Right Behind You (An FBI Profiler Novel)

Lisa Gardner never disappoints! Her characters are very real, the story well researched and her writing nuanced and engaging. I look forward to the release of each of her books. I'd love to see more FBI Profiler books, especially about Kimberly!

Finding a plot that takes more than half the book to figure out is a treat! Loved the twists and turns and the slow reveal of this story. An additional twist near the end was a bit of a surprise. Hard to put down.

Finding a plot that takes more than half the book to figure out is a treat! Loved the twists and turns and the slow reveal of this story. An additional twist near the end was a bit of a surprise. Hard to put down.

I see ms. Gardners writing becoming more sophisticated with each book. Her character development is more detailed and leads to a curiosity to know more. The suspense was slowly built thus encouraging me to read faster. I did feel that the intro of the killer felt like a last ditch effort for plot twist.

I do like thrillers if they are interesting and different. This book begins with two children who kill their parents after their father attempts to kill everyone else in that family. Each orphaned child is then adopted by a different family, each with its own secrets. One orphan's adoptive family is then murdered, with the adoptee then suspected of the crime. And then of additional murders...
I spent much of the early novel certain that I had read it before but could not remember the ending or "who did it". No, I had not read this novel before although the book is certainly very similar to many others. The ultimate description of the motivation of multiple murders is so convoluted and long that the author needs a special epilogue to explain everything and.....(after an excessively long denouement)...

(spoiler alert)
The primary criminal was never introduced before the ending!!!!,
(end spoiler alert)

The author explains that the work is special because it explains parts of criminal investigation but how that work was important to solution of this particular set of crimes is not clear.

One good thing about the book is description of the conflicted relationship between the two orphans and each of their respective families.

The description of the kids and their relationships is a genuine strength of this book-- but as a thriller this book failed for me. I would not recommend it to anyone looking for a novel, interesting thriller.