Book Review: Love You More by Lisa Gardner

Title: Love You More
Author: Lisa Gardner
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: March 8, 2011
Hardcover: 368 pages
ISBN: 978-0553807257
Genre: Fiction, Suspense

From the Publisher:

WHO DO YOU LOVE?

One question, a split-second decision, and Brian Darby lies dead on the kitchen floor. His wife, state police trooper Tessa Leoni, claims to have shot him in self-defense, and bears the bruises to back up her tale. For veteran detective D. D. Warren it should be an open-and-shut case. But where is their six-year-old daughter?

AND HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO . . .

As the homicide investigation ratchets into a frantic statewide search for a missing child, D. D. Warren must partner with former lover Bobby Dodge to break through the blue wall of police brotherhood, seeking to understand the inner workings of a trooper’s mind while also unearthing family secrets. Would a trained police officer truly shoot her own husband? And would a mother harm her own child?

. . . TO SAVE HER?

For Tessa Leoni, the worst has not yet happened. She is walking a tightrope, with nowhere to turn, no one to trust, as the clock ticks down to a terrifying deadline. She has one goal in sight, and she will use every ounce of her training, every trick at her disposal, to do what must be done. No sacrifice is too great, no action unthinkable. A mother knows who she loves. And all others will be made to pay.

Love you more . . .

My Review:

Love You More by Lisa Gardner is the fifth book in the D.D. Warren series yet can be read as a stand-alone novel, however once one reads Love You More one will want to read Gardner’s other books. Once again Gardner creates a masterfully woven and emotionally charged atmosphere in Love You More, which alternates between Tessa Leoni’s narrative and that of the investigation into Trooper Leoni’s life. Sergeant Detective D.D. Warren is paired up with Massachusetts State Police Detective Bobby Dodge in what appears to be a cut and dry case, Massachusetts State Trooper Tessa Leoni murdered her husband, 42-year-old merchant marine Brian Darby in self-defense and her 6-year-old daughter Sophie is missing. As Warren and Dodge probe deeper they unearth more secrets and puzzles. The use of alternating the story from the current investigation to Leoni’s point of view draws the reader even deeper into the web of half-truths, lies, and the proverbial “blue wall”. Gardner has masterfully crafted an intelligent, multi-layered game of cat and mouse which holds the reader’s attention through a twisting plot that only yields Gardner’s secrets at her novel’s stunning conclusion, once again leaving me waiting in anticipation for her next book. I highly recommend Love You More to anyone who enjoys an exceedingly well-written suspense-thriller.

About the Author:

Lisa Gardner is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve novels. Her Detective D. D. Warren novels include The Neighbor, Hide, and Alone. Her FBI Profiler novels include Say Goodbye, Gone, The Killing Hour, The Next Accident, and The Third Victim. She lives with her family in New England, where she is at work on her next D. D. Warren novel, Love You More, which Bantam will publish in 2011. She was recently awarded The International Thriller Writers award for Best Hardcover of the Year for her novel The Neighbor.

For more information about author Lisa Gardner or her books, please visit her website.

Lisa Gardner’s LOVE YOU MORE VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR MARCH ’11 will officially begin on March 1 and end on March 23, 2011. Visit here during the month of March to find out more about this great book and talented author!

I received a complimentary copy of Love You More by Lisa Gardner from Pump Up Your Book Promotion as part of the tour. Receiving a copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

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