Thursday 20 August 2015

Book Review - Crash and Burn by Lisa Gardner

Crash & Burn (Tessa Leoni, #3)
 
Crash and Burn by Lisa Gardner
Published: 16th July 2015
Publisher: Headline
Pages: 343
Available in Paperback and on Kindle
 
Blurb
My name is Nicky Frank.
I'm in hospital, afraid. All I can think about is Vero. I have to save her but I can't find her. She's just a little girl.
The man by my bed tells me we're married and there is no Vero. He says that six months ago I suffered a brain injury, that I have dramatic mood swings and large gaps in my memory. I get angry and I drink. All of which explains the car crash that put me here.
Now a Sergeant Wyatt Foster has questions about the accident. He has concerns about my husband. And he's worried about a missing girl.
He would like to know what happened to me. So would I.
This is my life. Watch me crash and burn.

Review
Now I have to start this review by saying until I requested Crash and Burn off bookbridgr I had not heard of Lisa Gardner, shame on me as this woman can write a great crime thriller. What started out as a very simple car accident involving Nicky Franks becomes deeper and more complex and utterly gripping, I couldn’t put this down until I’d finished the very last page.

Sergeant Wyatt Foster is given the case of what initially appears to be a drunk driving charge, however its uncovered that driver Nicole Franks was under the legal limit and also be assumes there was a child (Vero) in the car with her, who now appears to be missing. As Wyatt delves deeper into the case he learns that Nicole is suffering from concussion and has suffered two further “accidents” in the past six months and everything in her home life it not quite as it seems. What starts off as a simple open and shut case soon becomes a very complex and goes deeper than the Sergeant ever expected.

Crash and Burn is a very complex crime thriller with so many twists I wasn’t sure what else could actually happen. The plot flows really well despite the many twists and had me totally hooked all the way through. There are some chapters which are flashbacks in Nicole’s memory which won’t be to every reader’s liking but personally I love this style of narrative and felt this was how the story began to make sense and I was able to work out what had happened, or so I thought!

I really liked all the characters I really felt for Nicole and the vulnerability she showed when she couldn’t remember events happening. He husband Thomas left me feeling a little on edge as I was sure he was hiding something from Nicole and the police and I didn’t want her to trust him completely. My favourite character was Sergeant Wyatt, he seemed a genuinely nice guy as seemed to want to protect Nicole from anymore “accidents”. I also liked the way he was trying really hard to build a relationship with private investigator Tessa and her daughter Sophie. Hopefully some of her other novels will feature him as he’s a character I’d like to read more about.

Crash and Burn is a novel which will keep you gripped from the very first line “I died once” to the very last page. All the way through you will be questioning how is Nicole Franks? Who is Vero? Where is Vero? Were those “accidents” really accidents? It is a novel which focuses of hidden identities, brain injuries, child abduction, drug abuse and many, many secrets. I absolutely loved the way I was totally absorbed by this gripping thriller. I cannot wait to read more by this author it was just brilliant.

Thank you so much to bookbridgr and Headline for sending me a review copy. I give this book a well-deserved five out of five.

 

 
 




 

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