This is the third book of Lisa Unger's that I've read and while I liked this one better than her previous one (Under My Skin, which came out last year), I would have to say my favorite is still The Red Hunter, which I read 2 years ago. With The Stranger Inside, Unger once again delivers a compelling story of psychological suspense that sets itself apart from other books in the genre through the oftentimes morally ambiguous characters she depicts — characters that often find themselves straddling that blurred line between right and wrong. With each of her books, Unger does a deep dive into the psyches of her main characters and it is this exploration of their inner thoughts that drives the plot.
The story here revolves around Rain Winter, a former journalist and current stay-at-home mom to an infant daughter, who is living a blissful suburban life that she built with her loving husband Greg. One day, Rain hears on the news a report about the murder of Steve Markham, a man who was widely believed to have escaped justice when he was acquitted of killing his pregnant wife a year earlier. Having been one of the journalists who had covered the original murder case, including the trial and subsequent acquittal, the news of Markham's death triggers in Rain a curiosity that piques in her a strong interest to dig into the case on her own. As she delves deeper and eventually uncovers an unexpected connection to a different case from her past, Rain suddenly finds herself pulled back into the dark memories of a horrific event that had occurred in her childhood — a nightmare that had left one of her friends dead, another friend irreparably damaged, and herself deeply traumatized. Even when further involvement in the case threatens to rip apart the beloved family she worked so hard to create, Rain still can't seem to pull herself away. In order to make amends for her past, will she have to sacrifice her family? Also, in a world where justice is not always on the right side of the law, the idea of morality and right vs wrong ultimately comes into question.
Plot-wise, I would say that this book fell more into the "slow-burn" category, meaning that, even though there were some twists and turns as is expected in suspense novels, the plot was not fast-paced to the point of keeping me on the edge of my seat impatiently waiting to see what happens next. Instead, most details were revealed gradually, a little bit at a time, through a narrative that jumped back and forth between the past and the present. While this worked well for the most part, I did feel that there were a few sections that got a bit too bogged down by details, which made those parts of the plot seem to drag a little. Overall though, this was a relatively minor issue, since things did get back on track pretty quickly after that.
With 3 of her books under my belt, Lisa Unger has become a "go-to" author of sorts for me now in terms of books in the psychological suspense genre. In addition to continuing to explore her backlist when I get a chance, I'm also looking forward to her next release, whenever that may be!
Received ARC from Park Row via Edelweiss.
No comments:
Post a Comment