Alone

It was bad enough that Catherine Gagnon survived a horrible childhood abduction where for a month she lived in a cave and was the plaything for her sicko abductor. But now, 25 years later, she faces tragedy again as she fights to keep her son, Nathan. One chilly November night, a police sniper kills her husband, Jimmy, in response to her 911 call claiming he was about to hurt Nathan. Jimmy's death means that his parents, an influential judge and his blue-blooded wife, are more determined than ever to take Nathan from Catherine, whom they see as unfit to mother their only grandchild. True, the birth of Nathan mentally paralyzed Catherine, who could not get past the memories of her abduction and her emotionally absent parents. But is she really the monster the Gagnons and their PI make her out to be? Massachusetts state police special-ops officer Bobby Dodge, the sniper who took out Jimmy, doesn't think so, and unwittingly falls under the spell of the manipulative widow. A twisted, effective psychological thriller. --Mary Frances Wilkens Copyright 2004 Booklist

For 300-some pages, Gardner (The Perfect Husband) keeps readers spellbound-not just by her plot but by the beautifully realized character of Massachusetts police sniper Bobby Dodge. He meets his match in Catherine Gagnon, who as a girl was snatched, raped and nearly murdered. Now she's the wife of erratic, rich Jimmy Gagnon and mother of perpetually ill four-year-old Nathan. When Bobby kills Jimmy during a hostage situation at the Gagnons, he does it to save Catherine and Nathan. But was it a righteous shoot, or did Catherine engineer the killing? Judge James Gagnon and his wife, Maryanne, think Bobby murdered their son out of lust for Catherine. As other people start dying, very messily, and the DA and cops come down hard on Bobby, Gardner keeps the tension high and the pace fast. But resolution comes in what may be the clunkiest chase crafted by a pro this year: "Bobby processed everything at once. Three open doorways, three bedrooms. He ran by the first, then the second, and came sprinting into the third just in time to see Maryanne staggering back." Ten pages later, so many characters have run into so many rooms, it's amazing that the right person finally gets his head blown off by the right avenger. But Garner then ends with a neat postlude offering one more twist; her fans will feel requited. Agent, Steve Axelrod. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Bobby Dodge lives an isolated life. Employed as a sniper for the Massachusetts State Police, he is routinely sent into situations that have the potential to escalate. One night, all of his training literally blows up when he is forced to make a split-second decision and kills a man holding his wife and son hostage. The downward spiral that follows threatens Bobby's career and sanity as unseen forces manipulate events to make Bobby appear guilty of murder. What really happened that fatal night? Three-dimensional characters fill out a riveting story that is like a juicy steak: slow broiled to perfection. Gardner's (The Killing Hour) latest thriller is highly recommended for all public libraries [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/04].-Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A straight-arrow cop gets entangled with a crooked lady and--surprise!--rues the day. Bobby Dodge likes his job as a sniper with the Massachusetts State Police Special Tactics squad, a SWAT unit. He likes his girlfriend Susan, a beautiful and talented musician. In short, Bobby likes his life until the night Catherine Gagnon drops into it. What appears at first not much more than a run-of-the-mill domestic disturbance--husband screaming at cowering wife--suddenly escalates when the screaming husband has a gun and the cowering wife is wrapped protectively around a terrified child. There's no time for anything but trained instinct when Bobby, watching through the scope of his rifle, sees Jimmy Gagnon's finger tightening on the trigger. It's a righteous shot, an act that saved the lives of Catherine and her young son, Bobby insists. Most agree at first. In the days that follow, however, minds change. Catherine, it seems, has a past; she also has the kind of beauty that unsettles as readily as it attracts. She's a dangerous woman, Bobby is warned. Before long, he realizes that as a manipulator she can take her place with the best of history's dark ladies. And that maybe the shooting wasn't so righteous after all. Gardner (The Killing Hour, 2003, etc.) tends to overplot, but as always the strength of her characters keeps the pages turning. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

It was bad enough that Catherine Gagnon survived a horrible childhood abduction where for a month she lived in a cave and was the plaything for her sicko abductor. But now, 25 years later, she faces tragedy again as she fights to keep her son, Nathan. One chilly November night, a police sniper kills her husband, Jimmy, in response to her 911 call claiming he was about to hurt Nathan. Jimmy's death means that his parents, an influential judge and his blue-blooded wife, are more determined than ever to take Nathan from Catherine, whom they see as unfit to mother their only grandchild. True, the birth of Nathan mentally paralyzed Catherine, who could not get past the memories of her abduction and her emotionally absent parents. But is she really the monster the Gagnons and their PI make her out to be? Massachusetts state police special-ops officer Bobby Dodge, the sniper who took out Jimmy, doesn't think so, and unwittingly falls under the spell of the manipulative widow. A twisted, effective psychological thriller. ((Reviewed December 1, 2004)) Copyright 2004 Booklist Reviews.

/*Starred Review*/ Gardner fans look out: this one will take your breath away. Near the grounds of an abandoned mental hospital, a buried chamber is discovered. Inside are six bodies, one of which may be that of a girl who has been missing for two decades--the best friend of a woman, Annabelle, who has spent her childhood moving from city to city, from identity to identity, hiding from someone or something totally unknown to her. She's been safe for several years now, but a single act of bravery plunges her right back into a life of fear. This is a rich, complex tale that juggles a handful of mysteries at once. Who is the killer, and could it be someone connected with a notorious child murderer? Who or what was Annabelle's family running from? How did her father, a mathematician, know how to set up foolproof new identities? And why does an old sketch of a murder suspect look unsettlingly like Annabelle's father? Head and shoulders above anything else Gardner's written, this riveting novel represents the author at the height of her powers. ((Reviewed December 1, 2006)) Copyright 2006 Booklist Reviews.

After downing an armed man, a hot SWAT team sniper discovers that he may have been set up to commit murder. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Bobby Dodge lives an isolated life. Employed as a sniper for the Massachusetts State Police, he is routinely sent into situations that have the potential to escalate. One night, all of his training literally blows up when he is forced to make a split-second decision and kills a man holding his wife and son hostage. The downward spiral that follows threatens Bobby's career and sanity as unseen forces manipulate events to make Bobby appear guilty of murder. What really happened that fatal night? Three-dimensional characters fill out a riveting story that is like a juicy steak: slow broiled to perfection. Gardner's (The Killing Hour) latest thriller is highly recommended for all public libraries [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/04].-Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

In Gardner's latest thriller, Boston Police Sgt. D.D. Warren hooks up with Massachusetts State Police Det. Robert Dodge (from Alone ) to investigate a long-abandoned underground cavern found on the grounds of the former Boston State Mental Hospital. The hospital had been shut down decades earlier, but the mummified bodies of six young girls are found belowground, recalling a previous case. Annabelle Granger has spent her life running, moving from city to city and adopting a new name every 18 months or so at her paranoid father's whim. Annabelle, a beautiful young woman who bears a striking resemblance to a previous victim, is thought to be one of the dead girls, until she strolls into the police station. Former hospital staff members and patients become the prime suspects in this fast-paced, twisty thriller. Annabelle's first-person perspective occasionally shifts to that of an omniscient narrator to give the reader more information than Annabelle has, but the introduction of a new, critical character toward the end is rather unsettling. Nevertheless, this gripping read is recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/06.]—Stacy Alesi, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., Boca Raton, FL

When the newspapers report that she's dead, Annabelle Mary Granger runs straight to detective Bobby Dodge to find out what's happening. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

For 300-some pages, Gardner (The Perfect Husband) keeps readers spellbound-not just by her plot but by the beautifully realized character of Massachusetts police sniper Bobby Dodge. He meets his match in Catherine Gagnon, who as a girl was snatched, raped and nearly murdered. Now she's the wife of erratic, rich Jimmy Gagnon and mother of perpetually ill four-year-old Nathan. When Bobby kills Jimmy during a hostage situation at the Gagnons, he does it to save Catherine and Nathan. But was it a righteous shoot, or did Catherine engineer the killing? Judge James Gagnon and his wife, Maryanne, think Bobby murdered their son out of lust for Catherine. As other people start dying, very messily, and the DA and cops come down hard on Bobby, Gardner keeps the tension high and the pace fast. But resolution comes in what may be the clunkiest chase crafted by a pro this year: "Bobby processed everything at once. Three open doorways, three bedrooms. He ran by the first, then the second, and came sprinting into the third just in time to see Maryanne staggering back." Ten pages later, so many characters have run into so many rooms, it's amazing that the right person finally gets his head blown off by the right avenger. But Garner then ends with a neat postlude offering one more twist; her fans will feel requited. Agent, Steve Axelrod. (Jan.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

In bestseller Gardner's first-rate follow-up to Alone (2005), Bobby Dodge, once a sniper for the Massachusetts State Police and now a police detective, gets called to a horrific crime scene in the middle of the night by fellow detective and ex-lover D.D. Warren. An underground chamber has been discovered on the property of a former Boston mental hospital containing six small naked mummified female bodies in clear garbage bags. A silver locket with one of the corpses, which may be decades old, bears the name Annabelle Granger. Later, a woman shows up at the Boston Homicide offices claiming to be Annabelle Granger. Her resemblance to Catherine Gagnon (whose life Bobby saved in Alone ) helps stoke a romance between her and Bobby both subtle and sizzling. The suspense builds as the police uncover links between patients at the hospital and long-ago criminal activities. Through expert use of red herrings, Gardner takes the reader on a nail-biting ride to the thrilling climax. (Feb.)