A brand new stand-alone novel from Lisa Gardner, our protagonist Frankie Elkin is a recovering alcoholic who is on a mission to help families find their missing loved ones.

This was fast paced from the get go - I was hooked from the first chapter to the last page. I really enjoyed the new addition of Frankie Elkin, and I'm hoping we see her added to the characters we see regularly. With being set in Boston and with scenes, I was hoping we'd see my favourite D.D. Warren but sadly we don't. However, there is so much going on and a great storyline to follow that you don't really miss her.

I really really enjoyed this and would recommend to fans of thrillers and of course anyone who has read any previous Lisa Gardner novels.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review</i>

This is my first book by this author and I'm sure it won't be my last. I absolutely loved the heroine of this tale, Frankie Elkin, a middle aged ex-alcoholic with demons of her own. She's made it her life's mission and crusade to look for the missing people once the police stop looking.

The story is set in tough Mattapan, a neighbourhood in Boston and to help her survive while she's looking for missing Haitian teenager, Angelique Badeau she takes a job which comes with a room in a local bar. The locals are suspicious of this white stranger and it takes a while for her to be accepted.

The Police understandably are unhappy and say they're leaving her to it. The lead cop in Angelique's investigation helps her out from time to time and they become friends of sorts. I found the story action packed with very interesting characters and I felt the author really knew the Mattapan area well.. I love how once Frankie starts a job she just doesn't stop. I'm hoping this is the first in a long line of Frankie Elkin stories. I absolutely loved it.

#BeforeSheDisappeared #NetGalley just finished reading this mystery thriller by
@LisaGardnerBks and what a good story, with likeable characters, keeping you guessing to the very end, keeps you turning the pages to read more and more.

I’m such a fan of Lisa Gardner that I always preorder her books as soon as they are available, even if they are still without a blurb! She’s a must read for me and so I was really looking forward to Before She Disappeared-and I wasn’t disappointed!

Before She Disappeared introduces us to Frankie Elkin, a woman with a traumatic past who searches for missing people when everyone else has given up. Her latest “case” is searching for a young Haitian girl who disappeared into thin air one day after school but moving into the rough neighbourhood where Angelique lived means that she is fighting against pretty much everyone to get any information about the girls life…

I love a flawed character so Frankie was a total gift for me! What has happened to her in the past has severely damaged her and she is fighting her demons every single day but her determination to find the missing people she seeks and bring closure to their families gives her what she needs to get up in the morning. Well, if she could without injury! A new flat mate means that the dangers she faces are much closer to home than expected! The characters Frankie meets on her journey are memorable-some likeable, others not, but all have a story to tell.

This is a powerful thriller with some topical subjects at the forefront of the plot delivering a believable and relatable storyline. Lisa Gardner has once again kept me on the edge of my seat with her vividly described and atmospheric setting and a protagonist that I took my heart. A brilliantly conceived idea for a novel that was carried out to perfection!

I have only good words about this book, it captured me since the first page. I don’t know if this will be a series in the future or it will stay like a standalone novel, but I really liked the main character; Frankie Elkin, a woman with a very interesting background that devotes her life to find missing people. She is not a detective or does it for money, as she says her “clients” are the missing ones and she devotes to them, no one else.
I’ve read a lot of books where there’s a missing person and a detective tries to find them or a private investigator that has a case; but never someone that does it as a way to redeem herself, because this is the point of Frankie, she is trying to stop her guilty conscience by finding missing people. In none of the previous cases she had participated in, she was able to find the missing person alive, so she is hoping that this case will be different.
The case is interesting too, there’s a girl who has been missing for almost a year, the police doesn’t have any clue but the family still believes that something fishy happened and that there’s something more behind the mysterious disappearance. I will not say more about the case, there are so many secondary plots and characters that make this story so full and amazing that I don’t want to spoil it.
But you have to know that Frankie is not a rich woman, in every case she moves to the neighborhood where the victim lived, near the family/friends. She searches for a job and a place to live when she is investigating, it doesn’t matter if the neighborhood is dangerous, it doesn’t matter if she risks her life for the missing person, she only wants to find them.
I enjoyed every page of this book, it was so addictive and I can’t stop recommending it; if you are only reading one book this month, believe me, this is the one! It will be on my top ten this year, don’t doubt it.
Ready for “Before She Disappeared”?

Easy five stars!
What a great read. Unputdownable, depriving myself of sleep to carry on Frankie's adventures. Just what I needed to get me out of a reading slump!
Frankie is a FANTASTIC character, with layers of personality and instantly likeable, I now commence pestering Gardner for a Frankie series. It also helps that I am fascinated by missing person stories, and they get under my skin too, so I definitely felt an affinity with the protagonist.
The pace was brilliant, constant twists and additional secrets to keep you guessing.
I hope there's more from Detective Lotham too, although he is based in Boston so logistically I can see why there might not be. There was a great connection between him and Frankie.
Lots of threads that all link together, and lots of characters but they were cleverly arranged and explained so I had no trouble at all keeping track.
Gardner's best novel yet. Go and buy it!

I’ve read this author’s books before and think she’s great. This book is no different. Well written, fast paced and a real page turner

I have all the books Lisa Gardner has written and have never been disappointed. This being a stand alone ms Gardners first in 20 years, it’s a read doesn’t disappoint either. With an absolutely gripping plot line, you are kept engrossed throughout. I couldn’t turn the pages quick enough.

Frankie, is a great character, a recovering alcoholic, who has had past struggles and trauma throughout her life. For the lat 10 years she has been going from city to city working on cold cases of missing women, cases that no one else is working on, the police may have given up on the cases or have very little new information to help the investigation. So far she has managed to actually close 14 cases but the end results have never been happy, she has yet to find a survivor. But could her latest case be different?

Angelique known as Angel lived with her aunt and brother but had disappeared eleven months earlier, in Boston, a largely Haitian part of town, a mainly run down area Mattapan. Angel had last been seen leaving school, but since then nothing the case was cold, no new evidence or sightings.

Frankie manages to find a job at a local pub, and persuades the owner into renting her the apartment above in exchange for working 5 days a week. Unfortunately she does have to share the flat with a feisty cat, which does add some humour to the story at times. Frankie has a way with people, an ability to engage in conversation and make friends, whilst trying to get information. She gets to know some women who frequent a local donut shop, they help her find her way around Boston’s commuter train and bus system, as well as being a good source for local knowledge, back ground information and gossip.

Gradually getting to know and gaining the trust of Angel’s aunt and brother, she tries to understand more about Angels life. What 15 year old doesn’t have secrets? Even secrets her best friends don’t know about.

When contacting the detective who had worked the case, Detective Latham, she is told that they covered all the angles and to just go home, but then she starts to gain some of his trust, and could there be a little more?

As Frankie delves deeper, her life gets put in danger, as someone wants her to keep her nose out of it. The tension builds with a brilliant ending. Is this the start of a new series? If it is I can’t wait for more, Frankie is a great character that you really get to like, she is believable and likeable, I will be watching out to see if there are more of these to come.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #RandomHouseUK for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

This author is amazing, she manages to pull you in, take you on a thrilling journey and then spit you out wanting more.
Such a strong female lead coming head to head with a scarily realistic bad guy. A very unique book- defiantly worth reading.

I’d like to thank Random House, Cornerstone and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Before She Disappeared’ by Lisa Gardner in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Frankie Elkin is a woman in her forties who travels from town to town never putting down roots. She arrives in Mattapan, a rough district on the outskirts of Boston, gets bar work at Stoney’s, and begins her search for fifteen-year-old Haitian Angelique Badeau who’s been missing for eleven months, connecting with Officer Lotham of the Boston Police Department who at the beginning considers her a nuisance but gradually warms to her. When a second teenager, Livia Samdi, also disappears Frankie believes they’re connected and she now has two missing people who are reliant on her finding them.

‘Before She Disappeared’ is the compelling and heart-stopping story of Frankie Elkin, a recovering alcoholic who has no money and few belongings but dedicates her life to finding missing people without asking for payment. The author has brought to life a character who I’ve empathised with from the beginning, the descriptions so good that the further I got into the story the more I liked Frankie and those she came in contact with. The description of Frankie’s feral room-mate grabbing her ankle made me laugh as it’s exactly what my own cat does to get attention. This is an excellent story with drama, suspense, tension and twists and turns, and the closer I got to the conclusion the more exciting it became.

Wow what a gripping read hooked from first page action packed lots of twists and turns The characters are good you love to hate them I like most of them I read in a day the writing style so easy to read your just pulled into the plot I recommend to anyone

This is the first book written by this author that I have read and it certainly will not be my last.
The writing is gritty, engaging, fast paced and took me to the places that were being described.
Our heroine is Frankie Elkin, a 9 year sober alcoholic who has had a troubled past that we learn snippets about during the telling of this story. Frankie has sold almost all
of her worldly goods and is an unpaid solver of cold cases, especially looking for lost people to bring them home. So far she has yet to find any alive.
I am hoping that this will be the start of a new series as I would very much like to hear more about Frankie and her adventures.
Very gripping read that I would highly recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Frankie Elkin is a one in a million character. So unique, so broken, and so very memorable. I loved her and was sad when I turned the last page on her story.

That being said, she could, potentially return in further books (she said with her fingers and toes crossed). However, I want Frankie to stop drifting and stay in Boston, working at Stoney’s bar, going to AA meetings with Charlie, chewing the fat with Viv, and teaming up with Boston Police Detective Lotham.

I adored the writing in this book. The dreadful and disturbing circumstances which were lightened with levity and sarcasm. This is my very first Lisa Gardner book, and now I want to read her previous work.

The book brings home the truism that people all over are really the same. Regardless of their social standing, ethnicity, religion, or other persuasion, people all want enough food to eat, a safe place to live, someone to care for, someone who cares for them.

This novel also spoke to the plight of illegal immigrants in this modern world. It told of inner city teens striving to better themselves and their situations in any way they can.

I adored this book much more than I expected to. It is all Frankie Elkin’s fault.

Highly recommended!

With thanks to Netgalley and Random House uk

Before she disappeared is a book about Frankie Ellon, a woman who goes out of her way to find those who are missing and that no one seems to care about, but who she cares about.

Before she disappeared is fast paced and kept me guessing right up the final few chapters. A great read.

I will be looking out for more books by Lisa Gardner.

I wasn't sure at first if I was going to like this book as I couldn't get to grips with the first chapter but it was worth persevering. Frankie Elkin spends her time trying to find missing people. She has not been hired by anyone; she just looks to see who has gone missing and decides to help where she can. The book is set in Boston and Frankie has seen that a black teenage girl, Angelique, is missing. She decides to try to help and comes up against the different prejudices the city contains. A white woman in a black area with no real purpose? She gets a job in a local bar and befriends the policeman who investigated the disappearance when it first happened 11 months ago.
There seemed to be a bit in the middle that got me bogged down a bit but then we raced towards the end and the answer to the puzzle. All in all, I enjoyed reading this book!

This was a fascinating story about finding missing girls. The characters were brilliant and easy to relate to. The storyline was full of interesting facts and non stop action. It was an absorbing read with a great conclusion.

I don't tend to read a lot of missing person type novels as they can be quite distressing, but couldn't pass up the chance of Lisa Gardner's latest book - and it is a cracking read!

Frankie Ellon is a bit of a nomad; she owns very little and travels around to wherever there are unsolved missing person cases - ones that are no longer being worked on although there is no satisfactory resolution. It's something she's good at, so she travels around to wherever she feels she is needed to help families find closure. This is how this slight, white woman finds herself in a rough, mainly black, area of Boston where a teenage girl disappeared eleven months ago and her family have been left in limbo. Frankie seeks no fame, fortune or notoriety; only to put matters to rest - one way or the other. As she begins to dig deeper, someone out there doesn't like Frankie's presence..

This is an author who is always worth reading; even though I couldn't see where things were heading at the beginning, nothing would have stopped me from continuing and before long I was completely engaged in an exciting tale. People go missing all the time; we hear about them but rarely discover the whole truth. The characters are skilfully crafted and fully rounded with a wide range of likeable and unlikeable traits. Frankie herself is quite fearless - like her roommate - and she is both tenacious and admirable. I can see why she's so slim - she never stops! The story plays out beautifully with several moments of breath-holding and hearing my hammering pulse! With everything neatly tied off by the end, this is a thrilling novel and one I'm happy to give 4.5*.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman with more regrets than belongings who spends her life doing what no one else will: searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for.

When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking.

A new case brings Frankie to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a rough reputation. She is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from her high school months earlier. Resistance from the Boston PD and the victim's wary family tells Frankie she's on her own. And she soon learns she's asking questions someone doesn't want answered.

But Frankie will stop at nothing to discover the truth, even if it means the next person to go missing will be her.
The minute I read the premise of the book; I just couldn’t wait to read it. It was so intriguing.

Once I started reading it, I was engaged right till the end. The plot had everything to make it an excellent read.

I loved the main character, Frankie’s story. The work she does is so amazing. By doing what she does, she manages to give hope to those families of the missing people. Her dealing with her addiction is inspiring. And her investigation was meticulous and fearless.

The supporting characters were also good especially Frankie's co-workers and Detective Lotham. The suspense was maintained throughout the book, and the constant discoveries and twists made the plot interesting

I really do hope this is turns into a series, because I do want to read more of Frankie.

Thank You NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for this ARC!

This is a well researched novel. I wasn’t aware that there really are ordinary people with no qualifications or authority actively looking for missing people. Frankie, the main protagonist is a recovering alcoholic who has exchanged one addiction for another with some success. She has solved 14 cases, but sadly all deceased. This time is going to be different she believes.
Lisa’s books are always great (I recommend the D.D.Warren series) and I loved this one. The Boston Haitian community and locality is so well described and as always her characters leap off the page. Frankie instinctively knows the right questions to ask, which antagonises the police until they realise she is actually making progress. The interaction between characters is great, leavened with touches of humour - beware the feral cat!
This is a novel which keeps you turning the pages through a well plotted story with surprises and shocks aplenty. Don’t miss it, it deserves to be huge.

‘My name is Frankie Elkin and finding missing people-particularly minorities- is what I do. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never bothered to care, I start looking.’

‘Before She Disappeared’ is the new stand-alone thriller from Lisa Gardner. I love her Detective D.D. Warren series and was looking forward to this one. Lisa Gardner does not disappoint!

Frankie Elkin, a recovering alcoholic, arrives in Boston and is heading to rough and poor neighbourhood Mattapan her next temporary ‘home’. It is in Mattapan that Frankie looks into the disappearing of 15-year-old Angelique ‘Lili’ Badeau, who left no trace of where she went and with who.

The leads have dried up, but the local police force is not keen on Frankie’s help in the matter. But when Frankie asks the right questions to the right people and looks at the case from a different point of view, she manages to link not one but two missing girl cases. Together with Detective Dan Lotham, Frankie gets to the core of the case. But asking the right questions to the right, or should I say wrong people, not only endangers her own life, but also of those she speaks to and eventually help her.

The story has a nice, steady pace and both Frankie and the different characters are well written and believable. I was definitely rooting for Frankie and Detective Lotham. I actually hope this is the start of a series as I believe there is so much more to tell about Frankie’s story and her own personal traumas.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for my eARC. My opinion is my own.