Shalini Boland continues to grow as a psych thriller author. A Perfect Stranger is a combination of taut scenes, complex characters, and “omg, what did I just read” moments.
Even as the reader has to suspend disbelief just a bit, it is not hard to do so because the entertainment level is so high.
In other words, you’re not going to get a lot of depth, but you’re going to get a page-turning and engaging psych thriller if you just roll with it.
Like many psych thrillers, the story starts with an event before going back in time to the months leading up to that event. Sometimes it is easy to see how the event plays into current events.
In this case, however, it is not so apparent. I spent a good part of the first half of the book wondering how the prologue fits into the narrative. I like that it kept me guessing.
Even as Emily and Aidan circle around the issues they are facing it is easy to see that there is a lot more going on underneath the surface. Some of that doesn’t appear until way late in the book.
Again, it is an effective way to keep the reader hooked.
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The story unfolds in alternating chapters, going back and forth between Emily and Dani’s points of view. As with other aspects, it takes a while to figure out how they are connected.
And oh boy, are they.
The way those are revealed is part of the suspension of disbelief that I mentioned earlier. But by the time you actually get to the point where you need to do that, you are all in.
The author wisely drops some red herrings along with some legit clues as to what is causing all of the trouble for both Emily and Dani.
Even after you get to the event of the prologue, there is still more to come. The author saves one big twist for the very end.
And that twist illustrates just how everyone in this book is pretty much a perfect stranger to everyone else.
Shalini Boland has done it again. If you liked her other books, such as The Family Holiday, you’ll like A Perfect Stranger.
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Author Bio:
Shalini lives in Dorset, England with her husband, two children and Jess their cheeky terrier cross. Before kids, she was signed to Universal Music Publishing as a singer songwriter, but now she spends her days writing suspense thrillers (in between school runs and hanging out endless baskets of laundry).
