Have you met my good friend Maria, the craziest girl on the block? Don’t know why but this bit from a favorite song from a favorite movie popped in my head. Lisa Gardner makes that possible. Before I go any further astray from my purpose here run out and get BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED. Pretty soon to be a best seller from one of the best authors of crime and punishment Lisa Gardner.

I have met some of the best, most unforgettable characters thanks to the creativity of Lisa Gardner and now I will introduce you to Frankie Elkin. Lisa Gardner’s characters are so very three dimensional and Frankie will absolutely win your heart – guaranteed.

So just who is Frankie Elkin. We will learn much about this self-professed finder of lost or missing people. Frankie has already located many, unfortunately not alive. This is the bane of her existence. Frankie’s goal is to find those missing and deliver home to their families – alive and well. Families need answers and closure. Frankie wants to give them that at least.

Frankie is a recovering alcoholic and literally wanders from place to place looking for answers. She is a nomad in the true sense of the word. But Frankie is so likeable. She connects with people – a talent for sure – and with these connections puts together the puzzle that has been pushed aside and for the most part forgotten. Except for the families.

Page by page Lisa Gardner plants us into the world of Frankie Elkin and we become part of the process of finding Angelique Badeau missing for almost a year now. Angelique AKA Angel or Lili depending on who you are asking is not the kind of girl that gets into trouble. So her disappearance is troubling, to say the least. Boston police have made Angel a cold case. They have pretty much stopped looking for her. Seems like missing teens fade into distant memory – again except for the family – and in this case Frankie.

Before you know it Frankie starts sifting through any kind of banter available and her searching has caught the eye of the Boston Police Department.

Detective Lotham doesn’t quite know what to do about Frankie but he is learning fast that somehow she is uncovering facts that do not come from usual sources. Well, there is nothing usual about Frankie Elkin, which Lotham realizes immediately. Frankie makes him sigh. You know how kids do the eye roll thing well imagine the changes in this detective's face in the presence of our Frankie. Yes, I do take ownership of a character that can add me to her growing list of friends.

Okay, so now the huge challenge that as a reviewer I face when writing something about a Lisa Gardner book. Little tidbits I will drop but that’s it. Frankie is a great listener and tries to think like a teenager even though she describes herself as an average middle-aged white woman. Frankie immerses herself in the world of the missing person sometimes at her own peril. Paying attention to the smallest detail. And at times being that annoying grain of sand in someone’s shoe.

In BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED Frankie enters the world and neighborhood of Angel which is decidedly a crowded black urban space. She sticks out in Angel’s neighborhood but soldiers on despite her own fears and insecurities. Frankie is used to facing her own demons. Now she has to find out if Angel had any previously unknown demons to ferret out. And along the way, Frankie interacts with many folks, some good and some bad. But she never loses sight of her goal – to find Angelique and return her to her family.

Hang on to some of the best moments in story telling by the master herself Lisa Gardner. BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED just may be one of her best and that is saying a lot.

Book Summary

Read an Excerpt