Before She Disappeared

According to Frankie Elkin, every recovering addict has another addiction and Frankie’s, a recovering alcoholic, is tracking down missing persons. After the publicity dies down and the police have moved on to other cases, Frankie takes up the cause. She scours national online chat rooms where family members, concerned neighbors and even crazy people (maybe like her) compare notes on various missing persons cases. To date, she has found 14 missing people, none of whom were found alive. Her latest was found on an Indian reservation, in a truck, submerged in a lake, which is modeled after a case from real-life amateur Lissa Yellowbird-Chase.

She now arrives in South Station, Boston, to investigate the disappearance of Angelique Badeau, a show more high achieving Haitian teenager who seemed destined to beat the odds in her tough Haitian community. One Friday, 11 months ago, Angelique left her school in the Mattapan neighborhood and was never seen again.

Frankie gets a job at Stoney’s Bar in Mattapan, an immigrant neighborhood, in order to earn money and begins her investigation by talking to the missing girl’s family, the police detective in charge of the case, Dan Lotham, and the Community Liaison officer. She, of course, is met with skepticism by the family and police and as an “average middle-aged white woman” is unwelcome in the largely Haitian and Hispanic community.

Yet somehow, this pair of fresh eyes sees things that were missed in the initial investigation and although Lotham is peeved at Frankie, he also realizes that with her help and mutual cooperation, Angelique might be found…whether dead or alive is the real question.
I truly liked all the characters in this book, both main and ancillary ones. Angelique and her brother, Emmanuel, are survivors in an economically depressed community where pushing drugs and joining gangs is the norm. Stoney, the bar owner, and Viv, his cook add some comic relief. Even the villans are unexpectedly interesting. For animal lovers, Gardner throws in an engaging but psychotic cat, Piper, as Frankie’s roommate.

But Frankie and Lotham are the stars. They are complex characters, especially Frankie, who ultimately learn to like and respect each other. The action is perfect…not overwhelming, not underwhelming, not gratuitous. The ending is totally satisfactory and even leaves room for a sequel…which I personally hope there is.

The basis for Before She Disappeared, according to the Author’s Note at the end of the book are the actual informal online networks of amateur detectives who research and investigate these cold case missing persons, often with more success than the police.

One reviewer said “…(the book) is a propulsive mystery, one with enough twists and turns to keep even the most seasoned readers of the genre guessing until the end. But it’s also---perhaps more importantly--a fascinating character study, as Frankie wrestles with her own demons even as she grows closer to her goal (of finding Angelique alive)…(it is) a fast-paced story that readers won’t want to put down as they root for Frankie’s success and Angelique’s safety.”

This is a 5-star book in my view and all the reviews I read. show less

Bestselling author Lisa Gardner has penned the first volume in another series at the heart of which is a strong female protagonist. But Frankie Elkin, unlike Detective D.D. Warren, is not a trained professional. Rather, she's an ordinary woman with a troubled past . . . and a mission.

The fictional D.D. Warren is a Detective with the Boston Police Department, a city in which Gardner formerly resided. Frankie once "had a house, a car, a white picket fence . . . " Gardner does not explain what happened, but Frankie has no home now. Rather, she goes wherever the cases lead her and volunteers her time. She has no interest in payment or recognition, and has so far solved fourteen cases without finding a single missing person still alive. Most show more recently, she located the body of a twenty-two-year old woman locked in a her vehicle at the bottom of a lake. She had been missing for eighteen months. Usually, Frankie finds her next case online, frequenting chat rooms and forums where family members and friends join "crazy people like" her to discuss the investigations conducted by local authorities, and share theories and information. Frankie doesn't own a computer. Instead, she visited the library in the town where her last case concluded.

That has led her to Boston, a city she has never previously visited, in search of Angelique Lovelie Badeau, who was fifteen years old when she disappeared eleven months ago. She walked out of school on Friday afternoon, but never arrived at home. "No sightings. No leads. No breaks in the case." Her friends call her Angel, but she is LiLi to her family.

Mattapan is a Boston neighborhood with the largest Haitian population in the United States, aside from Florida. It is also a rough area populated by poor working people, replete with gang activity and violent crime. That doesn't deter Frankie who arrives determined to find a job and apartment, and commence working the case. She is particularly interested in cases involving minorities.

Frankie is an alcoholic who needs to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings regularly in order to safeguard the sobriety she has maintained for more than nine years. She explains, in the first-person narrative Gardner employs, that she "gave up drinking and took up always being on the move instead." She grew up in a small Northern California town. Her father also drank and her mother worked two jobs in order to support the family. And a man named Paul saved her until she grew strong enough to save herself. She thinks about Paul frequently, but Gardner does not reveal the nature of their relationship or precisely what happened to him. Gardner describes Frankie as "haunted," and "living outside the norms of society — and yet in doing so, finding herself. She is not who the world expects her to be, but she is exactly who she needs to be." She is an endlessly fascinating character, in part because Gardner only offers periodic clues to what motivates her to lead the life she does.

The mystery at the core of this first volume is intricately crafted and populated by intriguing supporting characters. Gardner's story implicates societal issues including immigration, racism, and human trafficking, and is propelled forward at an unrelenting pace as she adds layers of complications, motives, and characters with reasons to keep Frankie from locating the missing girl. Frankie narrowly escapes danger more than once, as she seeks to understand how exactly LiLi went missing, given all of the ways that people's whereabouts are tracked in urban areas. A fifteen-year-old leaves clues through social media, a cellular telephone, friends, and camera feeds located throughout the neighborhood, yet LiLi vanished.

Frankie indeed takes a job in a bar that includes a small, furnished upstairs apartment. An aggressive cat named Piper is included in the deal. Stoney, the owner, is "a man who's seen it all and lived to tell the tale" and can "communicate volumes with a single eyebrow," and he seems to appreciate Frankie and her demons. Frankie's efforts are at first met with skepticism by LiLi's family and, initially, derision by Dan Lotham, the lead detective on the case. But Frankie works to ear the trust of LiLi's family and Lotham recognizes that Frankie gets results -- she has a knack for getting information from people who refuse to cooperate with the authorities -- and if the two of them work together, they might make progress. Because Frankie has no special skills or training, is not a licensed private investigator or affiliated with the local police department, she is not bound by procedures designed to ensure that the rights of subjects or witnesses are not trampled. She can and will submit requests for information in conformity with the Freedom of Information Act or ask the families of the missing to authorize the release of specific documents if law enforcement officials refuse to share information with her. She is committed and determined, and has "a gift for asking the right questions" that Lotham respects and decides to capitalize on. And their attraction is immediate and palpable, but Frankie clearly enunciates her circumstances to ensure that their expectations are manageable and realistic. "Good guys like him have a weakness for train wrecks like me. Just ask Paul," she wryly notes.

Frankie is determined that LiLi's case will be her first real success -- she will find the missing girl alive and return her to her family. But she has to stay alive herself in order to do so. With Before She Disappeared, Gardner lives up to her well-earned reputation as "the master of the psychological thriller." Frankie is a uniquely intriguing, credible character to whom readers will find themselves immediately drawn and invested in her well-being as they strive to understand her. And transfixed to see if she succeeds and, perhaps, decides to remain in Boston with a handsome detective.

Before She Disappeared is Gardner at her very best, which means it is a page-turner that leaves readers clamoring for the next installment.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book. show less

“Maybe the question shouldn’t be why am I doing this, but why isn’t everyone looking?”

What an amazing story. I'm completely amazed that anyone can disappear these days - during a time where I feel like there are cameras everywhere and little gps trackers on our watches and phones. How can anyone just vanish?

This story was all consuming. From the first chapter, I was completely sucked in and, I'll admit, a little grumpy to anyone who interrupted me. I loved Frankie with her flaws but her compassion and heart on her sleeve. What a raw and real character. The families and their heartache and blatant pain and need - this was all so well written and real on the page. I really hope this is a series, I really hope we get more of this show more type of storyline. I loved it! show less

I almost didn't pick this one up because it's a series, and I don't read series books - or so I thought. Before She Disappeared has converted me. This is a really good book.

Frankie Elkin is a disaster. An alcoholic who works in a bar and lives a nomadic life traveling from place to place as a civilian trying to bring home missing persons, all without pay. In this book, she is working on her fifteenth missing person case.

The character of Frankie is relatable; she's smart, sassy, independent, and savvy. Yet, she is also lonely, confused, haunted by her past, and in love with a man she can never have.

Lisa Gardner spins a fast tale about a missing fifteen-year-old in inner-city Boston who literally, it would appear, vanishes. No CCTV show more images, pings from her phone, sitings, or communication. Eleven months after she goes missing, she suddenly starts popping up here and there, dropping breadcrumb clues of her whereabouts.

There are good twists and turns, and throughout the book, I had no idea who was the kidnapper. I was pleasantly surprised at this out-of-my-norm-genre-read and am already looking forward to reading the second in the series. show less

Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner is a very highly recommended crime thriller. Don't miss this incredible heart-stopping stand-alone novel!

"My name is Frankie Elkin and finding missing people - particularly minorities - is what I do. When the police have given up, with the public no longer remembers, when the media has never bothered to care, I start looking. For no money, no recognition, and most of the time, no help."

Frankie, a middle-aged woman and recovering alcoholic, spends her life searching for missing people long after the case has gone cold. Her new search is for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished eleven months earlier at the age of fifteen. She moves to Boston and finds a job at a bar with an apartment show more available above it in the rough Mattapan neighborhood where Angelique lived. Frankie wastes no time introducing herself to the family, Angelique's Aunt Guerline and her younger brother, Emmanuel, and letting the Boston PD know she is looking into the case. Frankie is used to having to dig out information and investigate on her own, so the initial resistance from Detective Lotham is expected but doesn't hold her back.

Frankie is unquestionably an extraordinary fully developed new character full of depth, intelligence, and complexity. She has a dark past and is running from her own demons but she faces it all with honesty and tenacity. Everyday is a struggle to not drink while seeking information to bring her case to completion. She sets her personal safety aside as she asks questions and searches for the truth hidden by layers of subterfuge and obfuscation. At the same time Frankie is an unconventional woman. She has a quirky personality and a mouth on her as she says what's on her mind and holds nothing back. The wonderful fact is that all the characters are well-developed and presented as unique individuals.

Adding to the excellent character development is the absolutely perfect and, quite frankly, masterful writing in this un-put-downable thriller. Gardner grabs your attention - by the throat - right at the start and from then on the plot is riveting and spellbinding while the intense pace increases incrementally. The sense of danger is palpable as Frankie looks for the truth. I simply could not put this novel down once I started it. It can't be denied that Gardner has a gift for writing.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the Penguin Publishing Group

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https://www.bookbub.com/books/before-she-disappeared-by-lisa-gardner-2020-07-12 show less

My first Lisa Gardner and her Frankie Elkin cold case series on audio, and I found it to be an enjoyable mystery. Nothing too dramatic or startling, just a sensible progression to resolution without too many red herrings. Being a Boston-area resident, I really appreciated the setting of Mattapan, with a mostly Black and Hispanic population, a neighborhood that receives little or no attention in our area. Frankie's interactions with residents seemed down-to-earth and realistic, with no signs of white savior syndrome. Her own background is a bit mysterious, as is her preoccupation with finding missing people from cold case files, but I'm sure to learn more as I listen to the next one.

Book on CD narrated by Hilary Huber
3.5***

Frankie Elkin is a recovering alcoholic who has devoted her life to searching for the lost and forgotten. When the police have given up, Frankie starts looking. Her latest case brings her to a tough Boston neighborhood where Haitian teenager and A-student Angelique disappeared from her high school nearly a year ago. Frankie has to battle resistance from the Boston PD and from the girl’s family.

I really liked Frankie as a lead character, warts and all. She is a somewhat broken person and struggles with her own memories and regrets. But she’s smart, observant and tenacious. Will this finally be the case where she finds the missing person alive?

Gardner crafts a good suspense novel. There are show more just enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. Clues are casually dropped, so that their importance is easily overlooked. And she populates the book with a wonderful array of colorful side characters, from the bar owner where Frankie works, to the long-suffering detective, to Angelique’s younger brother, and her teenaged best friends (or frenemies?). And let’s not forget Piper, the attack cat.

The audiobook is capably performed by Hilary Huber. I like the way she voices Frankie, and she does a good job of the male characters as well. show less