Fear Nothing

November 25, 2013
Four-year-old Shana and her nearly one-year-old sister, Adeline, take two very different life paths after the death of their father, serial killer Harry Day, in Thriller Award–winner Gardner’s absorbing seventh novel featuring Boston homicide detective D.D. Warren (after 2012’s Catch Me). Shana heads to prison for life after killing a boy at age 14 and later murdering a fellow inmate as well as two corrections officers; Adeline, born with CIP (congenital insensitivity to pain), becomes a successful pain therapist. When a killer begins channeling Harry’s gruesome murder technique, Warren, who has been referred to Adeline for treatment of a debilitating injury suffered on the job, investigates. As the three women interact with one another, Shana appears to know more than she should, Adeline reveals less than she should, and a nervy killer taunts Warren. Gardner repeatedly ratchets up the tension while the strange relationship between the two mismatched siblings leads to a deadly climax. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

Starred review from January 15, 2014
Recovering from a nasty fall down a flight of stairs, Detective D.D. Warren, of Boston Homicide, tangles with a pair of sisters who put her pain in a whole new perspective. Forty years ago, Harry Day, about to be arrested for killing eight prostitutes, got his wife to slit his wrists before the police closed in. He left behind two young daughters: Shana, a sociopath who followed so closely in her father's footsteps that she was jailed for life when she killed a neighborhood boy at age 14, and Adeline, not quite a year old when her father died, who's grown up cursed by an inability to feel physical pain. Naturally, Adeline went to medical school and became a psychiatrist specializing in pain management, and it's in that capacity that D.D. consults her after an accident at a blood-soaked crime scene leaves her with an impressive set of injuries. Christine Ryan, the victim who's been smothered and flayed by someone who left behind a bottle of champagne, a pair of fur-lined handcuffs and a long-stemmed rose, is followed distressingly quickly by a second victim, occupational therapist Regina Barnes. Even worse, the handiwork of the Rose Killer is gruesomely linked to the criminal careers of Harry Day, dead these 40 years, and his daughter Shana, who's been in the Massachusetts Correctional Institute for over 25 years. Alternating as usual between third-person chapters following D.D.'s investigation and first-person chapters dramatizing Adeline's point of view, Gardner (Touch & Go, 2013, etc.) paints an indelible portrait of two troubled sisters so closely bound together by blood that they agree: "Blood is love." If you think Gardner pulled out all the stops in D.D.'s previous cases (Catch Me, 2012, etc.), you ain't seen nothing yet. Better fasten your seat belt for this roller-coaster ride through family hell.

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Starred review from December 15, 2013
In Gardner's seventh Detective D. D. Warren thriller (following Catch Me, 2012), the Rose Killer is re-creating the crimes of Harry Day, a serial killer who kept the skin of his victims as a souvenir153 vials of souvenirs. Day's legacy also includes two daughters. Shana distinguished herself at 14 as the youngest person in Massachusetts history to be tried for murder as an adult. A psychiatrist specializing in pain management, her sister, Adeline, was born with congenital insensitivity to pain. Detective Warren goes to see Adeline professionally, after she is injured at a crime scene. When she learns that Adeline is Harry Day's daughter, she asks her to help identify anyone who would have been influenced by her father. The obvious suspect is Shana. But how could a woman who has spent the last decade in solitary confinement be responsible for these vicious mutilations and murders? In this strong addition to the series, Gardner retains her place on thrillerdom's top tier. If they haven't already discovered her, fans of Tess Gerritsen, Alafair Burke, and Meg Gardiner would love an introduction. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Gardner has a reserved seat on most best-seller lists, and she'll be claiming her spot once again.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)