Well, she's back on the job and hunting a serial killer.
Well, two actually. Well, one confirmed, one suspected.
See, someone is killing sex offenders. Two died while DD was on maternity leave, and her first case now that she's back is another.
Three makes a pattern.
Then DD finds Charlie hanging out outside the crime scene. DD is suspicious and hauls her in. Charlie tells DD about the murders of her 2 childhood friends exactly one year apart. Now, as the anniversary approaches, Charlie is sure it's her turn.
Not a pattern, but on the way.
She doesn't want DD to stop it, she just wants DD to solve it.
Kinda sad, huh?
What makes it sadder is that Charlie is another tragic past character.
Sigh. Lisa needs to update her playbook.
Her mother had Munchhausen. What we learn as the story progresses is there was an incident when Charlie was a child and she was removed from the home. Her aunt took her in. Charlie never heard from her mom again, and she never asked her aunt about her childhood or what happened.
And most of her memories have been repressed. She just doesn't remember much about the time before her aunt took her in. Really, her memory is pretty bad generally - not surprising with repressed memories and trauma. She knows her mom hurt her, even remembers the occasional incident, but very few specifics.
And that lack of memory is important. See, she forgets her sister.
You heard that right, she forgot an entire sibling.
Meanwhile, DD and the team are investigating. There's a new member of the team, too. Well, a temporary member. She's a detective on a sex crimes squad. Her name is confusing, so they call her O. She jumps on board because of the sex offender murders. She knows sex offenders, right?
I didn't like O. All the things I didn't like about DD in the beginning, I see in O. Except exaggerated exponentially. Which is probably intentional given the names as initials thing. Only, O is completely irrational. She contradicts herself when her theories are questioned. One minute Charlie knows exactly what she's doing, the next she has DID and therefore can't remember what her other parts do. Hence, her memory lapses.
Gardner did a really good job of setting it up so the reader thinks a DID plot is coming. But I can not express how glad I am that she did not go that way. See, the only DID plots that go well are the ones that are based on real people and real life experiences. Biopic types. This was none of that, so I knew it would go terribly.
Luckily, Charlie did not have DID. She had a sister. Her sister is the one who was killing her friends and her sister is the one killing sex offenders.
And her sister is Detective O.
That's really the only way I can like this book. The only way I can handle O's irrationality is because she's a bad guy. A crazy ass bad guy. She's bad cop because she's a bad cop.
So, generally, we're still in a good spot. I love DD and Alex together. They're even getting married. Charlie lives, and isn't guilty of murder. Her aunt lives, too. Her sister dies, and that's sad, but not surprising.
Overall, one of the best so far.
Catch Me, Lisa Gardner
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