I feel like the most interesting part of this book was reading it so closely beside The Survivor's Club, one of Lisa Gardner's older books. It's fascinating to see how her style has changed, both in the writing itself and her storytelling, while still seeing how much of what makes it quintessentially her remains.

I really liked this one. I did think about giving it four stars, but it was just a little bit shy for me.

One thing I liked was the focus on an entirely amateur main character as the cop. Frankie shows up months or even years after the initial disappearance, so she works pretty much solely with people's stories and how they've changed. She gets people to open up to her as an outsider. I liked this in concept, but I don't think it was always executed very well. Sometimes it felt like the unfolding of the case was more of a coincidence than Frankie actually achieving much with her methods. Like it just happened to coincide with her arrival rather than her pushing the story forward. It made her feel a bit unnecessary and the story just a tiny bit passive. But I still liked it as an element. Gardner is great at writing cop thrillers that deal heavily with civilians, and I always appreciate that.

I dunno, it's hard to have too much to say over a thriller, especially by an author I've read and reviewed so many times before. There were some odd moments (using rickrolling to send a message for help, for instance) or questionable choices in story direction as Frankie was solving the case, but overall it was a fun ride. Not my favorite of Gardner's books, but I'd recommend it if the story sounds like your kind of thing.