The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda @MeganLMiranda @annecater @CorvusBooks #blogtour #ThePerfectStranger

It’s such a pleasure to host a stop on the blog tour for The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda today. My thanks to Anne Cater for the opportunity and to the publisher for my review copy.

Author : Megan Miranda
Title : The Perfect Stranger
Pages : 337
Publisher : Corvus
Publication date : February 1, 2018

Confronted by a restraining order and the threat of a lawsuit, failed journalist Leah Stevens needs to get out of Boston when she runs into an old friend, Emmy Grey, who has just left a troubled relationship. Emmy proposes they move to rural Pennsylvania, where Leah can get a teaching position and both women can start again. But their new start is threatened when a woman with an eerie resemblance to Leah is assaulted by the lake, and Emmy disappears days later.

Determined to find Emmy, Leah cooperates with Kyle Donovan, a handsome young police officer on the case. As they investigate her friend’s life for clues, Leah begins to wonder: did she ever really know Emmy at all? With no friends, family, or a digital footprint, the police begin to suspect that there is no Emmy Grey. Soon Leah’s credibility is at stake, and she is forced to revisit her past: the article that ruined her career. To save herself, Leah must uncover the truth about Emmy Grey—and along the way, confront her old demons, find out who she can really trust, and clear her own name.

Everyone in this rural Pennsylvanian town has something to hide—including Leah herself. How do you uncover the truth when you are busy hiding your own?

Having read All The Missing Girls, which I found incredibly confusing to follow, I was a tad wary about The Perfect Stranger. Especially since I’d already seen some mixed reviews and it seems quite a few people were a bit disappointed. Luckily for me, I’m not one of them!

Leah used to be a journalist but her career is in tatters. On a whim, she and her best friend Emmy move to Western Pennsylvania, where Leah gets a job as a teacher. But then Emmy goes missing and Leah is left to wonder if she knew her friend at all. The police seem to think she doesn’t even exist and you’re left to wonder if Leah is a reliable narrator or just crazy.

First of all, I absolutely adore the small town vibe. There’s just this delicious sense of claustrophobia and oppressiveness. When someone goes missing or is murdered, the suspect list is obviously also rather on the short side. Yet, everyone always seems to have something to hide or is just intensely creepy, which adds to the intrigue and suspense. None of these characters are particularly likeable, except maybe Kyle although I found him a bit too wishy-washy for my liking. Nevertheless, they did hold my interest and I did want to know what would happen to them.

This a story about trust, manipulation, facing your past and how well you know the people closest to you. Maybe the pace is a little on the slow side but I actually really enjoyed that. It gave me plenty of time to let events sink in and try to figure out this extremely complicated puzzle. The Perfect Stranger is brilliantly written, oozes atmosphere and had enough tension to keep me gripped from start to finish. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to more by Megan Miranda.

The Perfect Stranger is available for purchase!

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Megan Miranda is the author of the bestseller ALL THE MISSING GIRLS. She has also written several books for young adults. She grew up in New Jersey, graduated from MIT, and lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children. THE PERFECT STRANGER is her second novel of psychological suspense.

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