This book reminded me of a Lifetime movie. It was gripping and kept you going til the end. Got a little slow for me in the middle where I was a little lost but it was still a good book.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Perfect Stranger by Jake Cross really started out good. I was hooked. But, around the middle it really started to drag. In all fairness, it may have been entirely my fault. When I am working through a book and find that I have short car trips or 15 minute windows here and there to read, I find myself wanting to cut to the chase.

I gave Perfect Stranger 3 stars. The ending got really dark for me and I felt that the middle of the book was full of new characters, new crimes, and I really had a hard time putting all of the pieces together. At the end, the way the story played out, I could not justify and believe all of the coincidences and parallels. I also couldn't decide if the main character was a good guy or a bad guy.

There's a video that is viewed repeatedly in the book, and it's described many times. There were many times that I felt the story was dragging. I felt like I was introduced to many characters that kept showing back up in the book but they weren't significant. It was hard for me to discern that from the amount of time and emphasis placed on describing them. Additionally, there were so many jurisdictions, police officers, and geographies that I really couldn't recall which thing occurred where.

I was disappointed in this one, overall. Have any of you read this one, yet? What did you think? Am I crazy? What am I missing here?

I'm thankful to @Netgalley and @Bookouture for the chance to get my hands on it for an honest review before the rest of the world.
#netgalley #bookouture #perfectstranger #bibliophile #bookreviews #readgoodbooks #readmore #loveabook #oakcitybooks @oakcitybooks #finishedreading #thriller

Many thanks to Jake Cross and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this book. The Perfect Stranger was an enjoyable if somewhat predictable read Chris and Rose are enjoying their life with their daughter when their world is turned upside down by the arrival if a daughter Chris knows nothing about born 20 years ago. With her mother recent death she has come to get to know her father. Rose and Chris is in for some changes. Is Katie genuine.

Having read a previous book by this author I was delighted to see another with an intriguing and enticing precis. Unfortunately the story didn't live up to its description and was, for me, a disappointing read.

Rose and Chris Redfern are a couple reasonably happy with their lot in life. They have one daughter and a quiet non eventful existence which suits them just fine. That is until a young girl arrives on their doorstep claiming to be all alone in the world apart from the father she has never met, Chris.

From that moment the quiet life is but a memory as all aspects become fraught with danger or the threat of it. At work and home Chris sees everything begin to run out of control with no obvious way to rescue any of it.

I struggled through to the end of this book but there was no rise in tension, no feeling of having to keep reading to discover what would happen next. Instead there was an air of disbelief, of amazement that this had actually reached the stage of being an about to be published book. It was muddled, unbelievable and confusing with a writing style nowhere near as compelling as this author's previous outing. I hope this is the anomaly and his talent will reappear next next time as sadly this is a book I will soon forget.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and although I know others have enjoyed it I can't recommend it at all.

Enjoyed the book very much. Excellent narrative and wonderful depiction of the characters. Highly recommended!

Good pacing, great atmosphere, taut and filled with suspense. My first Jake Cross novel will not be my last.

This fast pace thriller will grab your interest and bring you on one major roller coaster of a ride as it goes along. Things are picture perfect for our main characters Chris and Rose. They have the perfect life and perfect little family. That is until one day a young woman arrives at their door claiming to be Chris's daughter from a fling he had years ago. That is when things start to take a turn for the worse. Who is this woman? What does she want with Rose's family? And why won't Chris see just how evil she appears? It is now up to Rose to get to the bottom of things and protect not only herself but also her family. I'm glad that I got the chance to read this book. I enjoyed this story because its not anything like I've ever read before. The plot was very original and that mixed with all of the twists and turns had me up all night reading it. I think that my favourite thing about this novel however had to be how well written all of the characters were, even the ones who I did like their actions I still loved their characters. Great read and I'm very glad I got the chance to check it out. This book was very dark and not something I'm used to reading but every word pulled me deeper and deeper into the story. I just had to figure out what was going to happen in the end.

Suspenseful, twisted thriller all the way through. A lovely family of three with a wonderful life are mugged one night while out and a beautiful stranger saves them from further harm. Turns out she says she's your long lost daughter from a summer fling 20 years ago. The story unfolds in a mostly predictable way except for how terrifying the journey!

A perfect stranger comes into a family’s life. Who is she? What is her story? Quickly, things around the family become scary and dangerous. Will they survive? This book takes you through the many odd encounters the family has, but I found the book too predictable.

Perfect Stranger is a haunting, nail biting twisted thriller.

Read it in a day. Might have nightmares tonight but it was worth it.

When Rose and Chris let Kate in who proclaiming Chris is her dad , the trouble starts.

Not answering my door anytime soon.

You know something is off, you don't know why they are trusting Kate so you turn the pages as fast as you can to see why.

You want to warn Chris, Rose and their daughter to look out and run.

Another great read by Jake Cross.

Thanks to Net Galley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read The Perfect Stranger.

This book was weird. It started off pretty good, but the more I read, the stranger it got. Some parts were confusing. The end was bizarre. It was a bit disjointed at times. Thanks to netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Imagine a teenage stranger knocking on your door one night, claiming to be the daughter you didn’t know you had. She tells you she has no place to go. Would you invite her in to stay? Afterwards, you might regret it!

One night, that’s exactly what happens to Chris and Rose. Katie shows up on their doorstep and tells them she’s Chris’ daughter. She’s just lost her mother, a woman Chris remembers from a summer fling a long time ago. And while they are in shock by this revelation, Katie soon drops another bombshell. She has no place to go.

This is where Jake Cross creates a scenario that would put a lot of people in an awful position. Do you turn down a teenage girl with no place to go who claims to be your daughter? Or do you invite her in to stay? It seems like a catch-22 as turning her down means rejecting your daughter, but inviting her in could get you into serious trouble.

Therefore, Chris and Rose decide to invite her to live with them. At least until the DNA test comes back. But what strikes me as a little odd is they hide the fact Katie is (assumed to be) Chris’ daughter from their 18 year old daughter Julia. Likewise, Julia doesn’t ask any questions either and just accepts it. However, for some reason that just doesn’t seem likely, I would never just accept anyone moving in without an explanation and frankly I don’t know anyone who would.

As the story unfolds very strange things start to happen and people get hurt. Is Katie the cause of all this? It turns out Chris has some skeletons in his closet as well. Rose might not have invited a dangerous stranger into her home, he might have been living under her roof to begin with.

I don’t find the characters very likeable. They are back and forward between naive, hostile and oblivious, to everything around them and each other. It just doesn’t seem like the caring family I was expecting when I read the excerpt of this book.

The story is primarily based on coincidences however none of the protagonists seem to notice them. The first one happened right at the beginning and it continued on from there.

The idea behind the story is good. I like the concept of a long lost family member showing up and the change of dynamics that could case in a family in particular. It just didn’t grip me too much in this book. I feel if it was based on a little less coincidence it would be more believable for readers.

Overall it was an okay read. Therefore I would recommend it if you’re looking for a thriller to read on the pool side or the beach. It’s one of those books you can easily read if you want to do some light summer reading while getting a tan.

The plot for this book sounded really good and I liked the book at first. As it went on, though, I was bored and had trouble with the writing style. I found the characters annoying. I tried to talk myself into finishing it, but I just couldn’t see it getting any better.

A good fast paced read with twists throw in. This is a good story overall. I thought though that it was a bit long in places and I did not like or warm to any of the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

My favourite sort of book!

Fast paced, well written with lots of twists.

Ideal for a quick read at the beach, nothing too taxing.

I got a free advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Perfect Stranger is about a family that is nearly destroyed by secrets and lies. Chris Redfern has been married for nineteen years to his wife, Rose. They have a normal family life with their daughter, Julia. However, he discovers that a one night stand which happened around the same time he met his wife could have resulted in a child, Katie. If she is really his child, it means he has sired two daughters with two different women a few weeks apart. Soon after finding out this, the family is forced to take her in their home. However, certain unexplainable things start happening. Rose starts wondering if Katie is who she really appears to be. Or if she knows Chris as well as she thought she did all along.

I found this story a bit hard to really get into. The characters were my main issue. None of them were likable. I understood that the revelation may have been a shock but I found that Chris was a bit dramatic in his reaction. Rose was an awful wife in my opinion. She was, quite frankly, a shrew. There were times during the book when I found myself getting really irritated with her. This was a bit of a turnoff for me because I cannot fully enjoy a book where there isn’t at least one person I could empathize with.

The writing for me was a bit stilted. The story did not flow as it should have. The dialogue between characters who supposedly loved each other was sometimes a bit hostile.

The plot was interesting though so that kept me going. However, the surprise twist at the end was not much of a surprise. I won’t give it away but I can say that if you could read between the lines, you could see where Jake Cross was headed.

Reading this book was a bit of a task for me. I found myself being easily distracted which happens when I’m not interested in a story. I was more than a bit relieved when the story ended. I am not certain I will try any more of his books.

Absolutely fantastic had me gripped!!! Loved it! Can't wait for more from.this author. Storyline was great, characters were easy to.connect with

Thank you for the advanced copy

If you're looking for a twisty psychological thriller, you'll love this. The premise of the book is that the main character, Chris, has a daughter he knows nothing about; when that daughter's mother dies, she comes looking for her father. However, Chris has already received a poison pen letter (note, really, since it's very short), so we know something odd is going on--and that it's probably not coincidental to his daughter's arrival. Someone is not what they seem--but the question is, who?

I did guess what was happening and why fairly early on, but that didn't ruin the ride for me, because there were enough twists and turns and unanswered questions that I needed to see how it all played out. And there were a few things along the way that seemed to be odd plot holes--but that turned out to be interesting little twists to the story. The ability to keep the story interesting even when the reader has guessed the ending is no small feat, and it speaks to how enjoyable this book is. A very satisfying, entertaining read!

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to review the ARC.

If you like fast paced thrillers, this is the book for you. What if a young girl turned up at your house saying she is yours from a summer fling that occurred before you were married?? And then everything starts going wrong from then on!? Enjoyed reading this book and was the first time reading a Jake Cross book. Will be reading more for sure!

This book reminds me of Then She Was Gone from the premise of it, but even though it shares similarities (like your daughter coming "home," but she may/may not be your daughter), it is its own wonderfully thrilling story.