Life Sentences

by Alice Blanchard

Daisy Hubbard, a genetic researcher in a prestigious Boston lab, is driven to find a cure for the rare genetic disease that claimed the life of her younger brother. Her progress is halted, however, when her mentally unstable sister Anna is discovered missing from her California home. Daisy, fearing the worst, drops everything and flies across the country to find Anna. Once there, she is informed by the LAPD that known serial killer Roy Gaines has confessed to Anna's murder, but he will only reveal where he has hidden the body if he can lead Daisy to it himself. Daisy, teaming up with a handsome detective named Jack Makowski, follows Roy to a number of dead bodies, but none of them are Anna's. As Daisy realizes that Roy knows too much about her research, she begins to fear that Anna is a pawn in a game with much larger stakes. It will take all of Daisy's cunning and resolve to stop the killer in his tracks and to uncover his obsession with the disease she has been trying to unravel for her entire life.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Crime

480 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 24, 2004

About the author

Alice Blanchard is an award-winning author of thrillers, mysteries and suspense novels. Her bestseller, “The Breathtaker,” was an official selection of NBC’s Today Show Book Club, her debut mystery, “Darkness Peering,” was a New York Times’ Notable Book, and "Trace of Evil” was an Amazon Best Mystery and an Indie Next Pick.

Her story collection won the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Short Fiction, and she has received a PEN Fiction Award, a New Letters Literary Award and a Centrum award, among other honors. Her books have been published in 16 countries.

Alice's Amazon Page: amazon.com/author/alice-blanchard
Website: www.aliceblanchard.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/aliceblanchard.author/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/alicebooks33...
Twitter: twitter.com/AliceBooks333

Reviews

[Andrew Carter]

This is the second Alice Blanchard book that I have read. I enjoyed the story. I felt that there was good character development wrapped around a story with suspense and action.

[Marybeth]

The only reason I'm able to give this book 2 stars is because I somehow managed to finish it.

Imagine the cheesiest black & white crime movie with the most ridiculous similies available, add in all the overused "terrible childhood" plots (yes, all of them, together!), & then give it a nice big happy ending, & you've got this book.

The beginning & end dragged forever, the middle was almost well-written and was actually interesting - just enough to make me feel like I had to reach the end.

[Valadia]

Another home run.

This author is amazing. She doesn't miss! All of her books (what I have read, 3 or 4 now) have been remarkable. Her characters are believable. Stories are plausible... they make SENSE, and are realistic.
Definitely recommend this book! She is incredible!!

[LJ]

LIFE SENTENCES (Amateur Sleuth/Scientist-LA-Cont) – Poor
Blanchard, Alice – 2nd book
Warner Books, 2006- Paperback
Daisy Hubbard is a research scientist trying to find a cure for the disease the killed her brother. Her sister, Anna, a schizophrenic, has disappeared and Daisy flies to Los Angeles to look for her. Working with LAPD detective Jack Makowski, they take on a suspected serial killer who had a relationship with the missing Anna.
*** This so didn’t work for me. It ended up being more a romance than a mystery, and the mother's reaction was completely unbelievable. It was all a bit melodramatic and the only thing about which I cared was getting to the end of the book. I'd take a pass on this one.

[Jolanda Engler]

Daisy Hubbard, eine junge, erfolgreiche Wissenschaftlerin, arbeitet an einem Projekt gegen eine tödliche Genkrankheit, an der auch ihr Bruder gestorben ist. Kurz vor einem grossen Entwicklungsschritt im Projekt verschwindet ihre Schwester, die psychisch nicht ganz gesund ist. Daisy muss ihre Forschungen zurückstellen und macht sich auf die Suche nach ihrer Schwester...



Ein gelungener Krimi bei dem man nebenbei viel über Genkrankheiten und Forschung erfährt. Und die letzten 100 Seiten sind ultra-spannend!

[Melanie Cook]

After a slow beginning, which was then interrupted by me reading My Sister's Keeper, I really enjoyed this.
Until the end. I really didn't get it. It was almost like she got to a certain point and had to end it now, and so it just got finished off. I found it odd. There was what seemed like it should have been a key thing, that I totally did not get. I'm not silly, I'm sure, and yet, I didn't understand what it was meant to be about.

I would probably read more by Alice Blanchard though, because despite the odd end, I really did enjoy this.

[Farah]

I’ve had this since 2013 but didn’t read it until last year. The synopsis was not very informative in my opinion. When I started reading this book, i really could not stop. What i though was a simple kidnapping mystery was in fact something darker. Alice Blanchard wrote a heart- pounding novel that transports you into the pages of the book, making you live Daisy’s life and embrace her feelings and emotions. Just when you think everything has worled out for the best, a new twist is presented and you can’t help but go along for the ride. If you love thrillers, this one is for you.

[Miz]

Well, I finished it. And it was ODD. It has some well-written parts at the beginning but just 3/4 of the way through it has dissolved into a pile of hot mess with no plausible way out. Sadly it continued in this vein til the last page...

[Maureen Doyle]

Thrilling psychological mystery

This work is made for an exciting tv series. The characters are drawn carefully and in depth. Every time a happy ending was in sight, there was an unexpected ploy twist.

[Denise]

3.5 -- research and medical mystery, degenerative diseases, schizophrenia, abuse, drama...

[Enni]

This book is a little strange and not my usual kind of read but it was interesting and kept me reading.

[Rea]

This book was sweet!

[Tracy Moran]

Good book but not as good as Breathtaker.

[Shannon]

Couldnt put it down!

[Tammy Goins]

A good book a bit dark but still good

[Reader]

Research scientist Daisy Hubbard has one driving purpose in life: to find a cure for the rare disease that killed her brother. A rising star in a prestigious Boston laboratory, Daisy is more comfortable with the mice who are the subjects of her endless rounds of experiments than with any human being outside the facility's walls. Still, her single-minded pursuit of scientific knowledge is just about to pay off: she is closing in on a therapeutic breakthrough when her sister Anna mysteriously vanishes from her Los Angeles apartment. Daisy must reluctantly tear herself from the security of her lab to track down her troubled sister. The turbulent streets of L.A. are all the more disorienting after the quiet precision of Daisy's lab, and Daisy must turn for help to Jack Makowski, an enigmatic, hard-drinking LAPD detective with his own personal demons. Together, they follow a string of clues to a sinister and manipulative killer who claims to know where Anna Hubbard is. But how does he know so much about Daisy's scientific research? Can a single word of his be trusted? When the killer's revelations lead to unexpected victims, Daisy's reliance on logic and predictability must end. And when Jack's unconventional crime-fighting techniques fall short, it is up to Daisy to convert her scientific knowledge, strength, and instincts into a successful defense against a killer who threatens to turn Daisy's hard-won research into a weapon deadlier than the disease it was meant to combat.

[Sonja]

This is the first book of Alice Blanchard that I read. Within the first 3 chapters, I was going to put it down. Her description of the lab for a full page was getting to me. Luckily, I persevered, and it was a good nail-biting story. It is just the descriptions of places that were too long and boring. A shorter description would have been sufficient. The story gets a 4.5.

[Abbigail Ramirez]

I loved the story, very intense climax.

I dislike romance novels but this murder mystery had a great balance of romance with a satisfying ending.

I’m not too familiar with genetics and medical terms. While I was reading, the disease was so well written that I was convinced it was real until I looked it up.

[CORY]

Omg, she did it again. Excellent book 👍

[Mathias]

3/5

[♡Chris]

This book started out good and steadily became greater with each new part. It has a great plot twist, and is full of action. I highly recommend this book and would love to see it as a movie

[Isabell Meintjes]

I enjoyed this book

[Ashley]

#
NC
Own in hardback.

FS: "Daisy Hubbard headed down the hallway past the equipment room with its centrifuges and spectrophotometers and listened to the light, fast click of her own heels."

LS: "Daisy inhaled the perfume of their bodies and pulled her family close while frozen threads of ice formed on the glass."

[Gabrielle W.]

It's a pleasant (but a little cheesy) read. I found it a easy read. It's one of those books you enjoy reading but won't recommend to friends because it's not memorable at all. Also, I found myself predicting the plot.

[Jessica]

Good suspense in some parts, but also very predictable

[Golffox]

A suspenseful novel that touches a bit on Schizophrenia.

[Gemmoi]

Not my cup of tea

[Cathy]

Somewhere between "didn't like it" & "it was ok." Don't bother.

[Sarah Sadler]

Utterly predictable! I had to make myself finish it :-(

[Kay]

This one was okay as far as mysteries go. Still like her first one better!