Interesting to not the 5* and rave reviews ... really? My main take-away from this was "at least it was free" ... the text was included in KindleUnlimited, and the audio was available on Hoopla. I fell asleep listening, so I had to turn to the text to re-read what I'd missed. The writing was more awkward reading it, the audio made it better, although I was frustrated at only two narrators, with four distinct characters, all 1st person POV (present tense). While the narrators (one female, one male) attempted to do different voices (the mother Amanda, the daughter Louise/the Stranger, James) they still sounded too similar. At least the chapters in audio listed the POV next to the chapter number (something lacking in the Kindle TOC) so I could glance at my phone and double check whose POV it was if needed.

One of the first things I disliked was the prologue ... this enabled the tired trope of showing a scene from later in the book. Basically a spoiler. We, the reader, KNOW of an upcoming event (here, a woman pushing a man in front of a train). At a certain point in the book, still far before the event is repeated, I knew exactly what was going to happen. Annoying.

This jumped back and forth in time - not only starting with the prologue, which is a scene from the final 3rd of the book, but then "flashbacks" to some events earlier in the various POVs stories. Fine, that's used quite a bit in writing, and at least the headers spelled out the time (although again, NOT included in the Table of Contents, where some reference might be helpful).

None of the characters were likable -- even Amanda (the MC). Her 17-year old daughter was awful. Of course the two "bad guys" aren't likeable, but it was just a little hard having no one I cared about. At all. 

I have to admit, "psychological thrillers" aren't my preferred genre. I always seem to be annoyed. Why do I keep reading them? Occasionally one IS good ... alas. This is supposed to be realistic, but I can't in good conscious put it on my "realistic" Goodreads shelf. Too many things are far-fetched, the "suspension of disbelief" required is too much.  Hard to discuss more without spoilers ...

So the fact that the MC was keeping oodles of cash in a little safe in her house... okay. The daughter was so bad, she was almost unbelievable. That she and James could have hooked up, okay ... that she could have told him about the money, and he and his crony plot the theft ... starting to push it. I guess The Stranger could have staked out Amanda. BUT ... the whole flashback of Amanda murdering (yes, self-defense) the rich old man and GETTING AWAY WITH IT. I mean, how incompetent are the police there? She's a hired escort, seen with him just a little earlier in the evening, methinks the police would have found out who she was (blond wig not-withstanding) and questioned her. Even people planning a crime leave behind evidence. The fact that she was able to murder, then rob, and get away completely? That this hadn't been weighing on her more than we see ... just doesn't ring true. I think by this time I was dismissing the story as fairly ridiculous and just pushing through because I didn't have another book ready to go on my phone. That these altercations happen on the train and no one calls in authorities, that the characters are able to track James down (little "find my phone" tracking was helpful to a point). Amanda ... she's already killed one man, what's another, and another? Justification notwithstanding, this little working mom, no qualms about killing multiple times. The predictability ... given the prologue, you KNOW she's going to push one of the guys in front of the train (and again, magically get-away without a problem, it's surprising more people don't simply murder people this way, it seems so easy!) - I'd thought it might be James until "the Stranger" magically figured out where James might be going (London's not that big, right?). And the James thing was totally premeditated and planned ... and also predictable, the second she pulled out the bag of crisps (which crisps have peanuts in them)? Anyone with THAT life-threatening of an allergy would likely be more cautious about picking up random food. At least he did have an epi-pen handy ... to make it somewhat more believable. And then all HEA for Amanda and the brat Louise. I didn't even want them to have a HEA ...

Glad to be done and to move on. I was almost expecting her to submit her book under a pseudonym ... Daniel Hurst.