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samhouston23's review against another edition
4.0
Lisa Gardner’s new psychological novel Crash & Burn is the kind of book that Alfred Hitchcock might have jumped all over during his moviemaking heyday. This one is filled with so many plot twists and surprises that the reader is kept off balance all the way to the book’s final pages. And, Nicky Frank, Gardner’s main character who is also one of the book’s narrators, takes the “unreliable narrator” device to the extreme, something Hitchcock would have loved.
When Nicky Frank regains consciousness and realizes that she has run off a remote New Hampshire highway and is trapped in her car, she has only one concern: her daughter. Where is Vero? She’s not in the car, and even the search dog brought to the scene of the accident can’t find the little girl. Now it is up to Sergeant Wyatt Foster to find her before it is too late. But, as Sgt. Foster is soon to learn, all is not as it seems, because according to Nicky’s husband, there is no little girl. She does not exist.
According to Thomas Frank, his wife has suffered three concussions in the past six months, leading to the kind of head trauma in which she still sometimes has difficulty telling the difference between reality and dreams. Being the good cop that he is, when he hears “three concussions in six months,” Wyatt Foster immediately begins to suspect that Thomas Frank just might be the villain of the piece. Is the man, in fact, trying to kill his wife?
Thus begins a rollercoaster ride during which Nicky desperately tries to tell the difference between what is real and what is not. Is Thomas the husband who pledged to protect his wife with his own life if need be, or is he the husband she sometimes believes she has reason to fear and mistrust? Who is Vero and why can’t Nicky get her out of her head? Without help from someone she can trust, Nicky may never find the answers to any of the questions being thrown at her by Wyatt Foster and the New Hampshire North Country Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division. Wyatt, still not sure if he is dealing with a criminal or a victim in the person of Nicky Frank, is determined to get to the truth – and he may just turn out to be one of the few friends Nicky has.
Crash & Burn is both psychological thriller and police procedural, and it will add to the positive reputation that Lisa Gardner has already earned with her eight-book Detective D.D. Warren series and her FBI Profiler and Tessa Leoni series. In Crash & Burn, as she sometimes does, Gardner mixes the characters from the different series into her story. This time around, P.I. Tessa Leoni works closely with Wyatt Foster to solve the Nicky Frank case, and D.D. Warren even manages a cameo appearance of her own. Lisa Gardner fans will be pleased.
When Nicky Frank regains consciousness and realizes that she has run off a remote New Hampshire highway and is trapped in her car, she has only one concern: her daughter. Where is Vero? She’s not in the car, and even the search dog brought to the scene of the accident can’t find the little girl. Now it is up to Sergeant Wyatt Foster to find her before it is too late. But, as Sgt. Foster is soon to learn, all is not as it seems, because according to Nicky’s husband, there is no little girl. She does not exist.
According to Thomas Frank, his wife has suffered three concussions in the past six months, leading to the kind of head trauma in which she still sometimes has difficulty telling the difference between reality and dreams. Being the good cop that he is, when he hears “three concussions in six months,” Wyatt Foster immediately begins to suspect that Thomas Frank just might be the villain of the piece. Is the man, in fact, trying to kill his wife?
Thus begins a rollercoaster ride during which Nicky desperately tries to tell the difference between what is real and what is not. Is Thomas the husband who pledged to protect his wife with his own life if need be, or is he the husband she sometimes believes she has reason to fear and mistrust? Who is Vero and why can’t Nicky get her out of her head? Without help from someone she can trust, Nicky may never find the answers to any of the questions being thrown at her by Wyatt Foster and the New Hampshire North Country Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division. Wyatt, still not sure if he is dealing with a criminal or a victim in the person of Nicky Frank, is determined to get to the truth – and he may just turn out to be one of the few friends Nicky has.
Crash & Burn is both psychological thriller and police procedural, and it will add to the positive reputation that Lisa Gardner has already earned with her eight-book Detective D.D. Warren series and her FBI Profiler and Tessa Leoni series. In Crash & Burn, as she sometimes does, Gardner mixes the characters from the different series into her story. This time around, P.I. Tessa Leoni works closely with Wyatt Foster to solve the Nicky Frank case, and D.D. Warren even manages a cameo appearance of her own. Lisa Gardner fans will be pleased.
qdblue2000's review against another edition
4.0
I really like that Lisa Gardner has brought her two main series together in away that each has their own stories but now the characters connect. This is a Tessa Leoni book but she also brings in Detective DD Warren. They work together even if they don't like each other. And I think this makes the books even better.
I like this story because its a complex one that takes time to unravel. I knew half way through the book how Thomas was connected to the dollhouse. But I was completely surprised with Vero and Chelsa and how their story unraveled.
Tessa is learning her past maybe coming back to haunt her. But Wyatt is standing by her side.
this story offers enough suspense to keep it rolling and you pulled into to such a complex story that has to unravel. Sometimes I got lost and had to reread a few paragraphs due to the switching from chachter roles with Vero and Chelsa. but it was good.
I can't wait to read the next one!
I like this story because its a complex one that takes time to unravel. I knew half way through the book how Thomas was connected to the dollhouse. But I was completely surprised with Vero and Chelsa and how their story unraveled.
Tessa is learning her past maybe coming back to haunt her. But Wyatt is standing by her side.
this story offers enough suspense to keep it rolling and you pulled into to such a complex story that has to unravel. Sometimes I got lost and had to reread a few paragraphs due to the switching from chachter roles with Vero and Chelsa. but it was good.
I can't wait to read the next one!
bob74's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
thatabbygirl's review against another edition
3.0
certainly an engrossing thriller, although it felt like it got away from her a bit at the end.
serenitynowgirl's review against another edition
2.0
Had a few good twists, but I hate when I choose a book not knowing it's from a series, so I feel like I'm missing bits of the puzzle. This particular book read pretty smoothly despite being third in a series that I had not read before. I'll probably try some other books by this author.
sleepytimebooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
shania13's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
lacyj2229's review against another edition
4.0
Every time I thought I knew what was going on, I turned out to be wrong. When I would finally figure it out, another curveball would be thrown. Couldn't put it down!
mcmbennett's review against another edition
4.0
Nicky Frank has escaped death a second time after surviving a terrible car crash down the side of a mountain. When she is found after crawling up the mountain to the side of the road, a search is started for the child, Vera, who she deliriously claims is missing. Search dogs, however, do not find a scent for the child, which puzzles the police. They are further puzzled when her husband arrives at the hospital and informs them that they do not have any children and Nicky has recently suffered three head traumas. Nicky is often delusional and has lost blocks of her memory, but is haunted by her past. She was heavily intoxicated with Scotch at the time of the accident, but as the police begin investigating, it turns out that all is not as it seems. It is not clear during the investigation what is real and what is not or who is telling the truth and who is not. Wyatt, the police investigator on the case, realizes that there is more going on here than is obvious and requests the assistance of his girlfriend, private detective Tessa Leoni.
This was my first Lisa Gardner book, and I really enjoyed the storyline with twists and turns that kept me guessing throughout this intriguing page-turner. We read this for our genre study at the library, and several of us were confused that it’s labeled a Tessa Leoni series book. Even though she was called in to help, she wasn’t really the primary investigator and really didn’t have a large presence in the book.
Read my other reviews on my blog: marysreadallaboutit.wordpress.com
This was my first Lisa Gardner book, and I really enjoyed the storyline with twists and turns that kept me guessing throughout this intriguing page-turner. We read this for our genre study at the library, and several of us were confused that it’s labeled a Tessa Leoni series book. Even though she was called in to help, she wasn’t really the primary investigator and really didn’t have a large presence in the book.
Read my other reviews on my blog: marysreadallaboutit.wordpress.com
jmkvance's review against another edition
3.0
between 3 and 3 1/2 stars; this book deals with child sexual abuse, domestic violence, addiction, OD, and suicide, but isn’t graphic in its depiction in any of them. the main character having multiple traumatic brain injuries - and resulting memory issues - meant there was a lot to wade through and unpack. for the most part, i thought where the story ended up made sense with the path taken to get there. there was one plot construct, meant to be a red herring, that i didn’t feel was adequately justified in the summation. otherwise it was a solid, if sometimes convoluted, narrative.