Reviews

Find Me by Anne Frasier

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lynguy1's review against another edition

4.0

Anne Frasier’s first book in the Inland Empire series, Find Me, is an impactful and chilling police procedural and psychological thriller. Benjamin Fisher, convicted of multiple killings, has finally offered to lead San Bernardino County homicide detective Daniel Ellis to the victims’ graves. He has two stipulations. The first is easy to accommodate (pie from a specific diner), but the second will be a challenge. He wants his estranged daughter FBI profiler Reni Fisher who hasn’t talked with or seen him in thirty years to accompany them. For the sake of the families, Reni finally agrees.

Daniel is divorced, driven, focused, intense, and determined to help the families find answers and closure. Reni loves the desert, makes pottery to relieve stress from her childhood trauma, is insightful, sometimes doubts herself, and tends to have flashbacks. Both has childhood events that affect them and shaped their careers.

After a chilling prologue, the story gradually builds momentum. However, there are several flashbacks that adversely affect the pacing. Despite this, they provide valuable background on the main characters. There are several twists and turns with some surprises and a couple that were more obvious. Despite a couple of over-the-top action scenes, I went with the flow and became engrossed in the deeply involved plot, incredible setting, and extraordinary, but flawed characters. The world-building is excellent and made the Mojave Desert come alive. The ending does leave a few open questions, but the main mystery was resolved.

Overall, this was a story that hooked me and kept me turning the pages. The author did a great job of weaving the threads together. I look forward to seeing what is next for Daniel and Reni. Readers of mysteries and police procedurals will likely enjoy this series.

I purchased a copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was July 1, 2020.
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My 4.18 rounded to 4 stars review is coming soon.

lifeinthebooklane's review against another edition

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4.0

Having seen this thriller lauded widely amongst my blogging friends I decided to try a sample of the book. That was good enough to see me purchasing and then reading the rest at the first possible opportunity.

The story is told in the third person from multiple perspectives, precisely executed so that I never once struggled to know whose thoughts I was hearing. Some chapters were shown in flashback and again the time and person was very clearly signposted. As someone less familiar with the genre I not only enjoyed the story but also didn't spot any obvious plot holes, though the dress was somewhat of a loose end. The foreshadowing and breadcrumb clues were there but with enough held back that some twists were unexpected. There was a good air of suspense and anticipation too.

I loved that Reni was an unreliable narrator, it certainly added extra tension to the story. Despite her short-coming, or perhaps because of them I very much warmed to her. I liked Daniel too but felt as though we didn't quite get all of him. Not surprising really as this was Reni's past that was slowly being peeled back, her history and the truths of her childhood gradually being revealed. And both had dark pasts that they had buried like the bodies in the desert, hidden from plain sight but affecting every facet of their lives. Some aspects of the plot were not made clear, such as

Spoiler

why Ben chose suicide. I wasn't quite sure how that would protect Maurice and Rosalind as it would surely cast more light on the situation rather than less - perhaps that was Ben's intention.

The desert setting was very evocative, as someone from an island nation and another continent, I'm more familiar with the Mojave desert from old cowboy films. However, it felt like another character, a living breathing entity that gave the story extra colour. I will also admit that my romance roots kept showing through in wanting Daniel and Reni to "develop feelings" for one another. They didn't in this one but there is a new adventure in book #2 so I'm holding out hope!

sslovesbooks_1's review

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5.0

Woo wee. What a read. I read this in a day even though the storyline was disturbing and the cover well it’s not the most appealing. I was totally hooked and the evil, twisty and nasty storyline was gripping and page turning. I am looking forward to the next in the series as this was just such a good read. A 5 star read and one I would recommend you pick up if you like the darker side of crime thrillers.