This is the second Lisa Gardner novel I have read. The first was HIDE, a D.D. Warren thriller that I really enjoyed. CRASH & BURN is the third in the Tessa Leoni series but really the focus of this novel is on Nicky Frank and her husband Thomas. At the outset of the novel, Nicky is in a car crash which she is able to survive. She is able to crawl out the back door of her SUV and is looking for Vero. But who is Vero? When the police arrive, she insists that they find Vero who may be her young daughter. But after a police search with a body-sniffing dog, no one else is found. So why is Nicky insisting they find Vero? The detective on the case is Wyatt Foster who is also the boyfriend of Tess Leoni who is a private investigator. When Nicky's husband Thomas arrives on the scene, he tells the cops that Nicky has been in a number of accidents and suffered multiple concussions resulting in traumatic brain injury. Vero is an imaginary friend of Nicky's. But is this the truth? Wyatt doesn't think so and feels that Thomas could be the source of Nicky's injuries including the car crash. The novel goes on a very twisted path from there weaving back to Nicky's childhood in a very unsavory environment.

I thought this was really a compelling novel with lots of twists and surprises in the story which I didn't see coming. I liked the characters including Wyatt and Tessa but thought Tessa was really a minor character. The story could have been a stand-alone novel. But overall very enjoyable and I'll probably be reading more of Gardner.

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I enjoyed this book and couldn't wait to find out what the actually story was. That being said, I got really, really sick of the "Vero learned to fly" over and over and over again. This definitely wasn't one of Lisa Gardner's best books, but it did hold my attention. Was glad when the truth finally came out, but felt there were still a couple of loose ends that I would have liked to have seen tied up.

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