This e-ARC was provided to me by NetGalley and Penguin Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
Publication date: 3/24/2015
Adam Price is living the American Dream. He’s happily married to his college sweetheart, has two wonderful sons, the perfect house, and a job he loves. When he’s approached by the Stranger who tells him a devastating secret about his wife. Adam’s perfect life turns in a nightmare. Corinne disappears, leaving only a brief message on his cell phone, and he soon realizes that there is far more at stake than her deception. If he doesn’t untangle the web of lies and betrayal exactly the right way, this far-reaching conspiracy will not only destroy all their lives, it will finish them, permanently.
What I truly enjoy about Harlan Coben’s standalone novels is that they’re always based on a premise that could actually happen and then given a totally unique twist. This results with me staying up into the wee hours of the morning feverishly reading and biting my nails. The Stranger is no different. This is a warning regarding the information about ourselves that we leave behind every time we’re online, which is pretty much available to any so-inclined hacker. Can you imagine what you would do if a complete stranger walked up to you and gave you credible information that one of the people you trust implicitly may have actually been deceiving you about one of the most major events of your life? This is what happens to Adam, and when he starts to investigate he discovers his life may actually be built on a house of cards. And it’s not just his wife that may have been deceiving him. Neighbors, friends, and other loved ones could be part of the conspiracy. This is classic Coben which why I never tire of reading his books. There are so many twists and turns in this book that I really didn’t start to figure out what was going on until right near the end, and even then the conclusion still caught me by surprise. If you like mysteries with nail biting suspense and you haven’t tried Harlan Coben, I highly recommend him. He also writes the Myron Bolitar series and it’s YA spin-off series.
