You know an author spins a great tale when you find yourself rooting for the sociopath! Camille is a complex, interesting character and I could gardly wait to find out what was going to gapoen. Minka Kent knows how to wrap up a great story and this was no exception. The door us also left wide open for a sequel, which is very exciting news!

Camille has been to therapy. She knows the torture she endured as a child at the hand of her mother was horrendous and had lasting effects. She knows her diagnosis of a sociopath and PTSD. And she also knows while she may not be able to truly feel love, she will do absolutely anything to protect her children and the life she has created. So when Lucinda seems to be lurking around every corner, she knows she must turn on her mama bear mode even if she looks insane to everyone around her.

So many twists! So much unknown and questioning. I couldn’t figure out who was lying, who was crazy, who was even real throughout this book. Very engaging and addicting. I was so anxious to get to the end to figure out all the confusion! I also love the connection the author purposefully makes to Venus flytraps, quite brilliant! Also love the viewpoint from a sociopath and all the research and facts that were mingled in through the story. I have personally learned and used some of the skills Camille’s therapist taught her! Very good read and can’t wait for the sequel that the author eluded to in the authors note!

*CRACK* That is the sound of Minka Kent hitting it out of the ballpark with Imaginary Strangers!!! This book was shocking, brilliant and amazing! I did not want to put this instantly addictive book down. I was glued to the pages wanting more of this riveting, twist filled, book!!

WOWZA!

Camille Prescott appears to have it all. She is happily married to a handsome, supportive, and loving husband. She has 2 adorable children. She also has a secret. It's a whopper of a secret, one that Camille has no intention of ever divulging. One of those secrets relates to her childhood and upbringing. She lives in fear that one day she will be found. Her fear intensifies when her six-year-old daughter, Georgie, has an imaginary friend who knows things about Camille's childhood. Things that Camille has never shared except in her therapy sessions.

I devoured this book! I loved being able to sit in on Camille's therapy sessions. I loved knowing some of Camille's secrets that she had kept in the vault and never shared with her husband. I loved being a silent observer as things began to become uncomfortable for Camille. Speaking of Camille, she is such an interesting character. Very interesting, indeed.

There are a nice number of twists and turns in this book. Holy Moly, I did not see a major twist/reveal coming at all! I was left with my mouth hanging open, thinking "did that just happen?" and "shut the front door!" Seriously, Minka Kent, I salute you. This is how you write a gripping and shocking psychological thriller!!! I'll also never think of Venus flytraps the same way again.

I loved, loved, loved the suspense, the tension, and the plot of this book. I never knew when the other shoe was going to drop. I loved that I was not able to figure this book out. Minka Kent kept me on my toes, fully invested, and turning the pages of this book. Whew!

I can't wait to read what comes next for Camille and her family!!!! Bring it on, Kent, bring it on! I'm looking forward to it!

Camille was diagnosed as a sociopath after dealing with extreme childhood abuse by her mom. As an adult, she marries Will, a handsome surgeon, and has two children. As her oldest daughter comes home from school with an Imaginary friend, Camille begins to wonder if the friend is really someone from Camille’s past. I didn’t read the blurb, just went in blind, which made this book even better. My favorite book of 2024 so far.

Imaginary Strangers was my first read where you meet a likable sociopath. While I like the overall concept and am pulling for Camille throughout the book, overall, I wanted more from this story. The ending caught me by surprise, which is always a win when reading a thriller; however, it felt rushed. I am invested in the Camille-Will-Lucinda saga and am excited to see if the sequel can give me the more I desire.

Book: Imaginary Strangers
Author: Minka Kent
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Pub Date: July 23, 2024

Man oh man what a story! And why am I not reading more Minka Kent? It says this is Book 1 of 1 in Dangerous Strangers Thrillers series. I never could find if this is going to be a series about Camille or just different books based on the dangerous strangers theme. Either way I am intrigued. Camille is such a strong woman. I found her easily relatable. She was trying so hard to maintain her life and to be the best mom and best version of herself. And Jacqueline - that was mother-in-law relationship goals right there. And Will was great! He was supportive even though Camille gave him tons of reasons not to trust her. There was good character development and I liked these people. A good twist at the end…just a good book. Give me more Minka.

Thank you Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for this sneak peak! Publication date is July 23, 2024.

Camille is married to a doctor and they have 2 kids. Everyone and every thing seems to be perfect. But Camille is hiding something from her past from everyone, including her husband and this was full of twists and turns you do not see coming. I loved the therapy sessions she had with her therapist. I was NOT expecting the ending at all!! I loved this and I especially loved the reason behind the venus flytraps on the cover. I highly recommend this book and I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for this early release. To be published July 2024.

Camille Prescott appears as a beautiful, smart, family-loving woman who is in the upper-income group with a devoted doctor husband and two children, whose life looks like an "American dream".
But underneath all this shiny look, there is a real truth about Camille that no one knows. This fact is both the creator of the perfect mother and wife image embodied in Camille, and a fact that she has to prevent from being revealed in order not to lose everything she has: Camille is a sociopath.
Camille is a highly functioning sociopath who is aware that she is a sociopath and also had been in therapy for a long time. If you have ever met a sociopath in your life, you will be amazed at the effort Camille makes to hide herself and keep everything perfect and on track, in a situation where even her doctor husband has not notice her sociopathy yet.

It was enough to read the first pages of the novel to get an idea of why Camille is a sociopath: After attempting to drown her mother in the bathtub, Camille leaves the house where she lives with her mother at the age of 17, after her mother threatens to kill her if she meets her again.

But something happens in her life one day: Camille, who strives to prevent her children from experiencing anything she has experienced, senses a danger to the family she first established with an imaginary friend her little daughter made in kindergarten. Then, the details in her memories about the biggest criminal who ruined her life begin to reach Camille through another "silver haired friend" her daughter made at school. From this point on, we read Camille as a guided missile aimed at finding and destroying the danger. We read about Camille's search for this mysterious new friend and the secret behind it, and even her tracking -which will turn almost into an obsession.

Although Imaginary Strangers stands out with a "sociopath mother", it actually ends with a picture that shows that nothing can be completely black or completely white. On the one hand, a sociopathic Camille who is ready to do anything to not be a bad mother, and on the other hand, Camille's mother Lucinda, a terrible mother, is with us throughout the novel as a "fact". However, in the finale pages of the book, we also see another side of being a mother, the side that Camille cannot feel. Is the threat to Camille and her family shaped by a mother's love or
hatred?

I liked the book, and you should read if you like thrillers, psychological thrillers, mystery ones...

Thanks for Netgalley and publishers for the ARC.

Really good book! Author laid out the story line and kept you intrigued, then wrapped it up very nicely! Kept me guessing. Probably one of her best books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an ARC copy of Imaginary Strangers.

Minka Kent's books always seem to be fast-paced, quick reads and this was no exception. Although I would classify this as a domestic thriller, I found the plot to be very unique compared to many other domestic thrillers I've read recently, which was refreshing! I did guess the twist fairly early in the book, which made the ending a bit less exciting. 3.5 stars rounded up!

Camille Prescott had a traumatic childhood but you’d never know it by the picture-perfect image she’s curated of her life now. Her charming husband and two beautiful children complete the façade she hides behind. When her six-year-old daughter starts bringing up reminders of her past, Camille is left reeling.

This book had me hooked from the very first chapter. Camille’s sociopathy is revealed very early on in the book and I loved the tidbits revealed during her therapy sessions years ago. The way she recounts her daughter’s experiences with “Imaginary” had me wondering if there were multiple diagnoses at play. I was surprised by the ending – it definitely didn’t turn out how I anticipated. I was, however, expecting a jaw-dropping twist in the epilogue that never came. That said, I was happy with the set up for a sequel, which Kent pretty much confirmed in the afterword.

I’m a new fan of Minka Kent and was thrilled to read this ARC of Imaginary Strangers. Mark your calendars for the release on July 23! In the meantime, I’ll be adding all Kent’s books to my TBR list.

Dexter if he was a mom.
I really liked the twist, I thought her husband was about to show his true colours somewhere along the line but what we got was a great misdirect. Though… I wanted it to extend beyond one chapter. The twist was way too anticlimactic. Still, a psychopathic mother raising a sociopathic daughter who then has her own children? A great premise. I also liked the fact that she never once doubted or worried about herself around her children. She may not have loved them but she would never hurt them and sometimes that’s all it takes to be a good mom.

*It was a pleasure to read the ARC for Imaginary Strangers, thank you M. Kent and Thomas & Mercer.

Minka Kent never disappoints! Such a great twisty story!! Camille has it all a loving husband, two amazing kids but she’s running from her traumatic past.

This book has me guessing the whole way through! Definitely a quick easy read that will have you guessing until the end.

“Psychopaths are born, sociopaths are made.”

I loved the opportunity to get inside the head of a female sociopath! Reading the chapters where this character visits her therapist gave me an idea of what it must be like to be void of feeling and have occasions where there is no delineation between right and wrong. For someone who is a rule follower and a highly emotional person, I found this morally ambiguous complex person highly intriguing!

Perfection is an allusion. You won’t learn that from the Prescotts, though. They want you to believe they live a perfect life.

When their daughter comes home from school and shares about her imaginary friend and their secrets, cracks in this perfect family start to show. Camile’s hidden past comes to the surface and undermines the carefully veiled perfection. What has taken years of therapy to overcome and bury is undone, causing Camille to become unhinged. Kent’s examination of a sociopathic mother fighting to protect her family at all costs was a wild ride!

Minka Kent’s exploration of nature vs nurture, manipulation, motherhood, traumatic childhood, mental health, and sociopathic behaviour was amazing!

Her implementation of short chapters, flashbacks, tension-filled scenes where the reader knows more than some of the characters, twists and an engaging narrative mixed with untrustworthy characters, overbearing mothers, and secrets highlights the above and makes for an engaging read.

The main theme, metaphor, and foreshadowing device, conveyed in the cover, is phenomenal! I kept seeing parallels between Camille’s behaviour/environment and that of a Venus Flytrap. As you turn the last page, you’ll be wishing for a sequel and you’ll be left considering if the Venus Flytraps among us are really any different from the rest of us….

I was gifted this copy by Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

I found this book to be very unnerving and it kept me up at night in the best way possible. I loved the unique premise and found it addicting to keep reading and reading. I’ll definitely be recommending this one!

First and foremost, at no point while reading this book did I anticipate the absolute betrayal bombshell Minka Kent dropped on us at the end of it.

This book features short chapters, an engaging, suspenseful storyline, and flashbacks to the past to assist in the development of the main character, Camille – a sociopath, which made for an engaging read. When I got to the last page, I was honestly bummed it was over.

Overall, I thought the book was thought-provoking, suspenseful, and entertaining. For all that Camille was incapable of feeling, I felt for her.

Camille, a survivor of a childhood trauma at the hands of her psychotic mother, Lucinda, has worked hard to put her past permanently behind her. After her mother tells her she will kill her, should their paths ever cross again, can you blame her? Camille has since achieved a picture-perfect life with her husband and their two children in a wealthy suburban neighborhood, where their daughter attends the best school they could find, and she now has a loving mother-in-law – worlds different from the life she knew before. Things are progressing smoothly, until Camille’s daughter announces to her that she has made a new imaginary friend, and her imaginary friend begins sharing secrets with her. Secrets which are actually very specific references to the trauma Camille experienced at the hands of her mother growing up. Obviously, the only conclusion Camille could come to is that Lucinda has finally caught up to her, and is coming for her family.

I enjoyed the progression of this book. It was full of twists and turns, and there was a surprise in just about every chapter, making it easy to keep on reading. Some of the events weren’t super realistic, which may be a turn off to some. I personally don’t read fiction books to get a dose of reality, so I enjoyed the somewhat outrageous plot-twists and secrets Camille kept throughout the book. And shall I mention, once again, the ending??? You’ve got to read it. In hindsight, though, Kent did give us a HUGE hint from the get-go.

In terms of character development, Kent lets us in on the secrets of Camille’s past through flashbacks, both to her childhood and other important life events, which I thought was well-done, however in the present-tense it occasionally felt as though Kent suddenly remembered once again the mental health issues Camille struggled from, and needed to remind us, too. Despite this, I believe the goal of bringing awareness to the silent mental health struggles that affect so many of those around us was achieved. I do have some unanswered questions, and the ending seems to leave the possibility for some type of sequel or spin-off open. I look forward to reading that one day!


Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy to read and review!

3.5 stars

This book is my second book by this author. I first found her through the booktoker Stephanie who recommended "The Silent Woman" which I really really enjoyed.

TW: details of child abuse

From the outside looking in, Camille has a wonderful life. She has two children and a husband named Will. She also has a traumatic childhood (god her mother was awful). When her daughter Georgie comes home one day acting strange and talking about things that no one should know from Camille's past, she has to wonder what is going on.

There were definitely some moments that fell flat for me, however, the overall pacing was pretty decent. I really did want to know who Georgie's imaginary friend was and what was going on.


It sounds like this is going to be a series as the epilogue definitely was open enough that I could see another book coming!

Fast paced, easy to read, and very engaging. I enjoyed this a lot. I had a lot of fun reading this. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy of this ARC.

This book kept my attention, and had a couple interesting twists, but I wanted more! I kept waiting for something big and unexpected to happen, and it just didn’t.

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

Minka Kent brings together a magnificent view into the life of a sociopath in a way one often does not picture them. As Camille strives to be the best wife and mother she is reminded of her past at every turn. She will fight for her normal life and her family. As the story unfolds one learns about her past and how she became the way she is. As she struggles to protect her daughter from her past it is revealed who the enemy is. With an ending with a twist and a prelude to the next book, this was a 5-star read for me. I eagerly await the next book with this dynamic character that one can not help cheering for. This was my second Minka Kent novel and I will be reading more in the future.