A Familiar Stranger

Almost Two Semi-Tightly Coupled Novellas. This book is a strange one in that it is almost two separate novellas that are somewhat tightly coupled (with the second one using the same characters and playing off the events in the first one), but which are otherwise fairly distinct in both style and tone. In the first half of this book, it is more of a domestic suspense where we get a countdown every so often of how long is left until someone dies. Then, suddenly, a random perspective we've yet encountered... and this person discovers a body. This is effectively the prologue of the second novella, and from here we get more of a crime thriller where the reader is trying to figure out who the killer actually is even as various people reveal themselves to be on one side of the law or another and the two sides eventually converge with interesting and explosive results. Overall, the complete tale works, almost in a Without Remorse (the original Clancy, not the bastardized movie form) manner where you need the first half to make any real sense of the second half. An interesting tale and told using some rare mechanics. Very much recommended.

4.25*
I think that A.R.Torre is officially one of my fav authors!!
I read the good lie abt a week ago and I LOVED it. But I went into this with very low expectations coz someone I know had read and rated this very low so I was nervous going into it. But I LOVED this one!!

It had all the things I love in a mystery/thriller;
-Multiple povs
-Short chapters
- Alternating timelines
-Twists and turns that make you want to keep flipping pages.

I have to say tho during the first 50% I thought that this might be a 2 star coz I was not a huge fan of the characters in this book (except one) and the stuff they did/said made me so mad. But the last 50% changed the entire thing around and I was so invested.

If you are looking for a book to binge this is for you!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this e-arc:))

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for an arc of this book. A Familiar Stranger follows the story of Lilian, a ´boring´ and ‘average' wife and mother who writes obituaries for a living and invents a more reckless and free persona when she meets David and thus, lies start to pile up on top of one another. This was my first A.R. Torre book so I wasn't quite sure what to expect going in. I think the first half did a decent enough job to establish who the characters were but whether it was intentional or not, I couldn't find most of them to be people worth rooting for. And I also have some hang-ups on how this book handles the protagonist's mental health. Still, though, I found myself staying up all night reading through a good chunk of this, waiting to see what would happen next. The second half of this book was... all over the place, in my opinion. I did guess some of the twists despite this book taking a certain turn at one point, and ultimately I found the resolution to be a little rushed and not completely satisfactory.