Enthralling thriller! I did not want to put this down and have been recommending it widely! A really exciting book! I loved it!
Kimber comes home from a trip and her key doesn't work. She finds a stranger living in her home. When she confronts him, he whispers, "I was there. I saw what you did." Kimber is no longer to trust anyone as her life falls into disarray.

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

This book is a very easy read, and hard to put down, and has some great plot twists. With that being said, I absolutely hated the main character, Kimber Hannon. I found her to be highly annoying, selfish, and quite dumb. I don't think I have ever had such strong feelings about a character in a novel before, but this must be a testament to the author's writing. Kimber Hannon arrives home from camping to find a stranger living in her home. The police are no help, and it is up to Kimber and her friends to find out who this man is and what he wants, while also keeping Kimber's numerous secrets hidden. There are a lot of doozies in this book that will keep you saying "WTF?" Very enjoyable, quick read.

I really enjoyed this book. I did not find it to be extremely predictable. Laura Benedict's style of writing is easy to follow. You'll find this to be a fast read. The story itself is good. I finished the entire book in about a day and a half.

The Stranger Inside is a psychological suspense story. Kimber returns home after a few days away and finds some guy living in her house. Worse, the police side with the guy who stole her house! Kimber is sympathetic at this point. As the story unfolds, it becomes very clear that Kimber is a bad person. She has done some seriously terrible things. At this point, it feels like karma for Kimber. The stranger in her house knows about things she has done and is after her. Why specifically is he after her? Will she get her house back? It's a kind of bizarre beyond suspension of disbelief story. It's entertaining and engaging with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end. The main character is so vapid and deceitful. Read at your own risk. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Stranger Inside has an interesting premise and starts out well enough with Kimber returning home to find the locks changed and a stranger living in her house. From there, it goes downhill at a rapid pace. Now, going into this one, I expected it to require at least some degree of suspension of disbelief, but this goes way beyond that. As far as plot twists, this one has them in spades, and there's no shortage of suspects either. The problem is that there is so much crammed into the conclusion that it just becomes convoluted. I think I would've liked the ending better had it just stuck with the person in the house and his reason for being there rather than going over the top the way it did. All that aside, my biggest problem with this story was Kimber. She has to be one of the most unlikable protagonists that I've ever come across. I'm all for flawed characters and unreliable narrators, but this woman has absolutely no redeemable qualities. There wasn't a single thing about her to inspire even an ounce of empathy. In fact, I spent a good portion of this one feeling like karma was finally going to get its ounce of flesh from this character. Instead, it goes an entirely different direction. In the end, I can't say that I liked anything about this one after the first couple of chapters. I'm sure many will enjoy this story, but I definitely am not one of them.

Full. Of. Twists.
A main character that you know from square one is keeping secrets ...and she's fairly good at it. But is she the only good at it? Is someone else just as good?
While I didn't really LOVE any of the characters, I still enjoyed reading this one.
A great book full of everything a good mystery/thriller should be full of...and more!

Very interesting premise. Imagine coming home after just a few days away and finding someone living in your own house. First instinct is to call the police, but hey are no help either. Quite a tangled web here...creepy and suspenseful! I really liked it a lot!!

You come home from an enjoyable long weekend to find a squatter has taken over your home! Kimbe’s life continues to spiral out of control from there. I love Laura’s writing style and I enjoyed the book. . I am drawn to Mulholland Press titles because they always find authors that are talented specifically in their character development, and Laura is no exception. She creates the main character Kimber so well, you feel for her at every turn. I will be recommending this title in the store.

⭐⭐⭐ ½
Kimber returns home from a vacation only to discover that her keys do not work in her front door. She tries everything and just as she is about to call the cops she sees somebody inside. She is shocked to find that the man in her home has a signed lease which has her signature and has every right to be there. Who is this man and what does he want from her ?
The Stranger Inside by Laura Benedict is a psychological thriller with some twists and turns.The book is written in different timelines from present to past with unlikable characters but in this case it helps the story .Overall an enjoyable read
I would like to thank Mullholland Books & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

This and more reviews at https://chloesbooksblog.wordpress.com/

The Stranger Inside is a fast-paced thriller that begins with a horrible 'what if' scenario. What if you came back from vacation only to find a stranger...a really obnoxious stranger...was living in your house?

When I started reading this book, I felt so sorry for Kimber. I couldn't imagine a worse thing to come home to after having a relaxing holiday. Unfortunately for her, the police believe the stranger, and Kimber is forced to relocate to a friend's house while the intruder is protected. I was so frustrated on her behalf that I was ready to spit nails!

And then the real Kimber emerged, and I wanted to spit nails at her!

[Warning: possible spoilers]

Kimber is a horrible person. Like really, really awful. She hurts others without any regard for their feelings. She uses people constantly. She admits that she is a murderer. She admits that she literally drove her ex crazy. She admits that she only friended her BFF because she was having an affair with BFF's husband, and wanted to get back at him.

Once I realized what a monster Kimber was, the book really nose-dived. The one thing I hoped would happen - that Kimber would be called out on all her s***t - never happened. In fact, she was exonerated!

The end of this novel was also very messy. There were too many 'surprise' twists and turns that muddied up the narrative. One twist is nice, but I'd rather have no twists than a jumble of them.

This book gets a 2.5 from me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Mulholland Books for the review copy.

The author wrote a thriller that started with a bang and just kept going! The twists kept coming, so I couldn't put it down. I cannot wait to read more from this author!

. .

The Stranger Inside by Laura Benedict is a wild ride. Kimberly Hannon returns home from a retreat in the Ozarks to find her house keys don’t work and there is a strange man in her house. From the looks of it he is living there and has changed the locks. When she calls the police, the man tells them that she rented him the house and has a signed lease with Kimber’s signature. He also whispers to Kimber, “ I know who you are and I know what you did”. What did she do?!? From here begins a twisted, sordid tale where Kimber’s past and present collide. You can’t even begin to imagine the secrets in her past, which are revealed little by little each chapter. The present story alternates with chapters told from Kimber’s sister Michelle’s viewpoint from the 1990s when they were in high school. I can pretty much guarantee you won’t have this one figured out! I can’t say enough good things about this book. I have read this author’s previous books and this has a totally different feel to it, but I love it. Make sure you don’t miss this book! Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fantastic roller coaster ride ! This psychological thriller was compelling from page 1 with so many twists ! Complex characters and a great story line that will keep you guessing .

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Mulholland Books in exchange for an honest review.

Oh boy, this was a rough read. And it started off so promising! The Stranger Inside is about what happens when a woman comes home from a long break to discover someone else is living in her house. That alone is a great thriller premise but unfortunately that's pretty much the only great thing about this book.

A lot of other reviews have complained about the main character, Kimber, being incredibly unlikable. This actually didn't bother me much because a) I don't think anyone deserves horrible things to happen to them and so I have a high tolerance for terrible people in thrillers, and b) Kimber was so flat that she didn't have much of a personality for me to dislike. I just could not understand her actions at any point. From the very first chapter, the way she reacts to someone being in her house is just..off.

There is also unfortunately a serious case of the plot only happening because certain people act like morons. Pretty early on Kimber discovers something which could get the stranger out of her house. Does she tell the police? Nope. Instead she keeps it to herself and decides to investigate and continue not being allowed to live in her house. I understand curiousity but what she knows about the stranger isn't intriguing enough at this point for her to want to investigate further. From that point onwards I was just frustrated because everything could be stopped if only Kimber went to the police with what she knew.

The other major problem is that this book really dragged for me. This is a combination of poor pacing, a dull protagonist and a really weird way of doing plot reveals. One spoiler-free example goes like this: Kimber finds out the name of the stranger in her house. A flashback chapter then reveals who that stranger is in regards to her life. Then in the present day, Kimber finds out who that person is through a friend. Then another character tells her who that person is. Then she finds evidence to confirm who that person is. Then another character tells her who the person is. This is the same bit of information talked about again and again with no new details, and we have to sit through characters talking about stuff we already know.

The ending as a whole was a mess. There is one very weak 'twist' which you actually again, get told earlier on through narration. This basically amounts to Kimber going at one point 'Hmm, that mysterious person reminds me of X. But that's silly haha.' and then at the end, 'Omg, that mysterious person is X! Who could have seen this coming?'. I came dangerously close to not finishing reading this and I skimmed the end as a result. The final few pages hold another 'twist' which just erases a pretty major thing and it's about as awful as that sounds.

I really don't feel good when I dislike ARCs that I've requested but sadly, The Stranger Inside just did not do it for me. If characters really aren't important to you and you don't mind not being surprised by a thriller, then you might get more enjoyment out of this than I did,

Overall Rating: 2/5

When Kimber returns home from a weekend getaway she finds that her front door will not unlock. She cannot understand why her keys no longer work. Then, she sees someone inside. Kimber immediately called the police but when they arrive he presents a signed lease that allows him to live there. She is shocked to say the least! And then the man whispers to her, “I was there. I know what you did.” She needs to know who this man is and what he wants from her. She has tried so hard to hide her past.
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book! I will be looking for this author’s next book. (less)

Imagine arriving home from a relaxing retreat only to find that you are unable to get into your own home and, in fact, someone else has moved in ... and that’s not where it ends! Laura Benedict weaves a web of secrets, lies and deceit which is wholly unpredictable. The Stranger Inside is a spellbinding, nightmarish story that held me in its grip from start to finish. Thanks to Mulholland Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

What a great new thriller! I received a copy of this book from Netgalley & the publisher.

The story follows Kimber, a St Louis area saleswoman for a radio station. She returns home from a long weekend away and finds that there is someone living in her house - a man - who says he has a sixth month lease bearing her signature. Kimber is astonished; who is he? How did he get this fake lease? In a small scuffle that winds up with Kimber getting arrested at her own home, he says he knows “what she did.” What DID Kimber do?

You find out the answer to that pretty quickly and the rest of the book is spent figuring out who is this man and why is he after her? It’s a creepy, weird thriller that kept me guessing repeatedly.

Thank you so much to Mulholland Books and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was super creepy to me and I can't even imagine having to go through this.

When Kimber returns home from a short vacation she's startled to discover that her keys no longer fit in the door. Thinking there's something faulty with her keys she goes to use her extra one hidden and realizes there's a bike on her porch that isn't hers and she sees a shadow in her window.  Quickly calling the police thinking they will take care of removing the intruder Kimber learns there's nothing they can do to help her.  This new tenant has a lease signed by her and is adamant that he is renting the house from her for the next six months.  Kimber calls her lawyer ex-boyfriend to help her but realizes no one can help her unless she reveals a secret that this stranger knows from her past.  Kimber's past is threatening to be revealed and she wonders why all of this is happening at once while dealing with a stranger in her house with her personal items and sleeping in her bed *insert creepy chills here*.

I loved how this book from the very beginning started with creepy suspense and instantly hooked me.  I wanted to know who the heck was in this ladies house and how they came to have a lease with her signature on it.  Sadly this does happen in the real world all too often and I felt horrible for Kimber at first because this was happening to her but then the story went on and I started to detest Kimber because of the things she did in her past.  I'm not saying anyone deserves to have this happen to them but they do say karmas a bitch.

Suspenseful, well plotted and fluently written. Kimber, the central character, is a flawed but engaging narrator as she takes us on her quest to resolve the mystery of the man who has taken over her life and knows her darkest secret. I have now heard of this author and will look for other books by her as this was utterly compelling.