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Type of bind: Kindle Edition
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
Format: Kindle Book
Label: Bantam
Manufacturer: Bantam
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 400
Printing Date: September 28, 2004
Publishing house: Bantam
Release Date: September 28, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 4457
Studio: Bantam
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Product Description:
The past isn't over....
An unspeakable act has ripped apart the idyllic town of Bakersville, Oregon, and its once-peaceful residents are demanding quick justice. But though a boy has confessed to the horrific crime, evidence shows he may not be guilty.
Officer Rainie Conner, leading her very first homicide investigation, stands at the center of the controversy. It's hitting too close to home, bringing back her worst nightmares, threatening to expose her secret sins. But with the boy's life at stake, she won't let anything stop her from finding the real killer.
With the help of FBI profiler Pierce Quincy, Rainie comes closer to a deadly truth than she can imagine. Because out there in the shadows a man watches her and plots his subsequent move. He knows her secrets. He kills for sport. He's already brought death to Bakersville and forever shattered the community. But what he has really come for is Rainie -- and he won't leave until he has destroyed her....
From the Paperback edition.
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Rated by buyers 
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The Third Victim
The story starts out interestingly enough and then it all falls apart as the plot unfolds. The Sheriff's son is involved in multiple murders at his school. The Sheriff is actively interfering with the investigation. The lead investigating officer is Rainey Conner. She works under the Sheriff. Conner has a long personal friendship with the Sheriff and enough personal baggage that normally would prevent her from ever being a cop in the very first place. Holy comflict of interest Batman! State and Federal agents are called in but who is in charge, the admittedly unqualified, conflicted, unstable, Rainey Conner! Oh Please!!! If you removed the unqualified cop, had a realistic chain of command with the investagors,and put the Sheriff in jail for interfering this might be a good read.
My suspension of disbelief button was pushed too many times on this one.
Rated by buyers -
This is an entertaining thriller that kept me turning the pages. I have read a number of books by this author, and I have yet to be disappointed. Her characters are reasonably interesting, and the plot is well-thought out. Those who like easy reading suspense will definitely enjoy this author's books.
The plot centers around a school shooting that divides the small town of Bakersfield, Oregon. Three people were killed, two of them children. The townspeople are demanding justice. After all, a young boy has confessed to the shooting. It seems, however, that the evidence indicates that he may not have acted alone.
Officer Rainie Conner is the lead investigator in the shooting, but there are those in the town that feel that her past is impacting on her investigation, as controversy is brewing over her involvement. FBI profiler, Pierce Quincy, assists Officer Conner with the investigation, as he, too, is convinced that there is more to the shooting that meets the eye. They both want to see justice done and begin a deadly cat and mouse game with a shadowy character that lurks in the background and may, in fact, be the mastermind of all that has happened.
Those who enjoy the works of Mary Higgins Clark, Carlene Thompson, and Tami Hoag will be sure to enjoy this book, as will all those who enjoy suspense thrillers with a lot of twists and turns.
Rated by buyers -
I didn't like this book for several reasons. The school shooting theme is very disturbing to me and I honestly don't think that the author did a good job exploring or explaining that issue. Another reason I didn't like the book was because the Rainie character was severely irritating. I'm so sick of the "macho" woman in these suspense thrillers. Rainie needs to grow up and get over herself. Lastly, the villain in this book didn't make any sense. His motives and reasoning were stupid. This book had potential, but fell flat.
Rated by buyers -
Lisa Gardner does it again. One of the few authors out there that can consistently turn out grab-you-by-the-throat thrillers.
In a small town of Oregan, a horrific school shooting takes place, leaving several dead, including a well loved teacher and 2 young girls. When the smoke settles, the mass murderer left holding the smoking gun is 13 year old Danny. Danny is the son of Sheriff O'Grady. Witnesses reported seeing a man dressed in black, roaming the halls of the school shortly before the shooting began. Did Danny have an accomplice? Is he just a pawn in a much larger game? Was it a random act of violence or were the victims hand picked?
Ms. Gardner answers these questions and much more in this taut thriller. What I enjoyed the most about this book was there were so many things taking place at the same time. The author keeps the storytelling tight and close to her chest, revealing bits and pieces at a pace that has the reader scrambling to turn the pages in a hope to discover what is truly going on.
The only complaint I have is the ending. The author seemed to want to wrap things up and have a great ending, but I felt it didn't make sense. The herione, in the end, is handled in a way that shouldn't have happened. If I explain it in any more detail, I will ruin the story for you, so I will just stop with that. The book is overall a great read and is well worth your time.
Rated by buyers -
If the Amazon Star System allowed the possibility, I'd give this one four and a half stars, rather than four. But it doesn't. So, rounding off, I've given it four.
Let's get my very minor quibbles out of the way first: (1) There's no way a town small enough to need a law enforcement staff of only three people plus a volunteer is going to have a 'Dairy Queen.' They'd be 'lucky' to have a 'MacDonald's.' (2) The inhabitants of such a town would have to be insane to think they could hope to land a Wal-Mart. (3) There are no 'towering mountains' in the Oregon Coastal Range. I suppose an author from the east coast, which this one is, might be tricked into thinking that rolling foothills qualify as mountains, but they don't. (4) There is one small paragraph which violates the Point of View style set up in the rest of the book, and the exception is jarring, as it intrudes the book's 'omniscient' author into the mix-- always a big problem when editors don't catch it, which in this case they didn't.
But that is the sum extent of my quibbles. Other than that, this is a very good example of the type of book it is: the formulaic thriller slash mystery. Great Literature it isn't, but it makes no pretense to be, so there's no need to mark it down any for failing to be so. It's even character-based as opposed to plot-driven, which automatically elevates it several notches above the mid-ranks of the genre.
Lorraine Connor, a young deputy sheriff in a small coastal Oregon town who is tough but unsure of herself, and both vulnerable and quite capable of taking care of herself, is asked to be 'primary officer' at a bloody crime scene-- a school shooting in which two students and one teacher have been killed. The teacher-- the 3rd Victim of the title-- has been 'taken out' with a small caliber shot directly to the forhead, while the two students have been 'shot up' at much longer range. This discrepancy in methodology eventually causes the investigators to believe that there is more than one shooter involved. (A fact which the reader, but no one else, has been apprised of early on.)
The suspense comes in the form of delays and dead-ends in the process of finding out who the 'other' shooter is. One perpetrator, a kid, has already been caught, and has confessed, but refuses to talk about the crime, and for good reason: the other criminal is a serial killer with the ethics of a boa constrictor who knows how to scare kids into refusing to talk, sometimes permanently.
There are subplots galore: (1) Lorraine herself has something to hide concerning another shooting many years ago. Will she end up having to 'tell all' or won't she? (2) There's a nasty big-city investigator on scene, who is trying to undercut Lorraine and steal her case from her. Will he succeed? (3) An troubled FBI agent from Quantico finds Lorraine fascinating. Will they end up in bed? (4) One of the victims comes from a family with nasty secrets to hide. What lengths will other members of that family go to to 'protect' their past?
One of the most refreshing things about this book is that nothing is predictable. Not one of these subplots ends up being resolved in the way you think it's going to be. I can't begin to tell you how relieved I was by that!
I've avoided till now dealing with the true heart of the book, though, so the time has now come. On one level this books is 'mere' thriller, but on a deepler plane it's a fascinating glimpse into the world of disturbed psychology, particularly that of children. I'm not about to give anything away here, but just rest assured that this author has done tons of homework and has created characters who behave exactly the way that real people do. So much so that there is an air of realism to this fictional story that lifts it far beyond the bounds of most examples of its kind.
I highly recommend The 3rd Victim.
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