Lisa Gardner’s ‘Find Her’ Will Have You Looking Over Your Shoulder [REVIEW]

Kidnapped and trapped in a coffin-sized pine box, Flora Dane discovers the meaning of fear in Lisa Gardner’s FIND HER.
(Photo by Johannes Winger-Lang, Flickr)

Flora Dane’s worst fears are realized when she is kidnapped and thrust into a pine box specifically built for her. Trapped in total darkness, she claws her way toward survival, never giving up hope that she’ll be saved. Thus begins Lisa Gardner’s latest novel, Find Her, as it blasts out of the gate at breakneck speed, deftly putting us inside Dane’s personal terror and craftily holding readers hostage until the very last page. 

Throughout this story, I couldn’t help but wonder what I would do in order to survive. Would I remain strong, resourceful and mentally unbroken? Hopefully, I’ll never have to find out. But Flora Dane has, and we get a true sense of her mindset in this quote:

Dutton

“There’s not much to do day after day trapped in a coffin-sized box. In fact, there’s really only one thing worth imagining, obsessing, contemplating minute by minute, hour after terrible hour. One thought that keeps you going. One focus that gives you strength. You’ll find it. You’ll hone it. Then, if you’re anything like me, you’ll never let it go. Revenge. But be careful what you wish for, especially if you’re just a stupid girl trapped in a coffin-sized box.” (3-4)

Gardner captures Dane’s emotions perfectly, both during and after her captivity. With unrivaled finesse, the author keeps readers riveted inside the box almost as if they are going through this ordeal themselves.

Also, more people have gone missing, and Boston detective D.D. Warren realizes that they have a common denominator: Dane. She is consistently found at crime scenes which involve other abducted women.

Although Find Her focuses on what happens to Dane while inside the pine box, Gardner also leads the reader along her protagonist’s path to recovery, which is fraught with vacillating emotion and insightful flashbacks which show us exactly who she becomes in the wake of her ordeal.

All these story lines converge as Warren and her team seek to discover Dane’s involvement before someone else disappears.

In Find Her, Gardner takes us down a surreal road that seems all too familiar, and in many aspects reads like a story taken from the evening news. Don’t miss reading Find Her by Lisa Gardner. It is a hair raising tale that is sure to make you suspicious of everyone you encounter!

Lisa Gardner
(Photo by Philbrick Photography)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lisa Gardner is the number one New York Times bestselling author of crime novels like Crash and Burn, Fear Nothing, Touch and Go, Catch Me, and more. She also writes as Alicia Scott.

Her novels have been published in 30 countries and she has more than 22 million books in print. Four of her titles, including At the Midnight Hour, The Perfect Husband, The Survivors Club and Hide, have also been turned into made-for-TV movies.

Gardner has won numerous awards for her work, including Best Hardcover Novel from the International Thriller Writers for The Neighbor. She also received the Daphne du Maurier Award from the Romance Writers of America in 2000 for The Other Daughter. 

She resides in New Hampshire with her husband, daughter, and two dogs. Visit her home on the Web at LisaGardner.com, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.

FIND HER
By Lisa Gardner
416 pgs. Dutton. $27.