A perfect holiday gift.Shari Lapena’s new thriller, AN UNWANTED GUEST, is available now!“Smart and suspenseful. . . you’ll never see the ending coming.” –PureWowIn this neighborhood, danger lies close to home. A domestic thriller packed full of secrets, and a twisty story that never stops—from the bestselling author of The Couple Next DoorHe looks at her, concerned. “How do you feel?” She wants … Couple Next Door
He looks at her, concerned. “How do you feel?” She wants to say, Terrified. Instead, she says, with a faint smile, “Glad to be home.”
Karen and Tom Krupp are happy—they’ve got a lovely home in upstate New York, they’re practically newlyweds, and they have no kids to interrupt their comfortable life together. But one day, Tom returns home to find Karen has vanished—her car’s gone and it seems she left in a rush. She even left her purse—complete with phone and ID—behind.
There’s a knock on the door—the police are there to take Tom to the hospital where his wife has been admitted. She had a car accident, and lost control as she sped through the worst part of town.
The accident has left Karen with a concussion and a few scrapes. Still, she’s mostly okay—except that she can’t remember what she was doing or where she was when she crashed. The cops think her memory loss is highly convenient, and they suspect she was up to no good.
Karen returns home with Tom, determined to heal and move on with her life. Then she realizes something’s been moved. Something’s not quite right. Someone’s been in her house. And the police won’t stop asking questions.
Because in this house, everyone’s a stranger. Everyone has something they’d rather keep hidden. Something they might even kill to keep quiet.
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I feel like the author did well with leaving you guessing until the very end. This book is similar in context like her other books which I like, it’s an easy read and keeps you interested.
I will start off by saying that I do not normally reach for domestic thrillers. A Stranger in the House was a wild ride and I loved every minute of it. I read the majority of the book in a little over two hours, and I’m pretty sure my heart was beating a little faster than normal.
The book is told from a few different perspectives, which takes some getting used to, but once you get past the first few chapters the story flows really well. Karen and Tom are your typical upper middle class, suburban newlyweds. They’re comfortable in their routine until Karen has a nasty car accident and can’t remember what caused it. Suddenly, Tom finds himself questioning if the woman he married is who she says she is. Karen and Tom both have secrets they’d rather not reveal, but their lives might depend on the truth coming out.
My favorite part of this story was the changing perspectives. Tom, Karen, and their neighbor Brigid are all unreliable narrators. They’re never telling the whole truth, and it makes you as the reader wonder if you can trust them. The characters are all pretty flat, and if I’m being honest, Tom is super gullible and naïve. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that he and Karen are in marriage counseling and on the brink of a pricey divorce if I checked in on them today. It’s hard to describe this book in detail without spoiling anything. It’s pretty formulaic for a thriller/mystery, so I would say that if you’ve read a lot of these types of books then you’ll probably see everything coming.
I initially gave this a 4 star rating but I’m changing it to a 3 star now that I’ve had some time to really take in what I read. As I said before, this is my first domestic thriller, so I don’t have much to compare it to. I thought it was a great read and I would recommend it, but I found that I disliked all of the characters and couldn’t identify with them. At times I found myself screaming at my book because Tom especially, was being a total boob. I will say that this book has made me want to reach for more domestic thrillers in the future and read more of Shari Lapena’s books. I think her writing is easy to read and get through super quick.
I couldn’t put the book down! I finished it in just a few hours. Excellent plot twists. It definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. It’s now one of my favorite books!
Love this author
This book grabbed me and had me wanting to know more. And in the end you never see what’s coming. And just when you think the spinning is done the author throws you for another last loop. Could not put it down.
Terribly predictable-waste of time.
This book left me reeling for a few days after I finished it before I could review, or even talk about it. The whole story is just a perfect storm of crime, deception, and what basically boils down to being human. Most of the way along you’re asking “ok, did she do it, did she not?” but nothing can really prepare you for the TRUE plot twist when all memory is restored. If you like Gone Girl you’ll love A Stranger in the House. Personally I was not a fan of Gone Girl so I am cautious about the second book the last chapter seems to promise. But it will be interesting to see how Karen deals with the fallout of her husband and Bridget with her memory fully restored.
Shari Lapena outdid herself with this book. I would say A Stranger in the House is as good as The Couple Next Door! I couldn’t put this book down; it was dark, suspenseful and I sure as hell didn’t see that ending coming — it’s a true mystery novel!
Newlyweds Tom and Karen have a picture perfect life, they have a beautiful home and Tom’s a successful accountant. One day Karen is in an accident, she’s crashed her car into a pole and has no idea why she was desperately speeding through her a dangerous neighborhood. While in the hospital, she can’t remember why she’s there. The police who come to ask her questions about the accident find this concerning, almost too good to be true. But to make matters worse, a dead body is discovered where Karen crashed her car!
While back at home recovering from her injuries, she begins to notice things in her home are misplaced; a glass on a counter, the stopper off her perfume is off and even an outline of a body on her bed. Was someone else in her home? With the police asking pointed questions, Tom and Karen become increasingly paranoid, which puts a strain on their once perfect marriage. Karen finds support from her best friend and neighbor, who keeps a very close eye on Tom and Karen!
This is an intriguing and fast-paced thriller that was truly so compelling, I honestly couldn’t put it down! Shari Lapena’s style of writing is easy to follow and I enjoyed the alluring plot twists throughout this novel. Like her previous book, The Couple Next Door, this too has a shocking plot twist of an ending that I really never saw coming!
Shari Lapena has me wrapped around her novels now. From The Couple Next Door to this book, A Stranger in the House, I couldn’t have asked for a better mystery/thriller/suspense author. I am excited and anxious to see what else this author has up her sleeve! Another wild ride from Lapena!
Read my full review here: https://bit.ly/2tTDbn9
EXCELLENT! Loved it more than the couple next door. Highly recommend!
The story begins with the husband coming home one evening to find his wife mysteriously gone. He soon discovers that she has been in an accident that took place in a seedy part of town, and she can’t remember a thing! She is barely out of the hospital before she is connected to a murder. From there, it just gets better and better while details are skillfully dripped, until just about all the characters seem untrustworthy. I had my suspicions about how it would end, but was still more than a little surprised!
Why did Karen leave the house in a rush and drive to a bad part of town? What caused her to speed so fast coming home to cause an accident from which she ended up in the hospital? Does Tom really know his wife of a few years? And what’s with the neighbor across the street?
I thoroughly enjoyed this psychological murder mystery, it was quite addictive and a quick page turner full of twists!
Karen Krupp gets a phone call that spooked her to the core. She flees her house she shares with her husband Tom and loses control of her car , thus subsequently losing her memory too!
Her best friend and neighbor Brigid suspects something is amiss with Karen and her story..
and the police aren’t buying Karen’s story either.
Can Karen regain her memory in time to save herself?
Are the people around her really what they seem and what exactly was she running from in the first place?
This story keeps you on edge with twisting plots and surprises to the very last page!
Lots of twists and turns in this story, and the conclusion can be an ending or the opening of a sequel. A seemingly perfect couple’s lives are suddenly put into an upheaval when Karen has a auto accident and she is left with no memory of why she was out driving and what caused the accident. Brilliant detectives are investigating a murder, and they are able to pinpoint the dead man’s death to minutes before Karen’s accident. The rest of the story keeps the reader going back and forth between believing Karen and then deciding she’s full of it. Good read!
I knew I would like this book! I figured the author of “The Couple Next Door” could do it again, and she did. I liked her first novel better, but maybe she did too;-) This one was a fabulous second that I will be recommending to my friend, who first recommended to ME her first book. I liked the ending. I liked the flow. I liked the suspense and mystery. I will keep looking out for Shari’s next new book!
I could see what was going to happen in the end. That did not change my like for the book. Both the women seemed crazy, but it was easy to tell the truth.
I liked the book, but did enjoy The Couple Next Door better.
Twist right at the end
I want to give this one more than 5 stars. Oh, the suspense was delicious! It was so good, I took a little more time than I normally would have to read it, simply because I was enjoying it so much. Incredibly written, twists and turns you don’t see coming, and that ending?! Oh my! Brilliant.
Ms. Lapena is one of my go-to authors for tautly-written suspense.
I checked this book out of the library and am voluntarily sharing my honest review.
Very predictable
Good mystery that has u reading into the night.