Customer Reviews

The Next Accident

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

What would you do if someone has targeted you for the ultimate revenge?

This is the question that plagues FBI Special Agent Pierce Quincy. Quincy's daughter Amanda has been killed in an automobile accident, and the official story is while driving drunk she crashes her car, killing herself and an elderly man. Although Mandy had alcohol problems in the past, Quincy is not convinced this was an accident. Mandy had been clean for awhile, and all the events leading up to the accident don't add up, and Quincy wants answers, the only person he can turn to for help is Rainie Connor, an ex-cop haunted by a case that almost destroyed her.

Quincy, and Rainie not only had a professional relationship, but also a personal one, that is why Quincy knows he can trust her to find out what happened to his daughter.

As Rainie begins her investigation into the accident, a killer is slowly beginning his plan to destroy all the loved ones in Quincy's life.

While shocking new discoveries prove Mandy was killed, a second murder is committed, leaving Quincy as the lead suspect.

Desperately trying to prove his innocence, Quincy will enter into a twisted game with a psychopath with only one thing on his mind...revenge. And the next victim will be Quincy's only surviving daughter Kimberly.

Non-stop suspense, and masterful plot twists keep the pages turning in `The Next Accident'. Lisa Gardner has crafted a hot shocker with nail biting tension, and explosive action, peopled with engaging characters. No reader will be able to put this book down once begun. From page one the terrifying plot grabs you and doesn't let go.

After a string of EXCELLENT bestsellers, Ms. Gardner has given us a masterpiece of suspense, her best yet.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella

This was a fast paced page turning story. Ms. Gardner is the queen of keeping you glued to the pages with twists and turns, murder, and a little romance on the side. This was also my first time reading this author and I must say it won't be my last!

FBI Special Agent Pierce Quincy is being stalked by a killer. His family is being butchered and he must find the one clue that will bring an end to the killing. He askes Ex-Cop and friend Rainie Conner to help him investigate his first daughters death. He is convinced that she did not kill herself in a car accident.

Rainie is tough, sweet, and has her own baggage and the history between these two is part of that. (this is from Ms, Gardners other novel The Third Victim) She still goes back to Virginia to investigate the car accident and finds out things are not as they seem.

Don't pick up this book unless you have plenty of time to read. I had a hard time putting it down. Ms. Gardner keeps you guessing until the very end of the book as to who is the killer and why he is killing. Don't pick this book up if you think there is a strong romance. The romance is really a background story. Still in all I am going to go back and read some of this authors older books.

This book scared the living daylights out of me. Not because it was full of graphic violence or gory scenes. It's the chilling suspense that just steadily creeps at you until you have to put it down and take a deep breath. Lisa Gardner has truly outdone herself in The Next Accident.

The two lead characters from The Third Victim are brought back and we see how much and how little their relationship has developed. Pierce Quincy is still a special agent for the FBI and Rainie Conner is getting her life back together and opening up her own private investigating office. Quincy is confronted with a family tragedy when his oldest daughter who had seemly conquered a drinking problem is involved in a terrible accident that leaves her brain dead. When Quincy's ex-wife, Bethie agrees to take their daughter Amanda off life support you would think they would be able to get on with their lives. But for some reason Quincy can't believe the wreck was an accident. He goes to Rainie and hires her to investigate and perhaps open the door to continue their relationship.

As Rainie begins to dig into the circumstances surrounding Amanda's wreck, she begins to unravel little details that don't make sense. Then Quincy begins to receive hundred of terrorizing calls from men that he has either put away in prison or from those who just plain hate the FBI. Someone has given out his personal phone number and address. In fact, someone is methodically assuming his identity and destroying his creditability. The killer is cunning and brilliant. He finds out everything about Quincy's life and those who are important to him. Then he selects his next victim. He stalks his victims learning every detail about their lives. He becomes whatever it is they desire. Unfortunately, what they desire often leads to death with the blame being laid at Quincy's feet.

This is one nerve-racking book. The story line just flows, the suspense just keeps on building, and the characters are dynamic with well round emotions. If you love suspense, don't mind being scared, then this book should be right up your alley. I have to say, I love suspense and can usually figure out who the bad guys are by the middle of the book. Not this time. Ms. Gardner has written a fascinating tale of chilling suspense that had me guessing the entire time.

FBI profiler Pierce Quincy and his loved ones have become the targets of a psychopath who likes to pick them off one at a time. He reunites with Lorraine Conner to try and track the killer down.

After being utterly appalled by The Third Victim, it was good to see my faith in this author being rewarded with a fast-paced, surprisingly brutal and, by the closing chapters, quite suspenseful read. The killer in this story isn't some behind-the-scenes boredom-inducer (like the one in Third Victim), but someone who certainly takes their work seriously - this book has quite the body count. As the pace started picking up half way through, I was hooked. Some of the events in the climax were very contrived, but the suspense was done well enough for me to let it slide.

What I couldn't let slide was the tiresome, drawn-out aspect of Quincy and Conner's relationship. Time and time again they'd have a confrontation that would end with nothing being resolved (usually with one of them slamming a door, going away in a huff, driving home etc etc). Ten year olds are less melodramatic than this! And we get this behaviour from people who are supposedly intelligent adults? It was this part of the plot that just kept me from fully getting into the book. Lisa Gardner really knows how to create suspense - why does she spoil it with such stupid and tiresome romance cliches?

But like I said, the good far outweighs the bad, and this thriller provides something for all fans of the genre.

An ingenious psychopath has assumed the identity of Quantico's best profiler: FBI superstar Pierce Quincy. With chilling brilliance, the impostor then begins to murder Quincy's nearest and dearest--one by one.

A desperate battle of wits ensues as Quincy, nearly undone by horror and grief, and suspected by his own comrades as a possible suspect, strains to end the game before the predator murders his final quarry: Quincy's only surviving daughter Kimberly.

Quincy's love interest, the enigmatic, hard-as-nails private investigator Raine Connor, tries to help while battling her own demons, which are hitting much too close to home for her own comfort.

All of this makes for a fast-paced, well-plotted page turner--a book that is almost impossible to put down. The suspense lasts until the last pages, and to this reader, at least, the identity of the killer came as a complete surprise.

My only criticism of the book, the first I have read by Lisa Gardner, is that it seemed to have been written at breakneck speed. I found myself distracted and annoyed from time to time by grammatical mistakes that urbane Pierce Quincy would never make, for instance. The writing at times is sloppy, almost as if Gardner could not type fast enough to keep up with her own thoughts. The end is a good example, as Gardner ties up all the loose ends in one incoherent chapter that has so much information, I had to read it twice.

That having been said, I still recommend this book. The killer's game is finely rendered and absolutely believable, and Raine and Quincy make a dynamic team.

THE NEXT ACCIDENT is just an okay suspense thriller. As others have pointed out, Lisa Gardner is a good plotter, but a little weak when it comes to characterization and believable dialogue. The lead female character is more exasperating than sympathetic in many scenes. Also, there are some scenes in this book that are rather drawn out and predictable. I guessed the identity of the killer halfway throught the book, and was not satisfied with the out-of-left-field explanation of how he masterminded the crime.

I've read some of Gardner's more recent work, and found it much better than THE NEXT ACCIDENT. Also keep in mind that this book is a sequel of sorts to an earlier book, "The Third Victim," and you should probably read that novel before this one to fully appreciate the characters and their relationships to one another.

This novel is well written and moderately entertaining, but there are much better books out there, including Gardner's THE SURVIVORS CLUB and ALONE.

In my opinion, Lisa Gardner is one of the most talented novelists that there is on this planet. "The Next Accident" and all of her other three previous novels are magnificent masterpieces of psychological suspense. I actually think she is better than most of the female authors I've mentioned in earlier reviews. "The Next Accident" is Gardner's best novel yet, BY FAR! This one featured Rainie Connor and FBI Agent Pierce Quincy, (who were also in "The Third Victim). Quincy who lives in Virginia close to the FBI Quantico Headquarters, gets news that his daughter has been killed in a fatal car accident. Foul play is suspected. As Pierce tries to piece together the last events of his daughters past and try to narrow down a list of possible suspects with grudges, he starts to worry about his other family members, like his other daughter and his ex-wife. When another tragedy strikes, he goes to Portland, Oregon, to ask for Rainie's help. As Rainie and Pierce work together they have a hard time keep their attraction for each other a secret. Steamy romance and incessant suspense are non-stop in this fabulous thriller. Lisa, you have made it to the top of my list! I can't wait for you next one!

him and FBI profiler Quincy's world is turned up-side down.

When his daughter Mandy is killed in an inexplicable auto accident, he begins to harbor suspicions as to the validlty of the word 'accident', and the thoughts of who and why anyone would want to do this, become daily nagging questions.

Nearly a year later when Mandy is taken off life support and succumbs, he hires Rainie Conner, a budding Private Eye whom he has known from the past. But the past must recede and the present take precedence, in order for them to work together and they strive to do just that.

When the second unnervingly intimate murder takes place and the killer steals Quincy's identity, the FBI places Quincy at the top of it's list of suspects and Quincy's world begins to fall apart.

He must protect his only remaining daughter, Kimberly..he must clear his name....he must find out who this feindish destroyer of lives is. In his mind constantly is the thought that the killer knows his family so well. It is as if the maniac is asking them in turn "What do you need? What do you desire?"
and then "But I already know and I will weave my web and capture you, satisfy your wants, gain your trust and kill you!!"

So far he has suceeded in doing just that.

I truly believe the reader will find this an intriguing, mind-grasping thriller...one not easily forgotten..one that will give the avid reader of mysteries and mayhem an experience that will stay with them for a long, long time.

This young novelist is a master of detail and procedures, weaving the private lives of her characters subtly and inobtrusively into the plot.

I believe it is best to read THE NEXT ACCIDENT in one sitting because it will just haunt you if you don't! Enjoy!

I really enjoyed this book by Lisa Gardner. This is the second Lisa Gardner book I have read and I must say it is a definate "page turner", however, at one point I said to myself "Wouldn't it be something if --- was the killer" and it turned out that I had guessed right, which made little sense and the ending was completely unbelieveable to think that actual law enforcement officials would stage such a stunt. The book was very exciting, but the ending was just simply beyond belief. Still, it was a good read and kept my interest throughtout.

Revising the roles of now ex-cop Rainie Conner, and FBI agent Pierce Quincy, Lisa Gardner takes us along on their new battle with evil. Someone is hunting down Quincy's loved ones, finding their most intimate weaknesses, and then using these weaknesses to gruesomely end their lives. The victims know their killer, and those remaining do as well. The question then becomes which trusted friend or lover is it? A master of disguises, he insinuates himself into the victim's lives, and then when least expected, he pounces. Even though the suspense was kept alive by keeping the identity of the killer well hidden from the reader, I was still not satisfied with this book. I feel that these are worthwhile characters, but are in desperate need of development. Is Rainie an independent yet troubled and scarred woman, or is she a wise-cracking vamp? The romantic entanglement between Rainie and Quincy also left much to be desired, will they or won't they? The inconsistencies in the yes's and no's become tiresome after awhile, and soon I just didn't care. So while the suspense sizzles, the romance and characters merely fizzle.