Books

Find Me author Alafair Burke shares intel on her new thriller and recommends other crime novels

The best-selling crime novelist previews her riveting new tale and bringing back Ellie Hatcher.

Published on January 11, 2022 11:00AM EST

Prepare to hunt for truth in Find Me.

Defense lawyer Lindsay Kelly is desperate to find her friend Hope Miller in Alafair Burke's latest Find Me (out Jan. 11). The new tale is a complex one from Burke, who highlights the amount of plot driving this story. Hope has amnesia from a car accident 15 years before the story begins. Her disappearance ties back to the time she's lost, then another case from the past gets tangled up in the web Lindsay has to unravel. "It's pretty twisty as a result," says Burke. "There's a lot of different points of view, and there are jumps in time as well."

Find Me will have the same realism the author brings to her other work, which comes from her years working in law. Having worked as a prosecutor and with Portland Police Department, she's seen the rhythm of a case from the beginning. "If you think of Law & Order, I know the first half and the second half," she explains. That experience allows her to outline what a case looks like from the investigators' point of view and those being investigated.

What's different about this story is it's less procedural than some of her earlier work. Inspired by her long-standing interest in amnesia and how memory works, Find Me explores the case from multiple vantage points. This allows Burke to depict the civilian perspective and the incredible power of female friendship in addition to the law enforcement professionals' search for the truth. "[Lindsay and Hope] have this commitment to each other that's unique and different from the relationships they have with men. I think a lot of women, in particular, will resonate with the special nature of female friendship," she shares.

Longtime fans of Burke's work — she has written or co-authored 20 books — will be happy to see Ellie Hatcher return in Find Me. The NYPD detective, the main character in 5 of Burke's previous books, appears in the new story. Exploring Ellie's past turns Find Me into a bigger, sprawling tale. Those who haven't met Ellie through Burke's past work won't be lost, "but for readers who have missed her, this is a chance for them to see her again."

In addition, to delivering a new page-turning mystery of her own, Burke also recommended a few other great crime novels for those looking for more captivating reads.

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The Collective by Alison Gaylin

All the books I recommend will have different kinds of relationships at the heart of the book. The Collective is a great twisty page-turner of a thriller, but it's really about a mother's commitment to her child and the lengths she's going to seek justice.

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The Turnout by Megan Abbott

Megan Abbott always writes about female relationships with such a unique voice. In The Turnout, two very different sisters are running a ballet studio together, and when an outsider enters their relationship, it changes everything.

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Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger

There's an online date that seems too good to be true. The main character thinks she's finally found the love of her life. Then he suddenly ghosts her, and she realizes that there's much more to the story than a bad date.

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Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett

Female friendships are unique, and sisterhood is as well. There's a fine line between love and insanity. In Like a Sister, the main character has a difficult and complicated relationship with her half-sister, who is found dead. It's about the main character's struggle to find out what happened but also reclaims their relationship in her head and realizes there were things she'd never understood about her sister.

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