Last year for Leslie’s Bookcase’s very first official book review I read All the Missing Girls: A Novel by Megan Miranda.

You may remember that I loved the book and recommended you clear your schedule and read this book immediately!

This year I had the opportunity – thanks to NetGalley – to download Miranda’s latest novel, The Perfect Stranger, in exchange for another honest review.

In this mystery/thriller, a failed journalist, Leah (though her failing is one  a reader can sympathize with), runs into an old friend “Emmy” and decides to move away with her for a fresh start. When “Emmy” disappears soon after their move, Leah realizes that  — on paper or the world wide web — the Emmy she knows doesn’t even exist. Leah’s credibility is once again at stake and she even becomes a suspect in Emmy’s disappearance. Thus Leah must work to uncover the truth herself.

The book kept my attention until the end and made me think about what footprints (electronic and otherwise) we leave behind in the course of a normal life. And how hard, or impossible, it would be not to do so.

I particularly enjoyed the journalism aspect of the story line. In fact my serendipitous discovery was a segment on the value of a “real newspaper” over clicking on electronic-based news stories. This snippet will likely be quoted in a post I am already planning on my love for the newspaper as it, sadly to me, faces its demise.

Admittedly, I am not a huge fan of “thrillers” mostly because I don’t enjoy getting scared, and I can’t relate to characters who, for example, take off to meet a creepy person by a dark lake without telling anyone where they are going.

But, for my friends who love thrillers and mysteries, I think you will enjoy this book. I can’t give it the “5 star enthusiasm” I gave All the Missing Girls but that’s such a hard act to follow especially because it had the added “gimmick that worked” of being written backwards. However, I found The Perfect Stranger to it to be a solid, entertaining read, and I recommend it for a travel or beach read that will keep you turning  – or swiping – the pages.

 

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