A Stranger in the House

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.)