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A review by whendevreads
Strangers We Know by Elle Marr
3.0
** Actual rating is 3.5 stars **
This is the first thriller/suspense/etc book I have read in a loooong time. I am a big true crime girlie, I used to listen to a serial killer podcast driving home at night. As well, I have been meaning to read “I’ll be Gone in the Dark,” about the Golden State Killer — a story I am now realizing likely inspired this one, as genealogy is what led to the apprehension of the serial killer decades later.
I think the premise is extremely interesting; adoptee takes a genetics test for health reasons and has an FBI agent show up at her door to tell her she’s somehow related to a serial killer. As someone who has taken one of those genetics tests, I would just die if I found out one of my relatives was a serial killer — I actually would probably do some nosing around myself, just like Ivy.
I think the book dragged a little bit. There were multiple times I considered DNFing because there just simply wasn’t anything going on. I was getting confused between Ivy’s POV, Tatum’s POV (is it normal to get a victims POV??), and then this Sampson character. Honestly, I don’t think Sampson’s POV was needed, like at all. It was incredibly confusing; I guess that was the point, maybe, to throw us off of the Big Reveal. But, in my opinion, there wasn’t enough for us to connect his POV to who he was supposed to be in the rest of the story. As well, I guessed the big plot twist super early in the book, I would say maybe 50% in. As well, I think the Big Reveal of the killer was somewhat predictable, but at the same time not — I think I absolutely had 2 people that were the biggest suspects in my mind, but how they were connected or the actual intricacies of how things happened were still up in the air.
All in all, for my first dive into the thriller/suspense genre in quite a while, this was a good read. I believe I received it as a part of the Amazon Prime Monthly First Reads! So, I am happy to see that it was a good pick.
spice level: N/A
This is the first thriller/suspense/etc book I have read in a loooong time. I am a big true crime girlie, I used to listen to a serial killer podcast driving home at night. As well, I have been meaning to read “I’ll be Gone in the Dark,” about the Golden State Killer — a story I am now realizing likely inspired this one, as genealogy is what led to the apprehension of the serial killer decades later.
I think the premise is extremely interesting; adoptee takes a genetics test for health reasons and has an FBI agent show up at her door to tell her she’s somehow related to a serial killer. As someone who has taken one of those genetics tests, I would just die if I found out one of my relatives was a serial killer — I actually would probably do some nosing around myself, just like Ivy.
I think the book dragged a little bit. There were multiple times I considered DNFing because there just simply wasn’t anything going on. I was getting confused between Ivy’s POV, Tatum’s POV (is it normal to get a victims POV??), and then this Sampson character. Honestly, I don’t think Sampson’s POV was needed, like at all. It was incredibly confusing; I guess that was the point, maybe, to throw us off of the Big Reveal. But, in my opinion, there wasn’t enough for us to connect his POV to who he was supposed to be in the rest of the story. As well, I guessed the big plot twist super early in the book, I would say maybe 50% in. As well, I think the Big Reveal of the killer was somewhat predictable, but at the same time not — I think I absolutely had 2 people that were the biggest suspects in my mind, but how they were connected or the actual intricacies of how things happened were still up in the air.
All in all, for my first dive into the thriller/suspense genre in quite a while, this was a good read. I believe I received it as a part of the Amazon Prime Monthly First Reads! So, I am happy to see that it was a good pick.
spice level: N/A