You need to go grab this book…NOW!
It started as a reasonably straightforward plot; a woman (Caroline) finds out her husband (Jason) is cheating and finds solace in another man’s (Aidan’s) arms, then deals with the aftermath of the “affair.”
Or is that the truth of the matter?
It isn’t long before events start happening that make both the reader and Caroline question everything. Or should the reader believe Aidan?
The author deftly manipulates the action to keep the characters off-balance, and in turn, that keeps the reader off-balance as well. And that is the beauty of the book. I kept going back to re-read passages to see if I could figure out what was happening. By the time I got to the end, I wanted to read the whole thing over again to find possible clues.
As I mention in my Goodreads review (below), the twists come periodically at first. But roughly halfway through, the tension and the action speed up, and the hits and twist come fast and hard.
Reading this book was the absolute equivalent to a roller coaster. There is a slow build, but then holy hell, hold on to your seats for the rest of the ride.
It’s an excellent page-turner and a great way to spend a few days – especially if you need an escape from the coming school year or pressures of work. Lose yourself in this twisty thriller. You won’t be disappointed.
A Stranger on the Beach by Michele CampbellMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved this book! Through the first part of it, the author did an outstanding job of planting seeds that made me doubt who was telling the truth and who was lying. At any given moment, I could swing my “allegiance to the truth” between Aidan and Caroline. By Chapter 26, I was convinced that Aidan was a creepy stalker. By Chapter 42, my notes read, “Wth is going on?” and “What’s real and what isn’t?” And by 52, my notes were nothing but “Omg, no way!” (and variations thereof). I cannot stress what a fantastic book this was. It is an absolute page-turner and a perfect “end of summer” novel. I cannot recommend it enough. Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for a complimentary, pre-release digital ARC.
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