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ahdarling's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
holmstead's review against another edition
4.0
This is some good crazy suspense. Keye Street now seems to be a character that I will always look to enjoy visiting. I honestly did not see the twists in this book. I applaud Williams tremendously at being capable of keeping the reader on their toes. This was a definite entertaining and fun read. I look forward to more, so much more.
jadeeby's review against another edition
4.0
Originally published at my blog Chasing Empty Pavements
To be completely honest, I wasn't expecting much from this book. The last few Netgalley books I've read haven't been much to rave about and it seems I get into these slumps where it takes at least 5 or 6 books to get me to a book I really feel good about. This novel seriously took me by surprise.
The Good: It's been a very long time since I've found a new mystery series with an awesome lead detective that I've fallen in love with. The Stranger You Seek however just fixed that for me. I love Keye Street. She is a feisty, blunt and underdog of a character. She kicks ass and takes names but all in a realistic setting. No paranormal/fantasy aspects in this novel. I hate to admit it but I also LOVE books about serial killers. Don't ask me why. I just do okay? The serial killer in this novel is so smart and evil and the way Williams writes, you can just tell how creepy the killer is. I loved the secondary characters in this novel as well and the romance is kept at a subtle minimum which I enjoyed. The way Williams has the killer interact with the characters is unique and fresh. It's not your typical run of the mill chapters that switch pov's. Williams makes use of technology to help her killer interact with Keye and her team. I can't say much about the twists/plot but all I can say is that I was almost to the end and I thought, "Omg. This is SO easy. Why did she make the killer so predictable!" Only to find out I was WRONG! Score for Williams. I also love the fact that this novel takes place in the South...ya'll know how much I love books set in the south :P The writing was done well, the characters fully developed and interesting, intriguing and likable and of course the plot was wonderful. I think there is a new Janet Evanovich on the scene and her name is Amanda Kyle Williams!
The Bad: Nothing negative to say about this book! It was wonderful!
**I received this book free from the publisher through www.netgalley.com. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
To be completely honest, I wasn't expecting much from this book. The last few Netgalley books I've read haven't been much to rave about and it seems I get into these slumps where it takes at least 5 or 6 books to get me to a book I really feel good about. This novel seriously took me by surprise.
The Good: It's been a very long time since I've found a new mystery series with an awesome lead detective that I've fallen in love with. The Stranger You Seek however just fixed that for me. I love Keye Street. She is a feisty, blunt and underdog of a character. She kicks ass and takes names but all in a realistic setting. No paranormal/fantasy aspects in this novel. I hate to admit it but I also LOVE books about serial killers. Don't ask me why. I just do okay? The serial killer in this novel is so smart and evil and the way Williams writes, you can just tell how creepy the killer is. I loved the secondary characters in this novel as well and the romance is kept at a subtle minimum which I enjoyed. The way Williams has the killer interact with the characters is unique and fresh. It's not your typical run of the mill chapters that switch pov's. Williams makes use of technology to help her killer interact with Keye and her team. I can't say much about the twists/plot but all I can say is that I was almost to the end and I thought, "Omg. This is SO easy. Why did she make the killer so predictable!" Only to find out I was WRONG! Score for Williams. I also love the fact that this novel takes place in the South...ya'll know how much I love books set in the south :P The writing was done well, the characters fully developed and interesting, intriguing and likable and of course the plot was wonderful. I think there is a new Janet Evanovich on the scene and her name is Amanda Kyle Williams!
The Bad: Nothing negative to say about this book! It was wonderful!
**I received this book free from the publisher through www.netgalley.com. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
madisonbell_'s review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
kcfromaustcrime's review against another edition
4.0
Confession time (again!) I wasn't going to read this book. Nothing personal. I just looked at the blurb, saw serial killer and thought... over them. But, long story short, there was this homework assignment, I thought ... proof copy, grabbed the first one I saw, and no homework was done. Could not put THE STRANGER YOU SEEK down.
The thing that really grabbed me was the central character - Keye Street. She's got one of those voices that can really appeal to this reader. A recovering alcoholic with a failed marriage, and a partially acknowledged attraction to her best friend, mentor and cop Aaron Rauser she's a fabulously complicated character. One of her own greatest critics, Street's got a very chequered background - going from rising star FBI profiler with two university degrees and an enviable criminal profiling track record, to working for herself, making ends meet serving subpoenas, chasing down bail skippers and looking for missing cows.
Obviously there are going to be comparisons drawn with Grace Smith / Stephanie Plum and the like. Whilst there are elements that are just about identical - the job description alone is enough to get you thinking in that direction. Add a slightly madcap family; romantic tension; a hefty dose of personal lunacy and a rushing around investigation style and there is a point in the book where you do wonder about the similarities. For this reader, however, there are some marked differences. Some nuance about the humour, some of the self-awareness in the character, but probably the biggest difference is a real sense of desire to move on. The madcap family (sans Grandmother, but with a mother and father who fill in the personality requirements quite nicely), is built around the adoption, by her extremely Southern American sensibility parents, of Street (Asian American) and her brother (African American). Both the parents have starring roles in the humour department, which was subtle, and clever and frequently laugh out loud funny. Humour, in particular, is something that does not always travel well culturally, and for this Australian reader, much of the conflict between Street and her mother, and between her mother and father, worked really well - with a stand-out being the father's recitation of grace, which had me roaring with laughter.
The point of these books isn't just the humour. There's a serious investigation going on, although built around a serial killer, that has some hints and tips along the way that could make a reader wonder if there is something slightly different going on here.
Street also isn't just what you see is what you get. There's depth, roundedness, flaws and good points to her character that are very engaging. There's an acerbic, pointed and enlightening internal voice that works, not just to give you a chance to get to know the character, but also makes her quite real. Her supporting cast is relatively well fleshed out also, although, obviously as this is the first book, the concentration is pretty heftily on the main character. The serial killer thread is nicely done this time, with a final twist in the tail that I simply did not see coming.
That's not to say that everything is perfect and there are some rather hamfisted attempts at humour which don't quite hit the mark... not the least is a tendency to see sexual desire in every lesbian character that Street encounters, but all in all, thanks to THE STRANGER YOU SEEK, once again, "over serial killers" needs an equivocation clause.....
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/stranger-you-seek-amanda-kyle-williams
The thing that really grabbed me was the central character - Keye Street. She's got one of those voices that can really appeal to this reader. A recovering alcoholic with a failed marriage, and a partially acknowledged attraction to her best friend, mentor and cop Aaron Rauser she's a fabulously complicated character. One of her own greatest critics, Street's got a very chequered background - going from rising star FBI profiler with two university degrees and an enviable criminal profiling track record, to working for herself, making ends meet serving subpoenas, chasing down bail skippers and looking for missing cows.
Obviously there are going to be comparisons drawn with Grace Smith / Stephanie Plum and the like. Whilst there are elements that are just about identical - the job description alone is enough to get you thinking in that direction. Add a slightly madcap family; romantic tension; a hefty dose of personal lunacy and a rushing around investigation style and there is a point in the book where you do wonder about the similarities. For this reader, however, there are some marked differences. Some nuance about the humour, some of the self-awareness in the character, but probably the biggest difference is a real sense of desire to move on. The madcap family (sans Grandmother, but with a mother and father who fill in the personality requirements quite nicely), is built around the adoption, by her extremely Southern American sensibility parents, of Street (Asian American) and her brother (African American). Both the parents have starring roles in the humour department, which was subtle, and clever and frequently laugh out loud funny. Humour, in particular, is something that does not always travel well culturally, and for this Australian reader, much of the conflict between Street and her mother, and between her mother and father, worked really well - with a stand-out being the father's recitation of grace, which had me roaring with laughter.
The point of these books isn't just the humour. There's a serious investigation going on, although built around a serial killer, that has some hints and tips along the way that could make a reader wonder if there is something slightly different going on here.
Street also isn't just what you see is what you get. There's depth, roundedness, flaws and good points to her character that are very engaging. There's an acerbic, pointed and enlightening internal voice that works, not just to give you a chance to get to know the character, but also makes her quite real. Her supporting cast is relatively well fleshed out also, although, obviously as this is the first book, the concentration is pretty heftily on the main character. The serial killer thread is nicely done this time, with a final twist in the tail that I simply did not see coming.
That's not to say that everything is perfect and there are some rather hamfisted attempts at humour which don't quite hit the mark... not the least is a tendency to see sexual desire in every lesbian character that Street encounters, but all in all, thanks to THE STRANGER YOU SEEK, once again, "over serial killers" needs an equivocation clause.....
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/stranger-you-seek-amanda-kyle-williams
maggienack's review against another edition
DNF. Too scary! I can’t read thrillers anymore.
cfulton20's review against another edition
3.0
Good story, predictable but loved the outlying stories. the missing cow is great!
laden_bookshelf's review against another edition
3.0
This was another nearly-free read and I enjoyed it but probably not enough to pick up another in the series.
april_golden's review against another edition
4.0
I want to give this 3.5 or 3.75 stars. Why can't GR do half stars??? Come on now.
I did really enjoy this book, a first in a new thriller/mystery series featuring Keye Street, private detective. I was afraid I wasn't going to like her character going into it because she was billed as this tough, no-nonense "type" but her voice in the novel was well done and I bought it completely.
The only reason I'd give it less than four stars is due to the fact that there were some editing issues (for instance, one character's name changed from "Ray" to "Roy" then back to "Ray") and I felt like the author revealed her main red herring too early for my taste. I had my suspicions about who the killer was fairly early, and to a certain extent, I figured out what was going on. However, I was blown away by a reveal on the very last page that I did not see coming! Wow. I love it when that happens.
I will definitely read the next in this series when it's published.
I did really enjoy this book, a first in a new thriller/mystery series featuring Keye Street, private detective. I was afraid I wasn't going to like her character going into it because she was billed as this tough, no-nonense "type" but her voice in the novel was well done and I bought it completely.
The only reason I'd give it less than four stars is due to the fact that there were some editing issues (for instance, one character's name changed from "Ray" to "Roy" then back to "Ray") and I felt like the author revealed her main red herring too early for my taste. I had my suspicions about who the killer was fairly early, and to a certain extent, I figured out what was going on. However, I was blown away by a reveal on the very last page that I did not see coming! Wow. I love it when that happens.
I will definitely read the next in this series when it's published.
missbb2015's review against another edition
Its super slow. Doesnt seem to be any excitement