A Perfect Stranger - Shalini Boland

Reading Challenge Category: Free ARC from NetGalley

Official Blurb:

Two marriages. Three little lies. Someone’s going to die…
I hold my breath as my handsome husband walks through the door. I’ve planned the perfect surprise birthday party for him. Our friends are gathered and the champagne is flowing. But when I catch the look in his deep brown eyes, I realise I’ve got this horribly wrong.
Then I see her. Danielle Baines. She’s the sort of ultra-polished woman who demands to be the centre of attention, with her salon-styled hair and diamonds glittering on her ring finger. I’ve never liked her. And I know the feeling is mutual. So why is she here?
All evening my stomach is churning. I’m desperate to smooth things over with Aiden as I can’t face another argument. And yet I can’t help but notice how careful he is to avoid Danielle…
Now it’s the end of the party and the man I love is confessing a secret that shocks me to the core. But it’s not what I was afraid of. It’s much worse. He says we’re in danger. He tells me we have to leave with our son. Turn our backs on the life we’ve built here and start again.
I thought I knew everything about my husband. But suddenly he feels like a stranger.
Should I trust him? And if I don’t, how can I protect my family?

My Thoughts:

This gripped me right from the start, and I flew through it wanting to know how that prologue tied in with the two main characters.
We are following two women, Emily and Dani, as they navigate problems in their marriages. We have no idea how these two women are related other than one’s husband works for the other. Apart from that, they couldn’t be more different. One is counting the pennies and expecting her second child. The other lives a life of luxury but can’t have the one thing she yearns for the most, a baby.
The story progresses, and everything starts to weave together very cleverly. I did guess how the prologue came into play and how the characters in that were relevant to the bigger story. However, it still had me on the edge of my seat more because of it. I think knowing the ‘ending’ made me propel through it faster to see how it would all unravel. It was all very shocking and well worth the read.
This is a fast-paced book and the perfect psychological thriller. It keeps you guessing; there is plenty of intrigue and not too many characters to keep track of. I wouldn’t say the characters were overly exciting, but they served the story’s purpose.
A solid four-star read and just what I needed after having read some not-so-great psych thrillers lately!