The Stranger Inside ~ Lisa Unger
Genre: Psychological Thriller/ Mystery
Published: 3 Oct 2019 | HQ
Swathi’s Rating: 4.5/5
I’m so thrilled to be on the blog tour for Lisa Unger’s new thriller today as it comes out in the UK tomorrow. It’s a stellar read, brilliantly crafted by the author’s renown storytelling skill! I’d strongly urge you to grab a copy if you’re into gripping psychological thrillers. Happy reading! xx
About the Book:
Even good people are drawn to do evil things…
Twelve-year-old Rain Winter narrowly escaped an abduction while walking to a friend’s house. Her two best friends, Tess and Hank, were not as lucky. Tess never came home, and Hank was held in captivity before managing to escape. Their abductor was sent to prison but years later was released. Then someone delivered real justice—and killed him in cold blood.
Now Rain is living the perfect suburban life, her dark childhood buried deep. She spends her days as a stay-at-home mom, having put aside her career as a hard-hitting journalist to care for her infant daughter. But when another brutal murderer who escaped justice is found dead, Rain is unexpectedly drawn into the case. Eerie similarities to the murder of her friends’ abductor force Rain to revisit memories she’s worked hard to leave behind. Is there a vigilante at work? Who is the next target? Why can’t Rain just let it go?
Swathi’s Thoughts:
Now: Rain Winter is a new mom of her beautiful baby girl, a caring husband living in a nice family home. Her peace gets interrupted as soon as she hears the murder of Markham, whose case she recently worked on. Markham was accused of brutally killing his pregnant wife and her unborn baby and somehow escaped the law. Now he is murdered. Soon, the police are connecting the murder to two more killings of people who acutely escaped the law. Is there a vigilante at work? Rain’s instinct as an investigative journalist tells her there is so much more to the case that they’re seeing. She starts her own investigation with her BFF and her inside contacts to find out more. Meanwhile, she has to tackle her family life, her dutiful husband and her gorgeous happy baby. Will this case change her life forever?
Past: 12 year old Laraine Winter, Hank and Tess were chased by a sex offender and when Laraine tries to escape, the psychopath kills Tess and abuse Hank leaving them scarred for life. Lara lives her life with the guilt of running away leaving her friends in danger. And Hank develops a personality disorder that controls his life.
The chapters shuffle from Hank to Rain, both of them leading a normal life on the outside and a hidden personality in the inside. They’re both connected by their sinister past which is impossible to get out of.
This is a dark and disturbing psychological thriller with descriptive chapters taking us into a deeper world that Lisa has designed for her readers. Once you reach there, there’s no putting the book down. Serious issues of childhood abuse, trauma, personality disorder are imposed on the characters and Lisa renders uplifting solutions as her recover out of their issues.
It’s a compulsive read and I warn you, an intense, dark and creepy one! There are some twists that left me gaping at what I’ve just read and utterly unpredictable. If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers that could consume you, Lisa Unger’s name should be on your list of authors! Highly recommended by me.
Many thanks to the publisher for having me on the official blog tour. All opinions are mine and no way biased.
Meet the Author:
Lisa Unger is the NYT bestselling author of 17 novels. Her work has been published in 26 languages, with millions of readers worldwide. In 2019, she received 2 Edgar Award nominations. Under My SKin is also a finalist for the Hammett Prize and Macavity Award. Her work has been voted “Best of the Year” or top picks by the Today show, GMA, EW, Amazon, IndieBound and many others. She has written for the NYT, WSJ, NPR, and Travel+Leisure. She lives in Florida with her family.