Book Review: Love You More, by Lisa Gardner

Love You More
Lisa Gardner

State Trooper, Tessa Leoni, is arrested for the murder of her husband and accused of disposing of her six-year-old daughter. Homicide detective, D.D. Warren, has to figure out why Tessa killed her husband, and what happened to the missing little girl. What ensues is a twisted, complicated weaving of betrayal, secrets, and clever deception.

This book is a cool ride on the crazy train. What I liked most about this story is how quickly and intricately Tessa links traps and deception like railroad cars, then sends the train on a twisting journey of mind-boggling shams, collecting unsuspecting passengers along the way who fall prey to Tessa's trickery.

What I seriously didn't like was that the story was told in two points of view: Tessa's and D.D.'s. Here's the problem with the two points of view. Instead of being ensconced in the mystery of what happened, running alongside D.D. as she tries to hop on the caboose, and being in the dark about what truly happened the night Tessa's husband was murdered...we knew. We knew because we were *also* in Tessa's head. There were no surprise stops on our journey.

Because we knew what was in Tessa's mind, D.D. came across as narrow-minded and unsympathetic. I kept thinking, "Where's that tough detective gut instinct? This chick is way off." Instead, I thought D.D. was blind, or at the least a dumb detective with no insticts. If I didn't know what was going on in Tessa's side of the fence, I would have been as duped as D.D. But I wasn't. I knew. Halfway through the book I'd guessed most of the ending, and 3/4 of the way I'd guessed the rest.

This train was 2 stops short of an unforgettable ride, however, the cleverness of Tessa's scheming gave the train enough steam to keep it running.