(11) Crash & Burn by Lisa Gardner

Monday, February 9, 2015


It was a wet and dreary night the night that Nicky Frank drove her Audi Q5 off the New Hampshire road into the ravine.  When the police get to her she reeks of whisky and is screaming about Vero, who the police believe to be he daughter.  She is severely injured, nearly coherent, and has suffered her third Traumatic Brain Injury in just six months. Her memory is sketchy, but Nicky knows that she must try to save Vero.   Sergeant Wyatt Foster is determined to find the missing girl, but as the hours pass Wyatt isn't so sure that there was even a girl and is determined to get to the bottom of things.   But things get even stranger when it turns out that Nicky is a child that went missing thirty years ago, Veronica Sellers and Nicky's husband has mysteriously disappeared after torching their home.   As the past slowly comes to light, Wyatt is determined to get to the bottom of Nicky's story, but at what cost to Nicky's fragile state of mind?

Crash & Burn was one of those novels that kept you in the edge of your seat.  It was incredibly fast paced and Nicky was a sympathetic character, until you started to wonder if there was something more sinister to her story. You wanted to believe she was this innocent victim, but once the seed of doubt was placed, it was hard to know.  It was also easy to see why Wyatt and his colleagues questioned the role of Nicky's husband in her "mishaps".  Thomas appeared to be attentive to his wife's needs, but he wouldn't be the first abusive husband to put on such a front.  I loved how Lisa Gardner created that doubt in the mind of the reader, it kept me guessing until the very end.   Long time readers of Gardner will also be pleased to know there is an appearance of favorite detective, D.D. Warren.

Bottom line, Lisa Gardner is a master at creating suspense.  Crash & Burn is another successful attempt on her part.  Nicky's story is one that will have you on the edge of your seats.

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