Find Her (Detective D. D. Warren #8) by Lisa Gardner

Find Her (Detective D. D. Warren #8).  Lisa Gardner. Penguin Publishing Group. October 2016. 416 pp.  ISBN#: 9780525954576.

Harrowing! That will be the outstanding descriptive word that remains in the reader’s mind long after reading this ordeal that lasted 492 days for one kidnapped woman!  The story begins from the narrative voice of an unnamed person who is locked in a coffin, who struggles to find a point of escape, whose panic threatens an attack cutting off breath, and on…and on…and on. 

Pages later we learn the victim’s name is Flora.  She has survived!  Now the account switches back and forth between what precisely Flora endured and her passionate interest in other woman who have experienced similar situations.  In fact, her entire room is wallpapered with news accounts of kidnapping, rape and murdered woman. 

Flora’s family fear what she has become.  Even the one man she trusts, Samuel Keans who is a specialist in survivors of extensive abuse, is watching and listening carefully as he wonders if she has become a vigilante against all who commit these type of crimes or if there’s another secret agenda Flora is following.

Detective D. D. Warren is now investigating a case where a woman turns on her abuser and he succumbs after a gruesome attack. When the police arrive, the woman is more concerned about other victims and seems to know the psychological profile of both abuser and victim better than the detective does.  At the same time, she goes out to bars, drinks too much, and puts herself in a position where any unsavory character spots and targets her. 

Now Flora disappears and we learn her mission.  Given Flora’s scarred mental and emotional condition, which we have from her in-depth description of far too many of those days she was captive, we know something awful is about to happen.

In recent years, news media have covered stories of victims who were kidnapped and abused, but this is the first time we have access to a well-researched, factually connected account of what it’s like to be a victim in this situation.  So this is not only a horrific story but it’s even more engaging because we learn how connected to reality it really is.  It’s hard to imagine such monstrous events but Lisa Gardner does a superb job in depicting same in daily, torturing detail.  It’s a necessary tale that must be told!