The Neighbor [Hardcover]

To simply label this an audio book is a misrepresentation as it is a stellar dramatic presentation with an outstanding cast, a triad of accomplished performers who bring Gardner's suspenseful tale to life.

Actress, singer, writer and director Emily Janice Card is obviously multi-talented. She's the daughter of noted author Orson Scott Card, and may be found leaving interesting notes on her personal blog. With stage experience and a singer's ear she brings both authenticity and understanding to her reading.

Kirby Heyborne has headed features and short films as well as appearing as a regular on TV's Free Ride and Everwood. (Mr. Perkins). He has also released several CDs on which he sings and plays the guitar. His voice is strong, resonant, and a perfect foil for his fellow readers.

TV watchers will remember Kirsten Potter for her roles in Judging Amy and Bones. A graduate of the Boston University School for the Arts (Summa Cum Laude) her voice is melodious, clear, distinct - easy on the ears.
With 11 novels to her credit Lisa Gardner has fashioned an intense thriller propelled by surprising yet plausible twists and turns that keep us reading/listening. A young woman has disappeared. She is Sandra Jones, a pretty teacher, wife of reporter Jason Jones, and mother to four-year-old Ree. Was it a kidnaping? No evidence points to that, and there has been no ransom note. Did she simply walk away? Why when she is apparently an extremely devoted mother? Detective Sergeant D. D. Warren is called upon to answer these questions.

A prime suspect is Jason who isn't acting like a distraught husband devastated by not knowing his wife's fate. In fact, he is uncooperative. However, there are also questionable others - a neighbor, Aidan Brewster, a great looking young fellow, and a convicted sex offender who spent time in prison for raping a young girl. What about a student who may see Sandra as more than a teacher?

We discover more as Gardner relates much of the story in flashback form through the eyes of Sandra herself. What we learn is just enough to keep us securely hooked until the last words. A splendid thriller ingenuously crafted!

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

I took Lisa Gardner's latest book The Neighbor with me on vacation. Well, rather I took it to kill time during the inevitable airport wait times. And I have to say, this new release from Random House Canada made the time pass pretty quickly!

The Joneses are the perfect family. Young, pretty school teacher mom, bright precocious little girl, handsome, hardworking reporter father.

Jason Jones comes home after a night shift, finds his four year old daughter alone and his wife Sandra gone. He does report it to the police. But when Sergeant D.D. Warren (featured in a previous book Hide) begins to investigate, the perfect picture starts to fade. Jason is less than forthcoming. In fact he seems to be hindering the search, rather than helping. And as D.D. digs further, she can't help but think that Jason is guilty. But their neighbor Aidan is a person of interest as well.

D.D. Warren is an excellent female protagonist. She's quick, tough, with a smart mouth, but has a vulnerable side too.

The story is told from different viewpoints - D.D.'s, Jason's, Aidan's and Sandra's - although her story is told in flashbacks to her past, so we are never sure if she is alive or dead. As a reader, we know far more of what is happening than the police do.

Gardner keeps us on our toes. This is a fantastic psychological thriller that kept me guessing until the very end with a really, really good twist.

Lisa Gardner started out as a romance writer, but has really come into her own as a suspense author. Guaranteed to keep you reading 'just one more page....'

Reason for Reading: I enjoyed my first Lisa Gardner book, last year's Say Goodbye, so much I wanted to keep reading her.

Comments: Jason and Sandra Jones seem to have the perfect life. They've figured out the perfect way to raise their four-year-old daughter. Sandra works days and Jason works evenings, this way they can look after their child themselves. One night Jason comes home from work and finds his daughter sleeping safely in bed and his wife missing. The police start to investigate and find Jason's manner very odd, he's obviously hiding something or perhaps he's just hiding. He becomes their person of interest from the beginning but unlike most cases which start off with several suspects which are slowly dropped as evidence and alibis collect, this case starts with one suspect and slowly gathers more, such as the known sex offender five houses down the street and the middle school student genius who is obsessively in love with Sandra, and more until there are too many suspects to know who is telling the truth.

Absolutely riveting book! I enjoyed this even better than my previous read by the author. I can certainly say I'll be going back and reading Ms. Gardner's backlist. This book gave me everything I want in a suspenseful mystery, twists and turns in plot, interesting characters and mostly: I only sort of figured out "whodunit" and that wasn't until near the end. Really not much more to say without gushing. The only thing that bothered me was the main detective's name was "D.D." Now this is just me but I've never met a woman who went around being called by initials and the fact that dd stands for 'darling daughter' in internet speak had my mind calling her that every third or fourth time her name appeared, strange but true. Unlike Say Goodbye, this book is not gruesome, there is a little violence of course but nothing that you can't read and eat at the same time. This was a page-turner, read in a weekend because you just can't put it down book for me. Mystery/thriller fans are sure to love this and if you haven't read Lisa Gardner before The Neighbor is a great place to start.