Wilson is that you? I was so shocked to learn I had read a novel from this author previously under a different name, but then I started to connect the dots while I came to the conclusion! I do really appreciate how well thought out Five Strangers is and how it makes for a cohesive reading experience. The introduction is enough to clue you in on how "brutal" the novel is, and the twists pull no punches. Very excited to see what the author is cooking up next!

This mystery starts with the murder-suicide of a young couple in a public park in London. There are five bystanders who witness the tragedy and some even try to intervene. With that many witnesses, you'd think that it was a pretty clear case of what happened. However, our main character Jen is a journalist and not long after the killing, she's messaged by a mysterious Twitter account who tells her that not everything about that day is as it seems. This leads Jen down the rabbit hole of an investigation where everyone has something to hide and the truth might be closer than Jen would like to admit.

TW/CW: animal death, suicide, infidelity, alcohol abuse, domestic abuse

The part I liked the most was the characters and character relationships. The book alternates POV between Jen and her best friend Bex. The two have been friends since meeting in college and have been there for each other through some pretty rough times. While most of the story takes place in present day, we do get some flashbacks to significant moments in Jen's life and how Bex was there for her. We know Jen has had a rough time lately with her 5 year relationship ending at the same time as losing her column in the paper, but she has been slowly getting back into a routine with the help of Bex and another journalist named Penelope, who Jen lives with and has an interesting somewhat mentor/mentee relationship. We get hints that Jen had some sort of breakdown previously and is in a somewhat delicate mental state so her relationships are really highlighted because she isn't doing much on her own these days. I really enjoyed how complex of a character Jen was, especially once we learn more about her back story. Jen is a somewhat unreliable narrator as we learn when we get multiple accounts of the same event. However, I didn't feel Jen was unreliable when it came to the present day investigation so it really seemed like she was still working through some traumatic events in her past but current-day she has been doing better. Jen isn't the typical investigative journalist protagonist, which I really liked. She's a bit of a mess and while she can pull it together for a little while, we see a lot of times how a small event can trigger a massive panic spiral. Penelope is the calculating investigative journalist character, which often put her at odds with Jen due to their differing views and philosophies.

The POV switching was interesting because it would often happen while we were in the middle of a scene with only Jen and Bex. It was an interesting way to get both sides of the current scene, but I often found myself forgetting which POV we were in. I didn't feel like the character voices were distinct enough for me to tell them apart unless they directly addressed the other character or if there were other details in the narrative that made it obvious. Also, due to the POV switching, there are multiple times where the reader finds out information before Jen does which I felt really lessened the impact of the reveal once Jen does find out. There are times where I have liked finding out information before the main character, but only when that information is so vague that it isn't immediately clear what is happening - when there's an un-named POV that might not be in the same time period as the main story, for example. In this case, it felt like so many of the puzzle pieces were laid out for the reader that I could see the whole picture even if a piece was missing here or there. There were times where it felt like Jen and Bex were fighting on page for who would be the main character. I felt that Jen was 100% the main character so I wanted less of Bex's POV and more focus on Jen.

The actual plot and investigation thread felt very unnatural because it felt like Jen basically had to have her hand held through the entire book. Between Bex, Penelope, and the mystery Twitter account messaging her, it really felt like Jen had very little autonomy. Before reading, I thought the mystery of this book was going to hinge on the different witnesses seeing different versions of the same events and Jen then investigates to see which version is correct. That is not what happened in this book. The actual physical events are never really thrown into question other than by the Twitter account who only makes a vague statement about the killings first and then turns into a sort of stalker account. Also, the article Jen is researching and writing during the book didn't seem like her idea either but she sort of grabbed onto the idea since she's been having money troubles lately. Now, I've never been a witness to a murder-suicide but it felt like Jen was unnaturally obsessed with the events to the point where she would almost get manic over trying to find out what the truth was that the Twitter account mentioned. As a note, I do think some of this feeling was done on purpose to show how vulnerable Jen is given her past history and current emotional state but I just don't think it was overall very effective.

I did like the overall ending reveal and how that was handled. However, I did think that Jen doing a full 180 didn't feel authentic to her character. She spent 75% of the book convinced the answer was X and becoming obsessed with X then, at the end, she gets a couple of clues that the answer is really Y and then she's completely fine with leaving X in the dust. I think the little clues that she gets about Y weren't enough to so suddenly dispel her obsession with X and it, again, felt like Jen was just being manipulated by the people around her. So while I don't quite buy the way that the ending twist was revealed, I did really enjoy the actual twist. I think the fact that the reader gets so much information throughout the book really made the twist that much more surprising because it wasn't something that the reader knew ahead of time (but the clues were there if you pay close enough attention).

Overall, this book has an interesting premise, but the execution left me wanting more. I did like Jen and her relationships with Bex and Penelope, but most of the actual investigation and plot felt really heavy handed and took away from Jen's agency. I didn't enjoy how much information was revealed ahead of time by the POV switching and I wanted more of a slow realization of the truth at the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scarlet for the ARC in exchange for review

Expected publication date is October 5, 2021.

Five strangers brought together by one horrible incident. A case of being in the right place but at the wrong time and witnessing something you can never unsee. Follow Jen down a rabbit hole of losing her mind trying to unravel not only what happened but why and how. A wonderful plot twist and not what one would expect.

First, thank you to the publishers at Scarlet and Netgalley for this e-ARC of Five Strangers.

Five Strangers is told from two alternating POVs - Jen and Bex. One unseasonably warm Valentine’s Day in London, Jen witnesses the unthinkable; a murder-suicide along with 4 other strangers. Shortly thereafter, she begins receiving messages that tell her she did not actually see what truly happened. As a reporter, she decides to begin investigating more into this strange possibility.

Bex, her best friend for the last 20 or so years, is there to see Jen through this tough crisis in her life. But there is more to this friendship than meets the eye. As Jen begins to uncover the truth, with help from Penelope, the woman she’s currently staying with after losing her job, things will begin to unfold in ways she could have never fathomed.

Honestly, I did not like this book. There was a lot of repetitive stuff, especially when she began to interview the strangers who also witnessed the murder-suicide that day. They all ask her not to print a single thing she tells them, which is just ridiculous when you agree to speak to a journalist. The story also dragged at times. It did not progress quickly enough to keep me interested. I kept looking to see if I was almost done with the book.

The overall plot was truly ridiculous and completely unbelievable. I guessed the “bad guy” early on and was correct. And then the reasonings behind what they were doing, not to mention how many times they’d gotten away with what they’ve done, was just illogical. It was definitely a work of fiction, which is great, but I just couldn’t connect with either character.

2.5 stars for me.

Five Strangers releases October 5th.

Ok, so on a quick note, this book was WILD! The way the story opened up? I knew it was going to be a winner for me, but then I feared that it will fall flat like most books that get very exciting very quickly. And this book did not disappoint. We meet Jen, and she for sure has the worst luck, she just got fired, lost her boyfriend, shes hella unstable, its WILD! She goes to the park to meet up with her best friend Bex, and witnesses a TRAGEDY. But now with everything that's going on in her life did she really see what she saw?? Anyway, this book took me on such a ride, and there were so many surprises, this book was super suspenseful, and right when you start to underestimate Jen, she surprises you. This book has me on my toes throughout the whole time I was reading it.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy of Five Strangers .
Five strangers witness a brutal murder in broad daylight — but can they truly believe what they saw?

With its grassy hills and breathtaking city views, London’s Hampstead Heath is the perfect place to spend an afternoon with friends and loved ones—and on an unseasonably warm Valentine’s Day, the lawns are especially full. So when an aggressive lovers’ quarrel breaks out, there’s an audience of park goers nearby to hear the shouts traded back and forth, and to watch as the violence escalates suddenly to murder, then suicide.

For the five strangers who observed the gruesome act, the memory of the gore is unshakable. But one of them—disgraced journalist Jen Hunter—is compelled to question the truth of what she thought she saw. Are the facts of the case plain as day, or were they obscured, in the moment, by the glaring sunlight?

As she mounts an obsessive investigation for a seemingly-impossible alternative, the lives of the other witnesses begin to unravel, each in its own particular way. Soon one thing becomes clear: the crime they witnessed was more terrible, more twisted, and more far-reaching than they ever could have imagined.

Five Strangers
by E. V. Adamson

Five strangers witness a brutal murder in broad daylight — but can they truly believe what they saw?

With its grassy hills and breathtaking city views, London’s Hampstead Heath is the perfect place to spend an afternoon with friends and loved ones—and on an unseasonably warm Valentine’s Day, the lawns are especially full. So when an aggressive lovers’ quarrel breaks out, there’s an audience of park goers nearby to hear the shouts traded back and forth, and to watch as the violence escalates suddenly to murder, then suicide.

For the five strangers who observed the gruesome act, the memory of the gore is unshakable. But one of them—disgraced journalist Jen Hunter—is compelled to question the truth of what she thought she saw. Are the facts of the case plain as day, or were they obscured, in the moment, by the glaring sunlight?

As she mounts an obsessive investigation for a seemingly-impossible alternative, the lives of the other witnesses begin to unravel, each in its own particular way. Soon one thing becomes clear: the crime they witnessed was more terrible, more twisted, and more far-reaching than they ever could have imagined.

I read the book cover to cover. It was just ok for me. It seemed no person had much redeeming value. . IBy the end it just ended in an abrupt way. I had to continue to hope it would get better. Sorry, but this was not one I could read without putting it down a few times.

When five strangers all witness what they believe is a straight forward murder, questions begin to arise about what they saw. Disgraced journalist Jen Hunter is having doubts about what she saw and begins to investigate and questions the other witnesses. Slowing clues begin to fall into place and she is left questioning everything she knows.
While reading the story I found it repetitive. I got frustrated with the sameness and because of this it wasn't holding my attention.

3.5 Stars

On Valentine's day, at London’s Hampstead Heath, five people witness a violent lover's confrontation that turns to a murder/suicide. Disgraced journalist Jen Hunter is one of those witnesses and she decides to investigate what REALLY happened that day.

This is a tale of who do you trust, the unreliable narrator trope, and I really like it. All the characters were really fleshed out and unique so it was easy to keep track of them all. I did figure out who the culprit was but it was a rollercoaster ride of emotions getting there. As much as I enjoyed the book the ending and too many plot holes prevent me from bumping this up to four stars.

I loved this book thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read it. I would add it to my collection.

You keep wondering what the hell is going on during the first half of this initially hard-to-put-down mystery novel about a woman who comes upon a dreadful scene in which a man first kills his girlfriend and then himself in a particularly horrific way. But did she see what she thought she saw?
That’s the question the novel poses after she receives a disturbing online message claiming that the supposed killer isn't the real killer. But she saw what she saw, right? As did several other witnesses, including a doctor who held the man and his girlfriend in her arms as she tended to them. So what exactly is going on? Some kind of mass misperception, an alternative reality situation, what?
It's a corker of a setup, to be sure, enough so that, as I say, for a time the reader can't turn the pages fast enough. But as improbability after improbability mounts, including a principal character suddenly turning out to be culpable in the business without any real preparation and there being myriad connections among the witnesses that defy credibility, a novel that held out promise of being strikingly original morphs into the more usual sort of mysteries which with their artificiality explains why over the years I've lost my onetime voracious appetite for them and come to prefer literary fiction. Dull as dishwater it can be sometimes, admittedly, with its focus on everyday events, but at least it’s truer to real life.
Still, E.V. Adamson’s "Five Strangers," for all its contrivance, is extremely well-written and intricately plotted and for a certain type of mystery lovers it will be just their cup of tea. It just wasn’t mine.

I really enjoyed "Five Strangers" by E V Adamson. Great thriller and every page was better than the next. I want to find more of her novels now.

This was a predictable thriller with lord if he said she said POV’s. There was some difficult subject matter in this book, and I had a little trouble connecting with the characters, but overall, it’s a decent cozy couch thriller.

Five Strangers by E.V. Adamson

#seventyfirstbookof2021 #arc

CW: murder, suicide, violence, discussion of rape, domestic violence

This is the story of five people who witness a crime, and one woman’s desire to search for the truth behind the event. It starts off exactly as I would expect, but then it evolves into a dual perspective she said/she said of two friends, and it went off the rails! I didn’t care for either of the main characters very much, as they were both pretty unlike to me, but one of them did turn out to be a little more interesting (and terrible) eventually. Then all of a sudden, the story wrapped up really quickly in a way that I didn’t care for. In the long run, no one in the book was worth rooting for, which I need in a story. Ultimately this book just wasn’t for me at this particular time.

Thank you to #netgalley and Scarlet Suspense for the advance copy. (Pub date 10/5/21)

One of the best books of 2021 that I have read. The writing style was impeccable. I really like how the author made you feel like you were smack dab in the middle of all the characters and their back stories.

DNF - Did not finish. I decided not to keep reading this title because I did not connect with the writing or plot. Thank you, NetGalley and publisher for the early copy!

This was a quick read I didn’t want to end. Started it and had a hard time putting it down. Five character perspectives and some very hard turns kept me questioning who was sane and who wasn’t. Wow, with friends like that who needs enemies?

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

This was a decent thriller, but I unfortunately pretty much knew what was coming. I did really like the way I felt as if I was going crazy along with Jen, though!

The “Five Strangers” premises peeked my interest from the start, however, did not turn out at all as anticipated. The read felt too familiar and I lost interest rather quickly. The title alone is misleading and felt erroneous as, such as the title suggests, all five “strangers” played minimal roles and came across as being thrown in with no real impact to the overall story. A sincere thank you to NetGalley for providing me an advance copy (ARC) of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read this story and leave my review voluntarily.

It's London on Valentine's Day and Jen is on her way to meet her good friend Bex. Bex has been Jen's main support during a brutal breakup, lost job and subsequent breakdown. While Jen wait for Bex, she and four other strangers witness a brutal murder of a woman by her boyfriend..or did they.

Jen uses this incredibly emotional moment to potentially jumpstart her stagnant journalism career. As she interviews the other strangers for an article she learns more and more about the tragic couple, Some of the facts do not make sense. As she begins to question her own eyes, she starts to receive progressively creepier and threatening texts.. Who can she trust?

This was a quick read and an interesting premise. While I was not pulled in at the start, I was very interested midway to learn more and more about Bex's behavior and why she supported Jen. Although the ending was a bit contrived, I did enjoy it and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys mysteries, domestic thrillers and unreliable narrators. Thank you to @NetGalley and @Scarlet Publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.