A Detective D.D. Warren Novel Reviewed by Jennifer Chase
BOOK REVIEW Love You More:
http://www.authorjenniferchase.com/
“Who do you love? He asked the question, and I felt the answer in the weight of my duty belt, the constrictive confines of my armored vest, the light brim of my trooper’s hat, pulled over my brow.”
T
essa Leoni, a Massachusetts state trooper of four years, shoots and kills her husband in their home after three years of marriage. With wild accusations flying around about her state of mind, facial bruises, and a missing child, Tessa seems to know more than what she’s offering the police. At first glance, it looks like this state trooper killed her abusive husband who had kidnapped her six-year- old daughter. Things are not what they seem or appear to be. Or, are they? Love You More is the fifth novel with heroine Boston Police Department Det. Sgt. D.D. Warren. Warren is a tough ten- year veteran who is smart, ambitious and married to the job. On the home front, this no nonsense cop is a mom and in a person- al relationship with a teacher from the local police academy.
Old flame and ex-partner of Warren, Detective Bobby Dodge of the Massachusetts State Police asks her to take a look at a shooting case. Upon first glance, the evidence shows a clear-cut homicide. Personal matters and feelings creep into the investigation. To make police matters more complicated, Leoni won’t talk about her bruises or what happened to her missing daughter. Warren and Leoni match
34 July 2011 • Out & About
wits and both are hard as nails tough heroines. Who will win out in the end?
Author Lisa
Love You More: A Detective D.D. Warren Novel
by Lisa Gardner
Published by Bantam: March 2011 Fiction/Thriller
Gardner knows her stuff and she devel- oped a
great psy- chological thriller and
police procedural. It’s obvious Gardner has done her research well with details about police investigations, police procedures, prisons and the human psyche interwoven into the story. The characters have depth, which makes them believable. It’s easy to immerse yourself with their struggles both internally and externally. The writing and dialogue is crisp, without unnecessary descriptions or long mono- logues. Normally, I’m not a supporter of flashbacks. It’s a dicey writing endeavor, but Gardner manages it effortlessly. In order to tell portions of the narrative from Leoni’s view, the reader is taken through previous events leading up to the murder. It works well. Even though Love You More is the fifth
book in a series, it can easily be a stand-alone novel. This isn’t always a simple task, but the reader won’t lose any- thing from the main charac- ter. Each book leading up to this one gives the reader a lit- tle more information, but it won’t distract from the cur- rent storyline’s pace and unexpected twists. I haven’t read Gardner’s work before and I was more than pleasantly surprised. I will definitely add her book
library to my reading list. Love You More is a fast paced thriller layered with clever twists and turns, and a startling conclusion. This book has some mild violence and adult oriented subject matter. It would make a perfect weekend, vacation, or book club read.
Jennifer Chase is an award winning author, free- lance writer, and criminologist. She has
authored three fiction/thriller novels Compulsion, award winning Dead Game, and Silent Partner. Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree in police forensics and a mas- ter’s degree in criminology.
In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling. She is also an affil- iate member in the criminology section of the Academy of Behavioral Profiling (ABP). Find out more from Jennifer online at
http://www.emilystonecrimewatch.wordpress.com or go to her blog at
http://www.authorjennifer-
chase.com/
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