Rating: 4.5 / 5
I have been part of the team hosting a buddy read for THE STRANGER INSIDE by Lisa Unger over the last couple of weeks and it has been a lot of fun. Thank you to everyone who joined us!
THE STRANGER INSIDE begins with Rain Winter. When she was twelve years old Rain and her best friends were attacked in the woods. Her friends Tess and Hank were taken and only Hank survives. Their abductor was caught thanks to Rain, but she lives with the pain of survivor’s guilt. Years later when their abductor is no longer in jail, he himself was murdered.
Rain is now living a seemingly ideal life with a husband who loves her and a baby daughter she is staying home to raise. When another murder occurs of a man who she felt escaped justice for his brutal crimes, Rain is sucked back in to her reporter career. Law enforcement believes that the cases are linked and Rain can’t resist looking back into her personal traumas.
I struggled a bit in the beginning keeping the characters straight, having started on audio. The book goes back and forth between Rain’s childhood trauma and present day. Rain in particular goes by multiple names depending on who is talking and when. We also get an alternate POV second person narrative with a character directly addressing Rain. I found that once I switched to print for a bit I was able to catch on to who was who and could then switch back and forth between print and audio with ease.
This book really kept me guessing as to what was going on and who was behind the vigilante crimes. There were a few elements I guessed, but the author completely surprised me with along the way as well. Though I struggled with the multiple time streams and perspectives originally I wound up really enjoying this aspect of the book!
This was my first book by Lisa Unger and I will absolutely be reading more! This was a very fun book for a buddy read, so thanks again to everyone who joined in!
DG Reads 
Great review!
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