The Perfect Stranger is a gripping novel! Numerous twists and turns.  At times, I felt the story was predicable, and at others I was completely shocked. Action packed!

Chris Redfern is married to Rose, for almost twenty years. They have a normal family life with their daughter, Julia, barring Rose’s exacerbating arthritis.
Their family is turned upside down when Katie shows up, claiming to be Chris’s daughter from a one-night stand that happened two decades ago. 
Chris is unnerved and confused and is unsure of Katie, though he acknowledges that he did have a fling with her mother, Eve Levine. 
Rose, however, is more than welcoming – after all, how could they turn away a woman who’s just lost her mother?

The Redfern’s welcome Katie into their house, and Julia has a sister that she never thought she could have.
However, after she moves in, strange things begin happening.
Is Katie sabotaging her new family, does she have any enemies, or is Chris hiding even bigger secrets?
Katie has secrets – different versions of what she says to each family member. 
What about Chris’s family’s acceptance to Katie? It seemed too unconditional, even with the web of lies that Katie has churned.
Chris also seems suspicious, as though he was implicated in some criminal act. This worsens the tension.

And through it remains a central question: Is Katie his daughter? 
And who could be behind their family’s misdoings?
A compelling mystery and a lot of unreliable characters make for an imaginative read.
The writing is at times strong and engaging, but some parts came across as a bit disconcerting.

However, the reveal felt a bit overdramatized and the ending left me with mixed feelings.
Having said that, it was a good one, and definitely warrants one read.

My thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for a copy of Perfect stranger for an honest review.

I found this on the whole an enjoyable read., quite tense at times. The beginning of the book worked better for me , as the latter part seemed far fetched .The ending was as I expected but quite drawn out.
An ok read so I’ve given it an average rating.

The book is about Rose and Chris.  They have been happily married for twenty years and have an 18 year old daughter Julia.  Their life is changed when an anonymous note is pushed through the door saying ‘I know what you did to Eve Levine’.  Rose thinks Chris must know what it means but he says not but maybe it’s something to do with his job at the hospital.  Then after an attempted mugging in their car which was foiled by a girl on a motorbike, the girl turns up on their doorstep saying her name is Katie and her mother was Eve Levine.  Apparently Chris and her mum had a one night stand which resulted in the pregnancy.  It transpires that her mum has recently died so she has decided to seek out Chris.  Rose demands that Chris takes a paternity test, but in the meantime Katie has a fire in her flat so Rose allows her to stay with them until the results from the test come through.  Then unexplained things begin to happen and they begin to question who Karrie really is.  There are.lots of twists and turns and many secrets and lies are disclosed.  I did think at times the story was far fetched but I still thought it was a compelling read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thankyou to NetGalley,  Bookouture and the author, Jake Cross, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of Perfect Stranger in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion. 
Overall,  I thought the book was a good read. The only downside was it dragged a bit in places.  
The twists and turns certainly keep you guessing so it's definitely worth a read.  
The characters are well defined and there is certainly a creepy vibe woven into the details. 3.5 stars.
Worth a read.

Rose and Chris have what can be described as a happy marriage of 20 yeas with one teenage daughter who completes their family....that is until Katie shows up. Katie is a product of a fling before Rose, and Rose welcomes her into their home. But then strange things start happening and things are not quite adding up. Rose begins to question whether she knows all the things she really should be knowing. This is an excellent thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat and I will be on the lookout for more of this author's books.

this is the story of what might happen if your past interferes with your present life. 
chris and rose are a unique but nethertheless normal couple. they support and help each other and this is what made me like them from the beginning. 
as kathie steps into their lives everything begins to rotate and stumble.
the story is fast paced and never lets you be sure about what is really going on.
the end was a bit too much for my taste.
jake cross is a new author to me and I enjoyed that I got a chance to read his book. I enjoyed the twists and turns that kept me guessing in this tense psychological story.
many thanks to NetGalley for this ARC

A twisting psychological thriller with a huge creep factor. Not quite at the pace that I like my thrillers so if your after something that moves quickly this might not be for you. A slow burner that builds both interesting  characters and storyline with a great twist at its conclusion.

I appreciated the idea but the writing style was just not for me and made it difficult to connect with both the story and the characters which remained quite shallow in my opinion.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ebook!

What a dysfunctional family this is. I have mixed reviews on this. But if you wanna mind blowing thriller I don’t think that this book would be for you plenty of others out there to choose from.

While I really wanted to like the story, I sadly just couldn't find most of it believable. There are a few twists and that leave you shell-shocked, but they're all towards the end. The beginning and the middle parts of this story were good and contained a good amount of suspense, but the behaviors of the characters were not entirely believable.

When Chris Redfern receives a threating note - "I know what you did to Eve Levine" at his doorstep, his wife Rose and he shrugged it off as a practical joke. Chris is nonetheless bothered by the note and wants to know who sent it. Days later, the woman - Katie Hughill Levine shows up at his doorstep claiming to be his daughter - a result of a long-forgotten summer-fling. Katie tries her best to fit in the Redfern family while awaiting the results of a paternity test she's almost sure will tell her that Chris is her father. While Katie settles in the Redferns start noticing strange happenings around them. First, a friend of Julia never turns up to meet her, then Louise a co-worker Chris had a loud argument with is found beaten badly. A car crashes into the neighbor's fence and Chris grows increasingly unnerved and cannot focus. Soon the family starts doubting that Katie is not the sad broken girl she claims to be. With dark secrets about Chris’s history with Katie’s mother coming to light, Rose no longer knows who to trust. Soon, she isn’t sure whether she’s invited a dangerous stranger into her home, or whether she’s been living with one all along…

The minute the Redferns invite a practical stranger into their home without any proof or verification and going only on her word for thigs is when alarm bells started ringing in my head. And as they continue to write-off the bizarre happenings around them is when I realized that I do not like them at all. While this story might be high on the thrill factor, such things make it very difficult to believe that people can be so naive as to let a stranger in their houses. And Chris and his wife are no dingbats. Chris holds a respectable position as a microbiologist and Rose used to be a gymnast. They have a young daughter Julia who at least should've been the reason they should have been careful. While off-putting their behaviors and the constant making of excuses for Katie was what made this story so difficult to digest. If it's one thing, I can't stand, its stupid characters.
Ironically, I found Katie's character to be the most intriguing. Granted that she had to put in minimum effort to get her 'dad' Chris to acknowledge her., she still came off as a striking character. Wanting to know her past and story was what got me turning the pages. If I ignore the Redfern's ignorance, the plot of this book was good. I turned the pages like crazy during the last few chapters (but sadly that didn't make up for the gullible characters). I liked how the book ended. In the end, this was a good one time read!

Thank You, NetGalley, Bookouture and Jake Cross for an arc!

This didn't grab me straight away like Jake's previous books did and i really had to keep forcing myself to pick it up , I am so glad i did though as from about a third of the way in i couldn't put it down . When Chris is approached by a young woman saying she is his daughter from a long forgotten about fling he is shocked to say the least . His wife and other daughter are way more welcoming and invite Katie to stay . Weird things begin to happen , unexplained fire a disappearing visitor . A great read in the end . Thank you

A slow burn suspense with some confusion and a bit of an OMG ending. I did enjoy the book overall but the characters were a bit confusing and scattered and the story took a few odd twists and like I said it was not a fave paced thriller definitely a slow burn.

Thank you for allowing me an advanced copy to review. 

This book was average for me, it started off very strong and credible, but in the latter half of the book I found it to be quite far fetched and slightly unbelievable.

This was a good book. I definitely had my thoughts and suspicions but was pleasantly surprised to get them all wrong! I really enjoyed the mystery and suspense in this book. Two thumbs way up. Thank you NetGalley.

Really good and well written captivating thriller!
The kind I like watching on tv, I can totally see this as a Lifetime movie.

Good from page one, held my interest until the end.  Well developed storyline and interesting characters.  

People are never what they seem and you never know what to expect...  I like it when I can't figure everything out from the start!  

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this book.  This is my honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Rose & Chris have been happily married for many years. They have a teenage daughter who has not caused them much angst & apart from Rose's rheumatoid arthritis, they are ticking along nicely, until a note is found for Chris saying, "I know what you did to Eve Levine"- which confuses them all.  One evening their car is involved in an attempted robbery that is foiled by a girl on a motor bike. Shortly afterwards, their saviour arrives at their doorstep. She tells them that she is Katie, Eve's daughter- the result of a long ago fling. She has recently lost her mother & her flat has burned down. Kindhearted Rose invites her to stay. Chris reluctantly agrees- at least until a paternity test result anyway.

So far so good. A bit of a stretch accepting them taking her in, but OK. However from there on things got progressively more difficult to believe. I like a 'good' baddy but this one really stretched the bounds of likelihood. I stuck with it to the end but the last few chapters were an effort!

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

I enjoyed this book more than the previous books by author Jake Cross. 

A young woman landed up on Chris's doorstep claiming to be his daughter. That shattered the peace of the family. While waiting for DNA reports wife Katie invited the woman to stay at their home. Strange things happened. Who was the stranger who had invaded their home and lives?

My third book by Jake Cross, the story was different. Told mainly in Chris's POV, the story was interesting in most parts, though some felt repetitive. The characters were quite a weird lot, and therein lay the mystery. Lies and deception abounded, I never knew who was uttering them. The story reached its twisted culmination which was quite shocking.

An unexpected fun read.

The concept of this book drew my attention to it, Katie showing up on Rose and Chris' doorstep claiming to be Chris' daughter. Would you let her in? 

Rose starts to wonder whether she should have turned her away when strange things start happening. The book is twisty, shocking in parts and there were places in the book where my heart was racing. It is the first I've heard of Jake Cross and it definitely won't be the last book of his that I read.

Perfect Stranger
By Jake Cross
365 pages 
psychological thriller
2 ⭐⭐
The blurb drew me in straight away. I had such high hopes for this book.  Sadley for me none of the characters were very likeable. I failed to connect with any of them ,  making it a very long read. It starts out slow , confusing and was just so unbelievable. Even the ending was  strange and fairly predictable. Unfortunately, this book just was not for me. Thank you to NetGalley , the publisher and author for the ARC of this book.  This is my honest review.  All opinions are my own.