Description
He knows everything about you—including the first place you’ll hide.
On a warm summer night in one of Boston’s working-class neighborhoods, an unthinkable crime has been committed: Four members of a family have been brutally murdered. The father—and possible suspect—now lies clinging to life in the ICU. Murder-suicide? Or something worse? Veteran police detective D. D. Warren is certain of only one thing: There’s more to this case than meets the eye.
Danielle Burton is a survivor, a dedicated nurse whose passion is to help children at a locked-down pediatric psych ward. But she remains haunted by a family tragedy that shattered her life nearly twenty-five years ago. The dark anniversary is approaching, and when D. D. Warren and her partner show up at the facility, Danielle immediately realizes: It has started again.
A devoted mother, Victoria Oliver has a hard time remembering what normalcy is like. But she will do anything to ensure that her troubled son has some semblance of a childhood. She will love him no matter what. Nurture him. Keep him safe. Protect him. Even when the threat comes from within her own house.
In New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner’s most compelling work of suspense to date, the lives of these three women unfold and connect in unexpected ways, as sins from the past emerge—and stunning secrets reveal just how tightly blood ties can bind. Sometimes the most devastating crimes are the ones closest to home.
From the Hardcover edition.
Reviews
Harrowing Story of Violent Children Mixed With Murder Mystery
I've read almost all of Lisa Gardner's books (with my favorites being her Quincy and Rainie books). Lately, though, I was wondering if she had lost her mojo. I thought her last book, The Neighbor, was just OK. But I'm nothing if not loyal (until you write at least three awful books in a row), so I thought I'd give Gardner another try. Well, I'm glad I gave Gardner the benefit of the doubt because this book was one of her better ones.
There are a lot of books out there (including Gardner's books) that deal with twisted psyches and unimaginable violence. But what makes this book so disturbing is that it acknowledges that sometimes the twisted psyches belong to children. In her Author's Note, Gardner talks about friends of hers who had a troubled child and their struggles to find a way to save their son. Like Gardner, I tended to believe that troubled children were that way because of abuse and neglect. It is easier to understand how children who have been beaten, abused, tortured, or neglected become violent or primal. What isn't easy to understand is when a child with loving and attentive parents is violent. Isn't such behavior the result of nurture ... not nature? I think we all would prefer to believe this. But, as we learn throughout this book, that isn't always the case. Sometimes children are born without the psychological make-up they need to interact appropriately with others. Mental health professionals and facilities (like the locked-down pediatric psych ward described in the book) are working with these children to help them function in society.
This is Gardner's fourth D.D. Warren book, and I'm still unclear why D.D. is a recurring character as she doesn't seem particularly well-developed. Four books in and all I really know about her is that she is too involved with her job to have a life. Although Gardner attempts to give Warren a bit of romance in this book, I didn't find that storyline all that compelling, and I honestly don't give much thought to this being "A Detective D.D. Warren Novel." (A fact that was trumpeted across the front of my ARC.) To be honest, the characters of Danielle and Victoria were better developed than D.D.'s character. This doesn't really detract from the book, I guess. D.D. simply functions as the reader's way of getting information to solve the crime. Yet it seems a bit odd to create a detective and build books around her without giving her much of a personal life or back story.
My Final Recommendation
If you're a Lisa Gardner fan, I think this was one of her better books. The story is disturbing and harrowing and will take you to places you might not want to go. If you're a fan of disturbing, psychological mysteries, this would be an excellent choice for you. However, if these types of books aren't your cup of tea, stay away! This book is candid in its descriptions of violent children and makes you want to take a long hot shower afterward.
Bad woo-woo on the interplanes
LIVE TO TELL is the fourth book in best-selling author Lisa Gardner's Detective D.D. Warren series; for all the horror of its subject matter, readers will find it impossible to put down. D.D. Warren is a thirty-eight year old blonde, head of a three-person homicide unit in the Boston Police Department. Her work gives her little time for a personal life.
The call that interrupts D.D.'s latest blind date is horrific: a "family annihilation," the murder-suicide of a family of five. It appears that the father succumbed to the pressure of financial problems and perpetrated this terrible deed. But when another family suffers the same fate the very next night, D.D.'s cop instinct tells her to look for connections--and the connections lead to a locked-down children's acute psych unit where the most troubled of children are brought for care.
One of the caregivers at the psych unit, Danielle, has her own crushing past. She was the sole survivor of the near-annihilation of her own family and, unable to leave the past behind, she is burying herself in her work as the twenty-fifth anniversary of that event draws near. It's clear that Danielle is in some sense a link between the past and the present, but what is the nature of that link?
The medical system offers all too little for these explosive children and their families. Some are the victims of abuse or gross neglect but others have caring families and are victims of their own chemistry. The pharmaceuticals that usually work on adults with crippling mood disorders are far less effective in children. The kind of collaborative therapies that have some success in a locked therapeutic environment are extremely hard to maintain in a family home. Is it any wonder that families sometimes seek healing from a different plane--the spiritual plane? Several of the families in D.D.'s case have worked with a spiritual healer who teaches the children techniques for fighting off the darkness threatening to overwhelm their spirits. We may not warm to the character of the healer, Andrew, and D.D. is intensely skeptical of his work with (as he describes it) "souls in the interplanes," locked in the void between the planes of existence, struggling to complete their missions and move on. Even Andrew himself refers to his work as "woo-woo" but claims it's as valid as a good cop's intuition.
Dark though the story is, the writing is so effective that you are in a sense left to draw your own conclusions in the end. The good guys win and the bad guys lose, and that's all we really need to know. Or ... is it?
Linda Bulger, 2010
What A Great Book!
In my opinion as somebody who has read every single book by Lisa Gardner, Live to Tell is definitely her best so far. As a long-time fan, I'm happy to know that Gardner keeps growing as an author, which means we can expect her to come up with great books for a long time to come.
The subject matter of this novel - dealing with psychologically disturbed children -is fascinating. Gardner treats this complex topic with sensitivity and respect. Some readers might find Gardner's vivid descriptions of psychotic kids too disturbing but I believe that this writer is to be commended for not shying away from such a painful issue.
D.D. Warren is as great as ever in this new addition to the series. Gardner is great at giving her readers insghts into the psyche of the unusual characters she creates. Danielle, a pediatric psych nurse who is carrying around a lot of childhood trauma, is one of the most interesting and complex characters Lisa Gardner ever created. Victoria, a mother who has the best intentions in the world but ends up destroying her family, is yet another fascinating character.
There are endless twists and turns to the plot. Whenever you relax and think you have it all figured out, something new and unexpected happens. The book reads very fast, yet you do not want it to end because it is that good. And it keeps surprising you until the very last pages
Books
