Alone

By: Lisa Gardner

Narrated by: Anna Fields

Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

“Like all the best suspense novels, Alone will leave you shaken...You can't wait to see what happens next.” (People)

Who can you turn to when you’re at your most vulnerable?

State Trooper Bobby Dodge watches a tense hostage standoff through the scope of his sniper rifle. Dodge has only one second to react, or a woman and her child may die.

Where can you hide when this killer comes?

The woman at the other end of Bobby Dodge’s rifle isn’t only in trouble - she is trouble. Cool, beautiful, and dangerously sexy, Catherine Rose Gagnon’s life will change in an instant of violence.

It’s the most terrifying place to be...When Bobby pulls the trigger, someone will die. And then no one will be above suspicion, no one beyond harm.

And no one will see death coming until it has them cornered, helpless, and alone.

©2004 Lisa Gardner, Inc. (P)2005 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Three-dimensional characters fill out a riveting story that is like a juicy steak: slow broiled to perfection....Highly recommended." (Library Journal)

"Intricate and suspenseful, Alone keeps you on the edge of your seat." (Los Angeles Times)

"Like all the best suspense novels, Alone will leave you shaken....you can't wait to see what happens next." (People Magazine)

slow start, great finish. Ready to start #2.

New to this Author/series. Will continue. enjoyed #1. Interesting plot and story line.

Lisa Gardner is amazing!

If you could sum up Alone in three words, what would they be?

Twisted thrill ride

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes, Lisa Gardner has mastered the art of making you look one way while the answer is right in front of your face.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Uhh one of the plot twists was a little odd and it threw me off.

Nicely woven

This is my second read by Gardner. She certainly knows how to weave many complicated elements together to create suspense and build anticipation to the climax,

multifaceted, thought provoking & different

narrator did a fantastic job, especially with the new England & southern dialects. masterful & organized. amazing how characters can endure so much hurt & life complications artfully carved out in the pages of the story and still function in the world. this fictional tale could easily be factual in so many lives under different yet still complicated circumstances. the sense of this reality was often apparent in the writing. that itself is what makes a good suspense, thriller, crime novel what it is. great first book in the series, will continue on .

Great story

The story was action packed and suspenseful; I particularly loved the scene in the Judge's hotel where Kat and Mr. "B" meet again. Unfortunately, I did not like the narrator; her voice was uncomfortable to listen to and I was not impressed by the character voices, especially Bobby

Narrated was not right for this book

Should have been a male narrating this book. Took me awhile to get interested because she was hard to listen to.

Alone

Great story every time I thought I had it figured out I was wrong. Don't like giving away the story of the book yet abduction never effects just the family. Love Lisa Gardner and listen to her books many times.

poor narrator, just okay plot

the narrators were definitely not good. I had a hard time focusing on the story because of the narrators. the plot was okay, not as good as some of her other books. not as suspenseful or action-packed.

Beginning of the Detective D.D. Warren series

Alone was released in 2005; since then 7 more DD Warren novels have followed. When I find an author I really like I tend to accumulate all of his or her novels. Lisa Gardner is such an author. Certainly Alone is a police/crime thriller but it is also a psychological thriller. It is NOT the best novel in the series, but it is excellent. The Detective DD Warren series is the most popular of those written by Gardner, but I believe it is the third best. My favorite is the Tessa Leoni series which is set in Boston/New England like the DD Warren series. The second best in the FBI Thriller series (not classified as a series by Audible) which is set first in Oregon and later in Atlanta. The books in the DD Warren series need not be read in order. (Note: Audible lists books written by Gardner using the pen name Alicia Scott under her name. Those are old romance novels she wrote early in her career.)

Almost - but not quite - too far-fetched

It's almost a bit too far-fetched. It wasn't so over-the-top that I stopped reading it, but I did roll my eyes more than once.

It's obvious it's a female author. And just as obvious that she took a Feminism 101 course at university at some point in her career. The book has so much feminist rhetoric (a.k.a. - in this case - stereotypes) that it also caused me to roll my eyes.

But, otherwise, the story was quite engaging... it wasn't clear who the good-guy was (or all the bad-guys) until pretty close to the end of the book. In fact, it took the epilogue to finish making sense of who did what, exactly, and why.

All in all, I enjoyed the story and will read more in this series (though if it wasn't for the fact I already knew it was a series book, I wouldn't have been able to tell from the story - it's completely wrapped at the end.) I'm confident that Gardner will tame down her feminist enthusiasm and retain the suspense in the future books.

I don't think there was any swearing, there is no sexual content and it's not graphically violent. I did not like the narration very much. The narrator spoke clearly, but since the majority of the characters were male, she spoke in a lower register for much of the book, and it did not sound natural. I was not able to tell which male character was speaking from her narration alone and had to wait for the "Rocko said" to know who said what most of the time.