Monday 26 March 2018

#BookReview The Stranger by Kate Riordan @KateRiordanUK @MichaelJBooks

The Stranger by Kate Riordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cornwall, 1940.

In the hushed hours of the night a woman is taken by the sea.

Was it a tragic accident? Or should the residents of Penhallow have been more careful about whom they invited in?

In the midst of war three women arrive seeking safety at Penhallow Hall.

Each is looking to escape her past.

But one of them is not there by choice.

As the threat of invasion mounts and the nightly blackouts feel longer and longer, tensions between the close-knit residents rise until dark secrets start to surface.

And no one can predict what their neighbour is capable of . . .

In a house full of strangers, who do you trust?


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The Stranger is the third book I have read by Kate Riordan and I love the chilling atmosphere of the book. The book starts off very mysterious with a suggestive chapter "The Night Diana Devlin goes Missing", and then the book jumps back in time taking us six weeks back in time and then we get to learn the main characters in the book, land girl Diane Devlin, both through her POV and her diary, her roommate and also land girl Rose and also the lady of the mansion Eleanor. All three women have secrets and Diane is the catalyst that will bring past events to the light.

The Stranger is a book that at first felt a bit difficult to place, it definitely felt more chilling than the previous two books I have read by the author, more thriller than a mystery. Also, I found the characters a bit hard to connect to, especially Diane was difficult to figure out because the version you get to know through the diary feels a lot different from the person the other characters meet. Let me just say that she provoked so many people that I was not surprised that the book started off with her going missing. It was first towards the end that I realized that her presence in Penhollow perhaps was not so bad, she did set things in motion. Things that had to be dealt with. However, what will the consequences be?

I will end this review by saying that the ending was not what I expected and I want to say bravo to the author! It was such a great ending, so perfect!

I want to thank Penguin UK for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!

1 comment:

  1. Pretty cover and I do love to read about secrets as they come to light.
    sherry @ fundinmental

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