A Stranger in the House
Ratings35
Average rating3.4
15
Ratings35
Average rating3.4
"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door, a new thriller featuring a suspicious accident, a wife who can't account for herself, and unsettling questions that threaten to tear the couple apart You're home making dinner for your husband. You expect him any second. The phone rings--it's the call you hoped you'd never get. You jump in your car and race to a neighborhood you thought you'd never visit. You peer into the dark, deserted building. You brace yourself for the worst. And then, you remember nothing else. They tell your husband you've been in an accident. You lost control of your car as you sped through the worst side of town. The police suspect you were up to no good. But your husband refuses to believe it. Your best friend is not so sure. And even you don't know what to believe.."--
Reviews with the most likes.
I picked up this book because I fancied a captivating read that I could get through quickly. I've been hovering around 50% of the way through It by Stephen King for 2 months now and I wanted a success story to motivate me.
Stranger in the House was a captivating, quick read. I was gratified by how quickly the percentage increased on my kindle, and motivated to keep reading. I found the story to be somewhat predictable but an enjoyable read.
Particularly where I felt this book fell short was the length and the lack of development. The writing style felt a lot more “show” rather than tell, and did not build up a emotional response to flat characters I felt were doing some bizzare actions to further the plot.
I do not fault the plot for being predictable for a predictable plot can still be a great book if written in an intelligent and exciting way. More that the book was lacklustre in a few ways.
3.5 rounded up.
It was a decent story but way too drawn out for my liking.
A Stranger in the House was fast paced and plot driven with little character development, much like Lapena's previous book The Couple Next Door . The amnesia-driven plot has been overdone in the genre and this book unfortunately didn't execute it well enough to make up for it. There was a very small cast of characters which would have worked if the characters were more interesting or likable. As it was the husband was insufferable - he comes home to dinner on the stove, his wife nowhere to be found, her keys and bag on the counter, and he's annoyed that she didn't tell him she was leaving because he'd had a bad day and looking forward to seeing her. After she's found and is being questioned in connection to a murder he says “he's surprised he can still love her when he doesn't trust her.” All after a single, strange incident. The one character I was excited to see make a return was Detective Rasbach, who made his first appearance in Lapena's first novel. Overall the book was compulsively readable but not particularly memorable.
(Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group/Viking for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)
