THANK YOU NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for my advanced reader copy of Still See You Everywhere by Lisa Gardner. This book is expected to publish March 12, 2024, but you can go ahead and pre-order your copy now! (You’ll want to.)

The Story

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner comes a harrowing new Frankie Elkin is an expert at finding the missing persons that the rest of the world has forgotten, but even she couldn’t have anticipated this latest request—to locate the long-lost sister of a female serial killer facing execution in three weeks’ time.
 
No man truly fears a woman. Not even one who is her father’s daughter.
 
The case was sensational. Kaylee Pierson had confessed from the very beginning, waived all appeals. She had called herself “death,” but people called her the devil. Despite the media’s chronicling of her tragic circumstances—the childhood spent with a violent father—no one could find sympathy for “the Beautiful Butcher” who had led eighteen men home from bars before viciously slitting their throats.
 
Now, with only twenty-one days left to live, Pierson has finally received a lead on the whereabouts of the sister who was kidnapped over a decade ago, and she needs Frankie’s help to find her. The Beautiful Butcher’s offer:
 
When was the last time your search ended with finding the living?
 
Unable to resist the chance for a rescue, Frankie takes on Pierson’s request. Twelve years ago, five-year old Leilani went missing in Hawaii. The main suspect? Pierson’s tech mogul ex-boyfriend, Sanders MacManus. Now, on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific—the site of MacManus’s latest vanity project—fresh evidence has appeared. In order to learn the truth and possibly save a young woman’s life, Frankie must go undercover at the isolated base camp. Her A dozen strangers. Countless dangerous secrets. Zero means of calling for help. And then the storm rolls in…

My Thoughts

I am such a Frankie Elkin fan. I liked her in Before She Disappeared, and then I LOVED her in One Step Too Far (one of my favorite books from 2022). In Still See You Everywhere, I think she’s really coming into her own with who she is as a person/character.

The one thing I appreciated about this book is that you came right out of the gate with a known serial killer on death row. I mean, it just draws you right in. Are you sympathetic that it’s this woman’s last few weeks on earth and you want to help her? Or do you hate her because of what she did throughout her life?

Frankie’s whole “thing” is that she searches for the missing that no one is looking for anymore. Sometimes, this is in cities. Other times, she’s in remote areas. I have found this weird fascination with the stories that take place completely cut off from civilization. Those stories where you know that no one is coming to offer help. There’s no 911 at the other end of a cell phone call with a response time of less than 10 minutes. That is what makes these books so stinking suspenseful!

I read another early review of Still See You Everywhere that said she did not enjoy the book. Sure, that’s your prerogative. But she said the book was slow and boring. Umm…no. Those are not two words I would use to define this book at all.

I also really appreciate the dynamics of all of the characters. The relationships themselves sowed doubt in some places, and, in others, you just wanted to be friends with the people. Was the “romance” necessary? No, but it was also subtle and clean and barely there.

Finally, I appreciated that Lisa Gardner alluded to the events of the past books without focusing on them too much. Basically acknowledging that they happened and affected Frankie as a person without making you feel like you missed out on too much. To this point, you CAN read these books as standalone or out of order without missing too much of the story. (I’d equate it to something like Hercule Poirot where it’s a series based on a character, but not something you HAVE to read sequentially like the Daevabad Trilogy or Harry Potter.)

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