S Is For Stranger by Louise Stone

Book Description

There are two sides to every story.

But only one is true.

Sophie wished she’d paid more attention when her little daughter, Amy, caught sight of a stranger watching them. She only looked away for a second. But now Amy’s gone.

No one trusts an alcoholic. Even a sober one. The police are suspicious of Sophie’s tangled story and so is her ex-husband, Paul. Especially when new information emerges that changes everything.

But what if Sophie is telling the truth? What if her daughter really is missing? And what if that stranger at the fairground wasn’t really a stranger at all…

S For Stranger comes with the tag A gripping debut psychological thriller you don’t want to miss! Now when I see a book with such a tag I do wonder if it will live up to its description , and considering I have read numerous gripping Psychological thrillers already this year, I was interested to see how S for Stranger would fair. This is certainly a thriller that should come with the tag line BEWARE THIS BOOK WILL SERIOUSLY MESS WITH YOUR HEAD.

Sophie’s daughter Amy disappears on a trip out, and so begins a dark and twisted tale, Sophie is a recovering alcoholic whose account of the events leading to her daughters disappearance leave the police and her ex-husband suspicious. Is Sophie a reliable witness? And who is the stranger Sophie saw? This is a difficult book to review without giving away to many spoiler but it’s safe to say S For Stranger is far from straight forward, as events from Sophie’s past emerge her credibility as both a mother and a witness come under close scrutiny.

From the opening chapter I found S For Stranger to be a compelling read, Louise Stone has a style of writing that I found easy to follow, and once I started reading it I couldn’t believe I reached the half way mark in no time. It’s a cleverly twisted tale that I spent much of the novel working out who was telling the truth and who was lying, my opinion changed so many times I felt dizzy and I was still no closer to guessing how the plot would end until I reached the last couple of chapters.

The air of tension and malice that ricochets throughout this book make for an intriguing and compelling read. The author has written a very cleverly crafted tale, there were two sides to this story Sophie’s and her ex-husband Paul’s, throughout I wasn’t sure who was telling the truth, but one thing was clear, only one of them was! This made for a very compelling and exciting read. I did have one small niggle as there were a couple of things I felt weren’t explained in a satisfactory way, but as S For Stranger is a Psychological thriller it did make me think about the truth and lies within the story, so much in fact I thought my head would explode. If you love a psychological thriller that messes with your head, then I would recommend you add this book to your TBR pile.

I have read very mixed reviews on this book, it appears it’s one of those Marmite”one’s you either love it or hate it, as you can gather from my review I’m in the “love it” camp

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5

Paperback: 320 pages

Publisher: Carina; First edition edition (30 Jun. 2016)

Kindle

Paperback