Review and Giveaway - The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner

The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner





rating: 4.5 of 5 stars






From the back of the arc:

This is what happened...
It was a case guaranteed to spark a media feeding frenzy--a young mother, blond and pretty, disappears without a trace from her South Boston home, leaving behind her four-year-old daughter as the only witness and her handsome, secretive husband as the prime suspect.

In the last six hours...
But from the moment Dectective Sergeant D.D. Warren arrives at the Joneses' snug little bungalow, she senses something off about the wholesome illusion the couple worked so hard to create.

Of the world as I knew it...
With the clock ticking on the life of a missing woman and the media firestorm building, Jason Jones seems more intent on destroying evidence and isolating his daughter than searching for his "beloved" wife. Is the perfect husband trying to hide his guilt--or just trying to hide? And will the only witness to the crime be the killer's next victim?

Wow! That is the main word that comes to mind at the end of this book. I have read several of Lisa Gardner's books before and they were good, but this one really kept me hanging on, wondering what would happen next and exactly what the heck was going on.

The book starts with the normal night for Sandy Jones, but then something happens. Throughout the book you are given her perspective and memories, but you never quite figure out what is going on. You learn about her marriage, is Jason the one who has abducted her? There are definitely secrets. Is it the sex offender down the street? Is it someone else? It seems like there are several likely suspects as Sandy's "normal" looking life unfolds before your eyes.

It's quite a thrill-ride that keeps you guessing. As it jumps from person-to-person I enjoyed getting the different perspectives. We get the perspective of Sandy and Aidan Brewster, but then it's third person for the others. An interesting combination in this book. And we can't forget Detective D.D. Warren who is the featured police detective in this book. She's trying to stay one step ahead of this case and she's mired down in all the possibilities. But this book is truly less about the police investigation and more about the people involved. There are lots of secrets that are revealed slowly that make this book hard to put down. I didn't see the middle or the ending coming and that makes it a great book to me. And the best thing was it all seemed plausible - no crazy out of left field conclusion for this book - no it makes perfect sense.

If you pick this book up plan on several hours of uninterrupted reading because you will get sucked in to this book.

Binding: Hardcover
On-sale Date: 6/16/2009
Publisher: Bantam
Pages: 368

Also I would like to give away my copy which is an arc. I will open the contest today through next Wednesday June 24th. Please enter by:

1. Commenting on my blog, make sure I have a way to contact you. (+1)
   
2. Become a blog follower or let me know if you are already a follower (+1)
3. Tell me any other Lisa Gardner books you have read and enjoyed (+1)
4. Tweet about this review and giveaway, use @cfulcher in the tweet so I can find it (+1)
5. Follow me on Twitter (or let me know if you are a current follower) (+1)
6. Blog about this contest and let me know the link (sidebar or post is fine) (+1)

So there you go - 6 ways to get an entry into this contest. You can leave them in separate posts or one post, it doesn't matter, I will make sure you get your entries, just make sure to let me know what you do.

Have a wonderful day!

Teaser Tuesday - June 16

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Now, glancing at his watch, he estimated he had approximately three hours to run damage control.
He began by inserting a memory stick into the E drive. Then he started moving files after files. Program files, internet files, document files, jpeg files, pdf files. There were lots of them, more than could be transferred in three hours, so he was strategic in his focus.

This is from The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner, out today from Bantam.