Tuesday's Gone by Nicci French

When Frieda is asked to consult on a new case with the local police, she's a bit surprised. Though the Dean Reeve case was closed and the kidnapped child was saved, two people were murdered and Frieda can't help but feel somewhat responsible. Dean Reeve's wife is writing a tell all that paints Frieda in a none to pleasant light and the wife of the patient who started it all has filed a formal complaint against the therapist. But this new case does intrigue Frieda. A social worker discovers a woman serving tea to a very dead body. Police obviously suspect the woman but are unable to get a coherent response out of her. When Frieda interviews the suspect, she has serious doubts about the woman's guilt. When they are finally able to identify the dead man, they discover he was a con artist using an assumed name. As they learn more, the police reluctantly admit that they now have a growing list of suspects. What begins as a simple psych consult ends with Frieda once again completely enmeshed in an ongoing investigation and as her professional life comes under public scrutiny her personal life starts to become more complicated as well.

This follow up to Nicci French's Blue Monday was a highly satisfying read! While I'd enjoyed the series launch, I'd had some issues with the flow of the story. In Tuesday's Gone, everything read much more smoothly. The characters established in Monday are all present and now the authors (husband and wife Nicci Gerrard and Sean French) spend much more time rounding them out and allowing them to grow. It seems they've caught their stride here with this second installment.

Frieda is an interesting lead. She's got so many secrets and so closely guards her personal life that a lot of her motivation remains unclear to the reader. As we learn more about her (and there are some pretty big revelations in Tuesday's Gone) the reasons behind her actions are definitely becoming more defined.

I've also enjoyed the cases thus far and Frieda's talent for teasing out details that others have missed.

While you could certainly read Tuesday's Gone without too much confusion if you haven't read Blue Monday, I have to recommend tackling them in order. In addition to the characters themselves, there is a bit of a continuing storyline here that I think would have significantly less impact for readers who've not yet read the first in the series.

If you're looking for an interesting thriller with a great psychological twist, this is the series to try. Tuesday's Gone was released last summer in the UK but officially hits shelves here in the States on April 4. Blue Monday is out now in paperback.

Rating: 4.5/5