Lisa Gardner Books - Reviews and Bibliography

"I suspect I was dropped on my head a lot as a child. I'm honestly not sure where the ideas come from. They simply come to me, particularly creepy, scary ones. I guess it's a good thing I can turn ideas into novels, because being an ax murderer doesn't pay nearly as well."

With all of the books in front of me now, I am very tempted to re-read all of them for this review, however if I were to do that, it would be a long time before I finish writing and I know you are all dying to read my review.. - Alana

Lisa Gardner is based in New Hampshire and is the bestselling author of 13 suspense novels. Each of her novels are standalone but she does have two sets that feature the same characters, the F.B.I Profiler series and and Decetive D.D. Warren series. Lisa's books are well researched and she works hard to ensure that her plots are true to life, often studying true crimes as well as interviewing the professionals who work in the fields she writes about. Lisa Gardner's latest D.D. Warren thriller is called 'Catch Me'.

"FBI Profiler Series - Latest"

Lisa originally began writing romance novels under the pen name Alicia Scott. Lisa Gardner's books are gripping, full of suspense and sometimes terrifying. Two of her books (The Perfect Husband and the Survivors Club) have been made into television movies.

This, as it happens is the first book that I read by Lisa Gardner. Her 7th book but the first in the D.D. Warren series and an introduction to Bobby Dodge a sniper with the Massachusetts State Police. The novel starts with Bobby being called out to a domestic situation. A man is holding his wife and son hostage at gunpoint. Bobby has no time to decide, but in a situation like that you have to make a decision and hope it's the right one. The main characters are Bobby and Catherine, a woman who suffered a terrible ordeal and abuse as a child and has just lost her husband. The story is based around these two characters, how their lives become entwined through a series of crimes, oh and there's a crazy killer on the loose.

Honestly this book was gripping, I could not put it down because I had to know what was going to happen. Lisa's books are never predictable and absolutely anything could happen. This book changed my whole view on thriller or suspense novels and started my mild obsession with Lisa's novels. Well worth reading, but not alone!

I didn't read the book's in the series in order but each novel can be read as a standalone piece. Hide is the second novel featuring the now familiar characters of Bobby Dodge and his former partner Det. D.D. Warren. Lisa really steps up the suspense in Hide, an underground crime scene on the site of an abandoned mental institute, the only lead is a dead woman's jewelry and a woman on the run for her life and it all somehow links to someone in Bobby's past that he may prefer to forget..

Hide is an exceptional read, I slept very little when reading this book, purely because I stayed up way too late into the night to read it. The thing about Lisa's books are that the really do grip you, read them alone and you will jump at the slightest noise and you just can't put them down. So expect sleepless nights if you read Hide!

If you haven't fallen for Lisa's characters yet then you will by the time you have finished The Neighbor. Bobby is back with Detective Warren, a woman is missing from her home, her young daughter is the only witness but wont talk and her husband is the main suspect. The media have blown the case open and are all over it, making their jobs just that bit harder. As usual, nothing is as it seems and time is short...

I thought it might get a bit repetitive saying each book was gripping but I can't really describe any of her books as not gripping. Have you ever watched a really good thriller movie? You know, not the ones that just try to shock with gore, but a real suspense where you are on the edge of your seat the entire time and silently urging the actors to go the other way and run! Well that's the experience of reading Lisa's books, she does it so well that it's like watching one of those really great movies, the ones with a really great story.

Live to tell tells the story of family tragedy, childhood mental illness, a family murdered in their own home, the father a suspect and another crime for detective D.D. Warren to unravel with the help of her partner. As usual there is something that does not fit, connections that need to be made and twists that will leave you thinking. Live to tell is disturbing, as a thriller that focuses on mental illness in children could only be but Lisa writes the way it should be done and gives the reader a lot more to think about.

Lisa's books are not for the light hearted, they are dark and full of terrors, crimes that you cannot imagine and never want to and endings that you will never expect.

"FBI Profiler Series - Suspense at it's Best"

The FBI Profiler series I read over a number of weeks and what I particularly liked about these novels by Lisa Gardner is her character development, from Pierce Quincy, his wife and the daughter who carried on his line of work by signing up as a profiler, as much as he didn't want her to. Over the six books in the series Lisa has managed to develop her main characters so well that any one of them could carry another book on their own (and do somewhat at least). Without giving too much away, these books can be read standalone but for this series it would be more enjoyable to read them in order.

Story and plot wise these books are as good as it gets in suspense/thriller novels. They are dark, deep, twisted in parts, edgy and tense, I've never been so tense reading a series before. If you buy any suspense novel this year let it be any one of Lisa Gardners..

Well now that I have finally finished this lens, I am off to read Love you More. I have to admit now that I have gone through all my book's again, there is a very good chance that this will be the last article I write for a little while! I will absolutely have to re read them again as I find my self forgetting some parts and curiosity has gotten the better of me.