Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by yvo_about_books
The Stranger by Kiersten Modglin
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
3.5
Finished reading: March 15th 2025
“Tough times change people in the worst ways.”
This author was one of my favorite new author discoveries last year, and while I had some recent bad luck with some of her titles I still couldn't resist picking up The Stranger. I have a weak spot for a bad weather trope and while the premise has been done before, I can't deny that it makes for a great thriller... The Stranger definitely turned out to be a fast and engaging read, although I do have to say that the ending was a bit of a disappointment and it was all a bit too predictable. I mean, it was pretty obvious which characters weren't going to be the mystery POV, because that would have been way too obvious... So when the character did appear, I immediately knew the truth. This wasn't the only reason the ending disappointed me though, because it also felt quite rushed and it wasn't really a proper ending. This book would definitely have benefited from at least a short epilogue explaining how the situation ended... The story in general would have benefited from more fleshing out to be honest, as the characters themselves felt quite one-dimensional and this made it harder to root for them. More possible suspects for the mystery POV would have made the plot feel more intense as well... Because there is no doubt that the premise itself has a lot of potential. All in all it was a fast read and I still enjoyed my time reading it, but it wasn't quite as good as I hoped it would be.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail