I did not enjoy the characters, the plot, or the narrator. I wanted it to be over.Gunshots are heard. Neighbors call the police who surround the house. Inside Jimmy is pointing a gun at his wife Catherine. Bobby is a sniper and member of the police SWAT team. He sees Jimmy’s face change, and he believes Jimmy will shoot, so Bobby shoots and kills Jimmy. Now Jimmy’s father James is suing Bobby. If James wins Bobby goes to jail. If James loses, he will repeatedly appeal because he is wealthy. He can afford to. The problem is that the city and union will not pay Bobby’s legal fees because James is filing suit through a clerk magistrate which is not the normal process. Bobby did what he was trained to do. If he didn’t shoot Jimmy, then he believed Jimmy would have killed Catherine. Now Bobby has to pay $5000 to a defense attorney. I was furious. Policemen should not be forced to pay their own legal feels for following orders and doing their job. I don’t know if this exists in real life, but if it does, then something is very wrong. This part of the plot made me so angry that I had a hard time enjoying the rest. This legal-issue-stress hangs over Bobby until the last few pages of the book.Was the rest of the story good? Parts of it maybe. Catherine was kidnaped and raped by Richard when she was twelve. When her only child Nathan was born, Catherine had some mental problems and did not appear to be a good mother. The child has been raised by nannies. Nathan is frequently sick and the doctors don’t know why. Some fear it is Münchausen syndrome by proxy, which means the mother is purposely doing things to make the child sick to get attention for herself. For most of the book, the reader wonders if Catherine is good or bad for her son. James is also suing Catherine for custody of Nathan.Richard has been in jail for twenty-five years. James uses his influence to get Richard released on parole. Someone is now paying Richard to murder people connected to Catherine or the case.I did not enjoy the characters. I felt anxiety and depression rather than sympathy. I didn’t feel fun anticipation rooting for someone. We don’t know if Catherine is good or bad, but she’s not likeable. James and Richard are too one-dimensional, powerful, and evil. Bobby spends too much time suffering and second guessing himself, wondering if he did the right thing. He was having problems with the concept of killing someone. He talks to a psychiatrist several times about this as well as troubles from his early life. Some of this was ok, but it seemed a bit much. He also did some illogical and stupid things which made him less sympathetic. Regarding the plot, I had questions unanswered at the end. But maybe part of those were necessary. I understand Catherine has some kind of role in the sequel “Hide” which I have not read.NARRATOR:I did not like the narrator Anna Fields. The voice she used for Bobby and some of the men was so deep that it sounded like a mentally slow person who is groggy and slurring his words. Some of her general third party narration was too sharp and hurried, almost like she was reading a report and not thinking about what she was reading. When talking about a sniper she said “he breathed in, he breathed out.” That phrase should have been read slowly and calmly, yet the narrator’s voice was sharp, staccato, and fast.DATA:Unabridged audiobook reading time: 10 hrs and 12 mins. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words. Sexual content: some references to sexual activity but no details shown. References include the rape of Catherine when she was 12. Setting: current day Boston, Massachusetts. Copyright: 2005. Genre: mystery suspense thriller. Ending: Good guys win.OTHER BOOKS:This is the first book in the D.D. Warren series. D.D. is a female cop. She has a small part in this book. In the sequels I believe she and Bobby work together as a team.
Lisa Gardner has crafted a fine psychological thriller in Alone. While I found myself immediately immersed in the drama, I got about 160 pages in, and I still wasn’t sure where she was taking me. It was that complex.Bobby Dodge is a Massachusetts State Trooper who is a sniper called in as part of a crisis team to handle a hostage situation in a wealthy Boston neighborhood. From a window across the street, he sets up his rifle. He sees a woman, a young boy, and a man with a gun. As the man’s finger tightens on the trigger and his face contorts into an evil smile, Bobby has to make an instantaneous decision. He does. Lives change forever.Catherine Gagnon, the widow of the man Bobby shot, is incredibly beautiful. She is also manipulative and dangerous. As a young girl, she was kidnapped and sexually molested. She was rescued, and her abuser was put in prison. But she carries some deep scars. The story has multiple layers, as we learn that Jimmy Gagnon, the dead man, was the son of a powerful judge, who wants to gain custody of Catherine’s young son Nathan. Judge Gagnon is having murder charges brought against Bobby unless he lies about what happened the night of the shooting. And then people begin to die.Who is behind the killings, and why? Bobby knows he should stay away from Catherine, but he also sees her as a woman who needs help. Can he really help? And can he heal the wounds of his own painful past? Did he do the right thing, or will doubts plague him the rest of his life?This novel is billed as a Detective D.D. Warren book, but we don’t meet her until midway through the book, and we actually see very little of her in this first of the series, so I didn’t feel that I got to know her. Bobby and Catherine were both well-developed characters. Messed up, but well written. Actually, there are lots of messed up people in this book. Although I was able to predict some of what happened, I did not know what motivated the characters, at least not all of them, and I liked that. There were a few minor things, editing errors, which stuck out. Also, the puppy is said to lick the child with a rough tongue. I know cats have rough tongues; dogs do not. That would have been a wet, sloppy kiss. Some of the events seemed rather unbelievable, especially the final scene in the hotel. That seemed to me like a made-for-TV scene. But for the most part, I did not want to turn off the lights and be alone while reading Alone, so I think the author did her job in writing a great thriller.I’m giving it 4 ½ stars.
What do You think about Alone (2005)?
Mass. State Tpr. Bobby Dodge is a sniper on the Special Tactics and Ops Team. He's alerted about a hostage situation and when he arrives, he just has time to set up surveillance and he sees a man with a gun, pointing at his wife and child. As Bobby sees the man about to fire, Bobby shoots the man, Jimmy Gannon, and kills him.We also learn that Gannon's wife Catherine had been abducted as a teenager and burried underground for almost a month while her abductor abused her. She was saved when hunters heard her cries for help.Gannon was abusive to his wife but she wasn't able to get help because his father is a powerful judge and would use his power to stop her attempts to discredit her son.Now that Jimmy is dead, and Jimmy's son, Nathan, has been hospitalized for a number of times with an undiagnosed illness, the judge begins the process of attempting to gain custody of Nathan.The author sets the stage and slowly reels the reader in for what we are about to read. It is as if the author was placing explosives in her words because the story just about explodes with suspense during the final segments.Bobby is a well described character. The author, Lisa Gardner, tells us of his past so that we understand his determination to continue to help Catherine when everyone else seems to blame her for her miseries.Catherine seems so sad and the reader wonders how all of these misfortunes can happen to one person. However, again, the author provides the answers in a well polished, dramatic story.
—Michael
As Massachusetts State Trooper Bobby Dodge stares through the scope of his sniper rifle, we witnesses a hostage standoff unfold. When the wealthy man moves threateningly towards his wife and child, Dodge only has a split-second to decide what to do. But as he pulls the trigger, he has no idea how his life is about to change. The woman he believes he saved – the beautiful Catherine Rose Gagnon – is harboring a lot of secrets. Her powerful Judge father-in-law wants to destroy the man who killed his son. And a madman recently released from prison has an unquenchable appetite for killing – and has his sights set on revenge. Bobby Dodge finds his life falling apart amid an investigation and his desire to protect Catherine. What he doesn’t know is who is really in danger – her or him.Alone is Lisa Gardner’s first novel featuring D.D. Warren, which now spans six volumes. However, D.D. Warren only plays a small role in this first installment. This story focuses on Trooper Bobby Dodge and Catherine Gagnon. Gardner does a really good job of building the tension in the story, bringing a real feel of jeopardy for Bobby reminiscent of Basic Instinct. She also does a good job of weaving the mystery in and out to keep the reader guessing. The dialog is solid, but not spectacular. One of the greatest strengths of Alone is the way Gardner humanizes the tortured plight of Bobby Dodge after the shooting. He not only has to try to come to grips with his own guilt for doing his job, but he has to do it alone because everyone has all but abandoned him, not because they hate him, but because they don’t know what to say to him. All of the training in the world can’t help him with the isolation he feels, especially when a very powerful man is intent on destroying him for what he did. Gardner really makes you feel for Dodge every step of the way, and that is what kept me turning the pages.There were a few negatives, though. The plot of Alone stretches believability a little too much at times. The villain is a little too all-knowing and the escape is a little too convenient for even the luckiest. Some of Bobby’s actions just don’t make a bit of sense, other than to create the next conflict in the story. While Bobby is the focal point, the rest of the characters are pretty one-dimensional. I also find it very strange in hindsight that a story which is the beginning of a series with Detective D.D. Warren would tell us virtually nothing about D.D. Warren.Despite these misgivings, Alone is a compelling story. It is entertaining and will leave the reader guessing how it will turn out all the way to the end. I did enjoy it and I think most readers will too. I’m not sure it is compelling enough to get me to read the next in the series, but it was a fun read just the same.
—Chad Sayban
Bobby Dodge is a police sniper. He was called out to a domestic dispute in an elite area, where an armed man had his wife and child hostage. The neighbours reported shots being fired... After Bobby was briefed, he ran to the top floor of a neighbouring house, where the bedroom window overlooked the subject's master bedroom, and the standoff was taking place. He followed procedure, reporting to his captain, identifying the subject through the scope of his sniper rifle...then made the split second decision which would change his life forever...he pulled the trigger. Bobby found out the man he had killed, the 'subject', was the son of Supreme Court Judge Gagnon, and the victim was Catherine Gagnon, who at the age of 12, had been kidnapped by a pedophile, and kept in an underground cave where she suffered abuse for a nightmarish 28 days before she was found and released...she put her tormenter in jail for 25 years...but she has never been the same since.Judge Gagnon throws around a mighty amount of power and money, and he blames Catherine for his son's death...he is going to charge Bobby with murder...But Bobby's life is spiralling out of control, and Detective DD Warren is having a hard time convincing herself he is innocent! Catherine needs Bobby's help....A killer is on the loose, and death is surrounding them, catching up with them...This psychological thriller keeps you on your toes, catches you unaware, and is so incredibly worth the read! Lisa Gardner weaves a brilliant tale!
—Brenda
