21 January 2019

Review: The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda

The Perfect Stranger by Megan Mirana
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: April 11, 2017
Book Format: Hardcover
# of Pages: 337
Synopsis: Confronted by a restraining order and the threat of a lawsuit, failed journalist Leah Stevens needs to get out of Boston when she runs into an old friend, Emmy Grey, who has just left a troubled relationship. Emmy proposes they move to rural Pennsylvania, where Leah can get a teaching position and both women can start again. But their new start is threatened when a woman with an eerie resemblance to Leah is assaulted by the lake, and Emmy disappears days later.

Determined to find Emmy, Leah cooperates with Kyle Donovan, a handsome young police officer on the case. As they investigate her friend’s life for clues, Leah begins to wonder: did she ever really know Emmy at all? With no friends, family, or a digital footprint, the police begin to suspect that there is no Emmy Grey. Soon Leah’s credibility is at stake, and she is forced to revisit her past: the article that ruined her career. To save herself, Leah must uncover the truth about Emmy Grey—and along the way, confront her old demons, find out who she can really trust, and clear her own name.

Everyone in this rural Pennsylvanian town has something to hide—including Leah herself. How do you uncover the truth when you are busy hiding your own?


My Thoughts: 
Megan Miranda has done it again with her most recent adult fiction publication known as The Perfect Strangers. It follows to young girls who decide to up and leave everything behind and rent a cute little cabin together in a small town. As time goes on Leah starts to notice some odd things about her roommate Emmy, and it all gets worse once she goes missing.

The beginning is interesting because us as readers don’t get to know much about either character. In true Miranda fashion, we get flashbacks every now and again that gives us a little background on the characters, but we are kept in the dark enough to get to know the characters in an exciting way as we read through the novel.

The premise of this reminds me a lot of Stephen King’s newest novel, The Outsider in which a well known/liked school coach is convicted of murder. It’s a little different here because coach Cobb is only being charged with assault for a part of the book, but just the reminisce of an author I loved made me happy.

This is the type of mystery that had me yelling at the book at some points, and that is how you know you are reading something good. Miranda took her time to flesh out each character and bring them together in such ways that were surprising as well as satisfying. The relationship between main character Leah and the lead detective on the case Kyle is forbidden, but that doesn’t stop the two from getting to know each other.

Leah not only is having a hard time figuring out what is going on with her missing roommate but she is afraid to even be in her house in fear that someone is watching her closely and is trying to hurt her somehow. As readers we get to see her grapple with everything that is going on in her life--juggling her students at her new job, assault issues, her missing roommate, a new romance and her past following her around is a lot to handle for this young women.

The book is pretty small, so I was apprehensive about Miranda’s ability to wrap up the plethora of loose ends. But just like any other good mystery, she did a great job giving us so many different puzzles to pay attention to, and she was able to wrap each one of them up nicely without leaving her readers unsatisfied.

My favorite part of this novel was the inclusion of a small relationship between Kyle and Leah. Although romance is to be expected the two who were involved in this romance had a lot going on in both of their lives which is why it was peaceful to read those moments between them almost as a quick and much-needed break to all the fear and mystery going on in their town.



  

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