Nine Perfect Strangers

I had absolutely no idea what to expect when I went into this book but I really want to watch the show, so I made it a priority to read the book first and am so glad I did! I immensely enjoyed almost everything from the flawless writing to the deep look into the strangers' psyches and it just goes to show- Liane Moriarty doesn't disappoint. And I am thrilled for it! I have a few more of her books on my shelf and am almost certain that I will really enjoy them as well.

To begin with, Nine Perfect Strangers is about nine individuals who go on a transformative retreat at Tranquillum House and get a bit more than they bargained for. This is my first retreat thriller but I loved it as the basis for a “locked-in” thriller, that felt more suspense than thriller at times. I didn't mind that though because even though the plot is definitely a lot more character driven then plot driven, which I usually am not the biggest fan of, in this book I couldn't get enough of it. The only thing that I had to bump a star down for is the pacing, which at times felt a little unnecessarily long and stretched out. This book is on the thick side, but could have easily been cut down by 50 pages, in my opinion. That's really the only issue I had with the book though.

Further on, the characterization in this book was absolutely astounding. I grew to like and relate to all of the nine imperfect strangers, even though they had a lot of really bad qualities and were extremely flawed in every way. That's actually what I look for most in my characters, the more real and raw- the better. As I have stated previously in this review, this book is extremely character driven and not a lot happens for a good majority of it, however, because the characters were so genuinely raw and because we got to see very deep into their innermost psyches, I really didn't mind at all- I actually loved to read from all their different perspectives. Bravo!

Finally, the writing style is so masterful, that Liane Moriarty is definitely one of my favorite authors of all time- hands down. The way that she can weave words together so intelligently and beautifully, and yet also make everything so comprehensive that I didn't have to go back and reread any parts more than once, that is truly a gift to behold for a reader. It was a chunkier book and the writing was kind of small and yet, I didn't mind in the least. Really need to get to her backlist soon!

In conclusion, I recommend this novel to fans of suspense and maybe thriller lovers who can stand a little bit of a slow burn and a character-driven plot. It's not a book that's for everyone but the right readers will really enjoy it, I believe. Now, I am beyond excited to watch the show because tv shows are my other favorite things besides books. Give it a shot, I'm so glad I did!