Gone (Hannah Smith) (utgåvan 2012)

Too-good-to-be-true heroine; predictable plot. Perhaps I'm just the wrong reader for this book. ( )

This story moves at a snail's pace and not as good as White's Doc Ford series. I gave up on it about a fourth of the way through the book. ( )

Not my favorite Randy Wayne White book, I must admit. Hannah, meant to be portrayed as strong and capable came across as preoccupied with body image, bra size and insecurities. Hannah is not Doc Ford by a long shot.
( )

It's a good thing that I'd read book three first, or I'm not sure I could have finished this book. I still like Hannah 'Four' Smith, but I'm a former victim of child abuse, so the villain was pushing my buttons.

Hannah has taken over her late Uncle Jake's fishing guide and investigative business. Larry Seasons, a wealthy man who had fished with Jake for years, hires Hannah to find his missing niece, Olivia. While investigating, Hannah realizes that she and Olivia have quite a bit in common (well, not being born with a silver spoon in her mouth...).

It's possible that Olivia has gone off with an employee, Ricky Meeks. Meeks is BAD NEWS. When Hannah meets one of Meeks' victims, she becomes more determined than ever to find and rescue Olivia.

This is Hannah's first major case. I appreciated the fact that she wasn't cocky about her chances. During her search, what seems to be hard luck turns out to be good fortune in disguise -- if Hannah can keep from being killed by any of the three boars (two of them human), who want her dead.

I don't know enough about tarpon fishing (almost nothing), so is it significant that in the prologue we're told that Mr. Seasons '...had finally hooked a big tarpon on a fly rod, after years of trying....', but in chapter two Seasons talks about the previous year when Hannah angered him by refusing to gaff a tarpon he'd landed? I wish the book's editor had made Mr. White clarify that point.

Because Hannah's mother is blathering on about something she says she read in a magazine, I am not annoyed that Loretta claims Lizzie Borden was in her twenties when the famous axe murders happened. (She was 32, a year older than Hannah is now.)

It's in chapter 20 that Hannah tells the readers that she got the second half of her boat's name, the Hannah-Belltiva, by combining the names of [two local islands] -- Sanibel and Captiva. ( )

Synopsis: Hannah is doing pretty well with as a fishing guide, but the financial strain of supporting her mother is beginning to be a concern. Luckily she has kept her PI license up to date; this allows her to accept the job of finding the niece of one of her clients. Hannah must use her knowledge of the area, her PI skills, and overcome her lack of confidence to complete this job and save herself.
Review: This is a much better book about Hannah. She is less whiny and more adept at her two careers. While there is a bit of female stereotyping, it isn't as blatant as in previous books. ( )