I would rate this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.

C.L. Taylor did a great job of creating really fleshed out characters who are flawed, real people.

While I enjoyed trying to figure out how everything was going to tie together I did find the ending, overall, a little anti-climatic.

Will continue to pick up everything I can get my hands on from C.L. Taylor!
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I found this a little slow at first and couldn’t see how the characters would intertwine but ended up really enjoying this book.

Three strangers Ursula, Gareth and Alice all have personal issues they are dealing with. Ursula is recovering from a tragedy as her life is falling apart, Gareth is caring for his mother who is unwell and Alice is a single mum who thinks someone is stalking her.

They are all thrown together and need to work together to survive.
#netgalley #cltaylor #strangers

Strangers is the seventh novel by award-winning British author, C.L.Taylor. When her kleptomanic tendencies see Ursula Andrews evicted from her share-house, the only alternative to living in her delivery van is to take a room in Edward Bennett’s house. It may be bland and characterless, but it’s clean and the bedroom is big: she can put up with his quirks, and there’s really nothing she’ll be tempted to steal…

Now divorced two lonely years, Alice Fletcher’s first experience with Tinder is awful: Michael Easton is drunk and obnoxious, but the silver lining was Simon, who witnesses it all and returns the purse she’d dropped in the fracas.

Twenty years after his father disappeared without a trace, Gareth Finer’s life consists of his work as a security supervisor at the Meads, and evenings caring for his demented mother. Is it the postcard in his father’s writing that has him seeing a man who could easily be his missing parent on the shopping centre’s CCTV?

They are effectively strangers, although their disparate lives have overlapped in small ways. So how does it happen that, one week later, the three of them are standing over a dead body in an exclusive fashion boutique in a Bristol shopping centre?

The story is mainly carried by narratives from three perspectives, with some tweets relating to recent events interspersed. Taylor’s characters have depth and very human flaws, and none is quite what they first seem; her plot is gripping, with red herrings and diversions that keep the reader guessing right up to the final jaw-dropping chapter. Brilliant British crime fiction.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Collins Australia.

I love CL Taylor, so I had high expectations for this book. I ending up loving it, and I'm so pleased! It was such a fantastic book with a gripping plot.

The characters were very well written, and I didn't want to put it down.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this E-book to review via Netgalley.

C.L. Taylor is a very talented author to be able to take a story where not a whole lot actually happens until the end and keep you glued to the pages. The book is very character driven and the characters were beautifully rendered. Strangers is a very apt title. The story follows three people who know nothing of each other and is told from their perspectives in alternating vignettes and they are all brought together for a dramatic finale.

Alice is the manager of a fashion boutique in a modest Bristol shopping mall. She seems like a bit of a mouse and lacks confidence but a chance encounter sees her dating a seemingly nice man. They get on well until he inexplicably dumps her. Alice is not gutted per se but she does want an explanation. Oh and she appears to have a stalker. Ursula is a woman of Amazonian proportions. She was a primary school teacher but when she lost the love of her life she fell apart and is now a delivery driver. Oh, and she shoplifts to lift her bleak moods. Gareth is a security manager at the same mall where Alice’s shop is. He is an unassuming man who looks after his mother, Joan who is slowly succumbing to dementia. But a couple of mysterious postcards have lifter her spirits recently. They purport to be from her beloved husband who disappeared 20 years ago. What are the chances of all these threads converging?

None of these people are particularly noteworthy, they struggle to make ends meet and to find meaning in their quiet, unassuming lives. But the author skilfully draws you in and you end up finding them fascinating. So when they are thrown together by chance and a life and death situation it is really interesting to see how they react and whether any of them can find hidden strengths. I really enjoyed this. Thanks to Netgalley, Harper Collins Publisher’s Australia and C.L. Taylor for proving this copy for me to review.