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Live to Tell
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Live to Tell
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Live to Tell
Audiobook13 hours

Live to Tell

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

"A suspenseful roller-coaster ride."-Karin Slaughter • "Lisa Gardner always delivers heart-stopping suspense."-Harlan Coben

He knows everything about you-including the first place you'll hide.
 
On a warm summer night in one of Boston's working-class neighborhoods, an unthinkable crime has been committed: Four members of a family have been brutally murdered. The father-and possible suspect-now lies clinging to life in the ICU. Murder-suicide? Or something worse? Veteran police detective D. D. Warren is certain of only one thing: There's more to this case than meets the eye.

Danielle Burton is a survivor, a dedicated nurse whose passion is to help children at a locked-down pediatric psych ward. But she remains haunted by a family tragedy that shattered her life nearly twenty-five years ago. The dark anniversary is approaching, and when D. D. Warren and her partner show up at the facility, Danielle immediately realizes: It has started again.

A devoted mother, Victoria Oliver has a hard time remembering what normalcy is like. But she will do anything to ensure that her troubled son has some semblance of a childhood. She will love him no matter what. Nurture him. Keep him safe. Protect him. Even when the threat comes from within her own house. 

The lives of these three women unfold and connect in unexpected ways, as sins from the past emerge-and stunning secrets reveal just how tightly blood ties can bind. Sometimes the most devastating crimes are the ones closest to home.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 13, 2010
ISBN9780739366677
Unavailable
Live to Tell
Author

Lisa Gardner

Lisa Gardner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty suspense novels, including The Neighbor, which won Thriller of the Year from the International Thriller Writers. An avid hiker, traveler and cribbage player, she lives in the mountains of New Hampshire with her family.

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Reviews for Live to Tell

Rating: 4.011655096736597 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    D.D. Warren is a thirty-eight year old blonde, head of a three-person homicide unit in the Boston Police Department. Her work gives her little time for a personal life.

    The call that interrupts D.D.'s latest blind date is horrific: a "family annihilation," the murder-suicide of a family of five. It appears that the father succumbed to the pressure of financial problems and perpetrated this terrible deed. But when another family suffers the same fate the very next night, D.D.'s cop instinct tells her to look for connections--and the connections lead to a locked-down children's acute psych unit where the most troubled of children are brought for care. One of the caregivers at the psych unit, Danielle, has her own crushing past. She was the sole survivor of the near-annihilation of her own family and, unable to leave the past behind, she is burying herself in her work as the twenty-fifth anniversary of that event draws near. It's clear that Danielle is in some sense a link between the past and the present, but what is the nature of that link?

    Dark though the story is, the writing is so effective that you are in a sense left to draw your own conclusions in the end.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It's great to get completely engrossed in a book from page one. Lisa Gardner rarely disappoints and this is no exception.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Listened to the audio version. Not only was the story good but the narration was good too.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I was not familiar with Lisa Gardner’s Detective D.D. Warren books, but I enjoyed Live to Tell very much. It has an interesting and heartbreaking storyline of mentally ill children. I read in Lisa’s biography on Amazon that she is a self-described research junkie, and that level of research shows in this novel with the details involved with the psychiatric care of children.Ms. Gardner’s characters are compelling. The story involves Victoria, the devoted and protective mother, D.D. the workaholic detective watching her live go by too quickly, and Danielle, a Psych nurse with her own horrifying past. The story has tense action and held my attention.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another great novel by Lisa Gardener. I enjoy her style and suspense techniques.
    I'm still not liking DD Warren however, even after three books. She's a well written character, I just can't like her. If she were a real person, we wouldn't be friends; civil at best! LOL
    But she doesn't keep me from listening to these Lisa Gardner books!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Someone is killing families. Each of the families has a child who once was a patient in a mental pediatric unit. Detective D.D. Warren has to figure out who is doing this before another family is murdered.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book is about family annihilators and psychotic children. It's gruesome. I wanted so much to believe that the gigolo did it... Although the book is about detective D.D. Warren, the first person is narrated by someone else...once the listener is accustomed to the multiple narrators, it works. Again, the main character is not D.D., but centers on Danielle. There were a couple of instances where D.D. was not likeable, in fact despicable in her actions. The bulk of the characters are, in a word, psychotic. On to D.D, book 5.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    LIVE TO TELLLISA GARDNERMY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▫️PUBLISHER BantamPUBLISHED July 13, 2010SUMMARYWhen Danielle was nine years old her father murdered her mother and Danielle's little sister and brother as Danielle was cowering in her bed. As he was crooning the words Oh Danny girl, pretty pretty Danny girl, he turns the gun on himself. Twenty-five years later, Danielle is working as a nurse in a children's psych ward of a acute care facility in Boston Massachusetts. She still is struggling with her family's death and her survival. As the anniversary of their death approaches, two other families from two different Boston neighborhoods are murdered. There were no survivors.Detective D.D. Warren thinks these murders might be connected. The connection may just be the pediatric acute care facility that Danielle works at. When D.D. learns of Danielle's family history, she thinks Danielle may knows something or may be involved. D.D. has to figure this out before another family is murdered. The book is full of strong female characters. In addition to Danielle and D.D. there's also Victoria. Victoria has given up everything she holds dear in order to keep her mentally challenged son at home. But she is paying a huge price for this decision. And it's never easy. REVIEWFamilies are being murdered. Is there a connection? What's the common denominator? The mystery begins.This was my first read of Lisa Gardner's D. D. Warren series, although I've read many of her other books. Gardner is a great writer. Her thrillers typically involve acts of desperation that leave you breathless. This book is no different. From the book's first page you are faced with a savage and horrifying family murder. As the book progresses the mystery, intrigue and suspense grows, as do the murders. The storyline seems to go off in many different directions and I wondered how Gardner could possibly bring the story in for a landing. But she does. And she does so masterfully.Gardner introduces numerous characters in LIVE TO TELL: the families, the children, the hospital staff, and the police detectives. But despite the large cast of characters it is easy to keep track of who is who, thanks to very good character development.LEFT TO TELL is a gripping thriller, involving the heartbreaking world of mentally challenged children. This to adds to intense feelings the book arouses.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This starts off with a family that is murdered and the father that is still alive in the hospital.It involves children with mental problems and a nurse who works on a psych ward for children in a hospital.This is another one of her books that keep you wondering who did it.You should read it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not a big fan of book #4. The story was not for me, although the book was very well written.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    At first, the story being told from three narrators (Danielle, Victoria and DD Warren) was really annoying. I’d finally get into the part I was reading such as a mom dealing with a young son who was intent on finding a way to harm her and then the story would switch to a detective investigating the murder of an entire family and then would switch again to a paediatric psych ward where the easiest way to get compliance with one child was to treat her like she was a cat. But eventually I just let go and stopped trying to figure out how the three stories were going to come together and that made it easier. Overall, an intriguing tale of troubled children, troubled souls and some negative energy from one night many years ago.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Loved that book, I thought it was very interesting. You rarely get a book that go into the sad world of children who have mental issue. The book kept me on my toes and I couldn't figure out who or why.One of the best in the series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Worth reading for its vivid treatment of conduct disorder in an institutional setting (a fictional pediatric care ward in a Boston hospital). Conduct disorder in DSM refers to antisocial behavior in children and adolescents. The patients are limited to children with extreme behaviors. Different etiologies are part of the milieu: brain damage due to an infection during pregnancy, extreme parental neglect, autism spectrum, schizophrenia, etc. Treatment is highly labor intensive using licensed nurses, unlicensed MCs, and drugs like Bendaryl and Atavin. The Pediatric Evaluation Clinic of Boston (PECB, loosely—one hopes – based on the Child Assessment Unit of Cambridge, Mass.) is understaffed (seems quite plausible) but lacks security cameras (intentionally) and employs a New Age guru (these seem implausible & might have been tacked on for plot reasons). A number of scenes occur in the ward when acting out (screaming, racing, repetitive actions, vandalism, self-injury) seems to spread through the patients like a wave generated by some contingent action; disturbing enough once but even more disturbing in that it seems to be a regular occurrence. The staff here is very dedicated; burnout and exploitation are not part of this world. Three storylines: the investigators (Sgt Detective D.D. Warren is lead), a divorced mother and her disturbed 8 year old (Victoria Oliver and Evan), and one of the ward nurses (Danielle). Warren has obvious fantasy elements (eats like a horse but doesn’t gain weight; very attractive) but has realistic ally negative traits for a series character who is in policework (obtuse, lacks much psychological insight, unempathetic, eats like a horse). The Victoria-Evan relationship has a strong sense of being an enabler scenario `a la Psycho and Bates Motel, but interestingly the author seems to be far more sympathetic to the Norma Bates character than might be expected; it makes the Psycho relationship a lot more nuanced. Danielle’s backstory is the main driver of the plot. Because she doesn’t want to date a guy two families and an additional disturbed child are murdered, and a third family is kidnapped and menaced. The absurdity of the Danielle story is comparable to the planes of existence universe-view of New Age guru Andrew Lightfoot; it suggests that Gardner doesn’t take the story all that seriously (she apparently has a lottery contest for fan names to be incorporated into the novels). The author’s serious interests were primarily with the institutional environment, the Victoria-Evan battered mom relationship, and the reenactment theme. In addition, some of the loose ends in Danielle’s story may also remind the reader that first person narratives (as with false memories) can be unreliable.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    4th in the D. D. Warren series, something of a letdown, could've been a much shorter, tighter, and more tense story. I read this series out-of-order, as the books became available through swapping, and this is my last until more are published. Reading it, I noticed something else about the writing: Gardner didn't make the major characters very distinct. Although each chapter was titled with the name of a character, and unfolded mostly in first-person perspective, they all seemed quite similar. I had to keep asking myself "Now which one is Victoria? Which one is Danielle? Who's Karen?" The book I liked best in the series was an audio version of CATCH ME, and the narrator(s) did a great job of giving the characters distinct voices. I don't recall ever saying this before, but an abridged audio version of LIVE TO TELL might be an improvement!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Well, I didn't see that one coming ... oh and there are some super creepy bits.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another Lisa Gardner masterpiece! Yet again, I was well over halfway through the book before I started to get an inkling of how all the seemingly unrelated characters all fitted together. Twists & turns all the way. Enthralling plot!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the Fourth Novel in the DD Warren Series. I must say this was one of those mind game psycho thrillers (which I love)The only compliant I have before I get into my review is I'm not sure if I am really like D.D. Warren very much. This is the second book in a row where she gets an idea in her head of who committed the crime, and then send the whole book and squad to prove her wrong….and she will not let anyone change her mind about it. It is frustrating and I found myself yelling at my cd player in my car because of this ( I have issues)So… the book starts off by paging D.D. Warren out of a date, which she was hoping to get down and dirty since it has been forever since she has had any action with a gentleman caller. Warren come upon a very disturbing scene. A whole family murdered; the entire family, the wife, three children and by the looks of it by their father before he went and shot himself in the head. Then the next night another family murdered. This also looks like a murder suicide caused by the father.D.D.'s new partner, Phil, has a shadow, Alex, a former agent turned professor at the Academy. Of course D.D. compares him to a George Clooney look alike and he soon become her shadow and partner throughout the book. I also sense some romance building up between them throughout the book. We soon learn that this book focus mainly on mental illness in children and the main scene is the pediatric care unit at the hospital, which has a lock down psych unit where these disturbed children are. We soon met Danielle. She is a pediatric nurse at the facility, who herself was a lone survivor of a massacre caused by her father. She witnessed her father kill her WHOLE family and then shot himself in the head in her bedroom, leaving her a sole survivor of the ordeal. Now the the 25th anniversary only two days away, Danielle finds herself losing it. Drinking more, hearing her dead father's voice in her said singing " oh Danny girl, my pretty pretty Danny girl". So when Detective Warren shows up at the facility, Danielle's immediate thinks "it has happened again" Of course Ms. Warren already is thinking Danielle is the person killing off these family's but she is unable to prove it since Danielle has such good alibies. Then we met a devoted mother, Victoria Oliver, who is finding it hard to remember what normal really is. She would do anything to ensure that her troubled son has a childhood and left up to her ex-husband be in an institution. She will do whatever it takes to keep her son safe, even if that threat is her own son. When the autopsy comes back that the fathers of the murdered family's was already dead before the supposed self-inflicted gunshot was fired throws the whole squad for a loop and now everyone is trying to figure out what the heck happened. A link soon pops up that connects the murdered families. The locked down psych unit. Each family had a child that had a period of stay there, yet in both cases the violent child was one of the murder victims, so what other connection could there be?Perhaps it is Danielle. Maybe it is the new age healer, Andrew Lightfoot, who had been advising at least one of the families on how to 'treat' their child's violent behavioral issues, who holds the key?
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Live to Tell
    3.5 Stars

    Note: This is a review of the audiobook read by 4 separate female narrators. The narration flows smoothly and the 4 distinct voices makes it easy to follow the transitions in perspective. My one small nitpick is that the male and female voices sound identical.

    Warning: Some readers may find the subject matter of this book, family annihilators and children suffering from acute psychiatric issues, difficult to read about. While the descriptions of the troubled children are disturbing and emotionally draining, Gardner should be praised for tackling such a controversial topic and for presenting it in a compelling and sympathetic manner.

    That said, there are several aspect of the book that annoyed me. First and foremost are the transitions between first and third person perspective. Rather than adding to the plot, it causes the pacing to lag and the tension to deflate.

    While the mystery is good and following the various clues and suspects is entertaining, the identity of the villain is obvious toward the end and the motive is not surprising. Moreover, the 'woo woo' elements, as D.D. calls them, are unnecessary and detract from the excitement and suspense of the story. Also, the final explanation offered in the epilogue undermines the evildoer's culpability and leaves the reader with a dissatisfied feeling.

    The characters are well-developed and interesting, Danielle in particular. Unfortunately, D.D. is still coming across as a secondary character and it is difficult to sympathize with Victoria, despite the hardships of her life, because her actions and the reasons for them are simply incomprehensible to me.

    Overall, a solid thriller for fans of Gardner's D.D. Warren series but for those new to this author, I would recommend the Quincy/Rainie series instead.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    On a warm summer night in a working-class Boston neighborhood, an unthinkable crime has been committed: Four members of a family have been brutally murdered. The father - also a possible suspect - lies clinging to life in the Intensive Care Unit. Was it murder-suicide? Or something worse? Veteran police detective D. D. Warren is certain of one thing: There's more to this case than meets the eye.Danielle Burton is a survivor, a dedicated nurse whose passion is helping the children of a locked-down pediatric psych ward. But she remains haunted by the memories of a family tragedy that shattered her life twenty-five years ago. The dark anniversary is approaching, and when Detective D. D. Warren and her partner show up at the facility, Danielle immediately realizes: it's begun again.A devoted mother, Victoria Oliver has a hard time remembering what normalcy is like. She will do anything to ensure that her troubled son has some semblance of a childhood. She will love him no matter what. Nurture him. Keep him safe. Protect him. Even when the threat comes from within her own house.I really enjoyed this book. I liked the treatment of the issue of mental illness and how it affects children and their families. I give this book an A+! and look forward to reading Lisa Gardner's next book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting story about a mass murderer who has a link to a children's psych ward. I had a hard time undrstanding children and mental illness but this book opens your eyes to the atrocities subjected to childen. Some are just born damaged and its nobody's fault.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've read a bit of Lisa Gardner in the past, and particularly enjoyed "Hide" (the second book in the same series as this one). This one was no different - a gripping, enjoyable read which, for me, was over all too soon in the span of one sitting. Excellent characterization and intriguing plot. Bravo and I hope to read more as soon as I can get my hands on more of this series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Two families are murdered in Boston. When police investigate they find that one child from each family was treated at a Boston psychiatric ward.Danielle Burton is a psychiatric nurse whose family was murdered by her drunken father twenty-five years before. She was the only survivor and now works in the psych unit to try to help other tramatized children.D.D. Warren of the Boston homicide division is brought in and thinks that there's too much between the two families to be coincidental.She and her partner go to the psychiatric center and discovers that there are a number of connections.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Danielle survived her father's brutal massacre of her mother and brother, before he turned the gun on himself, and the old memories are hounding her. Working with severely mentally ill and violent children, she is struggling to cope as she approaches the 25th anniversary of the tragedy. When families start being slaughtered, her nightmares and recollection of the events on that terrible night haunts her. The story is told from the three main female characters perspectives (reminiscent of Jodi Piccoult), DD, the detective, Danielle the survivor and Victoria, the mother. I enjoy this style of writing, and wasn't disappointed. Lisa's books are well constructed, and keep your attention throughout. I will be recommending this to my friends.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    At the heart of Gardner's outstanding fourth novel featuring Boston PD detective Warren (after The Neighbor) are some very sick kids, notably Sorry - Gets silly at the the end. But still a good read! Lucy, a nine-year-old feral girl who self-mutilates when any attention is given to her, and Evan, an eight-year-old boy who during fits threatens to kill his mother. D.D gets involved after two grisly family annihilations lead to the locked-down pediatric psych ward in Cambridge that specializes in Lucy's and Evan's types of hard case. When a child is too sick and the parent can no longer handle care, the child ends up in the acute care facility under the tutelage of pediatric psych nurse Danielle, the lone survivor of her own family bloodbath. Coincidence? That's for D.D. to figure out--in the midst of a budding romance with police academy professor Alex Wilson and infuriating encounters with Andrew Lightfoot, resident "woo-woo expert" (that's cop talk for psychic), who works in tandem with the hospital. Plenty of red herrings keep readers guessing, but Gardner always plays fair in this tight and consistently engaging page-turner.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Danielle is a nurse at a psychiatric ward for disturbed children. Victoria is a mother struggling with her son, a violent, mentally ill eight year old. DD. Warren must solve the murder of two entire families, each connected in some way to the ward Danielle works in. Nicely paced....
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Easy read. During baby's naps etc. One day read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Excellent psychological thriller in the true sense of the word.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is my 7th book, and 4th in this series. The suspense is real, she keeps you guessing till the end - thought I had it figured out, but nope. The subject matter is a little scary - it centers around kids in a psych ward and though I know there are children out there with these demons, hard to read about it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I have read and enjoyed all of Lisa Gardner's books. I think she is a great writer and has some pretty crazy plots and twists. I hardly ever figure out who done it until the end, which I prefer it that way. I have read other reviews and I don't see how other people think this is gory or creepy. I guess I have read too many Patricia Cornwell novels to be affected by the scenes in this book. I love DD's character, I think the comments she makes are hilarious.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoy Lisa Gardner’s books but I’m not sure if I like D.D. Warren very much, for the second book in a row with her it seems like she gets an idea in her head of who committed the crime and it’s up to her squad to prove her wrong because she will go on and on about who she thinks did it and won’t let anyone change her idea. And the way she treats people is just awful, people she wants help from and she treats them like crap. Lightfoot Says to D.D. “Your job is to judge” but is a cop supposed to judge or investigate! And her whole I’m a strong but oh so needy woman she just grates on my nerves. Lisa Gardner has a way with writing the scariest children, I thought that Say Goodbye was the creepiest of her novels but this one is pretty creepy too! Evan is extra scary I don’t know if I’d have the patience his mother did. She does write some great characters but as I said previously I just really don’t like D.D.. I say bring back Raine, Quincy & Kimberly or even better Bobby Dodge without D.D..Still a good book pretty good mystery I didn’t figure it out till towards the end. I just liked all the other characters but D.D..4 Stars