As always, Shalini Boland has written another captivating thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat and sent me off it with a shocking ending. I did not see the final twist coming at all and thought it really added to the story. Many authors will be lazy and not come up with a final twist to shock readers and instead will let them feel cozy in the ending, but not Shalini - she makes sure to leave one last shocking reveal so you're left thinking about the book. This was a quick read but I really enjoyed the characters and found the story very entertaining and intriguing. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Cancel your plans, switch off your phone and get ready for a nail-biting rollercoaster ride that will leave you breathless: A Perfect Stranger, the latest thriller by best-selling author Shalini Boland.

It’s her husband Aiden’s birthday and Emily has planned the perfect surprise party for him. After weeks of meticulous planning, the fateful day has finally arrived. All of their close friends and family are here, champagne is flowing and everyone is just waiting for Aiden to walk through the door. Emily has planned everything to the very last detail and hopes that the party will go off without a hitch, but one look at her husband the second he walks through the door tells her that she has just made a very big mistake and got everything wrong…

Emily is beside herself. She cannot believe that she has messed up. Her stomach is churning and her heart is racing, but when she spots Aiden chatting to guest Danielle Baines, Emily realises she’s got far more to worry about than she initially thought. Danielle is a woman who seems to have the world at her feet. She leads a life most people would give their right arm for and has it all: wealth, good looks and the Midas touch. Seeing Aiden with Danielle ratchets up Emily’s anxiety. However, by the end of the night, she will realise that she’s got more to worry about than a birthday party gone south.

Aiden has a shocking confession to make that rocks Emily to her core. Worse, Aiden tells her that they don’t have any time to waste and that they need to pack their bags and leave their house with their son because their lives are in danger. Emily loves her husband. She thought she could trust him, but she quickly realises that she didn’t know the first thing about him. Does Aiden have her best interest at heart? Can he protect her family? Or is he going to end up costing her everything – including her life?

Shalini Boland never fails to deliver a top-notch thriller that keeps me up way past my bedtime. A Perfect Stranger is a nerve-twisting chiller that will make your heart race. Taut, tense and creepy, this unsettling tale grabs you from the first page and keeps you reading all through the night.

Shalini Boland knows how to write a thriller that is absolutely impossible to put down and with A Perfect Stranger, she has once again written a first-class page-turner I gobbled up in one go.

Wow yet another great book by this author. Plenty of tension and great characters with the twist at the end . I would definitely recommend this book to my audience, I can't wait for the next book . 5 star read from me

A brilliant read
Love this ladies books
Plenty of twists and turns
Can’t wait for the next book
Thanks NetGalley

This is a good read and is packed with twists. The plot is fairly obvious but at least I knew what I was going to get. The characters are good and I enjoyed getting to know them.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advance copy.

I’m sorry but I was so bored. Two totally different perspective where the only thing they have to do with one another is their brief knowledge of one another. Plus the I for in a different name. Plus the random man creepy perspective that did totally nothing for the story line.

The plot was so predictable it made it so boring. I couldn’t get into it at all and just found myself hoping for it to be over sooner.

Whenever I choose to read a book by Shalini Borland, I always know I’m going to be in for a treat and having just finished this one, I can happily report that I wasn’t wrong. This was a brilliant read.

So this story was a slow burner to begin with, definitely not fast paced but I was fine with that as I enjoyed the build up to when thing s really started happening. The beauty of the slow burner meant it gave me ample time to get to know the characters and to attempt to figure out or as the case was, lots of guessing in trying to figure out what might happen or how things would play out for the individual characters.

I liked that the chapters were told by alternating characters, as it gives a different spin on the story and lets you get to know said characters that little bit more. I thought the whole story was very well written and the ending was brilliant, and we were even treated to a clever little unforeseen twist at the very end which I so wasn’t expecting.

So as always, well done to the author Shalini for providing me with a story that highly entertaining and captivating from start to finish.

What a great book again. My second book from this author. Starting slow of (as it seems) the characters were written excellent together untill a great end! A real thriller again and I then realized why the start seamed slow…I loved this book and hope to read more from Shalini Boland.

This totally gripping psychological thriller will have you guessing until the last jaw-dropping twist
It tells the story of two couples, completely different and yet somehow their stories get intricated together and in an really good plot twist secrets are revealed and shocking events happen. The author does it again with a slow pacing book at start it might be difficult to believe but trust me, stick to it and read it all, it’s so worth it. The ending has such a good twist and it makes a good, solid thriller.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Bookouture for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

A Perfect Stranger was such an enjoyable read, I enjoyed every minute of it, I have read every book by this author and loved every singe one.

A twisty domestic thriller, this book kept me gripped, with a twist at the end that I didn’t see coming.

Recommended!

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher & Shalini for the ARC.

A fast paced thriller, difficult to tear yourself away from. Well written and expertly crafted.

I couldn't put this one down! What a WILD ride. I love Shalini's books and this was easily a 5 star for me!

Emily and her husband Aiden live in a little cottage with their 4 year son Georgie. Money is tight but Emily can finally breath a sigh of relief with money coming in from their new lodger. Aiden works for Marcus, at his swanky luxury car dealership where I things were going well, until they weren’t. Aiden has been acting strangely and Emily is worried especially since she is pregnant with their second child.

Married couple, Marcus and Dani, live a life of luxury and can afford to have anything they want. But the one thing Dani desperately wants, is the one thing money cannot buy; a baby. Dani is extremely concerned about Marcus as he’s been acting out of character and having all sorts of shady characters over to their house.

A Perfect Stranger is told from the perspective of Emily, Dani and an unknown stranger. I really like how the author jumps back and forth between the two women’s POV. Both women are polar opposite’s in every aspect of their lives. But what they do have in common is their suspicions that their husbands are up to no good.

Shalini Boland is one of my favourite authors and I have to say that A Perfect Stranger is my absolute favourite of her books. It’s a mystery thriller with increasing intensity that a times left me holding my breath. It was nail biting, heart stopping entertainment from start to finish. What made this book a five star read for me was the unexpected mind blowing plot twist at the very end. Shalini Boland never disappoints.

Thank you so much to Shalini Boland, Bookouture and NetGalley for my arc in exchange for my honest review.

I am a huge fan of Shalini Boland’s books, and each one just seems to get even better than the last.

The story starts with a very explosive prologue, all of which becomes clear later in the book. We meet the two main characters, Emily and Dani, and I liked both of them, even though I felt that Dani was very much under her husband’s thumb. At first there appears to be little to link the two women, but later on their worlds collide in a very shocking way.

There’s such suspense in this book, and you can really feel the tension building. It feels inevitable that something terrible is going to happen.

I found this book to be both gripping and compulsive, but also to be quite believable, it’s in no way far-fetched like some thrillers can be, and this made me feel even more on tenterhooks as I read it. I absolutely raced through the pages.

Exciting and twisty, this is an absolute must-read for psychological thriller fans.

A mother expecting her second baby and her suddenly strangely behaving husband, a wife who is obsessed with having a baby and her husband who feels resentful about that - on the surface they are all seemingly normal people. Sure, they have their own struggles and worries, but then, who doesn't? Why on earth are we treated to a complete insight into the kind of people they are and their lives? Is there a reason for us to dwell deep into their psyche?

And the short answer is yes. But if you want to know more, you will have to read the book, "A Perfect Stranger" by Shalini Boland. Through her book, Boland explores the concept of how well one knows another person and what goes on behind a person's perfect facade. She also makes the reader reflect on how often we tend
to concentrate on those things that we don't have and fail to appreciate the many good things we are blessed with.

The author manages to do this through her characters Emily and Dani; she leads us through their regular lives of as they try to find the reason behind their husband's changed behaviour. Using these concepts as the medium, the author tells a sharp and twist filled tale which manages to hook the reader completely without ever letting go.

I did have a small problem with the way the story travelled till about midway - I had to compel myself to read it till then. While the story alternated between Emily and Dani's point of view, it was difficult to get to know either of them or really like them even. And I felt as if the story was moving aimlessly with no focus whatsoever. However, after the mid-point, the story started to get completely engaging and captivating; I found it difficult to stop reading after that point. I can't say all the twists were surprising or even convincing. But the last twist was definitely unexpected and totally shocking - that is what made the book more interesting to me.

Overall, it's a short and sharp psychological thriller with few unexpected twists which can be enjoyed as a light and quick read.

This book by one of my favourite authors shouldn’t have taken me this long to read. It’s short. A couple of days at most.

By the 4th day I was cussing myself as to why I hadn’t finished it as I was obviously enjoying it.

Reflecting on this, I can honestly say it didn’t urge me forward in the first half of it, then when certain things started to happen I was, oh, this is silly, then all of a sudden POW, I was thrown right into a whirlpool spinning around and around. The thoughts in my head started to tumble in on me, the unanswered questions.

If you are looking for a fast thriller, this isn’t it unless you stay with it until that…..POW.

It’s steady, it’s entertaining, it’s slow and steady giving the reader time to think.

There are two couples here.
Alternating chapters.

The last few chapters made it for me though from a 3 to a 4.

Wonderfully thrilling, fiendishly addictive as always. This absolutely amazing author never disappoints. Loved loved loved this amazing book. Very highly recommended.

This book is my first experience reading something by this author and I enjoyed it. I've been reading/listening to thrillers more lately and I found this story to be engaging and it kept my interest all the way through. This intense psychological thriller kept me on the edge of my seat and the plot twists kept me guessing the whole time. This story is about two women whose lives collide in a shocking way. Things are not always as they appear in this twisty tale, and the final twist will shock you. Lives built on lies will come crashing down as secrets are revealed.
A gripping domestic thriller that will keep you turning the pages till the end. Definitely enjoyed it and am happy to have had the opportunity to read it.
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

*Thank you to Bookouture, Shalini Boland, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Previously published at https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/a-perfect-stranger/


It is quite easy to connect to make the first two connections, but the third connection makes little sense until the very last chapter of the book, one I never suspected, and also thought was unnecessary as the book was almost flawless. This one piece, I felt, changed the entire course of the story.

Emily and Dani (Danielle) are two women from unique backgrounds, who are connected through their husbands. Marcus, Dani’s husband, owns a dealership of exotic expensive vehicles and makes good money. Aidan, Emily’s husband, is Marcus’ employee and their lives collide, as Aidan struggles financially. Emily and Aidan have a young son, Josh, and she is pregnant with their second child. Dani has been trying to get pregnant for a long time with no success, and she is initially resentful of Emily. When Aidan starts to behave strangely, always on his computer and phone, ignoring his family, there is a big reveal that changes the course of their lives. The three of them will need to move far away, change their name and completely disappear.

At the same time, Dani also senses changes in her perfect life. Marcus has become friends with a bunch of people who seem like thugs and don’t fit into their socio-economic background. She is continually coming home to strange people in her kitchen and backyard and when she confronts Marcus; he says they are his friends, though none of it makes sense. When he promises to scale back their visits and doesn’t, he starts to treat her differently. When Dani hires a private investigator to see what her husband is up to, she is shocked and realizes the course of her life is about to change.

Each character in A Perfect Stranger is a liar, hiding dangerous secrets. They are all complex, unreliable narrators and duplicitous. The actual plot is well thought out and suspenseful, which had me thinking of all the possible scenarios that could play out. Except, the one that actually plays out. However, the one character that I thought was actually reliable was holding the biggest secret. This is an excellent psychological thriller and keeps the reader on their toes. I had a hard time putting it down, and I loved the sense of dread throughout the entire book. I have not read Shalini Boland in the past but I am determined to go back and read her library.