My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Turn the pages quickly, tension, uncontrollable pace of heart beats, quickly what happens next, not fast enough, read, read and read, tearing my hair out, finally oh no I don’t want it to end. Epilogue 😫 😫 😫 and thus emotionally drained after reading the incredible When You See Me from Lisa Gardner.

Bonita- You have my heart! ‘Bonita’ for me is the song La Isla Bonita by Madonna but now it will always resonate in my mind as the girl who rose from utter depths of hell and fought towards a beacon of light rising from ashes to conquer her fear and be triumphant against evil.

Hindus in India worship ‘Kali’ who is believed to be the destroyer of evil forces, one glimpse at the picture and you would understand why Bonita at the end left me with the picture of Kali in my mind.

I may sound like a broken record but once again I’m at loss for words to describe the latest thriller from Lisa Gardner. She is unparalleled in the genre of crime thrillers. Now that I actually think, If I am questioned about the books that I wouldn’t mind re-reading, my answer would be Lisa Gardner and Sandra Brown’s novels. The Other Daughter was the first book that I have read by this author and since then I have fallen hook, line and sinker for her plots and characters and DD, oh my God how much have you grown from the almost hate inducing rude and stubborn attitude to the jelly in my hand mom to Jack.

So many mysteries centered around small towns and suddenly the claustrophobic feel has started giving me heebie-jeebies. When You See Me begins with a prologue that doesn’t impact much, of course reading too many thrillers we have read similar opening chapters. But then the ride begins. Human bones identified as Lilah Abenito has been discovered in a quaint mountain town called Niche that caters to hikers doing the Appalachian Trail. Was she the victim of the dreaded seral killer Jacob Ness? Soon a task force is formed lead by SSA Kimberly Quincy of FBI and which includes Sergeant D.D Warren, Flora Dane, the survivor of 472 days of torture at the hands of Ness and also Keith, a true crime aficionado and a superior expert in computers.
“Something happened here. Something really bad. Real question is, is it over yet?”

Old skeletons have come to light and before long, the investigation changes from 15 yr. old mystery of mass graves to current mystery with bodies piling up leaving the investigating team stunned. The story progresses thru DD, Kimberly and Flora. There’s also another voice whose story leaves the reader teary-eyed and sad. Flora has come a long way from the broken woman she was not just surviving but learning to live taking her chances with Keith, there were some really sweet moments between them that was uplifting, and DD’s instincts still razor-sharp that leads to a chilling climax.

Fair warning readers, some parts describing the misery of girls being kidnapped and tortured can be hard to read and When You See Me can probably be read as standalone but it is highly recommended to read them in order especially from DD Warren #8, Find Her as the story of Flora Dane and her strength needs to be understood in its whole entirety.

Many Thanks to LisaGardner, NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for a chance to review this book.



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