Alone

Rating:
Summary: "Alone" has it all: abuse, lust, murder, revenge and healing
Review: "Alone", by Lisa Gardner, NY, Bantam, 2004 ISBN 0-553-80253-4 (hc), 324 p., by author of 6 prior NYT best-selling novels (plus 13 others under a.k.a. Alicia Scott). Gardner at her finest renders a suspense novel entwining lives of police sniper Bobby Dodge and Boston socialite Catherine Gagnon with those messed-up lives of their ovn parents and "lustmord" of pedophilist Richard Umbrio. So yes, there's rape abduction, police homicides, and an escalating mess of murder by knife, hanging?, gun -- by chilling variant divating means.

We are immersed into finely-tuned and researched machinations of SWAT techniques, of alleged spousal & child abuse, of aftermath of incest, pedophilia and inappropriate use of financial and judicial power, and importantly a heartening and occasionally disheartening look into survival techniques used by people suffering from imperfections and fragility of the human condition and where the bottom line rings true that blood runs thicker than thieves.

Gardner's command of language, be it technical, romantic, carnal, or merely weaving fact with fiction is simply superb -- when novels get this good it is hard to say enough and I'd love to have a signed copy. Deservedly, I give it 5***** without hesitation.

Rating:
Summary: Gardner's best effort to date
Review: Bobby Dodge, member of the elite STOP team in Boston, MA, which deals with dangerous police situations, has just completed a grim task: as a sniper he has ended the life of a husband Jimmy Gagnon, who seemingly was on the verge of harming either his wife Catherine or his son Nathan. And to add to Bobby's distress at having to kill another man, he is immediately attacked by Jimmy's father, Judge James Gagnon, a powerful Boston personage, for acting rashly and caving in to the manipulations of Catherine.

But what is it about the past of Bobby, Catherine, and Jimmy, and even the Judge, that has led to this point? Lisa Gardner expertly combines the unfolding of traumatic disturbances in their lives with rapid fire developments in the present. Given her history, could Catherine, one with elegant, fragile beauty, orchestrate her own husband's death? Maybe Bobby knew more about the Gagnon's then he is telling - are his actions completely innocent? Why is the Judge's and his wife's past shrouded in mystery?

This is Lisa Gardner's best book, and most of her previous books were quite good. The plot is great and it moves. Yet the characters get the right amount of attention. And there are some nice twists. This latest effort by Gardner will disappoint few.


Rating:
Summary: Another solid thriller from Gardner.
Review: First off, not the book to be reading when you've got a bad bug and are feeling nauseous. I threw up my Rice Crispies late this morning due to some graphic content colliding heads with my really off stomach.

If you've not read Gardner before, she's really worth it - on par with Lisa Scottoline, Kathy Reichs, Tami Hoag and - dare I say it? - Harlen Coben. Her psychological thrillers have extremely rich characters, and rarely does she give you the pat "female victim" role. Her women fight back, fight dirty, and sometimes spend the entire book making you wonder if they're the villain in the first place.

"Alone" is about a survivor. Catherine was snatched by a pedophile when she was young, trapped in a dark hole in the ground, and abused for nearly a month. She was found and rescued at random, but has never quite since gotten over her fear of the dark. Years have passed - she has a child, a husband, a life, and now suddenly, things have gone wrong. Bobby, a police SWAT sniper, responds to Catherine's call that her husband has a gun and is threatening the family. In a split second decision, he shoots the husband to save the wife and child.

But things aren't at all as simple as they seem - and it might be that someone arranged all of it.

Solid thriller, with a mystery as tangled as you can ask for from an author that is very good at so far not growing at all stale with her plot ideas. Even better was the cameo from a "The Perfect Husband" charater, which I always like: it lends a sense of continuity and realism to the tale when you bump into other wounded people still going on with their lives.

Long story short, go get it, read it, and you'll be just as wrapped up as I was.

Rating:
Summary: Slow
Review: I know that all the other reviewers rated this book as excellent, but for some reason, I could not get into this book.

Gardner is trying to draw out her characters and I believe that she is overdoing it. She spends pages and pages in painful, boring details when all I want is action.

A good example is an extremely long description about Bobby and the whole surrounding the target. She gets into minute detail even about what size amunition he takes. WHO CARES? once all of this is done - the actual shooting is done in less than 3 sentences. BORING.

Unfortunately, this tone is kept throughout the entire book.

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Summary: Did she plan it or not? Alone is an excellent thriller!
Review: Lisa Gardner takes a seemingly "normal" crime scene and turns it upside down. A police sniper shoots and kills a husband that had a gun in his hand with his wife and child present in the room. In State Trooper's Bobby Dodge's view, the killing was justified. The facts and the secrets slowly come out that make you want to say who's to blame here? Bobby Dodge's life starts to unravel when the parents of the "victim" decide to sue him. At the same time Catherine Gagnon is calling him for help. Catherine was a victim of a pedophile 25 years ago who is unexplainably released early from prison. People close to Catherine are murdered and fingers start pointing at Bobby. You feel for her helplessly sick son and are shocked further when a secret is revealed. Did she know what she was doing? How to get the SWAT team to her house that night? It's left up to you to decide. Alone moves rapidly along, so pay attention to the details.

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Summary: Innocent victim or femme fatale?
Review: Lisa Gardner's new novel of suspense, "Alone," is, to a major extent, about people who have survived terrible childhood traumas that have left them emotionally scarred. One of these people is Catherine Gagnon. As a child, she was abducted, molested, and kept in an underground cage for twenty-eight days. Miraculously, Catherine was rescued and her attacker went to jail. However, from that time on, she has never felt fully human. Catherine's male counterpart is Massachusetts State Trooper Bobby Dodge. Bobby's father was a violent drunk who drove his wife away, and Bobby has been carrying around a feeling of deep-seated rage towards his father and his absent mother for years.

The lives of Catherine and Bobby converge when James Gagnon, Catherine's husband, is reported to the police for allegedly wielding a gun and threatening his wife and four-year-old son, Nathan. Bobby, who is an expert sniper, is summoned to the scene, and he soon has the Gagnon family in his sights. Should Bobby pull the trigger to save the wife and child or wait for instructions from his superiors? Bobby's fateful decision will change his life forever.

Lisa Gardner has a major following because she knows how to construct a compelling and fast-moving story. We are drawn to Bobby's plight. He is a decent and hard-working man who cannot sustain a long-term relationship with a woman, since he has never fully come to terms with the loss of his mother. Catherine is a cipher. Is she an innocent victim of a brutal husband or is she a manipulative schemer with a secret agenda of her own? Adding to the mystery is Nathan Gagnon's poor health. Catherine's son has never gained weight and grown as a normal boy should, yet the doctors can find nothing specifically wrong with the child.

So far so good. Unfortunately, Gardner steers her book in the wrong direction when she overcomplicates her plot. She throws in everything but the kitchen sink, and I'm sure if I look hard enough, I'll find the sink. The man who molested Catherine, Richard Umbrio, is suddenly and mysteriously released from prison. Who engineered his parole and what is Umbrio up to? Probably nothing good. Meanwhile, Catherine's in-laws, Judge James and Maryanne Gagnon, hate Catherine and they are desperate to destroy their daughter-in-law's life. Why are they so cruel to her?

As bodies start piling up and as Bobby's and Catherine's lives deteriorate further, "Alone" crosses the line from taut thriller to unrealistic melodrama. Too bad. Gardner knows how to build tension and I was looking forward to the exciting conclusion of the story. I enjoyed the well-written scenes between Bobby and his psychiatrist, Dr. Lane, in which he is forced to confront his demons for the first time. There are also several action sequences that are genuinely scary. However, Gardner's writing falters as the book reaches its far-out conclusion. Although "Alone" had the potential to be a first-rate novel, it doesn't quite make the grade.

Rating:
Summary: What`s a Jachrimo?
Review: Most current reviews here a very generous and three stars for this book is a kind act on my part. Easy and fast reading with good supporting characters and page turning dialog. Definanitly an interesting story that continues to move. The problems in the book though are numerous. EVERYBODY calls this guy "Bobby". Never an exasperated "Robert!" (...and many in the story have clearly had it with this person...) or a "BOB". BMW doesn`t make a 450, 22 caliber hand guns don`t go , "BOOM, boom, boom , boom". I `m pointing this out because Ms. Gardner lists in detail Bobby`s gear. The first time Bobby Dodge would meet someone, he`d never tell them details about his work other than the fact that he was in Law Inforcement as indicated in the story concerning his relationship with his Dad. A killer can`t be in two places at one time so whoever followed Catherine to her father`s home would not have been able to strike up a conversation with someone else, besides the fact he`d have to wait around awhile waiting for someone. Overall I don`t mean to be vague, but I abhore reviewers that go out of their way to put spoilers in their so called reviews. There are atleast three major angles in this story and it`s fun to read, but SUPER STUPENDOUS ULTRA INTHRALLING MYSTERY THRILLER it ain`t.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: There a a lot of opinions about this book. However, it's a fast paced, twist and turn book. I wont spoil it, you'll have to read the entire book, to the last paragraph to be sure. What I can tell you for sure is, only start to read this book when you have the time, not to put it down. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Whew!!
Review: This is the first book by Ms. Gardner that I've read and definitely will not be the last. I've been looking for a good suspense novel and this did not disappoint. Be prepared to finish this book in one sitting. It's hard to put down. There were so many twists and turns that I just didn't see them coming.

Rating:
Summary: Impeccably Plotted and Superbly Written
Review: We are only fourteen days into the new year, but I already have read what is sure to be a contender for suspense readers' lists of the Top Ten Books for 2005. ALONE by Lisa Gardner continues her string of riveting novels, upping the ante from 2003's excellent THE KILLING HOUR.

While there are a number of memorable characters in ALONE --- including an obligatory but nonetheless frightening bogeyman --- it is essentially the story of two people whose lives are intertwined by a fateful moment and an act. Bobby Dodge is more than a Massachusetts State Policeman; he is a member of the Special Tactics and Operations Team (STOP), an elite unit drawn from all over the state to assist where and when needed. Dodge is just unwinding from a long day when he receives word of a situation involving a domestic barricade with hostages. Dodge is a designated sniper and is very good at what he does. He evaluates the situation and sees a man with a gun, and a woman and child who appear to be in immediate danger. He takes the man out, thus saving the woman and child. It is, by all appearances, a clean shoot.

Dodge's problems, however, are just beginning. The dead man is Jimmy Gagnon, the son of a prominent and powerful judge. The woman and child, Gagnon's wife and son, have a history of their own. As a child Catherine Gagnon was known as The Thanksgiving Miracle. Abducted and abused for 28 days, she was miraculously discovered and rescued by hunters. But her ordeal left hidden scars upon her that run deep and hard. Nathan Gagnon, her son, is ravaged by a mysterious malady that seems to rob his body of nourishment and that no doctor seems able to diagnose.

Shortly before the fateful night that the Gagnons entered Dodge's life --- and he theirs --- Jimmy had filed for divorce, seeking sole custody of Nathan. Judge Gagnon is now pursuing a murder charge against Dodge, inferring that he and Catherine colluded in plotting Jimmy's death. The charge seems ridiculous on its face, as Dodge had never even met these people. Yet the evidence seems to be inexplicably piling up against him. Catherine, meanwhile, is not all who she seems. Using her dark, intriguing sensuality with a sinister twist, Catherine attempts to play Dodge like a finely-tuned Stradivarius, manipulating him into helping her against forces both seen and unseen, from the past and the present, that seek to invade her life and take from her everything she holds dear.

The ending (and even the middle) of ALONE is impossible to predict. Gardner wrings every possible surprise out of the storyline, and continues to do so until practically the last page. Everyone in the book is suspect; no one is precisely who they seem to be. Impeccably plotted and superbly written, ALONE is a novel that will leave you torn between racing to finish it and lingering over its characterizations. Highly recommended.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub