This is a story of he said/she said. The story is written with alternating perspectives with the male and female leads telling the same story, but from a wildly different point of view. The reader is left to wonder who is telling the truth and who is lying. At first, this worked for me, but as an avid reader of psychological thrillers, I could see how things would end from the beginning. Because of this, the story dragged on too long for me.

An addicting thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end. Perfect for the beach or a lazy summer day.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41150430

Genre: Suspense, Domestic Crime, Fiction

Synopsis: Caroline is a woman with dreams and desires of wealth and recognition accustomed to having what she wants including a gorgeous house on the beach. Aiden is a handsome young man with dreams and hopes for love and be loved, with an attachment for the gorgeous beach house that reminds him of his grandparents and his childhood. Life coincidences or .... maybe? Opportunities for each of them to think that the other is the appropriate candidate to complete their ends and goals But their end and goals are not the same, one wants love , respect the other ambition and obsession... but both joined by one thing, by the beach house. What happens in the story you will not believe.

Review: A well written story and with good fast pace. Well described and narrated. I personally loved that Caroline character was narrated in first person and Aiden character in third person. The title is perfect for the plot, it keeps a strict relationship. The plot catches you from the beginning, the characters are well described and flow well through out the scene everything is easy to imagine and recreate . The plot not very burned in other books, lean a little predictable but unexpected. It’s my first book from the author but I would like to read more from her. I’m thinking about buying some prior this. one.

That was wild! I didn't know who or what to believe. Caroline seems so believable, maybe (sadly) because of who she is and her station in life. Whereas Aiden, does not inspire trust. He seems a bit unhinged, has a criminal past, is rough around the edges. Someone is clearly not telling the truth, or maybe both of them aren't. It is fascinating seeing the story told through both their eyes. Both looking at the same events, but recounting the facts so differently. Only goes to prove the old adage, there are three sides to every story. My side, your side, and somewhere in the middle is the truth. I did figure out the big twist, but not until almost right beforehand. This was a fascinating read that kept me glued to the pages to get to the truth. I loved it.

Don't you just love when a book keeps you guessing and by the end of the book your feelings for each character have drastically changed?! A Stranger on the Beach was not at all what I was expecting, but in the best possible way. This book definitely lived up to the hype that I've been seeing all over Instagram and I can't wait for the release this summer so others can enjoy this book. This was a very fast paced psychological thriller that had alternated pov's between Caroline Stark and her one night stand, Aidan. As much as I saw this on Instagram, I hadn't read any reviews or synopsis on it before starting and I think that was for the best. Going into thrillers blind is so great since you don't have any presumptions or expectations.
I love Campbell's writing style and how with each book the ending is completely different than what you thought it'd be. Looking forward to many more novels from her!!


Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and the authors for the opportunity to read this suspenseful novel in exchange for an honest review.

I was given a copy of this book to give an honest review. I had a really hard time getting into this book and finishing it. It took me almost 3 weeks but I was determined to see it thru. I was confused by the story line and too many different point of views. The ending didn't make sense compared to the plot. I wanted to like it but I didn't. #AStrangerOnTheBeach #NetGalley

I hated this book. The writing is just awful and the plot issues are so big I don’t understand how this got published. Caroline is a very uninteresting character that cannot carry a reader’s interest. She is a put upon wife who feels neglected and finds herself in the arms of a lover, Aidan, who she has no interest in turning into more than a one night stand. Aidan is supposed to be young and very handsome and yet finds himself unable to resist the charms of an older woman, so much so that he becomes obsessed with her. Unfortunately Aidan’s POV chapters are very difficult to get through. He is juvenile and his obsession defies belief.

It becomes apparent very quickly that their versions of reality don’t match. As we are following them in real time and not in flashbacks or through a story told to someone else the perception issues go beyond what you’d expect in the new popular unreliable narrator genre. These issues are never addressed. They only work if one character is very mentally unstable in order to imagine things that did not happen. The fact that we were in their head during certain events does not ever get explained. There’s only a few possibilities to explain how the story is going to turn out and they are not difficult to figure out.

I put this book down a lot and read entire other books before managing to finish this book. I thought many times about giving up on it entirely but I hate leaving books unfinished. I can say that I should have quit it sooner and for good. There’s no benefit to sticking with it. About two thirds of the way into the book we add a detective character and some POV chapters for her. Ironically I liked her character and felt her chapters were much better than the rest of the book. It actually felt like it must have been written by another author because it was that much better and different from the rest of the book. If the author is capable of writing she apparently chose not to bother with most of this book. This book is not worth your time. The ending wasn’t clever and is not worth wading through the rest of the book for.

I LOVE me a good Psychological Thriller, and this is a GREAT one!
You will not see all the twists and turns coming in this one.

This gripping thriller leaves you on the edge of your seat anxiously flipping the pages.
This novel is fast paced and suspense filled.

The character development is perfectly thought out.

Several words come to mind: Clever, Suspenseful, Engrossing, Unputdownable!

This is A MUST READ for 2019!

A Stranger on the Beach started innocently enough. Caroline, a wealthy NYC woman who has just built her dream house on a beach as all those fancy New York types do, returns homes from a jog along the beach to find a gorgeous, albeit slightly creepy man just standing on the beach, staring intently at her house.

This is where the trouble begins. Campbell then switches back and forth between Caroline and Aiden’s perspectives and they both tell very different stories–in the style of The Affair.

Have you watched The Affair? Where the story is told from the point of view of two or more different characters and the circumstances never match up? Because they both have very different ideas of how the same day went down?

Love that show, BTW, but I kind of found it to be a little unbelievable at times. Some of the events would not be THAT wildly different. Unless these people are suffering from early onset Alzheimers.

For the most part, I enjoyed A Stranger on the Beach, but it becomes clear at some point that not only are both accounts very different, but someone is actually lying. And that didn’t quite work for me. Because as I saw it, the story was being told by that person, not to someone. So the lying didn’t fit. And it made the twist in the story less satisfying.

Still, just my opinion. I’ve noticed a lot of other reviewers totally loved it. So you’ll just have to read it to form your own opinion.

Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s press for an e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one releases July 23, 2019. This review will be published on my blog, Women in Trouble Book Blog on June 26, 2019.

Shew what a twisty game of cat and mouse! This book reminded me of a show I use to watch where both main characters had secret lives and we’re both conning each other. This is definitely a case of unreliable narrator you don’t know if you should believe Caroline and you I wasn’t sure I liked her either but the storyline was engrossing and kept me questioning and guessing all the way through.

"I'll tell you everything that happened, starting from the beginning. My first impression of Widen was that of a potential their. If only I'd listened to my instinct, I would've turned and run in the opposite direction. But that's not what I did. I walked toward him. And I will always blame myself for what came after"
This book has me hooked from the start. I loved the the little hints that were dropped in the first few chapters about what was to come. It gave a real sense of foreboding. The descriptions were so vivid that you could clearly picture each and every scene in your mind almost as if you were right there with the characters. And oh the characters... My head was spinning (in a good way) as each chapter went back and forth between Widen and Caroline's perspectives...but who to believe? I loved how what first seemed to be a straight forward plot of a woman who was in an unhappy marriage then finds herself in the arms of a one night stand gone wrong, or so your led to believe, could turn into such a twisted psychological thriller. i was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire book but that ending! I did not see that coming at all!!!!
I would like to thank netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, I had a feeling there would be a plot twist, but what was that? I was so turned around yet pleasantly satisfied at the same time. The story is told in alternating points of view of both Caroline and Aiden. Both narrators have completely different stories in parts of the book which made it a little confusing as to what really happened, however, Campbell does a nice job of explaining everything in the end. This story kept my attention the whole time and I couldn't put it down.

Thank you to Netgalley, Michele Campbell, and St. Martin's Press for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Stranger On The Beach hooked me from the first page & I read it in one day! Michele Campbell knows how to grab the reader and keep them! This book was right up my alley - and I really enjoyed it! Totally recommend this one for thriller lovers !

Caroline believes life couldn't be better; she has been married to her husband, Jason for twenty years, her daughter, Hannah has just started college. And to add icing to the cake, construction on her beach home is completed. From the outside looking in, Caroline has it all. But does she has it all?

Out of the blue, Jason asks her for divorce without giving a good reason on why he is ending their marriage after twenty years. While drowning in her grief, she meets an attractive young stranger named Aidan. Lines get blurred, and boundaries get crossed, and their one-night stand turns into obsession. Or Does it?

When I start reading books like this, I always know things are never what they appear to be. The biggest challenge for me is trying to figure out all of the pieces of the puzzle before the end of the book. Author Michele Campbell does a great job of throwing the reader off course a few times during this story. The narration is usually there to guide the reader along with the story, but Author Campbell shakes it up so much that you start feeling you can't even trust the narrator.

A Stranger On The Beach will keep your mind racing until the end. Even when you think you have it figured out - the author will throw you off course. I finished 362 pages in a few hours. If you are looking for a read that doesn't disappoint, add A Stranger On The Beach to your reading list!!

4 Stars

Thanks to St . Martins Press for the opportunity to read this book. A BEACH house where Caroline what to show off her prefect family until one night she make one wrong decision that will change in all. She thought she had it all but..she finds out differently. Everyone is watching her and her husband in a public place...everything is not what it seems. Then she makes a huge mistake that puts everything in jeopardy. Very good thriller so hang on for the ride.

To Caroline, Aiden Callahan as a very nice looking distraction. He, however, was looking at her newly done house on the beach. A housewarming party was the main thought in Caroline's mind, at the time. That and the loneliness she feels now that her daughter, Hannah, was off to college and her husband, Jason, travelled constantly on business. At 43,. Caroline had just recently gone back to work as an interior designer.

The homecoming party ended in disaster after Caroline's husband arrived with what was thought by all - a date! Lynn, Caroline's sister, was at 'the party and told Caroline to spruce herself up a bit more. Caroline tells Jason he cannot see this woman anymore - Jason tells her to get a good divorce lawyer.

Since he was bartending on the lawn and Caroline was inside the house, she didn't realize that Aiden had been at her party. Aiden tells his brother, Tommy, (the Chief of Police) that he knows the "posh" woman who had bought Gramp's house. Aiden goes over to Caroline's table (she went to a bar for comfort) - to drink her sorrows away. At first she doesn't know who Aiden is. He bartends at that bar and buys her a drink. She becomes quite enamored of him and they share many drinks. Aiden ends up at Caroline's house. They have a night of great passion. He knows she is the one for him...

But is he the one for her?

A spellbinding read it is!!! One of the most brilliant twisty stories of the year! I was unable to put this one down! The characters were (even if you did not like them) well developed and the plot was superb. Amazing turns of events that you do not see coming!

A Thriller for All!!!


Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a super read !

This was a strange reading experience for me. I can legitimately say I "hate read" more than half of it, and ultimately I'm pleased to have pushed through--the book has good payoff. And that's the thing: large chunks of this book are just FRUSTRATING to read, and then the third act twist makes it clear why. But I can imagine plenty of people DNFing the book based on the start, who don't have the patience to read for the twist. I'm giving it 4-stars, however, because I'm ultimately impressed with the execution--perhaps I was supposed to be frustrated reading?

And yet. I don't know. So essentially the first half and change (up to about the 60% mark) is dual-POV: 1st person from Caroline Stark's POV about her husband betrayal, an ill-advised one night stand, and then how the man in question, Aidan, became an obsessed stalker. And the second is 3rd person from Aidan's POV--some chapters cover the same timeline as Caroline's POV and so you see a contrast between how she sees things and how he does. Often they contradict each other.

Here is where I struggled: I found Caroline's 1st person perspective compelling and engrossing in the way 1st person usually is, and I felt her suffocation and fear where Aidan was concerned. I also was SO ANGRY and annoyed at her first almost every single choice she made. She did the wrong thing... a lot. I also l o a t h e d how she was constantly foreshadowing like "if only I'd known then what I do now!" It actively irked me reading. But! But. It all makes sense once you've read the whole book, yet having to slog through this woman's POV for 60% of the book! Was a lot to ask.

Ditto Aidan's POV. His was really painful to read at times--he's upsettingly emotionally reactive/borderline psycho. The way he talks about Caroline and loving her set off every alarm bell and it was like being in the head of a narcissistic Nice Guy. I did not like being there. Again: having read the entire book, I see the point of the way Aidan's POV was done, Caroline's as well... but I still actively disliked the reading experience of over half this book. I was tense, annoyed... speed reading because I was just itching to get to the twist, a twist, anything that would explain what was going on. Because it did become clear at about the 30% mark that something wasn't adding up between the two POVs--and so from that point on, I was only reading to figure it out.

So yeah: I hate read the first 60% just to get to the third act, which was actually quite good. Ultimately I see exactly what the author was doing, and I admire it, but I still am left with the frustration of the experience? On the one hand, maybe that means the book did it's job, but on the other hand: this will be a polarizing book. But I see the author's skill and would be interested to check out her other work. I'd likely really enjoy reading something that didn't sit in the deep POVs of two characters I actively dislike.

This book kept me guessing from beginning to end. I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. It was hard (in an exhilarating way) to figure out who the bad guy(s) were. Would definitely recommend. I finished it in one sitting.

A Stranger on the Beach was a great read. Michele Campbell tells a unique and compelling story that draws you in, and leaves you trying to figure out what may come next. You definitely don't fall in love with Aiden's character, but Caroline has you cheering for her as she figures things out.

From storms to murder, this book covers a lot of ground. Recommend.

I really enjoyed this story. Told in different POV's it worked.
Quick read because it was a definite page Turner.