THE THIRD VICTIM

Another great book! Already have the next one purchased and is my next book to read.

I have read every one of Lisa Gardner's books in the order that they were written. I have enjoyed all of them. I generally have a hard time keeping my mind on a book, but that doesn't happen with these. My mind doesn't wander while reading these books and believe me, it would with any other since I'm having a particularly difficult time in my life right now. I have been using these books in order to keep my mind off of my troubles and it has worked! The problem is that now that I have read them all I am having a hard time finding anything else that keeps my attention as well.

I had not read any of the reviews or blurbs about "The Third Victim" before I read the book. When I was reading it and realized it was about a school shooting, I almost put it down, feeling that we have had enough of this subject in the news, I didn't need to read it in ficton.I'm very glad I didn't leave it. "The Third Victim" is about so much more than 'another school shooting'. I promise you will never see the news in the same light again.Another surprise for me, was the author's reference back to "The Perfect Husband". This is not a series book however, the reference is made and dropped. I was also surprised that I remembered the previous book so vividly after reading it more than four years ago. That alone is testament to Lisa Gardner's writing ability."The Third Victim" is a well plotted mystery with characters who are flawed, but very real. Once started this book is very hard to put down for annoying things like work and sleep.

A small, quiet town, Bakersville, Oregon takes care of their own. It's a small community where everyone knows everyone and looks out for each other. But this small town is about to be torn apart when a school shooting claims the lives of one popular teacher and two small girls. Lives are destroyed and Bakersville will never be the same again. Officer Rainie Connor receives the call to get to the school. She is made primary since the sheriff has two children at the school. When she arrives, she walks into mass chaos. Without experience in this kind of crime, she does the best she can gathering evidence. However, due to circumstance beyond her control, she inadvertently contaminates the crime scene. Into the scene enters Abe Sanders, an investigator for the state. Sanders is a perfectionist who thinks he has the case wrapped up regardless of what Rainie feels. The FBI enters the picture by sending Pierce Quincy. Quincy is a behavioral specialist who is running a study on school shootings. He quickly picks up thread that both Rainie and Abe have missed. Threads that show everything are not as it appears. Don't let the subject matter put you off this book. Yes, it is hard to read because it concerns school shootings. But the story is so much more than school shootings. Lisa Gardner has truly taken a plot and put so many twists and surprises in it that even the most hard core suspense reader will have trouble figuring out just exactly who is guilty, what is happening, and how it all connects. The characters are fully developed with complex characteristics. Ms. Gardner definitely did her homework on the subject matter and as a result has an extraordinary story that will keep you glued to the story line.

"The Third Victim" is Lisa Garnder's best novel she has written. I loved "The Perfect Husband" and "The Other Daughter" but this one was better. If you are a teacher or work for a school district, then you might find this book disturbing and offending since the big massacre takes place at the school. Rainie Connor, who is the small town'sherrif, is an amazingly developed character who does a fantastic job of discovering who the murderer is. If you like Tami Hoag, Iris Johansen, or Mary Higgins Clark, then you'll love Lisa Gardner.

In Bakersville, Oregon, instead of himself, Sheriff Shep O'Grady surprisingly places Deputy Raine Connor in charge of the mass murder scene at the elementary school. The killer cleanly shot in the head information technology teacher Melissa Avalon. Two little girls were also killed but with multiple bullets. Much of the physical evidence is already damaged due to the chaos that occurred before Raine arrives on the scene, but more contamination follows. Raine arrests Danny on suspicion of murder. He confesses to the shootings. His father further contaminates the crime scene before Raine can get him to leave.The State sends Homicide Detective Abe Sanders, a methodical cop, to take charge of the case. FBI Special Agent Pierce Quincy leaves his dying daughter to also join the investigation. Quincy tells Raine he has some doubts about Danny being the killer because of the precise way the teacher was murdered. As the trio works together, a town wonders why a good little boy would do such a bad thing. Overwhelming evidence points towards the lad but some items lead to a more professional murderer yet no clear suspect surfaces.Though everyone struggles with the shock of school children murdering their peers in schoolhouses, this novel is a taut well-written thriller. The characters are well constructed so that readers can understand how they react to events during the murders and its aftermath. Still, this is a difficult topic to read a fictionalized account on true events such as what happened in Colombine. Still, as with the author's previous novels such as THE PERFECT HUSBAND and The Other Daughter, Lisa Gardner provides an exciting, non-stop thriller.Harriet Klausner