Far Gone

⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Enjoyed this one a lot!

First off, I haven't read the first book in this series and had no issues with this one. It holds up excellently as a standalone.

Compelling Mystery. This is one of those mysteries that has so much going on that it could feel disjointed in a lesser storyteller's hands, but Girard manages to make it work quite well. We get the story primarily through three perspectives - Hannah, who witnesses a murder in her opening scene, Lily, a nurse who is a former kidnapping victim who is now working to rebuild her life, and Kylie, the detective who helped Lily in the first book and who here is investigating the murder. Girard manages to keep the pace of the reveals driving through the narrative, all while maintaining plausibly realistic scenarios. Indeed, even the ending is surprisingly refreshing in its realism on all fronts - despite what some activists would have liked. Truly a great story told very well. Very much recommended.