The Stranger Inside (Paperback)

Reviews

"My review" by Breakaway R. - 12 May 2019

A well-written mystery with a difficult-to-like protagonist Kimber Hannon comes home from a weekend away to find a stranger living inside her house. Naturally, she calls the police, only to discover that the man, Lance Wilson, has paperwork to prove he is living their legally and she is stunned to find herself refused re-entry. To make things worse, when Kimber confronts him, Lance gets close enough to reveal that he saw the terrible thing Kimber did years ago and that he knows her deepest darkest secret. Unsure of whom she can trust, Kimber must find out who the imposter in her house is and how much he knows about her past. As she delves into the mystery, the people around her start to get hurt, and she realises that the stranger in her home may be more dangerous than she ever suspected. This was an interesting and fast-moving mystery story that started off strong with its excellent opening. The idea of a stranger living in your house, sleeping in your bed and touching and using all your possessions is a universally unnerving one, and Kimber's helplessness when she is denied entry into her own home really catches the reader's attention and gets you wondering what you would do in that awful situation. While the gripping nature of the opening did falter a bit towards the end of the first half, the story quickly picks up pace again in the second act, and the twists and shocks keep coming. Eventually, it builds up to an exciting and unexpected climax that felt satisfying and tied together most of the loose ends of the story nicely. Unfortunately, I found Kimber a very selfish and unsympathetic character, and this really impacted my enjoyment of the story. While the author tries to present her as a flawed but ultimately good young woman, she came across as a vindictive person who uses those around her to her own advantage, and the justifications for her behaviour from her past (such as her absent father) felt quite weak. Additionally, there were some aspects of the plot that felt a little far-fetched to me, and several characters that Kimber interacts with seemed to completely change their personalities in the second half of the book, with no explanation other than seemingly to advance the storyline. In conclusion, this was an enjoyable book and definitely worth a read for fans of psychological thrillers or mystery stories. The main character is not sympathetic, but the plot is engaging, and the author is clearly a talented writer. Daenerys Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of this book to review.