The main characters Lisa Gardner introduces us to - Detective DD Warren, Special Security Agent Kimberly Quincy and Flora Dane, are fascinating and in themselves make you want to read on. A thrilling crime drama full of intrigue, gripping to the end.

A mixed bag. I haven’t read one of Lisa Gardner’s books for a while, and I fell like I would have found this better if I had read previous books in the series. That said, it was an engrossing read, and the characters did grow on me.

Another great addition to the Gardner Universe. The suspense was great and the bad guys where really bad. Once started it is impossible to put the book down. I hope to see more of Bonita in the next D-D- Warren book She deserves the best and more, to make up for all the bad things happened to her.

I was wondering going into this one if it would be an issue not having read the previous 10 books in the series. It wasn’t. I don’t feel like I have missed anything back story wise. This book is slow to get going and honestly I wasn’t sure that it was going to come to anything but the last 70 pages suddenly hold all the answers and everything kicks off. In the end those last 70 pages saved this book for me from being a mediocre book to something I ended up enjoying.

this book was messy - I had trouble in following what was going on when and where and dnf at 40% - I did try a few times to re start

This novel is part of the Detective D D Warren series of books and I don’t think I’ve read any of them before.

A small town is shocked by the discovery of human remains in the mountains. The FBI and police are called in and suddenly they have a lot more to investigate.

The story was easy enough to read and the chapters are quite short. Each chapter is from the point of view of a different character, and it did take me a good few chapters before I got to know who was who.
Initially, I didn’t really like any of the characters, but by the end some of them had grown on me. This could be because I haven’t read the other books in the series.

The first half of the story felt quite slow and for me, it didn’t pick up until the second half. I still wasn’t hugely gripped by it and it was a little bit predictable at times.
When the character introduced at the beginning of the story tied in with the present day I found I enjoyed the story more as I liked her character and fighting spirit.
The ending was a bit underwhelming and neatly tied up.

This hasn’t encouraged me to read the other books in the series, but the book was alright.

Thanks to Penguin Random House UK and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy for review.

Detective D.D Warren returns to help the case of recently decreased serial kidnapper Jacob Ness. They are led to a small Georgia town where questions are not welcomed and doesn’t want to reveal the untold secrets.
A gripping read and another hit in the series.

Two characters from Lisa Gardner’s previous books brought together in to one. It’s not standalone and I’d recommend reading the others too. Check out the correct order and buy them all. Absolutely brilliant reads. 5/5.

Having read all of DD’s adventures this book did not disappoint and I think it is the best one in the series so far. Loved reading from DD’s, Flora’s and Kimberley’s perspectives. Looking forward to the next book.

When You See Me by all accounts should have been one of those really immersive police procedurals. That my dear friends is not what I got…although it does seem that I’m in the minority with those feelings. I was expecting a full-blown luxurious slap up meal and instead I got a shit sandwich. I should go on record and state that I haven’t read any of Lisa Gardner’s other offerings, but this did let me down. Elements just didn’t work for me and the first 40% of the novel about looking for bones, after bones, after bones just ended up having the opposite effect for me – monotony.

As I’m led to believe, Flora Dane features in When You See Me and a few more recent Lisa Gardner books. As aforementioned I can’t comment on the other books, but Flora Dane’s presence just never felt authentic. It also didn’t feel like she really contributed much to the taskforce. She was brought along for the ride when a young girl’s skeletal remains are found in a Georgia town, ultimately it is discovered that she had been missing fifteen years and they put two and two together and got six billion. They believed this could have been an early victim of serial killer Jacob Ness – Flora’s kidnapper and tormentor.

First of all, why on earth did finding these random bones automatically link this victim straight to Jacob Ness? Plot Armour – most likely. I’m almost certain that all it would have triggered, AT THIS POINT, would have been a cold case. I sincerely doubt it would have given rise to a highly expensive and time-consuming task force. It went from producing connections that were just plain ridiculous to the plot becoming way too outlandish. I did however enjoy the motherly relationship between D.D. Warren and Bonita, it gave us a break from the monotony and gave us the only bouts of mystery contained within When You See Me.

When You See Me was just an all-out mess. Given the subject matter I should have felt empathy and compassion, but I ended up feeling no tangible connection to any of the characters. We also have a trash fire of a sex scene to contend with, and, WHAT WAS WITH THE SUPERNATURAL ELEMENT? It did not add up…nothing did!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the copy of the book.

4 Stars from me

The prologue was captivating and I read it barely without breathing...

It was good to be back with some familiar characters and it is great to follow a series with such strong female leads - it makes for a welcome change!

The first half of the book was kind of a slow burn and I struggled on occasion with the altering POV, it didn't feel all that natural to start with.

Great storyline though - the whole Flora/Ness story is brilliantly crafted - and the book definitely picks up the pace in the second half.

Good strong police procedural style series - I do recommend you go back and read from the beginning to get the most out of the complexities of the characters; although it would still work as a standalone.

My thanks to Random House U.K. Cornerstone/Century for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘When You See Me’ by Lisa Gardner in exchange for an honest review. It was published in February 2020 and its paperback edition will be available on 23 July.

When I requested this title for review somehow I didn’t realise that it was part of Gardner’s ongoing series of police procedurals featuring Detective D.D. Warren. In fact it’s Book 11 and I had even read Book 10, ‘Never Tell’ last year and loved it. So I was very pleased. Even though part of a series, enough background is provided to allow it to work as a stand-alone.

The novel begins with the discovery of human bones off a hiking trial close to the small mountain town of Niche, Georgia. When the body’s identity is revealed it sets off an alarm with the FBI as the woman had been reported missing 15 years previously and was considered a possible victim of serial kidnapper, Jacob Ness, who has featured previously in the series.

In response FBI SSA Kimberly Quincy, a character from Gardener’s Quincy & Rainie series, sets up a federal task force dedicated to investigating this death and possibly others linked to Ness. Both Boston detective DD Warren and Ness’ final victim, Flora Dane, are invited onto the team, along with computer analyst and true crime buff, Keith Edgar.

Yet Niche is the kind of town that is suspicious of strangers asking questions......

Again this was an excellent crime thriller. Lots of action, well developed characters, and twists that are not easy to see coming. The kind of novel with plenty of nail-biting tension. Perfect to lose yourself in for a while. Also, Gardner has an impressive back catalogue to cater to my appetite for well plotted crime fiction while waiting for news of her next title.

Another excellent book from Lisa Gardener. This one kept me awake into the night wanting to find out what happened next!

A well written fantastic, good old fashioned thriller. I’ve read a few books by Lisa Gardner and she hasn’t yet disappointed,

A great read

Flora Dane is a young woman who survived being held captive for over 12 months by Jacob Ness - now 8 years later, she is a vigilante who occasionally helps the police for other crimes possibly linked to him.
When two hikers find an old bone in the forest and identified as an old case, Detective DD Warren is called in to assist with the investigation. Flora Dane and Keith Howard also join in.

In a small, quaint little town - they start searching for the remaining bones and instead unearth a decades old secret and more bodies.

Helping them is a teenager mute girl who finds a way through her drawings to unravel the secrets kept hidden for so long.

This is very different to the normal abduction story lines and keeps you in suspense right up to the end.

A brilliant book.

Just how a thriller should be. A very captivating read. With plenty of trauma and bodies this book is a bout a girl who was kept in a box by a serial killer. The characters were well written and the story was kept at a good pace

A fantastic psychologically disturbing read. Everything you want in a thriller; bodies, trauma, abuse, love, kidnap and torment. All the characters are believable and draw you into their pasts as well as coping with the present. You feel as though you really know them individually. This was totally enthralling. It had everything including a great twist.
A woman who survived being held in a box for a year by a serial killer now working with the FBI and yet still dealing with her own demons - a brilliant piece of fiction. I will be looking forward to reading more of Lisa Gardners work.

My first question, picking this up, was how it would work as a standalone read, being part of an apparently extensive series.

Well, in my opinion, it works as a standalone. Fairly well, at least. There are elements of enormous backstory to the characters that are mentioned in such a way that they're sometimes not given enough gravitas or sound ludicrous without enough time for a new reader to explore them, but I wouldn't let that stop you from picking the book up.

The book opens with a narration by a nameless character, a young girl. The scene is free of much context to place it in a timeline, but is a fantastically shocking way to open the book and kickstart the story.

What follows is a fairly lengthy portion of introduction to various characters – many of whom have appeared in previous books in the series. There are a lot of names and jobs for a newcomer to wrap their head around, but when the story finally kicks into gear, with one pivotal meeting between two characters, it's worth it.

It's refreshing to read a crime thriller where almost every main character (and authority figure) is a woman. It was an eye-opener to realise how rare that is. However, one of the key male characters – Keith – was someone I had a very hard time connecting with. He's written as, in my opinion, too much of a Mary Sue character. He always conveniently can read Flora's thoughts, every thought or theory he has about the case turns into a lead, and his computer wizardry seems to conveniently play a part at all the right moments.

Another issue I had with Keith was his relationship to Flora. Flora, a character with a hugely traumatic past, and Keith, a man who met her through his fascination with that trauma. The way that he appears to be studying her at every moment made me feel uncomfortable. It's addressed, albeit very briefly, in the book, and it's something that possibly would make more sense had I read previous books featuring him.

The story itself is gripping, full of twists and turns, and even if the reader may be able to put together some pieces of the puzzle, I very much doubt that they'd figure out much of the end result. It's a full-on action thriller at times, written in such a way that it's easy to picture every location in the mind's eye.

The overall location of a quiet Georgia mountain town was an excellent setting too. Small town dynamics with questions about who, if anyone, can be trusted, plus the creepiness of a forested expanse hiding secrets, makes for a powerful tool in setting the mood.

The book isn't perfect – quite often I found myself almost rolling my eyes at some overly convenient coincidences driving the story, but it's a meaty page-turner and I'd recommend to anyone who is intrigued by the blurb.

When You See Me, is a thriller that deals with investigating a series of grisly murders. The chapters alternate between the characters, one of which is 'The Girl' who is one of the victims of the monster who killed her mother and is keeping her captive. As the investigating officers return to the scene of a recent shallow grave, they soon realise they are dealing with a serial predator. More shallow graves are discovered and as residents of the mountain town are interviewed, suspicions are raised that this may be a criminal enterprise on a scale nobody could have predicted.

I really enjoyed this story, it was really well developed and the plot had me completely HOOKED!

The pace for the book was spot on, it was fast enough for me to want to keep turning the pages and I stayed up late reading in to the early hours and that for me is the sign of a brilliant read! It was dark, gritty and had an edge to it – PERFECT!

I thought that the characters were well developed and they worked so well with the plot, and it was great to be able to catch up with old friends but I will say that this one can also be read fine as a stand-alone so there is no reason for you to not pick up a copy!

It is 5 stars from me for this one - I really enjoyed it and it is definitely one that I will be very recommending – I loved the writing style and it was a brilliant thriller!