Crash & Burn by Lisa GardnerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Time taken to read - 2 days
Pages - 368
Publisher - Headline
Blurb from Goodreads
My name is Nicky Frank.
I'm in hospital, afraid. All I can think about is Vero. I have to save her but I can't find her. She's just a little girl.
The man by my bed tells me we're married and there is no Vero. He says that six months ago I suffered a brain injury, that I have dramatic mood swings and large gaps in my memory. I get angry and I drink. All of which explains the car crash that put me here.
Now a Sergeant Wyatt Foster has questions about the accident. He has concerns about my husband. And he's worried about a missing girl.
He would like to know what happened to me. So would I.
This is my life. Watch me crash and burn.
My Review
My name is Nicky Frank.
I'm in hospital, afraid. All I can think about is Vero. I have to save her but I can't find her. She's just a little girl.
The man by my bed tells me we're married and there is no Vero. He says that six months ago I suffered a brain injury, that I have dramatic mood swings and large gaps in my memory. I get angry and I drink. All of which explains the car crash that put me here.
Now a Sergeant Wyatt Foster has questions about the accident. He has concerns about my husband. And he's worried about a missing girl.
He would like to know what happened to me. So would I.
This is my life. Watch me crash and burn.
My Review
Nicky Frank is our main character, chapters where she is talking is in first person. When we are in chapters with the investigators it is in third person narration. This sounds like it could be a bit jumpy but it actually works quite well and compliments the story. The first line of the tale is "I died once", this is Nicky and we are immediately flung into her losing control of her car. She crashed and manages to seek out help, but they must find Vero, her little girl. As the police assess the area and start the search for Vero, things aren't quite what they seemed and Nicky comes under scrutiny.
This is a fast paced, thriller mystery type read. We soon discover Nicky has suffered from a traumatic brain injury from a few months back and since then hasn't been herself. She is fixated on Vero, her husband tries to deal with her erratic behaviour and the police are suspicious. There is more than meets the eye with this couple and the police won't rest until they discover what is going on.
The story draws you in from the first chapter, when Nicky is narrating, your unsure how much you can rely on. She seems troubled, her memory is impaired and Vero just won't go away. As the story whirls along, we discover fragments of information and a sense of danger to go with it.
I am sure I have read Gardner before and I will definitely be reading her again. 4/5 for me, thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review. This book is available to buy now, from all good book stores.
This sounds good to me!
ReplyDeleteLainy, it seems you enjoyed reading this book. Terrific review!
ReplyDeleteStories where reality and memory come into question never cease to fascinate. This goes hand in hand with unreliable narrators who also have a great potential to add to a story. Thus this sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteGreat review, sounds like a fascinating psychological thriller.
ReplyDeleteEither I'm coming across a lot of books with similar story lines or its a popular one right now. Not that I mind. Done well, books like this are quite fun. This does sound like an intense read. I've been wanting to read more by Lisa Gardner.
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