor Parks meets a young woman in a bar, when he is at a low point in his life both professionally and personally. When she slips out the next morning, she show more leaves a scrap of paper with her name, Claire Fletcher, and an address. As Connor follows up on the case of a woman missing for ten years, he becomes more determined to find her, even as his own life is increasingly in danger.
This book delves into the question of how victims of abductions often stay with their captors when they could escape. Claire is allowed to leave the house and even holds a job at a veterinary clinic. But her fear of facing her parents, and the real fear that someone else will die if she leaves, hold her in a "half life" with her captor and another young woman who has come willingly into the life of their captor and tormentor and is insanely jealous of Claire.
Author Regan keeps the tension alive from the first page. She takes the reader inside the mind of a young woman whose life has been stolen, and has lived a half life under the control of a cruel and dangerous man. Her psychological insight into her characters make the story as intriguing as it is real as today's headlines. This is a well-written and thought-provoking novel that will keep you riveted until the conclusion.
(As published in Suspense Magazine) show less

Finding Claire Fletcher by Lisa Regan is a creepy abduction story told from Claire's point of view. This story begins in present time with many flashbacks to Claire's kidnapping and the physical and psychological torment she experiences.

Detective Connor Parks is sitting in a bar after a very bad day. Claire approaches him, tries to pick him up and eventually goes to his home. He awakens the next morning to find her gone, leaving behind a paper with her name and home address. No phone number. Connor goes to the address asking for her and discovers this woman has been missing for 10 years.

Now why would Claire be able to leave her abductor and not return home? Because she was told he would kill her family if she ever spoke to the police. show more Over the years she was captive she was "rewarded" with privileges such as clothing, food and clean water if she cooperated.

She was kidnapped at the age of 15, chained to a bed, beaten, raped, starved and forced to watch him kill someone. A passage from the beginning:

“When he came home, he talked to me in that effeminate singsong voice. The thread of his one-sided conversation never deviated….in his mind I was “Lynn” and I was his. This was our home and we would be together forever.
When he looked at me he didn’t see a shrunken, dangerously thin girl with hatred in her eyes, literally chained in place.”

Claire would eventually be allowed out but the fear for her family, and the shame she undeservedly felt, kept her from returning to them. You also read about the aftermath of her kidnapping and what it did to her parents and siblings.

Here is a passage where her sister Brianna vents to Connor:

“That bastard took my sister and it ruined my life. It ruined everything, my whole family may well have been abducted because they were gone. Mom forgot about my senior prom because there was some lead on Claire’s case. During my high school graduation my parents spent more time looking at their watches than the ceremony because they couldn’t wait to get home in case the detective called with news about her.”

Does that sound selfish? No, I don't think so. Real life side story here - My son's friend was on his way home from work one evening and failed to negotiate a curve while riding his motorcycle. He crashed and died at the age of 18 years and one month. He didn't have a chance to graduate or celebrate so many things life may have offered. His parents were obviously devastated. They ran his obituary and paid to keep it running for 2 years, allowing people to still comment. His little sister was left in the shadows. Their grief actually short changed the little girl as her celebrations weren't met with the enthusiasm they may have had. I felt sorry for her. So Brianna's venting had some merit.

A note I'd like to make is the use of character names from Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Perhaps it's a coincidence, or a tribute to a favored author but did anyone notice Claire, Brianna and Jenny as character names?

There is evidently a second book with Detective Connor Parks and Claire features in this one as well. While this was a page turner I think I will skip the next books. show less

Lisa Regan has turned out the best-rounded kidnapping stories that I have read in recent years. The thing that separates Finding Claire Fletcher from the others on the bookstore shelves is the point of view. Readers are lucky enough to get bother the victim’s and the detective’s side of the story.
Things are going so well for Detective Conner Parks. He’s been busted to desk duty while an investigation into a shooting/killing takes place. He’s newly divorced, and he drinks too much. One night he picks up a beautiful woman in a bar and takes her home. The next morning, she has disappeared, leaving behind a slip of paper containing her name and address.
Conner really liked this woman, so he goes to the address. There he finds that show more the woman who claimed to live there disappeared without a trace 10 years earlier as a 15-year-old. Her brother and sister still live there. Conner makes the fourth man who comes to find Claire after a rendezvous.
Conner’s police training kicks in, and since he’s stuck on the desk, he re-opens Claire’s case, without authorization. He becomes obsessed with finding her. He enlists the help of a private investigator Claire’s family has used.
Meanwhile, Claire returns to abductor. There are many reasons, including that fact that each time she tries to escape, someone dies. In fact, pursuing Claire could turn out to be deadly for Conner.
The story is narrated in alternate chapters. Claire’s chapters are in first person, Conner’s in third. Interesting combination and hard to pull off, but Regan does it effortlessly, especially since the chapters are identified other than Chapter One, Chapter Two, etc.
Another thing that Regan does extremely well is that Claire’s kidnapper is not given until a name until Conner figures it out. That truly brought me into Claire’s story.
Finding Claire Fletcher is an on-the-seat-of your-chair thriller. I loved it, except for the last couple of chapters. Those final chapters fell into predictability that forces me to give this story 4 out of 5 stars. show less

Finding Claire Fletcher is an "eFestival of Words Best Independent eBook Awards" nominated book. Why is this important? It's important, because with the age of self-pub and smaller publishing houses gaining ground on the "Big Six", there is an influx of talented authors being able to share their ebooks with readers. Finding Claire Fletcher was tapped for best heroine and best novel, by a jury of Lisa Regan's peers. Let me say that I purchased this book as an impulse buy without even reading much of the blurb, because something about it intrigued me, and I am a pushover for suspense books featuring strong women characters.

Told in flashbacks, we first encounter Claire as a teenager walking to school, then viciously snatched and thrown show more into a car which speeds away. There is a witness, but nothing pans out and time moves on. Fast-forward ten years, and a beautiful woman picks up a down-on-his-luck detective in a bar. Behind the initial intent of their hook-up, the two make a lasting impression on each other, but all that Connor has to show for his time with Claire is a paper scribbled with her family's address. His meeting with her family shocks him as well as them. He has met a young woman presumed to be dead, who has disappeared into thin air. Unbeknownst to anyone, Claire cannot break the invisible chains that bind her to her kidnapper, long after the missing girl becomes an adult. With the help of Mitch, a P.I. who has become close to the Fletcher family, the determined detective tries to unravel the clues, and find Claire Fletcher.

my thoughts: I loved this book! Sure it has a disturbing plot concerning the violation of kidnapped girls/women, but Ms. Regan does not go for gratuitous violence or sexual denigration. Despite the excessive tv coverage in past years of kidnapped females in this country who have been rescued, the author actually first started writing this book many years ago before those even took place.

I liked how Claire's character was not portrayed as one-dimensional. She was sometimes a broken victim, but she also kept her sense of self, and allowed a stubbornness to emerge time and again. The plot was well-developed and moved quickly, which kept me turning the pages well into the night to finish. I was eager to see how Ms. Regan would tie up all the loose ends, and she did a satisfying job. The only negativity I could put my finger on concerned the instant chemistry between Claire and Connor. While I could see Claire enamored with a gentle soul who didn't want to just use her body, I wasn't sure if a hardened detective would sustain the drive needed to recover her. Of course that is why we call fiction escapism; we allow authors some leeway with plot development if they can state a strong case for it. All in all, I feel this book is deserving in the categories it is nominated for, and I did vote for it without the author asking me to.

An exciting, intense, fun read that I recommend highly!!
{More author information and book sale links in the Suspense Spotlight and Author Interview post following this one.}
For fans of detective mysteries, romantic suspense, and suspense thrillers. 5 stars
excerpt from full review on My Home of Books blog http://myhomeofbook.blogspot.com show less

Incredible debut novel. Gripping, harrowing psychological suspense thriller!
Excellent premise and execution. The characters seem so real and the writing and suspense grabs a hold of you from the opening lines and doesn't release you.
The point of view goes back and forth between "the victim" and the policeman who is trying desperately to find her which works brilliantly.
I don't think this book is for everyone due to its graphic nature in places but i will certainly looking for more to read from this author!