Never Tell by Lisa Gardner

4 Stars from me

I haven’t read ‘Find Her’ so am able to say with conviction that you don’t ‘need’ to have read that one for Never Tell to make sense. I can see from other reviews that it would maybe have added some depth to Flora but for me the backstory was clear anyway and I honest didn’t feel it detracted from the story in any way.

Never Tell contains some really strong and distinct female leads and pulls no punches in terms of the battles that women fight every single day – without making it preachy.

The storyline is good and strong and hooks you in from the first few pages where you meet Evie literally holding a smoking gun. I enjoyed her character and her mixed up relationship with her mum.

Flora is a whole different kettle of fish – boy has she been through the mill! She’s a great character and I’m sure ‘Find Her’ is brilliant and although I say you don’t need to have read it in order to read and enjoy ‘Never Tell’, I would suggest that if you are planning to read both then definitely read ‘Find Her’ first. The reason I say that is because now I know that Flora survived her ordeal I don’t see the point in going back in reading it – if that makes sense.

D. D. Warren is also a great character, one tiny niggle though… reading D. D. as her name throughout the book felt really clunky. Deedee or even just Dee would have been easier on the eyes.

That said, this is a great thriller and look forward to reading more from this author.

Synopsis: A man is dead, shot three times in his home office. But his computer has been shot twelve times, and when the cops arrive, his pregnant wife is holding the gun.

D.D. Warren arrives on the scene and recognizes the woman–Evie Carter–from a case many years back. Evie’s father was killed in a shooting that was ruled an accident. But for D.D., two coincidental murders is too many.

Flora Dane sees the murder of Conrad Carter on the TV news and immediately knows his face. She remembers a night when she was still a victim–a hostage–and her captor knew this man. Overcome with guilt that she never tracked him down, Flora is now determined to learn the truth of Conrad’s murder.

But D.D. and Flora are about to discover that in this case the truth is a devilishly elusive thing. As layer by layer they peel away the half-truths and outright lies, they wonder: How many secrets can one family have?