Download The Neighbour (Detective D.D. Warren 3) epub

I really like Gardner's books. However, this one left me frustrated. There was not the clean line in the story that is typical of her books. DD Warren seemed very whiney throughout. Instead of DD pulling the mystery together, she remained in the dark at the end as to all the players roles. And there were a lot of players, the father who killed the mother, the father who molested his teen daughter, the abducted, abused boy who is a man and mainline character. The precocious 4 year old. The missing wife. The state guy who ends up beating the wife... Yeah, convoluted at best.

First Sentence: I've always wondered what people felt in the final few hours of their lives.

Detective Sergeant D.D. Warren works homicide and isn't usually called out on a missing person case. From the start, this one feels different.

Journalist Jason Jones returned from work to find his wife missing but didn't notify the police for three hours. Their four-year-old daughter clearly saw something, but the husband is less than cooperative with the police and becomes the prime suspect in a possible murder. As the case proceeds, the number of suspects increases, but still no hard evidence or body.

D.D. is a character I could like and, for the most part, with whom I can identify. I may have to memorize her approach to the all-you-can-eat buffet. However, personally, I could have done with a bit less of the graphic fantasies.

As for the rest of the many characters, there was little to like about any of them although I could sympathize with them. There were major questions about the background of some of the characters that didn't make sense as there were no answers provided.

One thing I felt Gardner did very well was address an unpleasant subject and segment of society in an enlightening and thoughtful manner. That took both talent and a bit of courage.

The story started out very well. There were very good plot elements and twists early on. The information on computers was fascinating but it became heavy-handed. What I should like to have seen was more of the investigative side of the case. However, the plot bogged down in the middle and the multiple POVs became tiresome. While I appreciated the revelations about the characters at the end, the ending itself felt rushed an incomplete.

Gardner is a good writer but, for me, has never equaled her first book.

THE NEIGHBOR (Pol Proc-D.S. D.D. Warren-Boston-Cont) - G+
Gardner, Lisa - 3rd in series
Bantam, 2009, US Hardcover - ISBN: 9780553807233

Okay... I like Lisa Gardner's works of D.D. Warren very much....but this one...well.... glad I made it to the end as it was worth it. However, I wasn't crazy about how long it seemed to get there...Understand: I'm far from a literary giant... basically for me, if it's a good book, I'm happy....but, don't make me work at liking it. I felt as though I was having to do just that. It just felt a bit 'labored' when it wasn't necessary. And, speaking of not being necessary---Frankly, I didn't care if D.D. Warren was needing sex or not. That didn't add to the story nor did it titillate my senses---it bored me. It simply wasn't necessary. However, on the good side, I was able to keep flipping the pages of her "horniness" and still end up knowing what the story was about. I shall assume her itch was scratched and I'm thrilled to pieces that it was. At one point, I lost my place in my Kindle and couldn't find where I was...so, I just kind of picked up where I gave up searching and still got to the end of the story---and, bless pat.. it was good. Would I recommend this book? Yes, as long as you are a good "page flipper" and aren't overly concerned about a detective's headboard notches. I'll continue to support Ms Gardner's D D Warren series and will read the next one.

There are lots of monsters in Lisa Gardner's latest thriller, from those in the past lives of her main characters to the potential monsters lurking around the fringes of the book's central mystery: who is responsible for the disappearance of Sandy Jones, a perfect wife and mother? Is it her husband, a "McDreamy" lookalike whose thousand-yard stare freaks out D.D. Warren when she tries to ask questions? What is the role of the 'neighbor' in the title -- a sex offender on parole, trying to get back on an even keel and who may have seen too much? And what about Sandy's 13-year-old student, who was helping her delve into her husband's secrets via the Internet?

This is one of Gardner's best thrillers in a few years, full of twists and turns that make it literally impossible to put down. (I walked around the house all day with it open in front of me...) That is the litmus test of any good thriller, and it passes handily, especially when Gardner gets into her narrative and past the coy asides that all female protagonists seem doomed to utter these days. (Think Lisa Scottoline, but not as good, such as when Warren muses to herself that the ability to retrieve older instant messages from a cellphone provider is "handy information for inquiring minds that wanted to know." That's being clever for the sake of being clever...)

But the twisting plot(s) soon take over and grab hold of the reader. What is the truth of Sandy's past? Can we trust what she tells us, the reader, in the first-person segments in some of the chapters? Or what she has told her husband? Can we trust Jason's version of events as seen through his eyes after Sandy's disappearance? Or is he putting on as much of an act for us, the reader, as he acknowledges he is for the police and Sandy's fellow teachers at the local middle school. Why does Jason feel so panicky about the contents of his computer -- the same contents that Sandy was trying to access with her student's help? The final twist -- the solution to Sandy's disappearance and the identity of the ultimate criminal and (his/her) motivations (no spoilers here!) are humdingers which -- not so coincidentally -- wrap up most of the dangling plot threads.

This is a classic thriller that won't let you stop reading until you get to that stage. Unusually for this writer, however, there are also some elements that make the reader ponder bigger issues, such as the impact of mass media on crime investigation, the idea of what is an 'appropriate' response or 'normal' relationship, and -- most intriguing of all -- the question of whether lumping all kinds of sex offenders, from vicious pedophile preying on children in his care to the 19 year old who has sex with a 14 or 15 year old, together in one mass for law enforcement purposes is helpful or counterproductive. Collectively, those make this a four-star read, along with the idea that living 'happily ever after' may mean very different things to different people.

It's not five stars because the writing is rather prosaic and D.D. Warren, however appealing, isn't really three-dimensional. (We are reminded over and over again that she's celibate and doesn't like it; after the first time, it does add anything to our understanding of her character and it's not relevant to the plot. That kind of stuff detracts from the suspense and turns the book into more of a lite thriller than a real noir read.) The acute reader will also spot a few holes in the plot details (hints: clothing and cars) that remain unanswered.

This is that great summer read: a book that will grab your attention and keep it while you hang out in the garden or under a beach umbrella, and that you don't need to brood over to figure out. Recommended for mystery and thriller readers who like female detectives and 'woman in peril' novels, but definitely a notch above the works of romance-based 'thriller' writers such as Catherine Coulter et. al.