Name: Find Her
ISBN: 9780525954576

Lisa Gardner

Flora Dane is a victim. Seven years ago, carefree college student Flora was kidnapped while on spring break. For 472 days, Flora learned just how much one person can endure. Flora Dane is a survivor. Miraculously alive after her ordeal, Flora has spent the past five years reacquainting herself with the rhythms of normal life, working with her FBI victim advocate, Samuel Keynes. She has a mother who's never stopped loving her, a brother who is scared of the person she's become, and a bedroom wall covered with photos of other girls who've never made it home. Flora Dane is reckless. . . . or is she? When Boston detective D. D. Warren is called to the scene of a crime--a dead man and the bound, naked woman who killed him--she learns that Flora has tangled with three other suspects since her return to society. Is Flora a victim or a vigilante? And with her firsthand knowledge of criminal behavior, could she hold the key to rescuing a missing college student whose abduction has rocked Boston? When Flora herself disappears, D.D. realizes a far more sinister predator is out there. One who's determined that this time, Flora Dane will never escape. And now it is all up to D. D. Warren to find her.

Find Her

Alecx Motus

3.5 stars. Reeeeaally slow start. But the end was worth it! Definitely a book to consider if you like twists and turns.

Skye Sherman

One of the most gripping thrillers I've read--psychologically fascinating and too scary to read at home alone, but I couldn't put it down! The plot is incredibly twisted and Gardner kept me guessing from the first page to the last.

Juhi 

Wow! I listened to the audiobook version of this over a long road trip and it has me at the edge of my (car)seat. Excellent performance and narration. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

Whitney Leno

I love the D.D Warren books. I appreciate they could each be read as a stand alone or not in "order". I enjoyed the somewhat dual timeline of this book and Flora Dane is a great, flawed, and believable character.

Kath Lau

Actual Rating : 4.5 out of 5

Find Her is told in Flora and D.D. Warren's POVs which I found very interesting. Flora's narration alternates from her past experiences during her abduction to the present situation. Her inner thoughts, especially during the captivity, are vivid and haunting. D.D. Warren's focuses more on solving the case with her team and a little about her amazing family. I actually liked D.D. though sometimes she can be mean. I liked that she's very straight-forward and she loves her work. The characters felt so real and they're all fantastic.

The plot is perfectly executed. It is very well-paced and gripping. The twists and turns are pretty impressive. *hands down* I came up with so many theories in my head of how the mystery will unravel but I totally failed. It's so unpredictable. I didn't gave a perfect five because I felt like the revelation part is a little plain. Sure it's very clever but the way the "culprit" has exposed it made me cringe a little.

The author did a fantastic job showing us not only Flora's struggles to survive and continue her life after her excruciating experience but also the huge impact of her abduction on her family. Flora is a very strong and memorable character. She's more than a survivor.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Find Her. It is a very intense, dark and emotional novel that will stay with me for a long time. I highly recommend it if you enjoy a good crime novel.

Important Note : There are sensitive topics (like rape, abuse and PTSD) and some disturbing scenes in this book which makes it not suitable for all readers.

Audiobook Review : The transition of Kirsten Potter's voice from Flora to D.D. Warren is beautiful. Listening to her made the story more thrilling for me. Her pacing and emotional tones are on point. For me, her voice is more fitting with D.D. Warren's character than Flora (probably because of the character's age) but she absolutely did an excellent job. (4 out of 5)

Ariel Himboi

This novel, at its best, is targeted for privileged white women in power who can get away with anything and feel important even when they have everything wrong. I’m sure, if you know what I mean, our main character could get away with shooting whoever she wanted if they didn’t look like her, except maybe for the “chocolate” detective she’s obsessed with. 

This story wasn’t catered to survivors, or anyone who grew up or has experienced anything alike what you read in this novel. This was a sad attempt at gaining second hand sympathy. It truly was just about a white woman who whines about not being able to shoot a gun, not having any leads on the case, and pointing fingers to incriminate the survivor of extreme horror simply because she wouldn’t talk to her and got in the way of her eye goggling of the other detective. 

Down below is incoherent streams of anger from when I finished the book. 

This was disgusting, to me. Yes, the parts with Flora felt real and they weren’t stigmatized. They were good, right up until the end when her story took the back seat to a white woman who randomly found clues and only ran in circles before something truly happened. It was never actually about Flora at all. 

This was just sad. Disgraceful. A smack in the face to survivors, everywhere. 

I don’t recommend. 


——

ONE GIANT NEGATIVE ONE STAR to the author who dedicates a book to abuse survivors by writing a story where the main detective slut shames, victim blames and treats the survivor of serious trauma like shit, and like the villain, throughout the entire story, only showing emotion at the end over having to deal with slight repercussions for using a gun. UNBELIEVABLE. 

tw/cw: pedophilia, rape, murder, kidnapping, sexism, manipulation, etc, mostly everything. Also, this author sucks. 

This was… degrading. I loved the other point of view, the girl who survived an entire year stuck in a coffin, abused and mistreated and manipulated into horrible things to try and survive… only to be treated like a villain by the detective the entire time. It was already “she’s involved, she did this, are you sure it wasn’t her?”

Now, it’s one thing to have a sexist pig of a high horse detective with selfish independent behavior, and another to give her no god damn arc at all. 

She was overly jealous, despite having a husband, over the relationship between a psychologist and the female survivor of the story, whose name escapes me at 3 am after I just finished and am dealing with anger. She constantly belittled his badge, his work and his credentials, all because he knew the victim, which she called “the vigilante, personally. 

She constantly went off the rail on the case to point a finger at the girl, rather than look at the facts. Constantly pointing fingers and asking invasive questions, even going as far as going into private property and using her job to stalk her. 

This was just… so baffling. At the dedications, it says “to all survivors everywhere”… and the author writes a book that spends 50% of the time, incriminating a survivor. 

It’s disgusting. Honestly. Unnecessary. Ugh. I honestly just skimmed the last 20%.

Here’s a dedication: If you’re a survivor, don’t read this, it’s triggering, it’ll make you feel like you’re being interrogated and questioned on everything you know, and it will dehumanize you.