Quick Synopsis

A stranger pulls up a bar stool next to Adam Price and then proceeds to share a devastating secret about Adam’s wife. After Adam confronts his wife, she disappears and things began to fall apart. Can Adam find his wife and get to the bottom of what she is not telling him? How many lives will the stranger ruin?

Publisher’s Synopsis

The Stranger appears out of nowhere, perhaps in a bar, or a parking lot, or at the grocery store. Their identity is unknown. Their motives are unclear. Their information is undeniable. Then they whisper a few words in your ear and disappear, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world…

Adam Price has a lot to lose: a comfortable marriage to a beautiful woman, two wonderful sons, and all the trappings of the American Dream: a big house, a good job, a seemingly perfect life.

Then he runs into the Stranger. When he learns a devastating secret about his wife, Corinne, he confronts her, and the mirage of perfection disappears as if it never existed at all. Soon Adam finds himself tangled in something far darker than even Corinne’s deception, and realizes that if he doesn’t make exactly the right moves, the conspiracy he’s stumbled into will not only ruin lives—it will end them.

Book Review

The Stranger is a fast-paced thriller full of twists you will never see coming. It is Harlan Coben at his best. The story quickly pulled me in and propelled me through to the very end.

I love the premise of this book – a stranger approaching people in public, sharing a devastating secret about a loved one, and disappearing to never be seen again. Some of the secrets were ones I would never suspect someone of doing, but I think they were all entirely believable. I think that is part of what makes them so shocking.

I thought the main character was well-developed. I also found that the characters in this book, as in other Coben books, are real people in that they are not perfect. I find it so refreshing to read about people who are like anyone you may know. I find it so tiresome that so many books peddle perfect characters.

Unfortunately, I read The Stranger a couple weeks ago and did not write down my thoughts, so I can’t remember a lot of details. But what I can say is that I really enjoyed this book. I definitely recommend it for those who love a good thriller or mystery!

Rating

Overall Rating

Writing

Plot

Character Development