The Book:
Love You More (Detective D.D. Warren #5) by Lisa Gardner
Published: March 2011 by Bantam Books
Torrie’s Rating:
★★★★
The Plot (Goodreads):
One question, a split-second decision, and Brian Darby lies dead on the kitchen floor. His wife, state police trooper Tessa Leoni, claims to have shot him in self-defense, and bears the bruises to back up her tale. For veteran detective D. D. Warren it should be an open-and-shut case. But where is their six-year-old daughter?
As the homicide investigation ratchets into a frantic statewide search for a missing child, D. D. Warren must partner with former lover Bobby Dodge to break through the blue wall of police brotherhood, seeking to understand the inner workings of a trooper’s mind while also unearthing family secrets. Would a trained police officer truly shoot her own husband? And would a mother harm her own child?
For Tessa Leoni, the worst has not yet happened. She is walking a tightrope, with nowhere to turn, no one to trust, as the clock ticks down to a terrifying deadline. She has one goal in sight, and she will use every ounce of her training, every trick at her disposal, to do what must be done. No sacrifice is too great, no action unthinkable. A mother knows who she loves. And all others will be made to pay.
While the book really wants you to believe that Brian was abusive, he actually never laid a hand on Tessa or her daughter. Instead, he got into gambling and developed a problem, as did Trooper Shane Lyons. Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton was actually the mastermind behind the abduction of Sophie and the theft of the pension. Trooper Lyons was in on it as well.
When the hit man showed up and killed Brian, Tessa negotiated with him that for $50,000 he would delay reporting Brian’s murder. Tessa put Brian’s body on ice to delay decomposition and to give her time to set everything up. She set up the explosive and fake body, and planned her escape from jail.
The following day, when Brian was to be reported dead, Trooper Lyons beat Tessa up to make it look like Brian was abusive. (The bruised ribs were an old injury from her actually falling down icy stairs).
As for Tessa’ prior murder as a teenager – she actually didn’t kill Tommy. Juliana, her best friend and Tommy’ sister killed him. Tommy had been sexually assaulting his sister, Juliana and she had planned to scare him with the gun, when it accidentally went off. The police accused Tessa and both of them went along with it.
Torrie’s Review:
I almost gave this book 3 stars, it is getting old that all of Lisa Gardner’s D.D. Warren novels have a mixture of old secrets and new crimes, but this one did a good job of keeping me guessing, and I just can’t stop reading this series. I really enjoy it, and even though it is formulaic, I enjoy the old mysteries that are mixed into the crimes. This story had a lot of layers to too it, and I definitely didn’t guess them. I enjoyed unraveling each part of this mystery. I know Tessa’s character has her own book series by Lisa Gardner, and even though I enjoyed this book (and Tessa’s character was great) I don’t plan to start another Lisa Gardner series. I plan to keep up with D.D. Warren, but I want to expand my reading choices outside of Lisa Gardner’s formula.
Meet Guest Reviewer by Torrie Lewine
