Reviews with content warning for Murder - Not So Perfect Strangers

Tasha meets Madison on a random night and it forever changes her life.

Tasha is in an abusive relationship and she is trying to flee. Her son doesn't want to leave and runs away when she is not looking to return home. Tasha will do almost anything to escape, but what Madison has in mind is too much for Tasha.

Madison wants to be free of her husband. He's not abusive or mean or anything, she just wants his money. When Tasha comes into her life she thinks she has found the perfect escape. Tasha needs to get rid of her husband and so does Madison. What could possibly go wrong?

The red flags with Tasha's son are so obvious. Has she ever even talked to him?

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beebeewin's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The audio book for this novel was by far my favorite part. The two different narrators really embodied the characters and fed even deeper into the dichotomy between these two women. I appreciate Stratton tackling some intense topics with a quick-to read and easily digestible mystery. She paints such a vivid set of characters, I could swear I have all met them before in real life! I feel like I could see what was coming in the end so while I appreciate the character work the story itself wasn't anything world changing. I will say it doesn't end with a fairytal ending, which I appreciate as it sticks to the more true to life approach. This was just a quick, tense, and dare I say fun read. Anyone looking for a good mystery would like this book and might even get a little social commentary out of it as well.

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starrfishandcoffee's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I was originally going to give the book a 2.5 or 3, but the twists bumped it up to a 3.5 for me. Hope to read more thrillers by this author.

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marissamrkt's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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30before30's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was so crazy to me. The plot was so up and down and twisty turny that I honestly didn’t predict a single thing that happened! But, in turn, it made the book so unrealistic that I really couldn’t get behind this book. I loved the character development of Tasha, so much so, that it made the book worth the read. Lots of triggering subjects so be weary when picking this book up.

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thackerleah's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense

3.0

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lifewithjoce's review

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Not So Perfect Strangers is a dual-perspective, dual-timeline novel centered around two women who both feel they would be better off without their husbands in the picture. When they come together via a fateful interaction, the path that both of their lives— especially Tasha’s— takes changes dramatically. As is common with the dual-timeline narrative, we know from the start that there is a fire in a mansion home, and that Tasha is the one who calls 911 about it. The rest of the book leads us on the journey of finding out exactly what happened there.

Stratton did an excellent job of writing both of these characters to feel believable and real; I felt their pain while I was reading their sections, and given that they were often at odds, this made for a strange but delightful reading experience. When reading from Madison’s perspective, I felt that I understood where she was coming from. Yes, this woman was a bit unhinged, but that is the time honored Gone Girl tradition of psycho-thriller books today. Rich, successful white women are always a bit unhinged, especially when their husband is a cheating piece of shit. That’s what makes the story interesting. I have a habit of falling a little bit in love with these types of women.

Full Review: https://writethroughthenight.com/2023/02/13/not-so-perfect-strangers-a-dual-perspective-thriller-that-subverted-expectations/

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