The Book:
A Stranger on the Beach by Michele Campbell, 2019
The Characters:
Caroline and her husband Jason
Aiden, the man she has a one-night stand with
The Plot (from Goodreads):
There is a stranger outside Caroline’s house.
Her spectacular new beach house, built for hosting expensive parties and vacationing with the family she thought she’d have. But her husband is lying to her and everything in her life is upside down, so when the stranger, Aiden, shows up as a bartender at the same party where Caroline and her husband have a very public fight, it doesn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary.
As her marriage collapses around her and the lavish lifestyle she’s built for herself starts to crumble, Caroline turns to Aiden for comfort…and revenge. After a brief and desperate fling that means nothing to Caroline and everything to him, Aiden’s obsession with Caroline, her family, and her house grows more and more disturbing. And when Caroline’s husband goes missing, her life descends into a nightmare that leaves her accused of her own husband’s murder.
The Twist:
Jason’s death was a set up. He and Caroline had stolen millions from the Russian mob. They used Aiden as a patsy and framed him for Jason’s death. Jason wasn’t dead; he and Caroline were hiding out and waiting to be able to flee the country.
The Ending:
Jason and Caroline pled guilty to the charges.
The Review:
A Stranger on the Beach is a beautiful roller coaster of betrayal, obsession, and lies.
The story is told from both Caroline and Aiden’s perspectives. Each scene is told from first one perspective and then the other, with huge discrepancies between each view. Where does the truth lie? Is one person deluded, or is the other person lying? Either way, both narrators are completely unreliable.
I was hooked from the beginning of this fast-paced thriller. Caroline’s actions make the reader shake their head, but I couldn’t wait to see where her decisions would lead her.
Check out my reviews of Michele Campbell‘s other books here:
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