The Perfect Stranger ~ Megan Miranda [@MeganLMiranda @simonschuster]

The Perfect Stranger
Simon & Schuster
April 11, 2017
337 pages
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In the masterful follow-up to the runaway hit All the Missing Girls, a journalist sets out to find a missing friend, a friend who may never have existed at all.

Confronted by a restraining order and the threat of a lawsuit, failed journalist Leah Stevens needs to get out of Boston when she runs into an old friend, Emmy Grey, who has just left a troubled relationship. Emmy proposes they move to rural Pennsylvania, where Leah can get a teaching position and both women can start again. But their new start is threatened when a woman with an eerie resemblance to Leah is assaulted by the lake, and Emmy disappears days later.

Determined to find Emmy, Leah cooperates with Kyle Donovan, a handsome young police officer on the case. As they investigate her friend’s life for clues, Leah begins to wonder: did she ever really know Emmy at all? With no friends, family, or a digital footprint, the police begin to suspect that there is no Emmy Grey. Soon Leah’s credibility is at stake, and she is forced to revisit her past: the article that ruined her career. To save herself, Leah must uncover the truth about Emmy Grey—and along the way, confront her old demons, find out who she can really trust, and clear her own name.

Everyone in this rural Pennsylvanian town has something to hide—including Leah herself. How do you uncover the truth when you are busy hiding your own?

Megan Miranda writes some great YA books (like Fracture), but after reading both All The Missing Girls and now The Perfect Stranger, I might like her adult books even more! Our main character Leah Stevens has run away to rural Pennsylvania for a fresh start, to get away from things in Boston. With her career as a journalist seemingly at an end, the threat of a lawsuit and her reputation in tatters, the peaceful, small town where they don't know her seems like it will work. Only Leah's roommate Emmy Grey knows anything about why Leah has left the newspaper and taken up teaching high school.

Then the quiet, peaceful town isn't so removed from the crime and death about which Leah used to write. A woman is attacked and left for dead - a woman who, if one wasn't careful, could be mistaken for Leah. Then, Emmy disappears.

Leah is a great character to have at the heart of this novel. We know something big, something bad happened in Boston. We know that it caused her to leave not only her job but the city, as well. I liked that we learn the history of just what 'that' was in increments. We're presented more with how anxious and worried it has made Leah about someone discovering who she was, what she did, than with the details and facts; it only adds to the tension and suspense.

This is a mystery that kept me guessing the whole way through. It would seem like something was revealed or explained, only to have it called back into question pages or chapters later. Between the unknown of just why Leah had to quit her job, what lead up to it (both immediately and farther into her past) and all of the questions asked when Emmy disappears, readers have to go more with who they can trust, what they believe and feel than with facts. (At least, most of the time.)

We know our main character is keeping secrets, it is just a question of how many of them she's keeping. And who has been keeping some from her.

The Perfect Stranger is a thrilling read, full of twists, turns and surprises that really will keep you guessing until the end.







digital copy received for review, from publisher, via NetGalley

All the Missing Girls ~ Megan Miranda (earc) review [@MeganLMiranda @simonschuster]

All the Missing Girls
Simon & Schuster
June 28, 2016
384 pages
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Like the spellbinding psychological suspense in The Girl on the Train and Luckiest Girl Alive, Megan Miranda’s novel is a nail-biting, breathtaking story about the disappearances of two young women—a decade apart—told in reverse.

It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched.

The decade-old investigation focused on Nic, her brother Daniel, boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson. Since then, only Nic has left Cooley Ridge. Daniel and his wife, Laura, are expecting a baby; Jackson works at the town bar; and Tyler is dating Annaleise Carter, Nic’s younger neighbor and the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared. Then, within days of Nic’s return, Annaleise goes missing.

Told backwards—Day 15 to Day 1—from the time Annaleise goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago.

Like nothing you’ve ever read before, All the Missing Girls delivers in all the right ways. With twists and turns that lead down dark alleys and dead ends, you may think you’re walking a familiar path, but then Megan Miranda turns it all upside down and inside out and leaves us wondering just how far we would be willing to go to protect those we love.

Now I want to read All the Missing Girls backwards . . . or would it be forwards? In standard chronological order, however that should be described.

Megan Miranda really did a superb job with the nontraditional way that this story is told, giving us the beginning, then working backwards from nearly the end back up to just after that beginning. The idea had me a bit skeptical, at first. I didn't wan tot be in on it all from the beginning, part of what I really love about mysteries and thrillers is how they all come together, how, at last, everything adds up and you figure things out. I didn't want to miss out on that.

And I didn't. Somehow - and I am still working on exactly how it worked - the time goes backwards but the mystery and the clues still unravel in a way that keeps you guessing, keeps you from knowing the end. A character would find something, hear something, say or do something, and then later in the book (but a day or two earlier in the character's life) you would discover some of the significance. It was the usual way mysteries work, but also not at all because the chronology was reversed. (It's tricky to explain but so good to read.)

I also appreciated that the story was not just told backwards with no other mention of time or order in the book. There are several mentions of time, what it is, what it means, and how we view it. There are mentions of distances seen as time, the amount of time Nic's been away, how long she's been back, how long she'll stay, etc. Along with the quotes accompanying the different Parts, it really ties in well to how the story is told.

"Tick-tock, Nic." (pg 31, etc.)

The ending had me questioning things I thought I knew about the characters, some of the events and what they really meant. I wanted to reread scenes to see how differently I viewed their reactions and statements in light of, now, having the full story. I love how this book seems to let you know what happens next before what happens first while all the while keeping you guessing and having a startling resolution.

One last note: this is an adult novel but fans of the author's YA noels should enjoy it as well. With the characters' ages (late 20s), the glimpses into their time in high school, and more, it had almost a NA feel, at times.




Other Books You May Also Enjoy: No One Knows by JT Ellison and Take the Fall by Emily Hainsworth

Soulprint ~ Megan Miranda (earc) review [@MeganLMiranda @BloomsburyKids]

Soulprint
Bloomsbury USA Childrens
February 3, 2015
368 pages
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A new literary, sci-fi thriller from acclaimed author Megan Miranda.

With the science of soul-fingerprinting a reality, Alina Chase has spent her entire life imprisoned for the crimes her past-self committed. In an attempt to clear her name, Alina unintentionally trades one prison for another when she escapes, aided by a group of teens whose intentions and motivations are a mystery to her. As she gets to know one of the boys, sparks fly, and Alina believes she may finally be able to trust someone. But when she uncovers clues left behind from her past life that only she can decipher, secrets begin to unravel. Alina must figure out whether she’s more than the soul she inherited, or if she’s fated to repeat the past.

This compelling story will leave readers wondering if this fictional world could become a reality.

I loved the way Megan Miranda uses science in her novels; first in 2012's Fracture and then in its sequel, Vengeance.  In Soulprint, soulprinting, like fingerprints but with souls, is a reality. The ramifications of what this means for society and the individual - that souls are born again and again and can be tracked - is still being discovered.

One person who knows just how much it can mean is Alina Chase. She was born with a soul that previously belonged to a now infamous young woman. She has spent her whole life isolated, in a de facto prison for her protection and the public's. It doesn't matter how much she hears of her past self's crimes, Alina knows that's not her. She's her own person.

If only she could prove it.

When the chance for escape comes, Alina gladly takes it. Only to find she may not have achieved the freedom she was imagining.

The twists and the understanding (and lack thereof) in Soulprint make for a very enjoyable, thrilling tale. We know from the beginning that Alina is infamous in her own right for things done by her soul in a past life. However, we don't know exactly what those things are.

There is, of course, curiosity about what was so terrible to necessitate the life Alina lives, but not knowing makes you more invested in Alina's desire to uncover the truth. We learn more and more about who she is even knowing that her 'soul' supposedly did something so horrible very recently. It's an interesting contrast and raises interesting questions.

The mystery and Alina's journey were so much better than I could have imagined. The other characters a great addition and seeing their attitude towards Alina, how it changes, gives a nice idea of how someone in that reality sees her.

I really like how the author handled the entire idea of souls. It is scientific (even if it's theoretically science) but doesn't ignore religion, either. It creates a very plausible, well balanced, idea.

The premise, characters, and story of Soulprint are very enjoyable and the development, the mystery make for a great read.





thank you to the publisher for my egalley through NetGalley