A Stranger in the House

 

Title: A Stranger in the House

Author: Shari Lapena

Genre: Adult Mystery

Rating: Five Stars!

Karen and Tom Krupp are happily married, their vows so recently taken that they’re still in that annoyingly blissful honeymoon stage. Life in their upstate New York home is pleasant, both of them free to enjoy each other’s company as they haven’t had children yet and Tom, a respected accountant, does a great job but doesn’t allow himself to get distracted by his work. He and Karen are best friends and life, for all intents and purposes, is perfect . . . that is until one night when Tom returns home, late from work, and finds Karen missing — it seems like such a rash, unwarranted thought, but her car is gone and there’s plenty of evidence to show that she left in a hurry. She even left her purse behind, complete with her phone and ID, which Tom knows she wouldn’t do intentionally.

Desperate, he searches the house for answers and then decides to call the police. Will they believe that she’s missing this soon? Tom isn’t sure, but just as he ends the call with the 911 operator, a police officer shows up on his doorstep. They’ve found Karen; she’s at the local hospital because she lost control of her car as she sped through the worst part of town — a place, it would seem, that she had no reason to be at given the late hour.

The accident leaves Karen with a concussion, a few scrapes, and a very inconvenient case of amnesia, which the police, of course, believe is a bit “selective” given that Karen can’t remember anything about that night. She and Tom are sure there’s a plausible explanation, but the police suspect that she’s up to no good. Of course, only time will tell, and as Karen and Tom settle back into their usual routine, both anxiously awaiting the return of her memories, Karen begins to notice that things around the house have been moved — or more like touched or displaced. Tom thinks she’s overreacting, but as the police continue to hound her about that night and as her memories slowly begin to resurface, Karen is sure of only one thing: someone has been in her house. She’s not sure who that person is, or if she did something to provoke their attention, but she suspects that whoever it is has the answers she’s so desperately seeking, and that they just might be willing to kill for them. 

A Stranger in the House is a riveting account of how easily the illusion of a perfect marriage can be shattered; it’s about the little lies that add up and wreak havoc on a couple’s life. For the record, I’m not a fan of mysteries — normally, I just don’t have the patience for them, but this book was so well written; the plot so seamlessly unfurled with just the right amount of suspense and drama that I literally sat on the edge of my seat the entire way through. I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I immediately researched the author and picked up a copy of her first book, The Couple Next Door — another highly recommended read. The twists and turns in both books are gripping and the characters are so compelling that you can’t help but get swept up in their drama and then watch on in utter fascination and anticipation as it all unfolds.