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.
