The Body Reader

Written by Anne Frasier

Narrated by Emily Sutton-Smith

A Thriller Award winner, Best Paperback Original Novel.

For three years, Detective Jude Fontaine was kept from the outside world. Held in an underground cell, her only contact was with her sadistic captor, and reading his face was her entire existence. Learning his every line, every movement, and every flicker of thought is what kept her alive.

After her experience with isolation and torture, she is left with a fierce desire for justice—and a heightened ability to interpret the body language of both the living and the dead. Despite colleagues’ doubts about her mental state, she resumes her role at Homicide. Her new partner, Detective Uriah Ashby, doesn’t trust her sanity, and he has a story of his own he’d rather keep hidden. But a killer is on the loose, murdering young women, so the detectives have no choice: they must work together to catch the madman before he strikes again. And no one knows madmen like Jude Fontaine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Jun 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781511376082

Anne Frasier

Anne Frasier is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than twenty novels that range from thrillers to memoirs. She is a RITA winner for her romantic suspense books and a recipient of the Daphne du Maurier Award for paranormal romance. Her thrillers have been featured by the Mystery Guild, the Literary Guild, and the Book of the Month Club. Her memoir, The Orchard, received a B+ review in Entertainment Weekly; was an O, The Oprah Magazine "fall pick"; was named an American Library Association "One Book, One Community" read; and was singled out as a Librarians' Best Book of 2011. Her most recent novel, Truly Dead, is the highly anticipated fourth installment in the Elise Sandburg series. Frasier currently divides her time between Saint Paul, Minnesota, and her writing studio in rural Wisconsin.

Reviews for The Body Reader

[muzmuz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

trigger warning: mental health, kidnaping, rape and murder.

"Having escaped after being captive. detective jude fontaine uses her new sharpened senses to figure out what has happened to her and why as well as discover the truth about the recent murder cases"

The book was soooooooooo good, the writing style was easy to follow and the pacing was perfect, there was a point in the book where i wished it would move faster but never the less it was good.
The writer made sure to make Jude a human being, one with flaws and doubts which made her seem more real to me.
Highly recommend to anyone wanting a a nice mystery thriller.

[Stephanie Walton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a very good book! Very well written and keep my interest through the entirety. Great read.

[ElizabethRyan · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I actually dont know cause the app ended the book before it was over. Very disappointing

[Gerina Regina Dimpleton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very enjoyable. Will definately watch for more books of hers to read.

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Detective Jude Fontaine was abducted and kept imprisoned by a sadistic torturer for three years. When a power outage finally lets her escape, after killing her captor, her first instinct is to go home only to find out that her boyfriend has moved on with another woman. Jude's second option is to return to the Minneapolis Police Department and resume her job as a homicide detective. There are a lot of questions about whether she is mentally and emotionally stable enough to resume her job. Those questions rise again when she and her new partner Uriah Ashby are called to the apparent suicide of a young woman in a Minneapolis lake. One thing Jude gained from her time in captivity was acute powers of observation. She's convinced that the death was murder, not suicide. When one of the possible witnesses is also brutally murders and had her severed head left in Jude's motorcycle helmet, the thought that the death was murder becomes stronger.These two cases lead to some cold cases where teenage girls have disappeared. It looks like a connection might be the governor of Minnesota who happens to be Jude's estranged father. But is it an actual connection or the result of Jude's vendetta against her father because of her belief that he murdered her mother when Jude was eight?This was a fascinating story about a woman trying to rebuild her life after a terrible ordeal and who questions her own sanity. I loved the Minneapolis setting even though it was an alternate Minneapolis subject to power blackouts and a rise in crime and a shifting of neighborhoods. I liked the relationship Jude is building with her new partner. I liked that she is finding friends again. I thought the mystery was intriguing. Especially intriguing were the chapters from the viewpoint of "His Girl" - another girl who has been held captive for even longer than Jude had been. I really enjoyed this story and am glad that there are two more books in the series. Emily Sutton-Smith did an excellent job with making each character distinct and using her voice to build tension in the story.

[chibitika-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Three stars only because this isn’t adding to the western canon and the writing isn’t on par (yet) with the best of the best in this genre. Highly recommended! Detective Jude Fontaine is one of the most fascinating lead characters I’ve found in any genre, ever. Frasier’s handling of blood and gore is artful, and in her hands they carry the story forward instead of becoming the reason for the story themselves as they do so often with poorly skilled writers. Emphasis is on the characters, not the shock-inducing things they do. That’s a hard line for murder writers to follow, and the best succeed in blending the two to produce a well-told story worthy of every bit of their readers’ time and attention. Frasier succeeds.

[montzaleew · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Body Reader by Anne Frasier is quite a tense book! From the very beginning it had me on edge and it didn't let up until the end! Wow, talk about suspense! I will definitely have to follow if this becomes a series....loved it. Narration was perfect too!

[crazybatcow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

did get this book on sale but I think it is worth the non-sale price. It has interesting characters and a decent plot (though I don't think it is particularly complex). The only negative thing I have to say is that the 'body reading' component that is 'advertised' in the book's description is not even a part of the story. Maybe they mention it once or twice, but I kept waiting for this feature to be used in the story, and it never was.That is, of course, only a minor disappointment and the story is fine without it. Oh, and the part about her being kidnapped and held hostage is kinda a 'prologue' to the story, it is used to develop/explain her personality and responses, but is not actually detailed much in the story itself.There is no graphic content and I don't think there was much in the line of foul language. I will read more by Frasier.

[les121 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Body Reader is an exciting, fast-paced mystery. Even though the plot is somewhat predictable, it kept me hooked from beginning to end. I finished it in a day. The characters - with all their traumas and emotional landmines - are melodramatic at times, yet compelling. The writing strongly reminded me of Tami Hoag in that respect. There's no romance in this book, but if the author turns it into a series, I'll totally get on board that ship. In short, if you're looking for a good, Tami Hoag-esque thriller to escape into, The Body Reader fits the bill.

[lindycrichtonbez5605 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely brilliant! I read it some time ago. It was my first time reading Anne Fraser. I can remember the story line, but overall the main thing I remember about reading this book is fantastic, fantastic, fantastic! I am definitely a fan and I would highly recommend it for murder, mystery and thrill seekers

[gac53 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The title made me want to read a blurb about the book. The blurb made me want to read the book. And I'm glad I did. It has a different start than most stories, and part way through I believed it would be a predictable outcome. But I had to change my mind as I continued to read. I'd recommend the book. The only downside, in my opinion, was the "learned ability" was not maintained throughout.

[melayla-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyed this and was so disappointed that it isn't a series. I enjoyed the lead character from the first time we met her. I liked many of the secondary characters as well. I think they would be so enjoyable to read more of. I liked how her history was prominent but not (to my mind) in your face and excessive. This felt very much to me like a show not tell style which I find very readable and hard to put down.

[deelightful-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was an interesting story of a policewoman who was abducted and held captive for three years. Upon her escape, she found herself profoundly changed, as one would predict. I found this novel enjoyable but improbable.

[thelibraryhag · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After three years of captivity and sensory deprevation, Jude Fontaine returns to work in Minneapolis as a homicide detective. She quickly becomes involved in a case of murdered and missing girls that comes too close to home.I really enjoyed this book. Jude is a very interesting character, who, despite her often incomprehensible behavior is right on course, even if everyone else is not. And her partner has his own personal beasts to battle. The story was engaging and I really got involved with it. I think the writing was very good for this sort of book. I could see the places and almost smell the smells. I plan to read more Anne Frasier and hope to see more of Jude in the future.

[rowingrabbit · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a story that grabs your attention from the get-go.Jude Fontaine used to be an easy going homicide detective. That was before she was abducted & endured 3 years of abuse at the hands of a madman. So when she finally escapes & gets her old job back, it should be all good, right? Well…..This fast paced police procedural is not for the squeamish. We follow Jude & her partner Uriah Ashby as they investigate the fallout from depravity run amok. It’s a tough job on a good day & neither has had one of those in a long time. As a result of her ordeal, Jude has become detached & lacking in social skills. Uriah is her emotional opposite. He’s still reeling from the loss of his wife & struggles to keep a lid on everything he feels. As the story progresses, both will uncover family secrets that force them to question just how well they knew those closest to them.Though events that occur are horrific in nature the author doesn’t dwell on gruesome details & allows the reader’s imagination to fill in the blanks. Some of the bad guys will trigger your spidey senses immediately while others may take you by surprise when all is revealed. It makes for a satisfying police procedural but it’s the relationship between the MC’s that guarantees you become invested in the the story. If this is the start of a new series I’d definitely like to catch up with these 2 in the next book.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Anne Frasier is the pen name of Theresa Weir, widely known for her excellent memoir, The Orchard. Her fiction stands out, in my opinion, for her deep and compassionate understanding of physic pain. This book, which I hope will only be the first in a series, is a police procedural set in Minneapolis about Police Detective Jude Fontaine, who was kidnapped, tortured, repeatedly raped and held prisoner in a small box-like area for three years. In that time, she saw no one but her captor, whose every feature and movement she learned to read precisely. As the story begins, Jude escapes, and after some disorientation, she convinces the Minneapolis Police Department she has returned. (Thought only 35, her hair is now completely white, she has lost a great deal of weight, and has numerous scars and contusions.) The Chief, Vivian Ortega, assigns Detective Uriah Ashby to ascertain what happened to her and help her get readjusted.After Jude recovers (physically) and comes back on the force, she is partnered with Uriah. On their first case, while checking into an apparent suicide, Jude insists that the young girl found drowned was in fact murdered, claiming she can read signs on the body. She explains she has heightened senses because of her experience, but Uriah is more than skeptical. He speaks to members of Jude's (estranged) family - her father, who is the state governor, Phillip Schilling, and brother Adam, both of whom claim Jude has “mental problems.” Adam warns Uriah that Jude has always been paranoid and delusional. Jude also becomes convinced that the cases of other missing girls are connected to this new death, and pushes to broaden the investigation. When she is both denied that opportunity and dropped from the force, she continues on her own. Once again, Jude is in great danger, and her confidence as a detective, and more importantly, her survival, is at risk. Discussion: The author has personal experience with tragedy and grieving, and it shows in her perspicacious portrayal of pain and loss. In one insightful passage, confronting another person’s insecurities over giving her up for dead while she was gone, Jude thinks:“Everybody wanted forgiveness. Once again she found herself in the role of making someone else feel okay about her capture. Once again she was the one doing the comforting, the reassuring.”I remember a cancer patient telling me the same thing: one of the most exhausting and irritating things for her was having to comfort everyone else when in fact, it was she who needed comforting.In another astute and observant part of the story, the newly free Jude goes into a coffee shop. The cheery barista asks: “How’s your day going? Got any big plans?” Jude thinks: “The question had no doubt been part of her training, so it wasn’t the girl’s fault. But the delivery came with the prepackaged assumption that there was no suffering in the world.”Again, how closely she captures the feelings of people who have, for example, just experienced a death in the family, or have gotten bad medical news. The rest of the world can’t be blamed for carrying on, or being cheery, but it makes the person feel more hurt and lonely, in some ways, with that reminder that the world is now different and worse for him or her.Jude feels shame, too, over - as she sees it - having succumbed; quit fighting; quit planning escapes. The fact that she finally did escape doesn’t allow her to forgive herself; not yet, anyway. Further, those who know what happened to Jude are reluctant to be around her: “She was a constant reminder of unspeakable acts and unspeakable pain . . . ” In so many ways, this mirrors how people so often treat others who have something bad happen to them, as if it might be “catching.”Uriah has had his own share of tragedy, but feels he can’t talk about it with Jude, because his suffering can’t possibly compare to hers: he thinks he doesn’t deserve sympathy from her. Again, how many of us are reluctant to complain about, for example, “first world problems” for precisely this reason?And finally, on top of their personal trials, both Jude and Uriah struggle with how to handle the awful things they see people do to each other on their job. How do they not lose faith in humanity, and in the future? How can they ever learn to trust again?Evaluation: This is an interesting and unexpectedly complex story, and the author’s character development of the two troubled main protagonists is excellent. Most of all, the author brings a sensitivity to her work that is so perceptive you feel the pain and sadness of her characters keenly. She deftly manages to overcome the "normalization" of horror that sometimes accompanies its glib inclusion in crime thrillers, by giving it a recognizable shape, a personal impact, and an avenue by which to reach emotional engagement.

[misspider-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the best thrillers I've read in a very long time! With an original plot and unique characters this definitely stands out among the mass of titles available in that genre. The writing was superb and made reading the story a real pleasure.I liked the characters very much - both flawed, both struggling to cope with their individual fates and also struggling to find a way to work together as partners. I was glad that the return of the 'Body Reader' to her old position at the police department was not understood, and that her colleagues were in doubt about her fast recovery. It made the whole scenario believable, as well as the partnership Jude and Uriah slowly built in their work together.It was fascinating to see Jude struggle with her lack of emotions while at the same time being tormented with the emotions of those around her, especially her partner, which she experienced much more intensive as others. At the same time, it was interesting to see how Uriah often tried to hide his feelings, knowing Jude could read him like an open book.'The Body Reader' is an excellent example of a character-driven book, and while the crime was shocking and the following investigation suspenseful, the real focus was on the development of Jude and Uriah into a team. Highly recommended!(I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)