I was so impressed with Megan Miranda's adult fiction debut, All the Missing Girls, that I nominated it for the Texas Library Association Lariat Adult Fiction Reading List. We are thrilled that Ms. Miranda will be speaking at our Author Luncheon in San Antonio in April. With her second adult fiction title, The Perfect Stranger, coming out in April, there is definitely no "sophomore slump." As a matter of fact, I may even like this one better than the first! As I was reading it, I felt like Gretel from the fairy tale following a trail of clues; except those clues led me into the dark forest of the unknown rather than into a safe harbor. It is amazing how the author structures her story and drops bombshells in the narrative which take the reader into unexpected territory. You have a somewhat unreliable narrator, but one you are rooting for; a series of crimes that you can't quite figure out; and forays into the past that shock you as they reveal truly unexpected plot twists. The resolution is satisfying and consistent with the themes explored in story. The Perfect Stranger is....well, perfect - and one of my favorites of the year. As someone who reads a LOT of books, I am truly excited to be able to recommend this one to my library patrons.

This is the first book I've read by Megan and it did take me a little bit to really get in to it. However, once the action started I had a hard time putting it down. Imagine your roommate disappears the same night that another woman is badly injured, yet there is no trace your roommate ever existed. Things begin to happen around your small town that somehow all point to you, yet you have a past you don't want uncovered so you are left searching for her to prove your innocence.
This was the perfect story of a "friendship" gone badly and how naïve we can all be when we need support from others.

I first became aware of Megan Miranda’s storytelling skill when I read her previous novel All the Missing Girls, which was told BACKWARDS. Not an easy thing to pull off, but she did it in a 5-star fashion, so I was ready with high expectations when I received an advance copy of her latest book The Perfect Stranger in exchange for my honest review (thanks, Simon & Shuster and NetGalley!!)

In this one, the protagonist is an apparently troubled journalist named Leah Stevens, who has moved to a small town in western Pennsylvania to escape and start over. She picks up and takes off with her friend Emmy, becoming a high school teacher while Emmy works odd jobs under the table…or does she??? In fact, did Emmy really exist at all? When Leah reports her missing and the police come to investigate, there is no record of her existence anywhere, either currently or in the past when Leah and Emmy were college roommates. The reader is taken on a twisted ride while Leah tries to find Emmy while hiding her own past (the details of which are rolled out slowly, revealing the reason for Leah’s rush out of Boston and into Pennsylvania.

As the details of her past are revealed, we learn there was a restraining order against Leah and a threatened lawsuit for her actions in a story she wrote in Boston. Leah is just settling in to her new life when someone beats the crap out of a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Leah, and then Emmy disappears. Leah desperately wants to find Emmy, and becomes deeply entangled with the lead detective working on Emmy’s disappearance. She tries to cooperate, but the is no trace of Emmy, not even a digital footprint. At this point the reader may wonder if Emmy ever existed, or whether Leah might have dissociative identity disorder.

The possibility of a split personality is revealed as Leah tells the reader “I was an adolescent when I first started to see myself as two people…I was both walking down the hall and watching myself walk down the hall.” Speaking of a female student, she said she ”…held herself as if she knew it. She must’ve thought there were certain rules that still applied. “

Leah’s struggles become more clear as she continues ”…then you learn. Your backbone was all false bravado. An act that was highly cultivated, taught and expected of girls now. The spunk that was appreciated and rewarded. Talk back to the professor to show your grit.” Leah has learned that for her young student “…danger had not yet made itself apparent, but it was everywhere, whether she wanted to believe it or not.”

That is part of what makes this so GOOD: this is not just a mystery/thriller (although it definitely is a good example of that genre) – it is also a critique of how women fit in (or not) and learn to make their way in the world, whether it is essential to follow the rules, and the importance of learning about trust.

Leah’s struggle to reclaim her good name, find Emmy and figure out who, if anyone, she can trust makes this an interesting and exciting book. Five stars. And I look forward to Megan Miranda’s future work!

Summary: This suspenseful, well-written, unique and twisty thriller was an awesome read.

With her journalism career in ruins, Leah Stevens is ready to for a fresh start when she runs into her old roommate, Emmy Grey. The two of them quickly agree to move somewhere new to start over together. Shortly after their move, when a women who looks like Leah is attacked and Emmy disappears, Leah realizes she might never have known who Emmy was at all. In fact, she is unable to prove to the police that Emmy even exists and soon becomes a suspect herself.

This was such a fun, well-written story! As in All the Missing Girls, Megan Miranda brought the scenery and the characters vividly to life. I found it suspenseful throughout and couldn't put it down. It was slightly less unique and surprising than her previous book, where the story proceeded backwards in time, but it did still feel different from anything else I've read. There were a few twists I saw coming before the main character did, but there were also twists that surprised me as late as the last chapter. Even if it wasn't quite as perfect as All the Missing Girls, it definitely wasn't a letdown. I'd recommend it to fans of the author's previous thriller and to everyone else.

Leah Stevens has a checkered history she'd rather leave in the past. It's not that she's done anything wrong so much as has been perceived to have done so. That's all it takes though for a reputation to be tarnished beyond repair. With her promising journalism career sunk, Leah simply wants the opportunity to start afresh. A new life in a new town with a new job and new friends. All new, that is, except for her new best friend Emmy who made the trip with her. In fact, it was Emmy's idea.

Life is good for awhile, all but for the sensation Leah has of being stalked. A little too much unwanted attention here and there. It's obnoxious, but she can look past it because she's going for drama free and fresh. Remember? Then Emmy disappears and Leah is left trying to piece together the scraps of their life together. Has something terrible happened to Emmy? Did Emmy do something bad and disappear of her own volition?

It's like cutting through to the center of an onion; one cut doesn't do it. First you must pull back layer after layer before you can discover what waits for you in the middle. Emmy's life, much like that onion, seems to be folded in upon itself in and endless array of questions. Attempting to answer one requires first that another question be answered and before that another and another. Solving the mystery of Emmy will take Leah back through her own troubled past. Left to reconsider and process again all that she thought she once knew.

Full of spellbinding and nail biting suspense, The Perfect Stranger goes to show you may never really know the people around you. Even those closest to you may prove to be holding some of the deepest and darkest secrets of them all.

Thoroughly enjoyed everything about this book from the gorgeous cover to the captivating storyline. I will most certainly recommend it. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with the advanced review opportunity.

Megan Miranda has done it again... kept me up half the night finishing this superb psychological thriller. It starts off a little slow as the characters develop and the story unfolds but by midpoint it is a full blown page turner. Recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I would like to think that if I somehow found my way into a real life mystery, that I would act like the main character in this book. Somehow, she keeps finding herself in the middle of mysterious happenings, and rather than running from it, she finds herself digging for answers, or clues to solve the mystery.

I was immediately drawn in, and would love to read another story from this author!

Great story!

A friend...a very good one. Someone who knows you better than you know yourself. Someone you can turn to in your darkest hour, to help you pick up the pieces. What can be better? Leah considers herself lucky to have such a person in Emmy. She's been there for her through it all, even after all the time they were out of touch.

And now, Emmy is willing to give up everything and start over for Leah. Everything begins to unravel, however, when a local girl turns up beaten and left for dead. And then Emmy goes missing. Exactly when did Leah see her last, anyway? As Leah digs deeper and deeper, she realizes that maybe she didn't really know Emmy that well after all.

This is the perfect follow-up to Miranda's last novel, All the Missing Girls. It has just the right mix of intrigue, mystery, whodunit-ness to keep you guessing. And even if you put pieces of the story together before the halfway mark, as did I, the last 30% is sure to take you for a ride. That alone is enough of a reason to grab this one!

A Nail biting suspense, with a complexity that mesmerize the reader as it pulls into a psychological battle between reality, facts and perception.
Megan Miranda doesn't disappoint with this new installment.

THE PERFECT STRANGER

Megan Miranda's latest book is a terrific follow up to last years "All the Missing Girls". Leah Stevens is a former reporter for a Boston newspaper, who left her job to avoid a possible lawsuit over her last article. One day she runs into a former roommate Emmy and the two decide to get a fresh start together in Pennsylvania. When a woman who looks very similar to Leah is attacked, and Emmy disappears, Leah starts to investigate. What she finds is that Emmy may not be the person she thought she was, and that last article she wrote may not be the end of the story. I enjoyed this book very much, and now look forward to whatever this author might choose to do.

This is my second book by Miranda, but it won't be my last! She weaves together a smart, quick-paced story with some familiar characters and an eerie setting. Looking froward to the next book!

No one in the Perfect Stranger is who they appear. No one. Not the protagonist, Leah Stevens, to her friend Emmy Gray, or even the occupants of the small Pennsylvania town Leah and Emmy have moved to.
A poor decision causes Leah to need to leave Boston. When she reconnects with Emmy, an old "friend' who also wants to get out of the town and experience something different, the two move to Pennsylvania, where Leah gets a job teaching high school English and Emmy gets a job as a cleaning person at a motel.
But then Emmy goes missing and a woman is found dead in the woods close to Leah's home.
Are the two incidents connected? They don't appear to be. But Leah's life gets worse when one of her school colleagues is accused of killing the woman, a colleague who was also, apparently, stalking Leah.
From here. Leah's present life smacks full faced into her past one and she begins to suspect that no one around her is exactly who and what they are pretending to be.
I hate spoilers so that's all I say for now.
I was given an arc of this book by Netgalley for an honest review, so here goes:
What I liked about the book: the way Leah uncovers what's going on around her. She is a reporter and even though she is not working as one right now, all those old reporter instincts serve her well. I like that because she is true to herself. I also like the way the author portrays the other characters. They ring true.
The book is plotted so that as each new episode occurs, a little snippet of Leah and Emmy's past is revealed along with it.
All in all, a great story line and well told. I liked this book much more than All the MIssing Girls ( and the only reason I didn't like that one as much was because it was told backward. I like linear moving books a lot more!)

I received this book from Netgalley in return of an honest review. Wow, this was definitely a 5 star book for me. It kept me guessing until the end. There were times when I thought I had it all figured out and then another plot twist would be introduced which made this a book I did not want to put down. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes suspense/thrillers!

Megan Miranda’s forthcoming thriller, The Perfect Stranger is the story of Leah, a disgraced journalist forced to leave Boston for Western Pennsylvania, to a house in the middle of nowhere with a girl she hasn’t seen in eight years. Leah initially met Emmy Grey right after graduating college and being rejected from a job she thought she was a shoo-in for. Emmy let her stay with her for a fraction of the rent, and Leah always thought Emmy had saved her during her time in need.

Fast forward eight years, Leah hasn’t heard a word from Emmy since she joined the Peace Corps a few months after Leah moved in, when she bumps into her in a bar in Boston. Coincidence? Both looking for escape, they move to PA, a quiet, nothing town where they can disappear. But when a girl shows up nearly dead by the river, and Emmy vanishes, Leah has to question everything.

I started this book not knowing that it was technically a follow up to Megan Miranda’s 2016 hit, All the Missing Girls, which I haven’t read. Luckily, it read like a standalone novel, and one that I would recommend to thriller fans looking for something great (and with no risk of being compared to Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train). The plot was engaging and fast paced enough to make you want to read, but literary enough to be approachable to non-thriller readers.

Everything about this one was good, including the ending, the part most likely to make or break any thriller. The Perfect Stranger is out on April 11th — don’t miss this one!

*I was sent this book by Netgalley for review!

This was such an awesome read, full of twisty turny goodness! Leah needs to escape from a past mistake and Emmy invites her to come live with her. But then terrible things begin to happen and Emmy disappears. Only did Emmy even exist? Ya, this was one of those books that just grabs ahold of you and doesn't let go until you know all of the answers and boy are those answers so not what I expected.

I highly recommend this book, which I loved, to anyone who enjoys a psychological thriller that will make your heart race and keep you up way past your bedtime. It's delicious!

I finally read The Perfect Stranger on my second attempt. In honesty, I started it some time back and read about 10% but it wasn't meshing with me at all, maybe it was the genre, my mood? Who knows, either way it wasn't the time to read it. I picked this up 2 days ago again and read it in 2 sittings. I loved All the Missing Girls and find Megan's writing style my cup of tea (When I'm in the mood for mystery that is), so looked forward to reading this book. I knew it wasn't connected per se to All The Missing Girls but did know it was going to be one of those books that really would make me think and boy did it!

I didn't connect with the characters as such reading this book, I don't think I even liked the main character Leah a whole lot. But I loved how I was made to feel whether Leah was reliable as the story teller or not. I questioned so much, just like Megan wanted us to do with her story and even to the end was still questioning. Kyle was a great addition to this story, I really liked him and found the chemistry (Very mild romance, not a spoiler) a nice touch. I also liked that I was made to feel like I couldn't trust anyone in this book. It kind of puts you on edge as you read and without having anyone you can rely on makes it an interesting read.

The story has a slow burn, you are told of things in the past about Leah and some about Emmy (Her missing friend), but mostly this story is set in the present. I thought the ending was especially clever and liked that there was a little room for a follow on story too should Megan so wish it.

The reason I gave this 3.5 stars and not 4 stars was because with All The Missing Girls I was so involved with the story that it was hard to not want to know what was happening. With The Perfect Stranger the connection to characters wasn't there so much and it was just the mystery that kept me going. So, I knocked .5 off for that. But that by no means am I saying The Perfect Stranger is not worth a read, trust me when I say it certainly is. I'm glad I gave this book a second chance and finally read it and look forward to more work from Megan Miranda.

After reading ALL THE MISSING GIRLS I couldn't wait to read THE PERFECT STRANGER and I was not disappointed. A gripping, edge of your seat, thriller that will keep you awake far into the night. A well plotted story line with twists that will keep you guessing from the first to last page. Brava Megan Miranda!

I would like to thank NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Megan Miranda for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review. While out one night, soon to be former and failed Boston journalist Leah Stevens reacquaints herself with an old time friend, Emmy Grey, who has a somewhat mysterious and troubled past. Leah decides to leave her life as a reporter to start anew in rural Pennsylvania as a high school teacher and asks Emmy to join her. Soon after, Emmy ends up missing and Leah believes foul play is to blame. The more Leah tries to uncover about Emmy's past, the more troubling it looks for Leah. This story is even better than Miranda's last novel, All The Missing Girls. I plowed through this book just to get to the dramatic ending.

Leah has "journalist instinct" if that's exist or if there's such a thing. But sometimes she's using it in a wrong way. The story is exciting as I was very curious with what happened to Emmy. If there is really an Emmy or maybe Leah is just making an Emmy because she thought that Emmy is her other personality.

Does Leah needs someone to confide? Is she really that alone and lonely that Kyle thought she needs someone to talk to and don'e believe Leah about Emmy. Well, I guess he needs to assess every angle even Leah to make sure that she doesn't hide anything especially things about someone stalking her. But, does Emmy Grey really exist?

Moreover, while reading (especially in the middle part) it had me thinking and come up with these questions: Who's responsible for Bethany's incident? Is it really David or someone just using his name? Who is the suspect? How is Bethany's incident related to Emmy's disappearance? Maybe Jim is responsible for Emmy's disappearance? But, why Jim was killed? How is Theo releted to Bethany? And the most important question in my mind is why is it happening to Leah?

After knowing who's stalking Leah my reaction is: No effin' way!!!! Is it really Theo? Is he really stalking Leah?! This twist makes me scream and lose my mind!!! I didn't see that coming. I thought that he's just giving clues and signs to Leah! NO WAY!!!

I honestly don't know what to feel about the ending. I have mixed emotions. Part of me wants to know how they will capture Emmy or Melissa. But also part of me wants to leave it that way.

This psychological, mystery & thriller novel made me question many things. It made me feels things like hate. I hate that I'm scared to know what will happen next. Hate that Leah has been ignorant to the most important details. This is honestly what I feel while I'm reading. Also with the twists in the story, I feel nervous, terrified and excited. I wonder how All the Girls Missing goes that I would like to read it too as I enjoyed reading this one.

The novel is well written thought there are times that I couldn't keep up when Leah's having a flashback that made me confuse. But that's also the uniqueness of this book, how it was written. I would like commend Ms. Megan Miranda for this amazing story.