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Before She Disappeared
By Lisa Gardner
Dutton, 9781524745042, January 19, 2021, 400pp.

The Short of It:

So far, Gardner has not disappointed me. Loved the amateur detective in this one.

The Rest of It:

Frankie Elkin is just an ordinary woman who chooses to find the missing people others have forgotten. She asks the questions that others don’t and because she has no personal ties or even a steady job to hold her down, she can blend into the scenery and find the clues that everyone else seems to miss.

I really enjoyed Before She Disappeared. Frankie is one of those perfectly flawed characters. As a recovering alcoholic, she is constantly aware of her weaknesses which makes her so likable and easy to relate to. In this installment, because apparently this is Book #1 in the Elkin series, Frankie looks for a young girl who has gone missing. Her family has been holding onto hope for over a year but no new leads have been found. Frankie gets herself a bar job, yep, as a recovering alcoholic it’s what she knows, works out a deal for housing which includes a very hostile feline roommate, and digs into the case.

The pacing is really good and I found myself reaching for my Kindle every chance I had. That’s the sign of a good read. I’ve lost count but this was read for 10 Books of Summer.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Lost & Found
By Brooke Davis
Dutton Books, Paperback, 9780147517739, January 2016, 320pp.

The Short of It:

Quirky, touching, funny. Basically, everything you could want in a story.

The Rest of It:

Millie is just 7 years-old. After her father’s passing, Millie finds herself fascinated by dead things. One day, Millie’s mother leaves her under a rack of underwear at a department store with instructions to stay put. After a long night in the store and her mother nowhere to be found, Millie ends up at the coffee shop where she meets Karl, “the touch typist” who types out what he is saying as if he were typing it out on a keyboard.

Millie returns back home briefly, to see if her mother is there but when she returns to an empty house she goes looking for food and runs into Agatha, the cranky widow who lives across the street. Agatha has been closed off to the world ever since her husband died. She screams things at people and seems at odds with everyone she encounters, including Millie who shows up on her doorstep asking for food.

Karl, “the touch typist” is in his 80s and an odd companion to Millie but the two get to know one another and forge an unlikely friendship when he vows to help Millie find her mother. Having lost his own wife, Karl can relate to Millie’s sense of loss. And then Agatha, forcing herself to be brave, decides to head out into the world to assist Millie as well. Together, all three deal with their losses as they lean on one another for support.

What a wonderful story. I absolutely LOVED it! These three are so different from one another in personality but they all come together so well. I suppose their shared grief has something to do with that even though Millie is really too young to understand what is going on. Her youth and innocence is in stark contrast to what the other two have been through so their interactions although on the surface are humorous, usually hint at something much deeper.

This book is so many things to me! It was funny, and sad and also a little bit of an adventure. The characters are really interesting and I could relate to all of them and that’s such a rarity these days. I could go on and on but instead, I ask that you run out and get a copy right now because it’s just so good.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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