Author: Lisa Gardner
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Date to be Published: March 12, 2024
This is Book 3 (but can be read as a stand) in the Frankie Elkin series and I’d have to say this is the best one yet!
This is a locked room (island) thriller on an island that could have been a paradise. If not for the giant coconut crabs whose claws could break a limb. And the crab holes that could break an ankle. Oh, and the lack of Internet, real showers and bathrooms, oh and yeah, maybe the real reason Frankie is here – to find a 17 year-old teen who may have been kidnapped by a powerful and violent man. A task made doubly troublesome as it was set up by the death row inmate known as “the Beautiful Butcher”.
Anyone who has ever camped will relate to crunching along pitch-black paths with just a flashlight to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night while things scuttle through the bushes. Or the fear of a tropical storm whipping through and wiping out electricity. But unlike being at a campground, this private atoll is miles from anywhere, accessible only by light planes, and several days by boat if you can reach them by satellite radio. If the radio isn’t out of commission.
Gardner masterfully introduces us to the characters on the island, describing jobs and relationships and Frankie’s almost impossible task in a way that moves the storyline to a tense and fully satisfying ending.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an advance reader’s copy!
Background photo courtesy of Raphael Bick on Unsplash.
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