I’m not sure if I’ve ever read a book faster. This one definitely made me lose some sleep with the old “one more chapter” phenomenon.

Lillian is a mother and wife leading a hum drum life as an obituary writer. Sam is her obsessive and possibly deceitful husband. And wow do things get crazy.

Groundbreaking and unique? Maybe not. Thoroughly enjoyable and compulsive? 100%

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the advanced digital copy.

This book started out one way and really switched up about half way through. This was a quick read and kept me thinking. Lil is unhappy in her marriage, she gets fired from her job of 20 years, her husband is having an affair and her teenage son doesn't want to talk to her about anything. Her husband is super particular and keeps everything in order and he is super secretive. Lil's gay best friend Sam is her support system and thinks she should make some big decisions in her life. Things turn in the second half of the book and get really crazy. This is a definite page turner that just keeps you guessing.

3.5 stars. Admittedly this was not my favorite by Torre. Some pieces seemed like they were missing, which is most of the reason why it lost stars. Still, it was a quick read, and I really wanted to find out who died and who the killer was. Despite its potential, the book was pretty predictable (despite one big twist) and a lot of the characters were unlikable.


Thanks NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date 9/27/22

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
This was exactly the book I needed at the perfect time! I’m staying on a beach vacation in Mauritius and headed back to California next week and this was the perfect beach read! It had everything you could possible hope for from a psychological thriller! Unreliable narrators, cheating spouses, and laundering money against the backdrop of a sunny California beach town. I loved never being able to predict where the story was headed and was surprised until the very last page! Pick up this book and get hooked, you won’t be disappointed!

A Familiar Stranger by A.R. Torre was surprising for me. I was expecting a regular domestic thriller but geez, this one was non-stop twists and turns. This was super original and the pacing was chef’s kiss. I highly recommend this one.

The first half was good and I liked the twist, but the ending didn’t do it for me. We’re totally left hanging on David!!! Lenny is the redeeming quality of this story. He was absolute perfection.

I’m never disappointed with anything Torre writes, this confirms it. While the end was a little strange with the various viewpoints, I was totally digging it! I needed those varying perspectives to get some closure on everything that happened and it was totally satisfying. The webs that Torre weaves are always so good and while I figured out a portion of this little mystery, I was still flying through the book to see if I was right. Highly recommend anything be this author! Thank you for the opportunity to read this one!

Crazy & Entertaining!

Lillian is an obituary journalist whose life has taken a bit of a boring turn as of late. After chatting up a man in a coffee shop, pretending to be someone she’s not, she begins a torrid affair.

Little does Lillian know, however, that her life was never as boring as she thought. Her husband Mike has been keeping plenty of secrets and things quickly go awry for both of them.

Filled with twists, turns, and a whole lotta crazy, this was one suspense novel that kept me intrigued, even when things became implausible and a tad predictable, which was a rare feat.
3.65 stars

Another buddy read with Kaceey!

Thanks to NetGalley & Thomas & Mercer for the arc.

I’m a long-time fan of the Torre brand, whether it’s Alessandra and her romance novels, or these more suspenseful novels written under the A.R. Torre moniker. Her writing style is one I have always gelled with and easily fall into her stories. The blurb for this book, and especially the title, had me instantly intrigued and anxious to read. After all, isn’t there a statistic that says most crimes committed are done by someone you know? So, who exactly was this “Familiar Stranger” going to turn out to be?

I wasn’t quite sure about Lillian for a good portion of this story. Her thought processes and actions were completely opposite of everything I would have done had I been in her shoes. But as the story progressed, it became quite clear to me that we were dealing with an unreliable narrator. Once I came to that conclusion, I tried to take a step back and look at the clues and hints presented in a different light. I must admit I didn’t figure out who the familiar stranger was until just before it was revealed on the pages. Good job, Ms. Torre for keeping me clueless!

One thing I really like about her books is that she doesn’t try to make you like the characters. She writes them how they are, warts and flaws and all, and if you like them fine, if you don’t like them, that’s fine too. There were times I felt sorry for Lillian, convinced she was doing the best she could, and other times I wanted to strangle her for the decisions she made. I wasn’t big fans of Mike or Sam for various reasons, and really the only character I had a genuine affection for was Lenny. His life was not a pretty one, but he made no excuses for it, and I appreciated that about him.

This was certainly a twisted, convoluted tale and I pretty much never knew who I was supposed to believe or even root for. The pace felt a bit slow for me up until the very end, and then things went hyper speed to the conclusion. It ended before I had all the answers wrapped up, so I didn’t close the book with a satisfied feeling. I still have questions that are going to haunt me about the story, so that was a disappointment. There are some very good book club discussion questions included at the end, but if you’re not in a book club, or have no one to discuss it with, that doesn’t really help much in theorizing or getting the answers needed.

This was an intriguing read; Ms. Torre is certainly cementing a place in the dark and twisted suspense genre.

So this book takes you on a confusing journey. It's told in multiple pov, focusing on a husband and wife having marital problems. Honestly, almost none of the characters are likeable or trustworthy. The second half is where things get interesting, with bigger twists and secrets revealed. And one of the characters takes on a very unique viewpoint. Made things interesting and was a different way to see some aspects of the story. Overall, it was a good read.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
I read "Every Last Secret" by A. R. Torre a few years ago & enjoyed it so when I discovered that her newest book, "A Familiar Stranger", was available to review, I jumped at the chance to request a copy.
I found it to be an addictive, twisty, interesting & well written story that pulled me in right away & didn't let me go until its final reveal.
I will definitely be in the lookout for Ms Torre's next book.

What a fun, fresh and thrilling cat and mouse ride this was, loved every word of it! I have read all of A.R. Torre’s thrillers and am always amazed at how different they all are and at this author’s limitless imagination. I never read the blurb or reviews before reading her books so I can just be taken on the journey with no idea where we’ll be going. Keep writing Alessandra, I can’t get enough of your thrilling stories!

Thank you NetGalley, Thomas and Mercer and the author for this eARC, it was an honor to review this book. Available September 27, 2022 and can be preordered now!

3.5 stars - rounded up! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Well, that was an unexpected surprise! Don’t get me wrong, I know to expect a supreme thriller when it comes to Torre, but this had some unexpected twists sprinkled in - and I was all about it!

While reading the first half of this book, we know someone will get the ax, but who? I was totally sucked in from the start with the short chapters that kept me reeled in. I actually had a hard time putting this book down and looked forward to anytime I could pick it back up.

Once we knew who was killed, the book went into kind of a lull-like pattern and I wasn’t sure what to think. This is what turned it into a 3-3 1/2 star read for me. However, the last few chapters and the satisfying ending rounded it back up to a 4 and I really enjoyed it!

I’m not a super sleuth, so the twists and scandalous moments were pretty unexpected for me. This is one of the reasons why I love Torre. She keeps me on my toes - in a good way!

It wasn’t my favorite, but I still highly recommend. As always, I can’t wait for her next installment - all are “must reads” for me!

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and A.R. Torre for my advanced copy to read and review.

A nice and twisty psych thriller! The short chapters suck you in and it's hard to put down. The character development was thorough- I could clearly picture everyone in my mind.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, Thomas& Mercer and A.R. Torre.
Lillian Smith writes obituaries for a newspaper and also has tweet followers where she writes puzzles about murders which they have to guess who died.
Lillian is on medication but she decided to get herself off them.
She believes her husband is having an affair and her life is spiralling.
The first half is good, the second half is not at all what I expected. Crazy stuff happens and I was totally surprised by some twists and turns.
I read this book quickly and could not put it down.
Recommend.

The cover of A Familiar Stranger by A.R. Torre will pull you in, but will the story make you stay? I admit that the cover did catch my attention, and the story starts out well with a troubled housewife/obituary writer wanting to bring some spice into her life. Her job has become mundane, her husband cares only about work, and her teenage son has his own life. She meets an intriguing and handsome stranger at a coffee shop, and that's when her life takes a tailspin.

I really had high hopes for this thriller because Lillian holds an interesting job writing obits about celebrities and other luminaries for the LA Times. It appears that her husband is having an affair, and she must contend with that news. She sadly visits a cemetery to get some perspective and meets up with a man whom she befriended after writing an obit for his terminally ill daughter. When she embarks on her own affair, you hope that she finds happiness once again, but is she wise to trust this person?

I felt that most of the characters needed more depth. Lillian seemed to morph from one character to another, and you won't even believe what happens next to her. Her husband was cold and not very deep himself. Other characters ranged from fully-formed to blandly depicted. In fact, one character faded from the plot, and you never really find out the motivation behind this person's actions. I found that curious.

Some of the twists really threw me because of how shocking they were. Once you really delve into the plot, you will be pretty surprised by the events that spiral out of control. They're well-hidden but pop out just when you thought you knew what was going on or how the story would play out. After you know some particularly juicy plot points, though, you'll be able to figure out what will happen next.

At the end of the book, some characters receive their just desserts while others needed more of a come-uppance. One character really didn't deserve the outcome, but it was shocking all the same and made for an excellent plot twist.

For my first time reading this author, I thought this was a good effort. I like her writing style, but I felt that her characters could have been deeper than they were portrayed. Some plotlines virtually disappeared, and I think something that I cannot mention at the risk of spoiling some plot points could have been added to tie up the one character's fate. Anyway, I'd like to try another of her suspense novels and see how I feel about her other books.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest and reliable review.

A Familiar Stranger follows Lillian, an obituary writer, married to Mike whom she has a son with. Lillian discovers that Mike is cheating on her so when the opportunity arises to start an affair herself, she goes for it, making up a whole new persona. When a crucial character is found dead on a beach in Malibu, all secrets are revealed.

A solid four star thriller! At times I felt like I couldn't put the book down and I did not guess the big twist. The characters in this story were SO believeable. The last 15% of the book is very fast paced. A Familiar Stranger is cunning, action-packed and surprising. There is scandal and mystery and a little bit of everything you could hope for in a thriller.

Lillian, despite her being an absolute mess, is actually a very likeable character and I found myself rooting for her. The plot felt a little disorganized and chaotic, and I would've liked a little more explanation in the ending. This is the reason for dropping a star. You could easily devour this thriller in an afternoon - it is compelling and entertaining.

4/5

The book started off very well but took a weird turn in the middle. I particularly didn't like the direction it was going. However, I did enjoy the short chapters and writing style.

Wow, what did I just read?? Lillian is married to Mike and they have a sulky teenage son Jacob. Lillian writes obituaries for the newspaper while Mike works in finance. Sam, a gay real estate agent, is best friend to both Lillian and Mike. As the story unfolds, lots of secrets surface from multiple characters. This story is told from multiple points of view and it started out real slow for me but once it picked up, it really ended with a bang.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC of this book that had me guessing right to the very end.

This was a great book that I’ll be recommending for a long time. The pace, the length, the story line & the twists were all exactly what I look for in a book. It had me guessing the whole time and I never really knew what the next move would be or where the book was headed. I think this was my first book by this author so I’d be interested to see if I would like any of their other books. I read this one pretty quickly because it kept me wanting to know what happened in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book for an exchange of my honest review.