Book Review: Fear Nothing

I use Grammarly's English Language Checker because having bad grammar is like trying to drive with four flat tires - you won't get very far, and it will make people look at you funny.

Goodreads.com review:

My name is Dr. Adeline Glen. Due to a genetic condition, I can’t feel pain. I never have. I never will.

The last thing Boston Detective D.D. Warren remembers is walking the crime scene after dark. Then, a creaking floorboard, a low voice crooning in her ear… She is later told she managed to discharge her weapon three times. All she knows is that she is seriously injured, unable to move her left arm, unable to return to work.

My sister is Shana Day, a notorious murderer who first killed at fourteen. Incarcerated for thirty years, she has now murdered more people while in prison than she did as a free woman.

Six weeks later, a second woman is discovered murdered in her own bed, her room containing the same calling cards from the first: a bottle of champagne and a single red rose. The only person who may have seen the killer: Detective D.D. Warren, who still can’t lift her child, load her gun, or recall a single detail from the night that may have cost her everything.

Our father was Harry Day, an infamous serial killer who buried young women beneath the floor of our home. He has been dead for forty years. Except the Rose Killer knows things about my father he shouldn’t. My sister claims she can help catch him. I think just because I can’t feel pain, doesn’t mean my family can’t hurt me.

D.D. may not be back on the job, but she is back on the hunt. Because the Rose Killer isn’t just targeting lone women; he is targeting D.D. And D.D. knows there is only one way to take him down:

Fear nothing.

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I have made no secret on this blog of the fact that I really love Lisa Gardner books. After I had finished reading all of the other books she has written, and realized there was another one due to be published this month, I was so excited that I pre-ordered it for my Kindle in like, September. 

After reading it, I honestly have some mixed feelings. Gardner's stories are always amazing, with strong plot lines and great character development (especially if you read a series from the beginning), but for the first time ever, I was able to spot the villain in this story the very first time they were introduced. Usually, her stories are convoluted and twisting enough that while I have my suspicions, I'm never quite sure until the end, and I have been quite wrong a number of times. So that part was kind of disappointing. 

A very interesting twist to this story is the fact that the doctor, Adeline Glen, who can't feel pain, is actually a pain management specialist. I thought Gardner did an excellent job of crafting a very believable character in Adeline, and that she discussed Adeline's struggles with her condition very well. I even learned some things about congenital insensitivity to pain, which was really interesting. (Fact: Did you know that most people born with an inability to feel pain don't even make it to their 3rd birthday, because they have no idea when they have infections, or fevers, or are bleeding, etc. and often they will die of heatstroke? See? Interesting.) 

I also really liked the plot line where the killer began targeting D.D. Warren, the detective. D.D. has always been someone who was really tough, who wasn't scared of anything, who never let a crime scene or a case get to her....but in this book, you are able to see a more sensitive side of her, a side that she doesn't often show. I really enjoyed getting to know D.D. a little better in that way. 

Apart from the fact that I figured out the killer right away, there were a few times when the writing style seemed a little strange, and wasn't quite as crisp as what I'm used to seeing from Gardner. Overall, though, I would give the book 4.5 out of 5 stars, and would absolutely recommend it, along with every other book Gardner has written. 





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