Review: The Stranger Inside by Lisa Unger

Title: The Stranger Inside
Author: Lisa Unger
Published: September 2019, Park Row
Format: ARC Paperback, 384 pages
Source: Publisher

Summary: 
Even good people are drawn to do evil things...

Twelve-year-old Rain Winter narrowly escaped an abduction while walking to a friend's house. Her two best friends, Tess and Hank, were not as lucky. Tess never came home, and Hank was held in captivity before managing to escape. Their abductor was sent to prison but years later was released. Then someone delivered real justice--and killed him in cold blood.

Now Rain is living the perfect suburban life, her dark childhood buried deep. She spends her days as a stay-at-home mom, having put aside her career as a hard-hitting journalist to care for her infant daughter. But when another brutal murderer who escaped justice is found dead, Rain is unexpectedly drawn into the case. Eerie similarities to the murder of her friends' abductor force Rain to revisit memories she's worked hard to leave behind. Is there a vigilante at work? Who is the next target? Why can't Rain just let it go?

Introducing one of the most compelling and original killers in crime fiction today, Lisa Unger takes readers deep inside the minds of both perpetrator and victim, blurring the lines between right and wrong, crime and justice, and showing that sometimes people deserve what comes to them.


My thoughts: I have been a fan of Lisa Unger's books for quite some time now, having read many of her books, and I love that she still manages to surprise me with the depth of her writing. She writes such dark and intense books that are so addicting and this latest one is no exception.

Right from the start, I was pulled into this one. It's twisty and suspenseful and has you questioning everything that is happening. It also makes you think. This is a story of survival, but is also about justice. I loved the vigilante justice element to this story and it really makes you wonder just how often this happens in the real world. 

This is the type of story that you think you know what is going on, but you really don't. The twists are deftly played and just pull you in deeper and deeper. It really is a brilliantly crafted thriller that keeps you turning those pages to see just how things end up. 

I loved that we got to go into the minds of both the victim and the killer. Each point of view was so expertly crafted, at times chilling as through flashbacks, we are taken back to the incident that put everything in motion. This one definitely gets inside your head and you won't stop thinking about it until you reach that last page!

I loved this book. It's definitely a binge-worthy, dark read with a fantastic, twisted ending that I highly recommend.