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wordsofclover 's review for:

The Stranger Upstairs by Melanie Raabe
3.0

Imagine your missing husband reappearing after seven years, just as you've decided to get your life together again? This is what happens to Sarah, but when she collects her husband fro the airport, she picks up a stranger. This man is not her beloved husband yet he seems to know her, and worse, all her terrible secrets. And he's out for revenge.

I listened to this book on audio, narrated by Kristin Atherton, and I think the narration was done really well - and really gripped me into the story straightaway. I thought the intensity of the plot and the secrets that seemed to be brimming on the surface just made for a really great plot and it was really well paced for me.

As soon as Sarah's husband arrives home, the sinister feel in the book just ramped up so much and it was so tense to read. The maliciousness that was constantly coming off the strange, directed towards Sarah, was actually quite frightening at times. There was so much promise of violence and destruction and it made me really uneasy and scared for the character of Sarah.

The last quarter of this book went a bit downhill for me. I don't think the explanations were really logical, and some of the secrets and how they played out were a bit meh. I thought the book was going to be a really strong 4-star read for me but it ended up just a low 3-star. If I was to rate on narration alone, it would be a 4-star.

I really didn't understand how vicious Philip was because of his suspicions about Sarah. He knew he was going to have to wait until finding out what was true but why act that way without proof yet when you're returning to the woman you loved. It was weird. Also the fact we got pretty much zero information about the camp and how Philip escaped really.