Alone by Lisa Gardner
Alone is a classic mystery and psychological thriller with a complex storyline that requires a reader’s close attention to detail in order to follow the action and discover the answer to what really happened on the night in Boston’s Back Bay when a police sniper shot and killed a husband who appeared to be threatening his wife and young son with a gun. Catherine Gagnon, the dead husband’s wife and alleged victim, was able to insinuate herself into the life of Bobby Dodge of the Massachusetts State Police and wreak havoc with his career and relationships.
Although everything was resolved by the end of the book, readers were surprised by the convoluted lives of characters who were introduced along the way. Did Catherine set up Bobby and was she responsible for murder? Why was a Judge involving himself in a murder investigation? Why was the doctor and the ADA murdered? What does a puppy have to do with a serial killer? This book prompted a lot of discussion about the motives and backgrounds of all of the main characters. Survivor’s guilt was definitely a theme that was discussed as a motive of more than one character; Bobby alone on the roof, Catherine alone in her captivity and Richard, the serial killer alone in solitary confinement. Members realized that Catherine may not be finished with her mayhem and plan to read more about her in Gardner’s second book, Hide.
Readers thoroughly enjoyed the author’s first book in her D.D. Warren series, and look forward to the next meeting and discussion of Vanished, the first book in the Nick Heller series by Joseph Finder.
