RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

SUFFER THE CHILDREN (A Gardiner and Renner Novel Book #4) by Lisa Black is a gripping addition to the Gardiner and Renner series set in a juvenile facility with memorable characters. This police/forensic procedural can easily read as a standalone, but to understand the complex relationship between Gardiner and Renner this series is best read in order.

Firebird Juvenile Center is a prestigious Cleveland secure facility for damaged juvenile offenders who have committed minimal to serious offenses and cannot be remanded back to their homes, if they have one, without serious counseling and rehabilitation. Forensic expert Maggie Gardiner and homicide detective Jack Renner are called to the facility when fifteen-year-old Rachel Donahue is found dead at the bottom of a stairwell. The initial coroner’s findings lead to a judgement of misadventure.

As Jack and his partner Riley are finalizing their investigation, another young resident is found dead in the infirmary. Maggie and Jack are soon caught up in a secure facility with its residents ending up dead and a search for the killer among the many suspects.

Maggie and Jack also must worry about Maggie’s ex-husband discovering Jack’s secret life.

I really love this series and its main characters! I find Maggie’s forensic procedures and techniques always interesting and informative. With every book, the readers learn a little more of Jack’s back story and the lines he will or will not cross for justice. The attraction between these two continues to grow and is just fascinating because they started so far apart. Maggie’s ex-husband’s investigation into the Vigilante Killer is getting much to close to exposing Jack’s secret and Ms. Black’s twist to keep Jack safe for the moment is great. The crime/thriller plot is fast paced and almost reads like a locked room mystery since main the suspects are locked down in the Firebird Center. I found the information interspersed throughout the plot about juvenile justice and rehabilitation interesting and at the same time sad. It truly is a complex social problem which lends itself to interesting twists to this story.

I highly recommend this addition to the series and these main characters!

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About Lisa Black

Lisa Black’s books have reached the NYT bestsellers list, been translated into six languages and have been optioned for film. Perish was shortlisted for the inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award by Putnam and Mystery Writers of America. Lisa will be a Guest of Honor at 2021 Killer Nashville.

She is a certified crime scene analyst in Florida and a former forensic scientist for the Cleveland coroner’s office. She is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, and the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts, and has testified in more than fifty homicide trials.

She still aspires to drive Nancy Drew’s convertible and marry Ellery Queen.

Website: https://lisa-black.com/