de Lisa Gardner
Five-year-old Leilani Pierson has been missing for over a decade. Amateur detective Frankie Elkin is an expert at finding missing persons. But this case has unusually high stakes. The request comes from Leilani's sister Kaylee, a convicted serial killer weeks away from her execution date.
The main suspect in the kidnapping? Kaylee's ex-boyfriend, a tech billionaire who has hidden himself away on a remote base camp near Hawaii.
Determined to find the missing girl–alive–Frankie embarks on a dangerous mission. Up against a ticking clock and an incoming tropical storm, will Frankie Elkin learn the truth and save Leilani before it's too late?
Five-year-old Leilani Pierson has been missing for over a decade. Amateur detective Frankie Elkin is an expert at finding missing persons. But this case has unusually high stakes. The request comes from Leilani's sister Kaylee, a convicted serial killer weeks away from her execution date.
The main suspect in the kidnapping? Kaylee's ex-boyfriend, a tech billionaire who has hidden himself away on a remote base camp near Hawaii.
Determined to find the missing girl–alive–Frankie embarks on a dangerous mission. Up against a ticking clock and an incoming tropical storm, will Frankie Elkin learn the truth and save Leilani before it's too late?
Critiques-
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October 1, 2023
In the No. 1 New York Times best-selling Gardner's Still See You Everywhere, a convicted serial killer with 21 days left before her execution asks Frankie Elkin to find her little sister, who was kidnapped a decade ago (400,000-copy first printing). Prepub Alert.
Copyright 2023 Library Journal
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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February 1, 2024
Gardner skillfully weaves threats into this pitch-perfect variation of the locked-room mystery, pitting "missing person finder" Frankie Elkin against an untamed tropical environment, a raging serial killer, a diabolical saboteur, and her own misleading tunnel vision. Frankie barely survived her last missing person's hunt (One Step Too Far, 2022) and her no-frills, vagabond lifestyle discourages self-care. Therefore, Frankie's enthusiasm about meeting death-row inmate Keahi Pierson, the "Beautiful Butcher," is dampened by burnout and doubts about working with an unrepentant murderer. But Keahi tells a compelling story: she escaped childhood abuse only to fall under the control of a powerful tech mogul who abused her and kidnapped her little sister Leilani. Keahi pleads for Frankie to rescue Leilani, and Frankie is soon planted undercover on the mogul's private island. Finally, Keahi's ex and Leilani arrive but bring disturbing news: Keahi has escaped. When the island's communication system crashes, and Leilani's security team is picked off, Frankie knows that everything she thought she knew about the sisters is a deadly lie.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Gardner's Frankie Elkin series gets more magnetizing with each installment.COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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February 26, 2024
Bestseller Gardner’s far-fetched third outing for Frankie Elkin (after A Step Too Far) sees the amateur investigator and recovering alcoholic tracking down the sister of a notorious death row inmate. Frankie, who’s made an “unusual hobby” of reopening cold missing persons cases, can hardly believe it when she receives an inquiry from Kaylee Pierson. Dubbed the “Beautiful Butcher” by the press, Pierson admitted to killing 18 men more than a decade ago after luring them home from nights out. Now, weeks before her execution, she wants Frankie to track down her younger sister, Leilani, who vanished 12 years ago at age five. Pierson believes that her tech mogul ex-boyfriend, Sanders MacManus, kidnapped the girl, so Frankie heads to the private Hawaiian atoll where MacManus is constructing an eco-friendly resort. There, she goes undercover to befriend people close to MacManus, but the more she learns about him and Leilani, the less sure she becomes about who’s pulling the strings—or why she was sent to Hawaii in the first place. The convoluted plot takes too long to get moving, and when it does, Gardner generates more head-scratching questions than gratifying answers. Readers willing to suspend their disbelief will be treated to some pulpy action and armchair tourism, but for the most part, this misses the mark. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. -
Thriller fans will be delighted that Hillary Huber continues her successful run as narrator of the Frankie Elkin series. In the third installment, Huber brings out the sassy charm of Frankie, an unconventional cold case investigator. She's hired by a serial killer on death row to locate her little sister, who disappeared in Hawaii. Huber impeccably pronounces the audiobook's ubiquitous Hawaiian words as Frankie goes undercover at a remote island eco lodge being developed by the suspected kidnapper, a tech billionaire. Huber, always gifted at affecting believable regional accents, smoothly shifts her vocal performance to reflect the lodge's international workers. Huber's quick pacing adds to the rising tension as a severe storm rolls in and Frankie realizes she's trapped on the Pacific atoll with an unidentified murderer. J.T. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
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Starred review from April 5, 2024
Gardner's third Frankie Elkin novel (after One Step Too Far) is powerful and darkly menacing, set on a coral islet that's equally beautiful and deadly. Frankie, finder of the forgotten missing, usually chooses her own cases, but when death row serial killer Kaylee Pierson, a.k.a. "the Beautiful Butcher," asks her to locate her little sister Leilani just weeks before the date of her execution, Frankie is enticed. Kaylee believes her sister was kidnapped 12 years ago by Sanders MacManus, Kaylee's abusive ex-boyfriend-turned-billionaire who is now building an eco-friendly resort on a remote Pacific island. Frankie goes undercover on the isolated atoll with a dozen or more of MacManus's staff in an attempt to locate the now 17-year-old Lea. Gardner's narrative is a sensual mix of edgy and conversational, and her meticulous research of everything from native flora and fauna to law enforcement procedures shines. The cast of misfit characters are well portrayed, and the villain is absolutely diabolical. Best of all is Frankie, a beaten-down, antihero misfit out to save the world because there's no saving herself. VERDICT Fans of twisted cat-and-mouse thrillers, unconventional underdog protagonists, fiendish evil-doers, and surprise "holy cow" endings will devour this unputdownable novel.--Debbie Haupt
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
