The Perfect Stranger is the follow up to Megan Miranda's All the Missing GIrls, a novel that had everybody hooked with it's reverse timeline and intricate plot twists. In The Perfect Stranger, Megan Miranda tells the story with the usual chronological timeline (with a few flashbacks thrown in). I'm sure the question everyone wants answered is: Was this as good (or better) than All the missing Girls? In my opinion, no.
Maybe expectations were a bit high with this follow up. I just felt like nothing ever actually happened. What was the mystery we were trying to solve? I never really engaged in the plot, and honestly couldn't understand the actions of the main character, Leah Stevens, most of the time. The "plot twists" were very minor and very easy to cast aside. In a book with more action, they would not have even been noticeable. The ending was almost completely uneventful, as well. Overall, not the most impressive follow up unfortunately.

This was a compelling, fast-paced read that made more of an impression on me than All the Missing Girls. This could be because Miranda explores a single relationship in great depth (the friendship between Leah and Emmy), and because the characters are more mature and have more life experience. For instance, I really enjoyed all the references to Leah's career as a journalist, and how she uses those reporter skills as events unfold.

There were definitely parallels with other books in this genre. For instance, we saw a feisty female crime reporter in Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn; or a woman who reinvents herself as a teacher in The Passenger by Lisa Lutz (view spoiler). However, the old material is used in new ways, and I ended up enjoying it more than either of those titles.

I felt the classroom scenes dragged, but they were the only parts that did. There were also one or two aspects of the plot that didn't quite convince me - for instance, we are drip fed information about why Leah felt she had to run away from Boston, but it didn't give me enough to go on and even by the end I felt that I needed more background, or more on the legal details.

Overall, though, this is a great choice for anyone who enjoys suspense novels.

I am grateful to NetGalley and to Simon & Schuster for the chance to review an advance copy of this title.

Last year I read Megan Miranda's ingenious All The Missing Girls. It was cleverly written. Backwards. Like the movie Memento. I very much enjoyed the novel but the logical part of my brain tried to piece everything together chronologically and I was a little concerned it didn't entirely flow as it should have.

The book - Miranda's first non young adult novel - was very well received though and her second book has been eagerly awaited.

One of Miranda's talents is being able to flesh out the plot without letting readers in on the characters' secrets. It's obvious we're supposed to become suspicious of Leah and I pondered on the notion of a split personality / dissociative identity disorder from the get-go. And there's really nothing in the narrative that gives it away - either way.

We've really only got Leah's word that there's an Emmy... and her identity becomes murkier and less evident as time goes on.

“I was an adolescent when I first started to see myself as two people. The feeling that you are at all times both subject and object. That I was both walking down the hall and watching myself walk down the hall.” p72

And...

“When something had happened, some crack, some slip, and the other Leah, the one underneath, the one who lived with Emmy for a summer—the who was was not as put together or as solid and unchanging—would become visible....” p 88

This is a book about secrets. Leah has her own... an investigation into a number of incidents which resulted in her move and loss of her job as a reporter. Interestingly she feels blameless and has no regrets and Miranda does a good job in eking out why.

There's the mysterious Emmy who manages to beguile Leah each time she's entered her life. I was initially agog at the idea of Leah moving in with Emmy on meeting her (first time around) but had to remind myself what it's like to be young and desperate. And without literal baggage.

Then there's Leah's doppelgänger, the victim of an attack... possibly by someone Leah knows. And also in the mix are Leah's students, some of whom know more about her life than they should.

I enjoyed the plot itself and the 'whodunnit' element, but it was also interesting to watch Leah's growth. We learn she was an excellent student but things fell apart when she didn't get the job she expected after University. She recovered, obviously but then she feels she needs to hide her latest failure (losing her job) from her high-achieving sister and her mother - who worked hard to give her daughters every opportunity and had heightened expectations as a result.

“I was unprepared for the shock of failure—it had never happened before.” p 63

And later when her world was less about herself, the realisation...

“I had believed everyone was something are than they were....I had cast my life and assigned the roles, manufacturing all of them into the people I wanted them to be.” pp 242-243

I very much enjoyed this well-written and well-paced book by Miranda and loved the characters she offers we readers. They're complex but real and ultimately very likeable.

Well-crafted thriller! When Leah needs a fresh start to leave her old job in Boston, friend Emmy suggests they move to rural Pennsylvania where they can each start over with new lives. But when things start to go wrong, Leah begins to wonder if Emmy is really who she believes she is. Too many coincidences and secrets collide, leaving leah to question her own sanity as she must confront her own demons to find the truth behind the lies. I couldn't put this one down!

I did enjoy this one and it definitely had twists I didn't see coming. I could easily recommend this to readers who enjoy psychological thrillers.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. Read in 2 as, it was that good! Highly recommend!!

Megan Miranda writes such wonderful, interesting, complex women. Leah and Emmy are memorable, flawed, and strong-willed. I will highly recommend.

“To get blood out, you’d have to do a deep clean. With bleach.”

Fans of Miranda’s may rejoice, and those that haven’t read her work will have to start now. This riveting psychological thriller may leave you jumping at strange noises and sleeping with the lights burning, but oh, it will be worth it! I read this book free and in advance, thanks to an invitation from Net Galley and Simon and Schuster, but it’s available to the public Tuesday, May 16, 2017, and you won’t want to miss it. It’s the perfect story for the time in which we live, with alienation, deception, fear, and misplaced trust looming large.

Leah Stevens has some boundary issues, and it’s lost her a position in journalism. Disgraced, she decides to leave town and start over in the Pennsylvania countryside. She gets a teaching job there. A former roommate, Emmy Grey, surfaces just in time to go along with her and split the rent on a house in the woods. It’s a terrific house, but there are noises at night.

Leah says there are cats under there, scratching, scratching.

They have hardly settled in before things start to go amiss. Strange events occur that leave her frightened. When the woman’s body is dredged from the lake, Leah realizes it’s been awhile since she has seen Emmy. They work different hours, but still…shouldn’t she have seen her by now? She’s late with her share of the rent.

Leah feels as if someone is watching her at night through the glass doors at the front of the house.

This spine-tingling journey keeps me guessing every step of the way. Every time I think I see a formula starting to unspool, Miranda does something different, something I didn’t see coming. And as Leah trusts her instincts to protect her, we see for ourselves just how bad her instincts really are. Ultimately, she decides to get out of the house and ends up at the end of the road, at “the last no-tell motel”.

The plot here is taut and original, but the success of the story hinges on character. Leah’s past transgressions are vague at the outset, and we readers can tell it’s a dark time that she doesn’t like to talk about. But as the lies and the layers of deceit are peeled away one by one, we realize just how poor her sense of boundaries really is. Leah is so believable that she’s almost corporeal; I want to grab her by the wrist, haul her into the kitchen and talk to her, but even if I were able to do that, she wouldn’t listen to me. Her personality is divided, part savvy journalist, objective and focused; half overly trusting, vulnerable waif. Her capacity for self-preservation is more limited than she knows. Is she going to make it out of this thing in one piece?

I can’t say more or I’ll ruin it for you, but this is the book you’re looking for, whether you are going to the beach or just need time to escape right here at home.

Just be sure to toss a blanket over those big glass doors before you settle in to read. Trust me.

Leah Sevens is on the run from everything, looking to leave her past behind her she finds the perfect cohort in Emmy – or so she thinks. A dart is thrown, a move made and then we are lead through a maze of two dead bodies, a high school full of eager to “help” students, a young cop who gives too much information to a former journalist and ultimately a missing roommate. Well not exactly missing – but completely vanished like she never existed at all.

As Leah searches to prove Emmy actually existed she uncovers things even she can’t explain. That is until she puts it all together.

I was expecting a lot in “The Prefect Stranger” after being introduced to Megan Miranda by reading (and loving) “All the Missing Girls” and while I thought the book was good – there was something missing…

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and this is my honest review.

Add me to the list of those who loved All the Missing Girls. So, it was with excitement and trepidation that I picked up The Perfect Stranger, Miranda’s sophomore effort.

She doesn't disappoint. While not as amazing as ATMG, it's an engrossing read. Since I finished this on baseball’s opening day, I'll use a baseball analogy. If ATMG was a grand slam, this is a home run. There are three components necessary for a successful book - good writing, strong character development and a convincing plot. Miranda gets the first two spot on. My minor quibbles with this book rested with the story line.

Leah is a newspaper reporter. She has done something that has forced her resignation. You aren't told what initially. She and a friend decide to leave Boston to start over in a small town in western Pennsylvania. Leah takes a job as a high school teacher. Not long after, her friend, Emmy, disappears. And once Leah thinks to report her missing, she realizes how little she really knows about her friend.

I love Miranda’s writing, the way she gets the details just right. Talking about her students - “they were a species in transition: coming in as kids, voices breaking, angles sharpening, and leaving as something different altogether. Curves and muscle and the unfamiliar force behind both; the other parts of them desperately trying to play catch up.” I'm one of those folks that highlights passages in a book. But I typically don't do it for mysteries, just more “serious literature”. But I found myself highlighting a lot of passages. It was just that well written.

Miranda also does a wonderful job with Leah. You get a real sense of her - her mistakes, her strengths and weaknesses, and her reporter’s sense of a story. Since this is told from Leah’s point of view, the other characters aren't as fully developed. But that goes to the whole purpose of the story - what do we really know about our friends, families and lovers?

There is a sense of urgency here from the beginning; that tingling nerves on edge feeling while you're reading this. My issues with the book came towards the end, as Miranda resolves the story. I won't outline them as that would be a spoiler. But rest assured they are minor and don't take away from the enjoyment of this book.

My thanks to netgalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance copy of this book.

A fascinating read - full of plot twists and surprises. Leah set out to find her missing roommate, Emmy, and is stonewalled at every turn by Emmy's lack of history. This is more of an intellectual thriller - researching the clues to find out what is really happening. The writing is excellent the story is well paced. I liked the way Miranda handled the crime scenes relating the horror with a minimum of gore. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster through NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was so convoluted and hard to follow. I think she was trying to weave a masterful web of suspense, but fell short by making it too complicated and then having to tie together so many threads. Leah is trying to rebuild her life after a professional disaster that leaves her fleeing everything she knows with her friend Emmy by her side. in her new idyllic town things start to go south and Leah is caught in the middle, trying to decide how much of her past she needs to reveal.

Once I figured out what was going on in this book it was a good read. It does take a while to get into and I was confused the whole beginning of this book but I stuck with it and it did get better. If the author simplified this this would have been an easier to understand and more interesting read.

I was so excited to read this one - I read a lot of thrillers last year and All the Missing Girls was one of my favorites. So I am forced a bit to compare the two and tell you that I liked All the Missing Girls more but that this one was still really good and I couldn't put it down once I started! I also admit that I am pretty hard to impress in this genre but Megan Miranda has a definite skill to make the thriller genre feel unique and I love the multi-layered and complex female narrators that she wrote for both of these books. The entire time I couldn't figure out if liked or hated Leah - it was hard to get into her head but I appreciated that complexity. I can't wait to read more by this author!

The Perfect Stranger comes out next week on April 11, 2017 and you can purchase HERE. You can read my review of All the Missing Girls HERE. I definitely recommend both of these if you are a fan of thriller/mysteries!

In Boston, they don't really do a good job of warning you about the winter. The postcards look snow-covered and beautiful, the streets still filled with people, the wisps of cold air and the wool coats and waterproof boots all part of the charm, the allure. They don't tell you that most of the time, it's pure misery. Waiting for the bus, walking to the T stop, the persistent dry cough that permeates through the office. The bathrooms and office lobbies covered in melted snow. And us, slowly thawing out inside. The chapped lips, the red noses, the dry skin around our knuckles, and the way the sweaters itch across our collarbones. How you want nothing more than to stay in. The things you do to stay warm.

And then there's the gray. How the sky cover goes dark in the late fall and seems to stay that way until early spring, always ready for snow or rain. How the cold seems to hover in a fog, like a mirage, just off the ground. And everyone bundles up in layer after layer because you all have to walk everywhere, the puffs of white escaping like smoke as you elbow past one another.

And nobody seems to notice you. You could be anyone under the down jacket and scarf wrapped over your mouth, your hat pulled down over your ears and your hair. A wolf in sheep's clothing. A sheep in wolf's. And this is why, no matter how many people are out on a street, this does not make for more witnesses but somehow less. It could be anyone. Anyone standing on their toes, peering in the window.

Another great book by Megan Miranda. All the Missing Girls was the first book I read of hers, and this follow up did not disappoint!
Psychological suspense that kept me constantly wondering.. who is Emmy? Was Leah crazy? Is Emmy real? Who was the killer?
I will definitely read more from this author.

The heavily anticipated follow up to Miranda's debut "All the Missing Girls" is here and I am not exactly wowed. See that's the thing about sophomore novels, we place entirely too much pressure on both the author and the expected novel and we are most time left disappointed.

"The Perfect Stranger" did not do it for me. It felt entirely too unreal and forced. It is very suspenseful but it had some eye-rolling/ dull moments for me. I finished the book, but it isn't necessarily a book I would recommend. I guess it would be a nice beach read, but overall, it did not do anything for me.

not a structural puzzle box like her first book but still has plenty of uncanny, great storytelling

Gripping! Snatched me up at the very beginning and dragged me along for the ride. Fascinating view inside the mind of a girl who would do anything to survive.

Very gripping read. Thoroughly enjoyed the story and the characters in this book. The author had me believing that the main character was actually crazy and had made up having a roommate. Another great book and I will definitely be recommending to my library patrons.