Book Review: Love You More by Lisa Gardner

Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons!

  Who do you love? 

  It is a simple question. But when a state trooper shoots her husband to death, and her six year old daughter is missing, Sergeant Detective D.D. Warren is called in to cover the case. And the answer to this question may be deadlier than anyone could have imagined.

  Love You More is written by Lisa Gardner, and it is published by Penguin Random House under their Bantam Books imprint. In this fifth installment in her widely-popular crime-thriller series, Gardner reunites D.D. Warren with her former lover, Bobby Dodge (first introduced in Alone). It also serves as the first book in Lisa Gardner's Tessa Leoni series. Dodge requests Warren to join him at the site of a homicide. State Trooper Tessa Leoni has shot and killed her husband, and her daughter, Sophie, is missing. Married to Brian Darby for three years, Tessa and Sophie appeared to be happy with the merchant marine. Although their tough schedules kept them busy, Tessa and Brian seemed to be a happy couple. But Leoni is beaten to a pulp and her husband lies on the kitchen floor with three slugs in his chest. 

Warren‘s own relationship is in its six-month with her boyfriend, Alex, who teaches at the police academy. But something new has entered Detective Warren's life: morning sickness. At this stage in their relationship is she ready for a baby? Warren would like to believe that she is ready for anything. But a baby? And to top it off she is investigating a seemingly dysfunctional family. With no defensive wounds and a story that seems to change with every interview, Tessa Leoni is looking more like a calculated murderer than battered wife. But what events of Tessa's past have come to roost in her seemingly idyllic life? What happened to force a state trooper to kill her husband? And where is six year old Sophie?

  Love You More is told in two narratives featuring a third-person presentation with  D.D. and a first-person account from Tessa. We are introduced to a very hormonal Detective Warren who is on the brink of exhaustion after lack of sleep and food brings her to act a bit more out of character than usual. I liked the way Gardner changed D.D. to match her fears of being a mom, coupled with the incomprehension of how people can mistreat children. This was a major turning point in Warren’s life, and her reactions and actions fit her current situation. Tessa Leoni was a complicated character loaded with secrets and even her own memories tripped me up on occasion as the lies were remembered as truths. This kept me guessing throughout this novel. I was particularly moved by Tessa’s daughter, Sophie, who was such a brilliant light in her mother’s eyes. This part of the narrative was a great match for D.D.’s fears of her own impending pregnancy.

  I read Love You More in part with the audio book narrated by Kirsten Potter (handling Detective Warren's part) and Katie MacNichol (presenting Tessa's story). Kirsten delivered her usual brand of excellent narrating. I have grown to look forward to her narrating D.D. Warren novels. She has a very commanding voice that pulls you in with her fast-paced delivery of the story. MacNichol did an admirable job reading Tessa's part of the book, but her slower reading and less emphasized style of storytelling clashed a bit with Potter's quick and pointed delivery. Closer to the end they began to match one another’s pace, making the different styles more cohesive.    

  I had a good time with Love You More. I was also happy to see that Lisa Gardner had written two more Tessa Leoni books. These will be added to my To Be Read pile.  I gave Love You More 3 1/5 out of 5 stars. It was a good mystery that had me guessing until the end.   

  Catch my other Lisa Gardner reviews here on this blog. Just click on the name of the book review that you wish to read:

 3 Truths and a Lie, 7th Month, Catch Me, Find Her, and Look For Me

  Also check out my soundtrack choices for Find Her.

Have fun reading this week. Let me know in the comments below what you are reading.

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  Because there is always time to read,
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