Go-Between

I was lucky enough to read an early copy of this thrill ride of a novel. Whether you've read the first in the series, Getaway, or not, this book will keep you turning pages quickly and wondering until the end how it will all resolve. Highly recommend.

I've read Lisa Brackmann's entire Ellie MacEnroe series, so I decided to try one of her other novels. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this was actually a sequel. Fortunately, it stands alone pretty well, though it was obvious early on that there was a ton of backstory and characters being introduced that clearly had some history, which made me go back and check out the book's blurb and realize I'd missed the preceding book.The protagonist of Go-Between is similar in temperament, if not in her si [...]

If you read Lisa Brackmann’s best selling Getaway (2012) you’ve probably been impatiently waiting for Go-Between as it brings us up to date on Michelle Mason, heroine of Getaway. Once again Brackmann has penned a smart, timely thriller that’ll keep you up until all hours. It has a fast start and once begun it’s impossible to put down. With Go-Between Michelle has reinvented herself and started a new life. She’s now Emily and the owner of Evergreen, a popular bistro in Humboldt County, [...]

"F*cking Gary." It almost made me chuckle-except that I still had an unforgettable memory of the scene at the dump in Getaway, Lisa Brackmann's earlier book about these characters. With plot twists, characters, aliases, intrigue, and tense, omigod-I-have-to-shut-the-book-for-minute-so-I-can-breathe-again situations, Brackmann is one of the best writers of thrillers around; her characters 100% ring true, and she had me on the edge of my seat the entire read. Go-Between did not hold up to Getaway [...]

Lisa Brackmann goes domestic with this thriller set in California. LGo-Between pits the supporters of legalized marijuana and sentencing reform against the shadowy forces of the multi-billion dollar private prison industry, and with a deft sleight of hand, Brackmann transforms powerful social insight into a nerve-zapping luge run of lies, murder, dirty politics, drug smuggling, love, betrayal and black ops run amok.

Stayed up half the night to finish this book. Engaging, suspenseful. Smart and savvy. About issues that matter and resonate right now.

Number one thing you need to know about this book: it's noir! Do you like noir? Then you will like this book. It's full of futility and powerful corporations/people and the protagonist is just a small cog in a huge machine that's churning almost inevitably forward. THAT kind of noir. Two: Technically this book is standalone but I highly recommend reading the first installment, Getaway, which has the same protagonist. Otherwise you're gonna be kinda like, wait, who are 'the boys' and why should I [...]

I like Lisa Brackman's writing and I really liked 'Go-Between', but I would've enjoyed it even more had I read her previous work where the cast of characters had been introduced. By the end of Go-Between, I was pretty sure I understood the various relationships and had at least an inkling of what had happened in the past. However, it was pretty irritating to spend the majority of the book wondering about who these people really were. It's a pretty tricky plot. Ellen runs a little upscale hippie [...]

Another super-intelligent page turning thriller by Lisa Brackmann! I adore her China based books for their intricate plotting and super-realistic characters and settings, all of which I am familiar with from my time in China. I was pleased to discover that she'd written more. With GETAWAY and GO BETWEEN, she tackles Mexico and Humboldt County and the drug trade and for profit prison system therein. Her books are not about heroic, super-cool detectives but rather REAL PEOPLE that get caught up in [...]

Real rating: 4.5 I dug this -- it's a very current story (private prison and pot legalization are central to the plot) without seeming Ripped From the Headlines and the constant, looming threat feels very real, as does the fact that, despite being able to deal with unexpected situations better than most of us, when it comes right down to it, Michelle really has no idea what the hell she's doing. While I still haven't decided whether or the ending was an anticlimax, Brackmann tells her story well [...]

It's hard to review this in detail without giving too much away, so I will just say that in my opinion this is Lisa Brackmann's best book yet, a noir thrill ride that manages to deliver a timely critique of the US prison system without losing a beat of momentum in the fast-paced plot. Go-Between is actually a sequel to Getaway, but it's billed as a stand-alone, and I think it could work that way (I did read Getaway, but it's been a few years). If you like strong, multi-dimensional female protago [...]

I interviewed Lisa Brackmann about GO-BETWEEN for the "Los Angeles Review of Books": lareviewofbooks/article/t

Hoping for a sequel!

A solid follow-up to the uneven 'Getaway'. Ms. Backmann hits all the right buttons for Michelle Mason now Emily Carmichael.It appears she tied up this series in two books, but I guess we'll see. Ellie McEnroe has more depth due to her war past and location in China but juggling the dual identities of Michelle and Emily worked well here.

Not too bad a story but it goes "on and on" in places with not too relevant trivia. Makes good points for changing drug laws and incarcerating far fewer prisoners for non violent crimes. A real problem that needs changing, but blaming it on unscrupulous capitalists might be a stretch! Skip reading is the best way to get through the book and I found myself doing it more and more as I got further in.

I was a little confused about the relationship between Gary and Emily/Michele. I didn't know that this was a sequel to a previous book.A complicated plot. A not for profit organization is against the idea of legalizing pot. There is a lot of money in selling pot and, those who are benefiting from it want to ensure that pot remains a street drug to capitalize on this revenue stream.As a spin off, drug users and dealers get caught and go to jail. Now that prisons are being run by corporations rath [...]

I couldn't put Go-Between down. It raced from page to page with non-stop action and relatable characters. In Go-Between, as with her other books, Brackmann cleverly inserts well-researched and timely political backstory, so that the reader is happily schooled in issues that confront our world today, while becoming immersed in a good thriller. I loved Michelle's character, a flawed, slightly criminal, but very principled restaurant owner with a new identity and a murky past. When the worst of tha [...]

For the first half of this book I felt lost. I did not have a clue about what the urgency was that drove the main character, Michelle, to do what was demanded of her by an old nemesis. Only after the fact, I find out that this book was a sequel. The lead-in plot of the first book was not explained clearly enough for me to understand the undercurrents in this one. After the first half, new action picked up and the past did not matter. Characters were developed and the plot followed the new path. [...]

2.5 I never really liked Michelle and there wasn't enough suspense or tension. Also I wish I'd known this was a sequel to Getaway

Interesting combination of thriller and behind-the-scenes look at election 'management' by companies who profit greatly from incarceration.

Hated it.I slogged through to about the halfway point. Not that much happened in all those pages. I was nowhere near figuring out all the players and I didn't care because they were all crooks. It was just too hard to have empathy for the main character. She was always using the F word, drinking alcohol (and telling you all about what kind), and thinking about clothes. How interesting is that? I really found it tedious how the author had to describe each person in the book no matter how minor. I [...]