A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena // Whoa. This Was Mind-Warping.

A Stranger in the House, by Shari Lapena
Publication: August 15, 2017, by Doubleday Canada
Genre: Adult Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary
Pages: 306
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Rating: 

Karen and Tom Krupp are happy—they’ve got a lovely home in upstate New York, they’re practically newlyweds, and they have no kids to interrupt their comfortable life together. But one day, Tom returns home to find Karen has vanished—her car’s gone and it seems she left in a rush. She even left her purse—complete with phone and ID—behind.
There's a knock on the door—the police are there to take Tom to the hospital where his wife has been admitted. She had a car accident, and lost control as she sped through the worst part of town.
The accident has left Karen with a concussion and a few scrapes. Still, she’s mostly okay—except that she can’t remember what she was doing or where she was when she crashed. The cops think her memory loss is highly convenient, and they suspect she was up to no good.
Karen returns home with Tom, determined to heal and move on with her life. Then she realizes something’s been moved. Something’s not quite right. Someone’s been in her house. And the police won't stop asking questions.
Because in this house, everyone’s a stranger. Everyone has something they’d rather keep hidden. Something they might even kill to keep quiet. 

My Thoughts:

After devouring Shari Lapena's The Couple Next Door and falling in love with this genre of mystery/thrillers, or, more specifically, psychological thrillers, I decided that I was in love with Lapena's writing. Little did I know that she would be releasing a new gorgeous read this summer until I received it from the publisher. A Stranger in the House wasn't as good as Lapena's debut novel, however, it was extremely suspenseful and lovely. Once I began reading it, I was hooked and unable to stop sitting in the world of Tom and Karen. There were so many things I enjoyed concerning the premise of this story, and I seriously recommend this to those who love mind-warping endings and the possible hint of a sequel (which I know will not occur... but it did sure sound like it).

This should just be a movie already. Directors, producers, and film productions, PLEASE GET YOUR HANDS ON THE RIGHTS OF THIS FILM BECAUSE THE WORLD WILL BE OBSESSED. Really obsessed. Obsessed to the point that this will become more popular and well-known that Gillian Flynn's books. I feel like the world is really addicted to suspense stories, and there's only a few that could be better than this book. This book relies on its storyline and premise that involves mystery and secrets left behind in the past. You really don't know what's happening until you reach the middle part of the book. Once you're there, there's no looking back. You become obsessed to the point that you will not stop reading until it's over.

SO. This story revolves around the lives of a married couple: Tom and Karen. They live in upstate New York, and they're happy with their "perfect" lives. However, one day, Tom comes home from his job to find Karen gone, the lights on, the door unlocked, and a dinner that was beginning to be prepared. He panics, and he discovers that his wife was in a rough part of the city, and was caught in a car accident. She has amnesia, not remembering how or why she ended up in that situation. And then, more details begin to pop up, and BAM evidence points towards her having something to do with a crime exactly in that part of town. 

This was action-packed for the beginning part (maybe first 70 pages?) and then it just downgraded, and eventually picked itself up again. It had a teeter-totter pace, if you know what I mean. Through the middle part, I just felt my reading pace slow down as I began to get uninterested with the whole detective work and whatnot. But when it picked itself up again, OH MY. I couldn't stop. We also need to talk about THAT ENDING. I was in complete shock with how Lapena created EVEN MORE POSSIBLE SUSPENSE BY THE END OF THIS. Although the story's "solution to the mystery" was kind of predictable, I really enjoyed it.

 

A Stranger in the House was mind-warping, messed up, and *insert other adjectives to describe a crazy story that you couldn't get out of your mind.* I am a huge fan of Shari Lapena's writing and I will never stop picking up her stories. Please throw more of them at me!

*A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a honest review. Thank you so much!*

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