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THE NEXT ACCIDENT continues the story of Pierce Quincy and Lorraine (Rainie) Conner, which began in THE THIRD VICTIM. Rainie is now a private investigator in Oregon trying to make ends meet. Quincy is still a FBI agent, who is now trying to deal with this daughter’s death and guilt over his feelings of having been a bad father. Quincy hires Rainie to investigate his daughter’s, Mandy’s, death to determine if it was truly an accident or rather murder. Although there are still unresolved issues between the two of them, Rainie agrees to take the case for old times sake. Quincy’s life continues to get attacked – his unlisted phone number is given to prisoners, his identity is stolen and the rest of his family is threatened. Then another member of the family is murdered and Quincy becomes the most likely suspect. Rainie must work to resolve her concerns regarding having relationship with Quincy, prove his innocence as well as protect his remaining family from this vicious killer. Lisa Gardner has successfully broken away from the romance genre that began her career. Even though this book fits the romantic suspense genre the best, it contains some of the gruesomeness and suspense that appears in more hardboiled detective stories. Both Rainie and Quincy are cynical about the future and about the world due to their own experience with criminals and the law. Both victims were brutally murdered as well as brainwashed into believing that the killer honestly cared for them and would never hurt them. The prime objective of the murderer also belongs to darker books because he simply wants to destroy Quincy’s life and sanity by abusing and then killing those for whom he cares. Not having read the first book of the series does make it difficult to draw conclusions about character development; however, it seems as though both Rainie and Quincy break through some of their past in order to solve this case and resolve their own feelings for each other. Rainie most likely murdered her mother and was certainly sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriends. She is unable to trust anyone especially in a romantic situation. Due to the death of one his children, Quincy realizes his inability to provide the reassurance that he loves them and will protect them, which he always wanted his children to have from him. Even though the timing is awkward (after all they are trying to prevent more murders) they work to forget/ forgive the past to provide a chance for their future together. THE NEXT ACCIDENT demonstrates Gardner’s growth as an author as she continues to transcend the romance genre. Her characters are well developed and interesting. Although this book is romantic suspense, it contains elements that can satisfy most readers’ genre requirements. Hopefully, as Gardner continues to write, she will continue to demonstrate her ability as a writer and will continue to entertain the masses.
Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, November 2002
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