July 28 - The diminutive Ms. Gardner took time from her tour schedule to visit with the staff at VJ Books. Lisa was born in Oregon, and was escorted by her mother who still lives in the area. "It's always nice to visit with an author with roots in the northwest, especially one as celebrated as Lisa Gardner," said Virginia Lenneville of VJ Books.

 

Lisa Gardner is getting rave reviews for her newest thriller, Live To Tell, while at the same time celebrating last year's hit, The Neighbor, which just was recognized as ITW's Best Novel of The Year at Thrillerfest in New York City on July 10th.

 

Beating out the likes of Harlan Coben, Linwood Barclay, Joseph Finder, and T. Jefferson Parker, she is the first woman to earn the prestigious award. Both books currently hold positions on the NY Times List. Live To Tell, received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly that reported, "Starred Review - At the heart of Gardner's outstanding fourth novel featuring Boston PD detective Warren (after The Neighbor) are some very sick kids, notably Lucy, a nine-year-old feral girl who self-mutilates when any attention is given to her, and Evan, an eight-year-old boy who during fits threatens to kill his mother. D.D gets involved after two grisly family annihilations lead to the locked-down pediatric psych ward in Cambridge that specializes in Lucy's and Evan's types of hard case. When a child is too sick and the parent can no longer handle care, the child ends up in the acute care facility under the tutelage of pediatric psych nurse Danielle, the lone survivor of her own family bloodbath. Coincidence? That's for D.D. to figure out--in the midst of a budding romance with police academy professor Alex Wilson and infuriating encounters with Andrew Lightfoot, resident "woo-woo expert" (that's cop talk for psychic), who works in tandem with the hospital. Plenty of red herrings keep readers guessing, but Gardner always plays fair in this tight and consistently engaging page-turner."

 

Praise for Live To Tell - "Taut as a piano wire and just as well-played . . . Lisa Gardner's Live To Tell is a suspenseful roller-coaster ride." - Karen Slaughter

 

It was great to see Lisa and her mom!