When Danielle Burton was nine years old, her father massacred her entire family, leaving her alive. An alcoholic who had lost his job as a deputy sheriff, he did not outlive his murderous rampage so Danielle was left with the unanswerable question: why had she been permitted to survive?

The novel opens almost 25 years later as Danielle struggles with the looming anniversary of her family’s deaths. She had become a pediatric psychiatric nurse and is working in an acute care locked children’s ward in Boston. Dealing with children that are feral or otherwise damaged by abuse, chemicals or DNA coding errors occupies her emotionally and physically, almost beyond the ability to brood.

Next is Victoria, mother of eight year old Evan. Evan requires full time care, meaning second by second. Although totally antisocial, the greatest threat is his preoccupation with knives. His behavior had caused her husband Michael to divorce Victoria, taking with him their daughter Chelsea. Victoria steadfastly believes that Evan needs her, but she had not opposed the custodial arrangement because of her fear for Chelsea’s safety. Fortunately she was financially able to not work and is able to provide the full time care permitting herself only two hours a week away from him.

And finally there is Detective Sgt. D.D. Warren of the Boston Homicide Squad whom fans have met in prior novels. She is called to the scene of the murder of the entire Harrington family. The father, mother and three children ages 9, 12, and 14 were brutally slashed and killed. The father is, of course, the prime suspect since the homicides appear to be committed by a male. The medical examiner eventually rules that he was murdered as well. While investigating this, another family is wiped out in a different suburb. The crimes have enough similarity that D.D. believes them to be related, and persuades the department to quietly permit them to be treated together.

FBI Academy instructor Alex Wilson has requested a month of field work and has been assigned to the Boston PD and is on D.D.’s team of investigators. From intensive questioning of neighbors, they find that each family had a deeply disturbed child who had been treated in the Acute Care Center where Danielle is working, so the focus is immediately turned upon the center where each employee and related volunteers become the subject of scrutiny.

Lisa Gardner is an extraordinarily gifted craftsman, excelling in plot structure and character development, while varying the pacing of a story as the suspense builds. Live to Tell may be her most ambitious story, not only because of the immense amount of research that it had to have had, but also because of the intricate weaving of the strands of a very complex plot.

The roles of a caregiver, a parent, and a protector are well defined in their relation to an emotionally disturbed child, so from whichever position the reader may espouse, this story will educate.  Also, it will become one of the few stories you will never forget.  

--Thea Davis