Twenty Years a Stranger-Blog Tour (Review)-Fiction-Available Now

I have mixed feelings about this book.

On the one hand it was an epic story with excellent examples of gaslighting that highlighted both the vulnerability and the resilience of women.

On the other hand, the male character was so vile that I had a difficult time with him. He was so unlikeable to me that parts were unenjoyable to read.

I guess in a way that’s a good thing, because he was that real to me. Fortunately, I have never had the pleasure of dealing with such a person in real life.

The story is told mainly from the perspective of Grace. But she receives an email that lets her know that her husband isn’t who she thinks he is. We then get a few chapters from the point of view of the girlfriend(s).

That’s right, Daniel leads quite the double (triple? Quadruple?) life.

The author did a good job weaving the stories so that it was fairly easy to see where overlap was and how Daniel manipulated the women. It was also frustrating, though, because I wanted to yell at them for some of the more obvious instances.

I thought that there were moments where the prose got away from the author. There is such a thing as too much description. At times it felt like it bogged down a little bit.

While it was a fascinating look at mental manipulation, it does take a darker turn that some readers might find troubling.

I for one enjoyed it. I understand that this was both based on a true story and the first in a series. It will certainly be interesting to see how the author follows up.

About Deborah Twelves:

Deborah Twelves was born in Sheffield, but raised in Ponteland, Northumberland. She studied French and Spanish at Edinburgh University and taught languages for some years while living in France, Spain and Northern Quebec. She now divides her time between her  home in Pwllheli, on the Llyn Peninsula of North Wales and her family home in Northumberland but often travels abroad. She has a black Labrador called Nala and a black Lusitano horse called Recurso (Ric), who take up a lot of her spare time, although yacht racing, which she began at an early age with her father, remains her great passion.

Deborah has written many articles for the sailing press over the years and Twenty Years a Stranger is her debut novel, based on true events in her life. It is the first book in the Stranger Trilogy. The other two books, Ghost of a Stranger and The Boy Stranger will follow soon.

Here’s a bonus interview between Alison Pierse and Deborah Twelves:
https://vimeo.com/461365450?ref=em-share