Finder: The True Story of a Private Investigator

De: Marilyn Greene, Gary Provost

Narrado por: Sara K. Sheckells

In the last two decades, Private Investigator Marilyn Greene has found more than 200 people - sometimes discovering in hours or minutes a person missing for years. In Finder, Greene shares her news-making triumphs, the joyous family reunions she's made possible, and the chilling cases of dead ends. Often called in when all efforts by law enforcement officials have failed, she has traveled the country to locate runaways, children abducted by parents and strangers, and suicide and homicide victims.

Hailed by Esquire as one of the "men and women under forty who are changing the face of America," Marilyn Greene's story is riveting true adventure. Here is the compelling account of how she uses her instincts and her experience to find "hopelessly lost" individuals; surprising techniques about how and where to look for missing persons; and the tools of her trade, from specially trained dogs to publicly available directories and maps. Finder is an invaluable resource on missing-person cases - and spellbinding listening.

©1990 Gail Stockwell (P)2018 David N. Wilson

Interesting

First, I got this book for free - however I have no issues bashing a book I got for free, go check my other reviews and you'll see that. Unlike others who seemingly give anything that is free a positive review, this review is legitimate and only written after having finished the entire book.

With that out of the way here's my take on the book.

It's a very good and enjoyable book and an easy read, if you read the description that is what you get. The book moves along at a quick pace so nothing ever gets dull. There's a family dynamic to everything as well to bridge the cases along, but it's not overdone. The book is well written, by no means a 5-star classic, but it's not an amatuer effort either.

What may or may not be a downside is that there isn't a lot in terms of in-depth detail on the cases. The author gives you ideas on how she conducted searches, etc, but it's by no means going to satisfy those that want a lot of details. But again this helps the book keep the pace up and not get dull, so to me, that wasn't an issue, but it is a note for those who are looking for that.

Also the book had me worried at the beginning as it starts off a bit like a social justice warrior essay, but since this was written in 1990 instead of 2018 it didn't linger on that aspect for too long and it setup the next part of the story. So just a heads up for those looking for SJW-free content.

The reader goes a good professional job. I generally listen to everything at 1.25x speed and the reader is very understandable at that speed, no pops, it's not too fast, etc. Just a comment for those that prefer that to 1x speed.

Overall I really enjoyed the book.

Huge eye opener

I myself am an aspiring PI and the daughter of a missing person. . This book revealed a lot about the unseen world of missing people. Not to mention the heartwarming and heartbreaking possible outcomes. The ending was a huge perspective shift for me when it comes to family and what matters most in the end.

I loved this book

What made the experience of listening to Finder: The True Story of a Private Investigator the most enjoyable?

Hearing the stories of the people found. Even those who were returned to their families for burial. It is peace of mind for the family.

What did you like best about this story?

I appreciated the real life struggle Marilyn had trying to find a balance between her family and the calling she had to find the missing. Being torn like that is not easy.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Each time her sons decided they wanted to join Mom to search or even sit stakeout.

Any additional comments?

The fight against the world of men trying to keep women out is a fight I ran up against in my younger days, including going to the local police department to ask about a job. In my case I was told that the best I could hope for was a clerical job. I am glad Marilyn found her way into doing what she was meant to do with her life.

Well worth the money!

Driven. Called to serve. That's what this woman really is. She clearly displays her need to be in the forefront of finding people who are missing whether they are still alive or not, whether as a volunteer with a small child and a nonsupportive husband, or as a minimally paid licensed private investigator, or back in the volunteer sector. The book is wrenching as she relates the scarcity of knowledgeable volunteers or professionals, the spotty incidence of respect, and many particular investigations/hardships/results. I was ashamed at the lack of respect given her by state and local law enforcement, but oddly encouraged by that shown by FBI and the Air Force. This book can be difficult to read in places, and I suspect that some readers stuck in a bookmark and put it back in their TBR pile. I am more fortunate than that because my copy is audio and narrated by Sara K. Sheckells whose audio interpretation is absolutely perfect.
I requested and received a free review copy courtesy of AudioBookBOOM.

Loved Hearing the Stories of Missing People

I loved hearing about how Marilyn preserved and found her "calling" without allowing others to distract her from helping others, however, I feel a pain in my heart that this was at the sacrifice of a stable life for her own family.

Marilyn has that knack for finding others and has been successful at it for many years....which demonstrates her tenacity and willingness to help others.

The narrator Sara, did a fantastic job!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.