Thursday 20 December 2018

#BookReview The Stranger Upstairs by Melanie Raabe @panmacmillan

The Stranger Upstairs by Melanie Raabe
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

From Melanie Raabe, the author of The Trap, The StrangerUpstairs is another dazzling, dizzying psychological thriller guaranteed to keep you guessing until the very last page.

Several years ago, your husband, and the father of your young son, disappeared. Since then, you’ve dreamed of his return; railed against him for leaving you alone; grieved for your marriage; and, finally, vowed to move on.

One morning, the phone rings. When you answer, a voice at the other end tells you your husband’s on a plane bound for home, and that you’ll see him tomorrow.

You’ve imagined this reunion countless times. Of course you have. But nothing has prepared you for the reality. For you realize you don’t know this man.

Because he isn’t your husband, he’s a complete stranger – and he’s coming home with you.

Even worse, he seems to know about something very bad you once did, something no one else could possibly know about . . . Could they?


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Honestly, this is a bloody hard book to review. I had a hard time getting into the book, the only reason I kept going was the fact that I wanted to know the truth about the stranger. I was a bit frustrated at first, I mean come one, how could you just keep up the charade? If a man steps out of an airplane and is a total stranger, would you not say so? There must be photographs to prove the fact. However, all this, my questions, my musings got answered at the end. Still, I'm not even sure I totally liked the book. It's just not so thrilling and that's not a good thing for a book labeled a thriller. The very last part explains a lot and it's an interesting twist.

The Stranger Upstairs turned out to be not what I expected. I found it to be a so-so book with an ending that lifted the book thanks to it being not at all that I expected it to be. I both read and listen to this book's audio version (at work). Listening to it I think made a difference since I couldn't skim the book and it got me past some slow parts.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through Netgalley for an honest review!

1 comment:

  1. The basis of this plot reminds me of the movie "The Return of Martin Guerre" which was very good.

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