Touch & Go by Lisa Gardner            Penguin Publishing This price was set by the publisher Kindle Price: $12.99 Edition: Hardcover Price: $14.47
4.5 Almost Perfect, February 6, 2013 This review is from: Touch & Go (Hardcover) Book Description from Amazon "Release date: February 5, 2013 #1 New York Times bestseller Lisa Gardner, author of Catch Me and Love You More, returns with a heart-thumping thriller about what lurks behind the facade of a perfect family. This is my family:  Vanished without a trace… Justin and Libby Denbe have the kind of life that looks good in the pages of a glossy magazine. A beautiful fifteen-year old daughter, Ashlyn. A gorgeous brownstone on a tree-lined street in Boston’s elite Back Bay neighborhood. A great marriage, admired by friends and family.  A perfect life. This is what I know:  Pain has a flavor… When investigator Tessa Leoni arrives at the crime scene in the Denbes’ home, she finds scuff marks on the floor and Taser confetti in the foyer.  The family appears to have been abducted, with only a pile of their most personal possessions remaining behind.  No witnesses, no ransom demands, no motive.  Just an entire family, vanished without a trace. This is what I fear:  The worst is yet to come… Tessa knows better than anyone that even the most perfect façades can hide the darkest secrets.  Now she must race against the clock to uncover the Denbes’ innermost dealings, a complex tangle of friendships and betrayal, big business and small sacrifices.  Who would want to kidnap such a perfect little family?  And how far would such a person be willing to go? This is the truth:  Love, safety, family…it is all touch and go." My Review: “This is my family:  Vanished without a trace…” This is a thriller and a fascinating look at a family falling apart, as well as how a family copes when they are kidnapped, beaten and forced to face some hard truths. This may not be part of a series but I think it might have helped had I read some of Ms Gardner’s earlier works since this book refers to earlier books.  At this point, I loved this book so much I already have Tessa’s book   "Love You More"  on my wish list! The story was well written and the mystery was subtle enough so I don’t think you’ll be able to figure out what is going on too soon.  The characters are well fleshed and believably written.  The action may feel a little slow, since I don’t think this is an “action book” as some might, and that caused no discomfort for me as I was reading.  Sometimes the story was a little slow, but this slowness was necessary.  There are a myriad of characters and that may make it difficult at times to follow along. A family is kidnapped, beaten and held; not quit hostage at first but with that as a threat. We meet a wealthy father who is important in the large project building trades, a lovely mother who is a jewelry designer and a sweet, pretty and smart teenager that never causes her parents a moment’s despair. And each one holds within a dirty little secret.   Some secrets are more deadly than others are though. I love the fact that for me, the mystery of who was who and what was what was so subtle that I didn’t catch on until I was nearly finished with the book.  I really loved this book to the point that I must read some others of hers to see if this had been a lucky chance or not. *ARC SUPPLIED BY PUBLISHER*