I received this book from Netgalley in return of an honest review. Wow, this was definitely a 5 star book for me. It kept me guessing until the end. There were times when I thought I had it all figured out and then another plot twist would be introduced which made this a book I did not want to put down. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes suspense/thrillers!

Megan Miranda’s forthcoming thriller, The Perfect Stranger is the story of Leah, a disgraced journalist forced to leave Boston for Western Pennsylvania, to a house in the middle of nowhere with a girl she hasn’t seen in eight years. Leah initially met Emmy Grey right after graduating college and being rejected from a job she thought she was a shoo-in for. Emmy let her stay with her for a fraction of the rent, and Leah always thought Emmy had saved her during her time in need.

Fast forward eight years, Leah hasn’t heard a word from Emmy since she joined the Peace Corps a few months after Leah moved in, when she bumps into her in a bar in Boston. Coincidence? Both looking for escape, they move to PA, a quiet, nothing town where they can disappear. But when a girl shows up nearly dead by the river, and Emmy vanishes, Leah has to question everything.

I started this book not knowing that it was technically a follow up to Megan Miranda’s 2016 hit, All the Missing Girls, which I haven’t read. Luckily, it read like a standalone novel, and one that I would recommend to thriller fans looking for something great (and with no risk of being compared to Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train). The plot was engaging and fast paced enough to make you want to read, but literary enough to be approachable to non-thriller readers.

Everything about this one was good, including the ending, the part most likely to make or break any thriller. The Perfect Stranger is out on April 11th — don’t miss this one!

*I was sent this book by Netgalley for review!

This was such an awesome read, full of twisty turny goodness! Leah needs to escape from a past mistake and Emmy invites her to come live with her. But then terrible things begin to happen and Emmy disappears. Only did Emmy even exist? Ya, this was one of those books that just grabs ahold of you and doesn't let go until you know all of the answers and boy are those answers so not what I expected.

I highly recommend this book, which I loved, to anyone who enjoys a psychological thriller that will make your heart race and keep you up way past your bedtime. It's delicious!

I finally read The Perfect Stranger on my second attempt. In honesty, I started it some time back and read about 10% but it wasn't meshing with me at all, maybe it was the genre, my mood? Who knows, either way it wasn't the time to read it. I picked this up 2 days ago again and read it in 2 sittings. I loved All the Missing Girls and find Megan's writing style my cup of tea (When I'm in the mood for mystery that is), so looked forward to reading this book. I knew it wasn't connected per se to All The Missing Girls but did know it was going to be one of those books that really would make me think and boy did it!

I didn't connect with the characters as such reading this book, I don't think I even liked the main character Leah a whole lot. But I loved how I was made to feel whether Leah was reliable as the story teller or not. I questioned so much, just like Megan wanted us to do with her story and even to the end was still questioning. Kyle was a great addition to this story, I really liked him and found the chemistry (Very mild romance, not a spoiler) a nice touch. I also liked that I was made to feel like I couldn't trust anyone in this book. It kind of puts you on edge as you read and without having anyone you can rely on makes it an interesting read.

The story has a slow burn, you are told of things in the past about Leah and some about Emmy (Her missing friend), but mostly this story is set in the present. I thought the ending was especially clever and liked that there was a little room for a follow on story too should Megan so wish it.

The reason I gave this 3.5 stars and not 4 stars was because with All The Missing Girls I was so involved with the story that it was hard to not want to know what was happening. With The Perfect Stranger the connection to characters wasn't there so much and it was just the mystery that kept me going. So, I knocked .5 off for that. But that by no means am I saying The Perfect Stranger is not worth a read, trust me when I say it certainly is. I'm glad I gave this book a second chance and finally read it and look forward to more work from Megan Miranda.

After reading ALL THE MISSING GIRLS I couldn't wait to read THE PERFECT STRANGER and I was not disappointed. A gripping, edge of your seat, thriller that will keep you awake far into the night. A well plotted story line with twists that will keep you guessing from the first to last page. Brava Megan Miranda!

I would like to thank NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Megan Miranda for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review. While out one night, soon to be former and failed Boston journalist Leah Stevens reacquaints herself with an old time friend, Emmy Grey, who has a somewhat mysterious and troubled past. Leah decides to leave her life as a reporter to start anew in rural Pennsylvania as a high school teacher and asks Emmy to join her. Soon after, Emmy ends up missing and Leah believes foul play is to blame. The more Leah tries to uncover about Emmy's past, the more troubling it looks for Leah. This story is even better than Miranda's last novel, All The Missing Girls. I plowed through this book just to get to the dramatic ending.

Leah has "journalist instinct" if that's exist or if there's such a thing. But sometimes she's using it in a wrong way. The story is exciting as I was very curious with what happened to Emmy. If there is really an Emmy or maybe Leah is just making an Emmy because she thought that Emmy is her other personality.

Does Leah needs someone to confide? Is she really that alone and lonely that Kyle thought she needs someone to talk to and don'e believe Leah about Emmy. Well, I guess he needs to assess every angle even Leah to make sure that she doesn't hide anything especially things about someone stalking her. But, does Emmy Grey really exist?

Moreover, while reading (especially in the middle part) it had me thinking and come up with these questions: Who's responsible for Bethany's incident? Is it really David or someone just using his name? Who is the suspect? How is Bethany's incident related to Emmy's disappearance? Maybe Jim is responsible for Emmy's disappearance? But, why Jim was killed? How is Theo releted to Bethany? And the most important question in my mind is why is it happening to Leah?

After knowing who's stalking Leah my reaction is: No effin' way!!!! Is it really Theo? Is he really stalking Leah?! This twist makes me scream and lose my mind!!! I didn't see that coming. I thought that he's just giving clues and signs to Leah! NO WAY!!!

I honestly don't know what to feel about the ending. I have mixed emotions. Part of me wants to know how they will capture Emmy or Melissa. But also part of me wants to leave it that way.

This psychological, mystery & thriller novel made me question many things. It made me feels things like hate. I hate that I'm scared to know what will happen next. Hate that Leah has been ignorant to the most important details. This is honestly what I feel while I'm reading. Also with the twists in the story, I feel nervous, terrified and excited. I wonder how All the Girls Missing goes that I would like to read it too as I enjoyed reading this one.

The novel is well written thought there are times that I couldn't keep up when Leah's having a flashback that made me confuse. But that's also the uniqueness of this book, how it was written. I would like commend Ms. Megan Miranda for this amazing story.

Special thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of The Perfect Stranger by: Megan Miranda in exchange for an honest review.

**** 1/2

Last year I read Megan Miranda's All the Missing Girls. Loved it! She has such a unique writing style. That book was told in reverse. The Perfect Stranger is not. However, you never get the entire story at the beginning. Everything comes together like an intricate puzzle.

What a web of suspense! Secrets and lies all around. A total mind Fu*k too. I found myself questioning the main character Leah's mental state. I honestly thought she was out of her head. I just had to know where Emmy was. I wanted to know the background of these characters lives. And, no one is who they seem. I love suspense/thriller novels because I always want to "figure them out". Not this one. NOPE. BIG NO. Just when I thought maybe it was this or that...BOOM, plot twist!

This was a great novel. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

Definitely will be recommending it!

After reading "All the Missing Girls," by Megan Miranda, I thought she couldn't write a better book. Well I was sure wrong. "The Perfect Stranger," will hook you in from the very first chapter. We meet Leah and Emmy. The were once college roommates who run into to each other 8 years later. They decide to move away from Boston to a small town in Pennsylvania, both running from their pasts. But how well do we really know our friends or ourselves? A woman is left for dead down by the lake, who happens to like a lot like Leah. Suddenly Emmy disappears. What follows will keep you turning the pages late into the night. Megan takes the reader one direction, only to throw in another clue, to lead you down another path. Writing at it's best. The must read book for 2017

In The Perfect Stranger, Leah Stevens has started her life over in rural Pennsylvania as a teacher. The reasons why she left her journalist job in the big city are a mystery, although it is slowly revealed as the story unfolds. When a young woman is found beaten along the side of a road, Leah is pulled into to the investigation as the coach at the school she works at is considered the prime suspect. At the same time, Leah's roommate, Emmy is missing. Leah puts her journalism detective skills to work and starts looking for Emmy herself, while also trying to understand what happened to the young, beaten woman in the hospital.

Leah begins to question if she ever really knew Emmy, or if Emmy ever existed in the first place. Her mind starts playing tricks on her and the past that continues to follow Leah slowly comes out.

I really enjoyed this book and it reminded me a lot of Harlan Coben's stand alone mysteries. Megan Miranda does a great job weaving the past and present together and keeping the reader engaged in the mystery, throwing us possible suspects and alternative theories. I highly recommend this book if you enjoy Harlan Coben and people that disappear under mysterious circumstances. Are they dead, alive, or did they ever even exist in the first place?

If you like novels such as "GIRL ON THE TRAIN" you will love this novel. A novel full of guessing and wondering what is really going on. A great twist at the end; and a little love story also.

I loved Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda. It's about a woman named Leah who moves to western Pennsylvania with her friend Emmy, both trying to escape their pasts in Boston. After only a few months in their new small town, a woman who looks eerily like Leah is attacked and almost killed, and Emmy goes missing. As Leah, a former journalist, tries to figure out what happened to Emmy, she tries to separate the truth from the stories both she and the characters have constructed about themselves and each other.

One of the things I liked about this book was how my ideas of what happened and who the characters were (especially Emmy) were constantly shifting as Leah uncovered more clues. While this book is a page turner, it's also complicated (in a good way), with new discoveries making me rethink what had happened before and what I thought I knew. I appreciated that Leah was a strong, female character. While she has her flaws, she's also smart and independent and doesn't need a man to come in and fix things for her. I also felt satisfied by the ending. I thought we were headed towards a vague conclusion, given the questions raised in the book about whether it's possible to find the truth and truly know somebody. Fortunately, the ending wrapped everything up nicely. I would definitely recommend this book, and I can't wait to see what Miranda writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley, Miranda Megan, and Simon & Schuster for an advanced reader copy of The Perfect Stranger.

One of my gripes about the psychological thriller genre is that often the characters are ALL unlikable, making horrible (and often unrealistic) life choices that send the lives of those around them spiraling out of control (yes, Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, I am looking at you). I love books that feature narrators with whom I can relate. If you are looking for a story that contains the latter character, this is the book for you.

Leah, the main character and narrator, finds herself in a precarious situation at work, one that leads to her resignation. Devastated and broke, she conveniently runs into an old friend, Emmy, who offers her a new chance at life and a place to stay. Not thinking twice, she immediately takes her friend up on the offer. Leah starts a new career as a high school teacher, and finds herself comfortably settled in her friend's rural town. Leah tries her best to put the shame of a failed career behind her, but the past has a way of creeping back into one's life.

Slowly, the life Leah has fought to rebuild starts to unravel: Emmy goes missing, a man is found dead in Emmy's car, and a women whom Emmy knew is found nearly dead in a field. Leah begins to question her very existence as police look to her as a suspect and Emmy is nowhere to be found.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book (and Leah's story) because every twist was unexpected, yet something that could certainly happen in the real world. This book makes you question how much you know about those around you, and their motivations for being with you. It's well written and the characters are fully developed. I highly recommend it, and just bought Megan Miranda's All the Missing Girls because I enjoyed her writing so much!

Where do I begin? So, Miranda completely blew my mind again. The minute this began, I was hooked. Like the type of hooked where if I didn't start this on a weekend, I probably would've called in sick to finish it, hooked.

So because of Leah's past, this has some elements that are like confusing but are done exceptionally well and written out like a map of clues. There are a few different storylines in this one that all deal with the same characters and really connect flawlessly. There's Leah's past in Boston, the woman left for dead, Emmy going missing, and then also some STALKER type stuff. And when I say stalker, I mean STALKER. This element alone could've been it's own book because of how amazingly scary Miranda wrote the things connected to Leah's stalking. I actually had trouble sleeping the first night I read this because of how easily she made it seem. So good. So. Good.

The thing that I love about this one was how Miranda didn't just leave you hanging with anything. She really plans out her novels and writes in a really well-executed way. She introduces you to the plot and helps you get to know the characters the way that she wants you to. Throughout the book, there really was no dull moment. I love how she gives you things in small doses throughout and lets you piece it together like you're the detective. The last 20% of this book flew by so much that I couldn't believe it was over when I read the final line.

The ending was very satisfactory and didn't leave me with any questions. I'm so happy I got to read this one and cannot wait to see what Miranda comes up with next. Bravo!

After losing her job, Leah finds again an old friend and the two move to rural Pennsylvanian to start over. Some months later, however, a girl very similar to Leah is found severely hurt near their house and her friend goes missing. Maybe the threatening emails and a possible stalker had something to do with it?

This was a 3.5.

I really enjoyed All the Missing Girls but mostly because the backward storytelling had me gripped to the book. Considering this one goes the normal way, I wasn't expecting the author to keep me so excited again. Gladly, she did.

It's true that I didn't care enough about the characters. And Leah being so weird contributed. I did get she had suffered a severe blow when she lost her job but I didn't get how that would stop you from going to the police for things if your life may be on the line. It was like she had this filter that never allowed her to absorb just how terrible the situation was. This made me anxious for her and anything that went wrong with her instead of pitying I'd think of how she deserved it. Not a good way to treat the main character, is it?

On the other had, the story compensated any issues I had with the main character. The plot twists weren't the punch-in-the-stomach kind, the conclusion wasn't stellar but the rhythm was good—and that is very important in a thriller. Even without the backward story device, the author kept me interested until the very end.

Talking about the conclusion, it wasn't surprising but it wasn't so predictable. I thought it was possible from the beginning but I wasn't sure until it was already time the reader suspected. Also, I liked how Miranda tied up all the parts of the mystery.

Not something stellar, nothing that special, but I good thriller nonetheless. If you don't have problems with characters being weird beyond logic, go ahead and have a good time!

I have so many mixed feeling about this book. The overall plot was interesting and unique. I think that was the only thing that kept me reading. Otherwise, I would have quit not even half way through.

There is just too many things going on in this book, it got confusing. Add to the fact that some plot lines didn't even seem relevant to the story. I was confused and bored during most of the book. Willing myself to keep reading. Hoping that the ending would bring it all full circle and I would have that "ah-ha!" moment where it would all make sense.


The author does a wonderful job of writing. Scene and character descriptions were not lacking and it was easy for the story to play out in my head. The problem for me was too many characters. I didn't feel loyal to a single one. They were all just a flit in my head depending on what scene I was reading.

The ending was very anticlimactic. There was no "Oh my goodness" moment when everything came together and it all made sense. It actually left me confused and wanting to know more. All the loose ends didn't get tied up.

The Perfect Stranger will be available in the U.S. April 11, 2017. It was a 3 star read for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Happy Reading!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. The various story lines really keep the reader engaged. I was happy to see that the conclusion tied things together. The only part that did not feel "quite right" was how quickly and unprofessionally the love interest developed. However, it turned out to be an important plot device.

Get ready to spend the whole night up finishing this book! One of the best suspense-thrillers I've read this year. Is Leah & Emmy who they really say they are and how does one of their lives turn the other one's upside down & inside out??!!

Megan Miranda is a new favorite of mine! The first book I read by her thanks to NetGalley and the publisher was All The Missing Girls and wow, she hooked me. And now this one has cemented her as a go-to author of suspense/mysteries for me.