Title: Shaw Connolly Lives to Tell
Author: Gillian French
Publication Date: June 17, 2025
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Format Read: Kindle e-book
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Cards on the table, I read Shaw Connolly Lives to Tell by Gillian French by accident. When I was first getting I Speak Book Nerd going, I searched NetGalley and found several readily available titles. One of those was Restless Bones by Gillian French. I hadn’t been paying enough attention and didn’t realize it was book two in this series until I started it. Now, anyone who knows me will know that it would bother me to no end not to start with the first book in a series, so I found myself a copy of Shaw Connolly Lives to Tell. And here we are now.
Shaw Connolly wasn’t what I was expecting, but in the best of ways. She’s intelligent and foul-mouthed, admittedly a bit like someone I know (she says, looking in the mirror). She’s a wonderful, loving mother who became a mother young, also like me. She works as a fingerprint technician, something she chose after realizing she wanted to work in law enforcement and maybe, one day, help with her missing sister’s case. Thea went missing when they were just teenagers. It’s been twenty years, and they still don’t know where she is. The family simply longs to find her body and give her a proper burial. Over the past couple of years, Shaw has dealt with nasty calls from the man who claims to have committed the murder. The thing is, he seems to be calling more to torment Shaw than anything else, and without physical evidence, an arrest can’t be made. All of that comes to a head over the course of this book.
I thought this story had a pretty good balance of character- and plot-driven elements. Shaw has a lot going on in addition to all that history. She definitely manages it all better than I ever could. I enjoyed her relationships with her sons, father, sister, and coworkers. I’m still undecided about her relationship with her separated husband. That may come into play more in future installments. French kept the story at a good pace. It wasn’t so slow that I didn’t want to pick it up, but it also wasn’t so fast that I couldn’t put it down, at least not until the end, anyhow. The two things I think may be strikes against this story for some readers are the gore, even if it plays a small role, and Shaw’s personality. Neither bothered me personally, but I understand that some readers are more sensitive to gore and that Shaw may be an acquired taste.
French’s writing also worked well for me. It was clear and easy to follow, but it still had this quiet, uneasy feel to it. She kept the investigation moving while giving Shaw’s guilt, grief, and growing unease plenty of room. The story looks at the long shadow of trauma, the consuming need for answers, family strain, and how an unsolved disappearance can affect every part of someone’s life.
Shaw Connolly Lives to Tell was an entertaining, well-paced mystery/thriller that kept me invested from start to finish. I’m looking forward to finally getting to Restless Bones soon to see how things have progressed with her family and coworkers after the events of this book. This story is a good fit for readers who enjoy a gritty, realistic protagonist. I’d also recommend it to readers who enjoy character-driven suspense, cold cases, and darker thrillers where the investigation is tangled up in the protagonist’s own past. It is especially good for anyone who likes an atmospheric small-town setting and a protagonist who will not let an old disappearance go.
Nerd Rating: 🤓🤓🤓🤓— A gritty, atmospheric start to the series
Click here to learn more about Shaw Connolly Lives to Tell and Gillian French.
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Are you someone who has to start a series with book one, even if you discover book two first?
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I DO like to start at book 1. But sometimes I don’t know that a book is part of a series until after I’ve already read it. 🤦🏽♀️ I find that publishers don’t always make it obvious these days.
Thanks for warning us about the gore. 🫣 Nice review. 😊
Absolutely! I wish publishers made series order clearer, too. It is so easy to accidentally pick up book two, five, or even ten first, especially when you are browsing online. I was very glad I caught this one early. And you’re very welcome! I always want readers to know about anything that may not work for them. Thank you so much for reading and for the kind words!