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Summary
Summary
A New York Times BestsellerJustin and Libby Denbe have the kind of life that looks good in the pages of a glossy magazine. A beautiful fifteen-year old daughter, Ashlyn. A gorgeous brownstone on a tree-lined street in Boston's elite Back Bay neighborhood. A great marriage, admired by friends and family. A perfect life.When investigator Tessa Leoni arrives at the crime scene in the Denbes' home, she finds scuff marks on the floor and Taser confetti in the foyer. The family appears to have been abducted, with only a pile of their most personal possessions remaining behind. No witnesses, no ransom demands, no motive. Just an entire family, vanished without a trace.Tessa knows better than anyone that even the most perfect façades can hide the darkest secrets. Now she must race against the clock to uncover the Denbes' innermost dealings, a complex tangle of friendships and betrayal, big business and small sacrifices.
Author Notes
Lisa Gardner received a degree in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993. At the age of 20, she sold her first novel, Walking after Midnight, under the pseudonym Alicia Scott. After graduating from college, she became a management consultant and continued to write romance novels in her spare time. She eventually became a full-time author. She wrote 13 romance novels before turning to thrillers. Under the pseudonym Alicia Scott, her romance novels include The Quiet One, Brandon's Bride, and Marry Me...Again. Under Lisa Gardner, her thrillers include The Other Daughter, I'd Kill for That, Touch and Go, and Crash and Burn. She also writes the FBI Profiler series and the Detective D.D. Warren series.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This no-holds-barred stand-alone from Thriller Award-winner Gardner opens with the brutally efficient kidnapping of the Denbe family-father Justin, wife Libby, and 15-year-old daughter Ashlyn-from their exclusive Back Bay townhouse. Law enforcement officials who get quickly involved include corporate investigator Tessa Leoni (from 2011's Love You More) and series lead Boston Det. Sgt. D.D. Warren (Catch Me, etc.). When the trail leads out of state, New Hampshire county cop Wyatt Foster and FBI special agent Nicole Adams get on the case. Gardner effectively alternates between the physical and emotional disintegration of the family under the pressure of their captivity and the efforts of Leoni and company to dig into the secrets of Denbe Construction, its key employees, and its finances, as well as to locate the Denbes. The suspense builds as the action races to a spectacular conclusion and the unmasking of the plot's mastermind. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Libby Denbe is smart, pretty, and talented. Her husband, Justin, owns a successful Massachusetts construction company. Both are devoted to their 15-year-old daughter. But their marriage is falling apart. After an evening out, supposedly to repair their broken relationship, Libby and Justin return home to find three men waiting for them. With the touch of a taser, their lives change. When they awake, they find themselves and their daughter captive in an abandoned prison built by none other than Justin himself. As they struggle to come together during their captivity, long-held secrets are revealed. But one big question hangs over their heads. Why were all three taken? That's definitely not the usual kidnapper's agenda. It also bothers private cop Tessa Leone (Love You More, 2011). Nor does it seem logical to Wyatt Foster of the local sheriff's office, who becomes involved when the kidnappers cross state lines. Gardner pulls readers right into Libby's personal and family drama as she bears witness to the horrific captivity her family undergoes and reprises the circumstances of her failing marriage. At the same time, Tessa, Wyatt, and a group of other law-enforcement officers piece together a surprising story that leads to an equally surprising conclusion. Gardner's depiction of a woman in the midst of emotional chaos is spot on, as usual, and she proves herself just as capable when it comes to creating intriguing men. Readers will want to see more of Wyatt, just as they grew to appreciate Bobby Dodge in Gardner's earlier books. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Gardner's previous thriller, Catch Me, debuted at number two on the New York Times best-seller list; this one is likely to follow suit.--Zvirin, Stephanie Copyright 2010 Booklist
Kirkus Review
A team of hard-nosed professionals interrupts a troubled couple's tentative reunion by kidnapping them both, along with their teenage daughter, in Gardner's latest kitchen-sink thrill ride. Ever since Libby Denbe caught her husband, Justin, a handsome and wealthy Boston construction czar, cheating on her, their marriage has been on life support. Their experimental night out turns into a nightmare when they return to find three masked men in their Beacon Hill home terrorizing their 15-year-old daughter, Ashlyn. Swiftly overpowered and driven off in the kidnappers' van, the family can only wonder why they're being held in an unused prison in northern New Hampshire. At the same time, corporate investigator Tessa Leoni, whose firm had been hired by Denbe Construction to handle security problems, and New Hampshire county cop Wyatt Foster wonder why all three of them were kidnapped when Justin is clearly the one worth the most money--and why long hours pass with no ransom demand. The clues point to an inside job masterminded by one of Denbe Construction's top brass: chief financial officer Ruth Chan, chief operating officer Anita Bennett, or construction manager Chris Lopez. Alternating, as in Catch Me (2012), between third-person installments of the search for leads in the case and the beleaguered heroine's first-person accounts of her torment at the hands of the bad guys, Gardner generates such irresistible momentum that most readers will forgive the combination of cool-eyed professional investigation and heavy-breathing domestic soap opera as a family even Libby describes as "three mere clichs" begins to disintegrate still further under the grueling pressure. Even readers who figure out the ringleader long before Tessa and Wyatt will get behind on their sleep turning pages to make sure they're right.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
What does a perfect life look like? On the surface, Justin and Libby Denbe seem to have found it: a gorgeous townhouse in a tony district of Boston, a thriving construction business, and a beautiful teenage daughter. But appearances can be deceiving. The Denbes' lives are turned upside down when they are brutally abducted from their home and held at an abandoned facility. The family is forced to face their demons as they are trapped together in a single cell. The dark secrets they each harbor threaten everything they hold dear. Verdict Best-selling author Gardner (The Perfect Husband) does not disappoint with this latest thriller as she introduces readers to PI Tessa Leoni and Sgt.Wyatt Foster who, along with the FBI, are in a race to find the Denbes before it's too late. Readers will be gripped by the page-turning suspense that leads to a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. Expect great demand. [See Prepub Alert, 8/3/12.]-Cynthia Price, Francis Marion Univ. Lib., Florence, SC (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
