Goodnight Stranger by Micaih Bay Gault isn't up there on my list of favorites.. None of the characters were likeable, but for some reason, I had to keep reading to see how it turned out. The ending wasn't satisfying, but it did make me sit there and think about it for a bit. So there's that.

This book had an interesting premise. I genuinely looked forward to seeing what would happen in the story. At first, I felt intrigued by what I thought the plot would be about and what I thought the setting would signify. However, the book crushed my expectations, and not necessarily in a good way. The characters were two-dimensional and the plot was convoluted. Too much of the plot was dependent on cliched suspense tropes. The main character never becomes much of anything likable, not even when she is "protecting" her home and her brother. The ending was unfulfilling and felt contrary to so much of the rest of the story that it felt like plot whiplash. It felt like the author was just trying to reach for any ending at all because they had just run out of ideas.

Goodnight Stranger is a title I can't say that I liked, although it was well written and suspenseful, I couldn't quite grasp how someone could let a stranger infiltrate their life so quickly and completely. Despite my issues with the characters, I did find this a compelling read. Much appreciation to NetGalley and Park Row Books, who provided me a digital ARC in return for my honest opinion.

Strange, atmospheric psychological thriller about brother and sister Lucas and Lydia, who live together on an isolated island off Martha's Vineyard. One day a visitor arrives on the island. Could Cole be, as Lucas believes, the reincarnation of their dead triplet brother Colin? Seesawing, shifting-sand narration, refracting motives, playing on doubles, ghosts, strangers--impossible not to be sucked into the vortex of it.

Remarkably eerie. ,Lydia and Lucas, and Baby B are triplets, although neither of Lucas or Lydia really knew their brother. who dies w hen they were quite young. Lucas is tremendously shy so after their mother dies, Lydia does not feel she can leave but needs to care for him, A stranger arrives convincing Lucas he is their long lost baby brother. Lydia Lydia has to overcome her own fears to figure out w ho this stranger is and why he has come to them. My description sounds very innocuous, but believe me the book isn't.

This book is very winding. The characters are all damaged by the ghosts of their lives. This would definitely not be a favorite of mine. But if you enjoy books that dwells in my past screwed me up. Then this might be the book for you

Gault's twisted psychological thriller had me on the edge of my seat as I tried to unwrap the mystery in the center of the novel, who is the mysterious stranger, just what happened to Baby B, and finally, what will become of the Moores? Lydia and Lucas Moore are already traumatized by the death of their brother as an infant, an event that shaped their family and led to their isolated existence on their tiny insular island. Now their world is brought crashing in around them by the introduction of a stranger who seems to know more about their family than could be possible. What are his intentions, what does he want, and what will he do to get it?

For fans of thrillers, this novel has plenty of tension and the unknown motivations of Cole, the stranger who is making himself at home in the Moore's family home, remain shrouded in mystery and fear throughout the novel.

One reason I requested this novel from Netgalley was the endorsement by George Saunders, an author whose work I always enjoy, and his comparison of the novel to Shirley Jackson. I found that to be an accurate comparison. As I read I could easily see the influence of Jackson, especially her novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle. There are similar elements of dark family secrets that are shaken loose by the arrival of a charismatic stranger with an agenda.

Lydia has always cared for her introverted brother, Lucas in their home on Wolf Island. One day, Lydia sees a man get off the ferry and is immediately struck by a sense of deja vu. Lucas believes the man is the reincarnation of their little brother, who died years ago. The man, Cole, seems almost too well acquainted with their island, their home, and by the siblings themselves. Still, that hardly means the man is the reincarnation of their dead brother. This leaves Lydia with no choice but to challenge Cole and also face her own reasons for staying on Wolf Island for so many years. This book is unlike any other I have read, but enough like some that I had my own sense of deja vu a few times. All in all, this is a unique story that will have you self looking over your shoulder at your own past

A suitably creepy psychological thriller about a young woman's attachment to the island she calls home and dedication to providing her brother with the family that fractured when their infant brother died. Their childhood was colored by the tragedy of Baby C, as their triplet was known thereafter, and although both Lydia and Lucas Moore know that he died , few weeks after he was born and is buried in the island cemetery, the strangely familiar man who steps off the ferry and immediateky compels their attention causes them both to reconsider what they have always believed . Is Lydia's attraction to Cole mystical or sexual ? And is Lucas's conviction that Cole is the brother he so fiercely desires a product of a confused mind or based on actual fact ?
There are to many coincidences for the Moore's to think that Cole is hiding something - he knows too much about their family but is unwilling to discuss his own, or even tell Lydia his real name. Her efforts to uncover the truth are hampered by her inability to leave the island - this geographical agoraphobia is explained in part by her one off-island experience, when her first semester at college was cut short by her mother's death .
All the coincidences are ultimately explained, and there are enough McGuffins dropped through the narrative to suspend disbelief . But it's a page turner with a growing sense of dead that's not dispelled until the experience of reading it fades from your mind.

I'm struggling to categorize and describe this book. It's not a mystery per se but it has elements of suspense and definite mysterious-in-origin emotions push the story along. After I finished, I wasn't pleased to have been exposed to such unpleasant hidden agendas (of one character). However, this is what the book was ultimately about so kudos to the author for thinking up such a twisty, unsettling book. I can't not give it a rating just because the book made me uncomfortable but neither can I give it a double thumbs up. Best of luck for a successful launch.