When You See Me by Lisa Gardner ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

My mother likes to hum. She stands at the stove, stirring this, tasting that, and humming, humming, humming. (prologue)

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

January 2020; Dutton; 978-1524745004
audio, ebook, print (400 pages); thriller

I love Lisa Gardner's books. Even though I hadn't started When You See Me until the weekend, I knew the only problem I would have would be putting it down. Unfortunately, I can no longer pull an all-nighter and finally had to put the book down a few hours before dawn having only read 75% of the book.

When You See Me is the 11th book in Gardner's Detective D.D. Warren series. I haven't read any of the books in this series (though Find Her is on my bookshelf), but I didn't have any trouble jumping right in and enjoying the story.

I loved the characters and immediately connected with them.

The plot is nailing biting. I don't think I've ever audibly gasped while reading a novel. But I did with this book. I guess part of me was curious as to who the bad guys were, my more immediate concern was that all the good guys got out safe.

I always find it interesting when a book takes place near me. In this case, they are in the north Georgia mountains. While the town is made up (the county it is in is also fictional which I find kind of funny since Georgia has more counties than any other state in the nation except for Texas). Gardner does reference the real town of Dahlonega where I went to college. While Warren, Keith, and Flora are from Boston, I still found their referencing roads in ways that are different than we refer to them a bit jarring. For example, they mention Highway Twenty. If it hadn't been for the reference to Highway Eight-five and trucking, I would have thought they were talking about the state highway and not the interstate (we call it I-20 and I-85). (I should point out I read an ARC so this detail may have been changed in the final version). Also, there is a vague description of the square, which has more than just red brick buildings with white trim. With all the new construction the past 10 - 15 years there are actually only a couple of brick buildings. It also had me wondering why they went to the square. If their destination (the fictional town) lay further into the mountains, why did they get on the business route instead of staying on the main highway?

Being from the north myself, I found this comment from the local sheriff to be pretty accurate:
"'What it lacks in size, it makes up in memories.' He glanced at D.D. ' I'd work on that accent if I were you, And for the love of God, don't mention you're from the North.'" (chapter 5)

The townsfolk were pretty typical for any rural town and I didn't pick out any overly southern stereotypes.

I'm the kind of person who likes to get 8 or 9 hours of sleep and I enjoyed this book so much I can't find it in me to regret only get maybe 5 hours of sleep Saturday night (I do wish I had put on my glasses though as my eyes are killing me).

If you are starting this book today, I hope you don't have any other plans. Once you start it, you won't want to put it down until you've turned the last page.

Buy When You See Me at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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