Mission to find girl trapped in perilous web
LISA Gardner is a prolific author and Before She Disappeared is a gritty, gripping thriller that brings an unlikely and unforgettable heroine into focus.
The news is full of missing persons, for a few weeks at most, then, unless that person is found the case goes cold. What happens then? Social media plays a huge role in that search when the world seems to have forgotten keeping them alive as time moves on. Families post notes, others post sightings and behind the scenes, there are those who pick up the threads and go out on a limb to close the case – civilians with a purpose.
Frankie Elkin is one of those people. “My name is Frankie Elkin and finding missing people is what I do. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never bothered to care, I start looking.”
Driven by a need to bring these people back, particularly in minority communities, she is a drifter and a recovering alcoholic, with a tumultuous past and a truckload of guilt. She wants no money or accolades, she just wants to bring that person home, alive preferably. Fourteen cases on, she embarks on the case of Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager from Mattapan, a Boston neighbourhood with a bad reputation.
Frankie’s gift is making connections but it is this very gift that will put her life in danger. Resistance from the Boston PD and at the beginning, Angelique’s family, only makes her take more risks.
Moving into the community she is crossing boundaries as a white woman in this mainly black neighbourhood. There’s the bar she works in and the people who inhabit it. She shares a room above the bar with a cat named Piper, territorial and a hunter; he is as suspicious as the humans and makes no bones about it!
Then there’s Stoney, the owner, gradually seeing her for the mission she is on and supporting her. Detective Lotham, swallowing his resentment and seeing her value as he warms to this feisty, irritating woman.
Frankie earns trust and respect – the big question is can she ever really believe in herself? Sifting through the information gleaned from brother Emmanuel, who is determined to find his bright older sister, from friends and her aunt, the pieces start interlocking and, as her own instinct kicks in, Frankie moves on to dangerous ground. Twists and turns take you to the heart of an impoverished community struggling to live, or make provision to better their lives. Drugs, forgery and murder line the pockets of the bosses and it is in this underground web that the honest and intelligent Angelique has been trapped. Always wanting to help others this time she has gone too far … can Frankie’s efforts save her before she too will be taken care of?
Gardner creates an immersive and totally realistic story. Unpredictable, it exposes the underbelly of communities we are all too familiar with. She takes us into the heart of survival and the disturbing pictures of the networks that control poor suburbs. But when a complete misfit takes up the baton to find one of their own, heart-warming scenes emerge.
This well-constructed novel pays homage to the forgotten cold cases, their families and the amateurs who make it their mission to uncover the truth and bring that person home.
Gardner writes with absorbing detail, putting you in the place, giving you the smells, creating the fear, and introducing some extraordinary characters. These stories need to be told and you’ll want more of Frankie Elkin and her mission.