I always enjoy Amanda Cassidy's thrillers - this one did not disappoint!

Clara wakes up in the middle of the night to find her husband stabbed. Clara is soon arrested for his murder. Clara knows she is innocent and will do anything to prove it. When she gets the chance to run from prison, she takes it. Living on the run, Clara is desperate to find evidence to convict the real killer. Time is not on her side, especially with her young daughter sick in the hospital.

As always, I really enjoyed Amanda Cassidy's writing style. The book flows really well and the writing creates a chilling and moody environment. Character development was excellent. I really felt for the main character, Clara. It was difficult to read what she was going through, especially with having a sick daughter. The plot is fast paced and filled with tension. While parts may be a bit far-fetched, it is still a really enjoyable read that will make you want to keep flipping the pages.

Thank you Canelo and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.w

When midwife Ciara Duffy wakes to find her husband brutally murdered, she becomes the prime suspect. With her gravely ill daughter's life hanging in the balance, Ciara must make an unthinkable choice... trust a justice system that has already failed her, or run to protect the only family she has left. As the walls start to close in, Ciara races to uncover the truth before it's too late.

The Stranger Inside starts off fast-paced and is an emotionally intense thriller. The blend of psychological tension with a mother's raw desperation weaves together to form a story full of twists, moral dilemmas, and suspense. My main critique that the pacing is uneven. The book starts out fast and gripping, pulling you in and keeping you glued to the pages. Then the middle slows way down. Also, some parts do stretch believability at times but the strong emotional element really makes for a great read. If you are able to just sit back and not overthink things too much, I think that this thriller would be a good fit!

Thank you to NetGalley, Amanda Cassidy, and Canelo Crime for this ARC! Publication date is August 7th 2025.

I loved this book. Amanda Cassidy is a great story teller. The story of Ciara was chilling at times, sad and also showed what you can do with the power of what you can achieve through the power of love for another human being - in this case a child. Beautifully written making it a real page turner with many twists and turns right to the very end. I loved this book.

This was a good read and I did find it gripping at times. Some of the twists were quite good and I didn’t see them coming. The reason for the lower rating is purely because I feel like this book got quite slow at times and I felt like I had to force myself to get through this one.

The Stranger Inside by Amanda Cassidy was a gripping and compelling read!
Thoroughly enjoyed this mystery as it's well written, gripping, and the storytelling is excellent.
Cassidy keeps the tension high with a fantastic story and plenty of twists.
I couldn’t read this book fast enough.

Thanks to NetGalley and Canelo for the ARC in exchange for a review !

This book is about a woman who leaves her daughter, her daughter’s friend who came over for a sleepover, alone to quickly go to the shops nearby..There’s a nanny cam, so they’ll be safe, or so she thinks.. because on her way back she spots a man’s shadow behind her daughter through the nanny cam!..this leads to an even greater tragedy later that night..she wakes up to find her husband’s dead body by her side, with a knife pierced into his heart. She didn’t kill her husband, or did she?
This book was a rideeee..the twists were twisting and I loved it!..Give the author a medal for writing suspense because it was Suspense-FULL. The way the author fuelled the fire at those parts, I was screaming at my kindle.
Only downside was that I expected a little bit more at the end, probably because of how many twists there were, my expectations kept getting higher. But overall, I will definitely recommend this author!

'The Stranger Inside' by Amanda Cassidy is a captivating psychological thriller.
The opening chapter starts with a tense situation. Ciara goes to the shop and leaves her daughter Stella and her friend home alone for a few minutes. Returning to the house she thinks she saw someone in the house but a search revealed noting suspicious. Then in the middle of the night she awakes and finds her husband murderd beside her in the bed. This is the beginning of a complex chain of events where Ciara needs to prove her innocence. In unexpected twists and turns and many tense situations the story continues.
Even though Ciara is not very likeable Amanda Cassidy understands how to bring the reader inside the protagonists head and so creates suspense throughout the book. This is a great pageturner that keeps you engaged.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Canelo for the ARC.

This book started so strong - a tense, gripping opening with a brilliant premise: a woman wakes to find her husband murdered beside her and is arrested for the crime, leaving behind her gravely ill daughter. Her options are bleak - wait in prison and hope justice prevails in time to get her daughter the life saving treatment she needs, or escape from prison and become a fugitive on the hunt for her husband’s killer. High stakes, emotionally fraught, and totally compelling. The first couple of chapters had me genuinely holding my breath!

The ending? Fast-paced and addictive, even if it did edge into the ridiculous. I raced through it anyway.

But the middle section really let it down for me. One far-fetched situation after another made it feel more unbelievable than suspenseful, and the big twist was a let-down - cliché rather than clever. You can suspend disbelief to a point, but this one pushed it too far. I felt like I was reading the storyline from an American soap.

That said, it’s very readable and would work well as a quick palate cleanser between heavier books. Just don’t go in expecting realism or originality.

If you’re the kind of reader who doesn’t overthink things and enjoys a story for what it is, then this could be a highly rated thriller for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Canelo for my copy. The Stranger Inside is out on 7th August!

The Stranger Inside by Amanda Cassidy is a highly recommended crime thriller. Set disbelief aside and enjoy this lightning-fast paced thriller.

Midwife Ciara Duffy needs to make a quick trip to the store. It is pouring rain, her husband Morgan is out of town, and Sally, her 9-year-old daughter, has a friend there for a sleep over. Rather than getting the girls all dressed to go out in the rain she sets up the video monitor to watch them, knowing it will be a very quick trip. Then, when she is leaving the store, she sees a stranger behind the girls. She rushes home, checks the whole house, but finds no sign that anyone was there, other than a broken pot in the bathroom.

The evening goes on, with Ciara still on edge. She gets the girls to bed, makes sure everything is locked up, and finally goes to sleep. Then, in the middle of the night she hears a noise, she gets up to check, finds nothing, gets back in bed and realizes someone is in the bed. Ciara turns on the lights and sees it is her husband, dead, with a knife in his chest. Ciara is arrested and charged with murder. Ciara knows she is innocent, but she also has a secret. Soon it becomes clear that she needs to escape to uncover the truth herself.

This is a very entertaining, compelling thriller. As mentioned, you need to set disbelief aside as well as accept incredible coincidences, and and just go where the plot takes you. The chapters are short which keeps the pace fast. The action is non-stop so the pages will fly by as one twist after another occurs, followed by one new clue after another. When things go wrong here, it just continues and the tension rises. Once you start reading it will be hard to put it down.

Ciara is a tenacious, intelligent character whose emotions are running high, and for good reason, throughout the novel. Her big secret is revealed through her memories as the narrative unfolds, but her secret isn't the only one. The Stranger Inside is a great choice for those who enjoy action-packed, fast-paced thrillers. Thanks to Canelo for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Amanda Cassidy’s The Stranger Inside doesn’t hold back , it dives headfirst into psychological thriller territory with big ambitions and plenty of twists. The story juggles multiple threads, keeping you guessing (and mostly succeeding). The writing pulls you in, and the pace keeps things moving nicely. That said, it does occasionally trip over its own cleverness , a bit like a plotline trying to outsmart itself.

In my view, the author has tried to weave in too many plotlines, some of which stretch plausibility to its limits. A few twists feel more far-fetched than shocking, and at times, logic takes a back seat to drama. That said, the book remains an enjoyable read , gripping enough to hold attention, even if it occasionally asks for a generous suspension of disbelief.

There are also a few noticeable typos that could use a final polish before publication, which slightly detracts from the overall experience.

Despite its flaws, The Stranger Inside delivers a satisfying dose of intrigue and suspense. If you’re willing to embrace the chaos, there’s plenty to enjoy.

The acing is relentless, wrapping claustrophobia, grief, and survival into a story that doesn’t pause for breath.

This is a great thriller.
It’s a hard one to review as there’s quite a lot of aspects to the story, and I don’t want to spoil it.
The nightmare starts for Ciara when she wakes to find her husband dead in bed next to her, having been stabbed to death.
Ciara is arrested for murder but despite her pleas of innocence, is placed in prison, awaiting trial.
She’s panics about not seeing her young daughter and is determined to prove her innocence.
There’s a few parts where you do have to suspend belief at times, but overall this is a good thriller.
Thanks to Canelo for the opportunity to read this book.

This is definitely a MUST READ..

It is difficult to talk about it without giving anything away but it is one of those books that will be on every readers best book of the year list.

It has twists you don't see coming and is filled with drama as well as a gripping plot and fab characters.

Believe the hype it's amazing..

This book is out on August 7th, and trust me you don’t want to miss it.

Honestly, it’s hard to say too much without giving away spoilers… and this is definitely a story where you want to go in blind. What I can say is this: I read it in one sitting. I simply couldn’t stop. The twists just keep coming every time I thought I had things figured out, the story flipped again in a completely unexpected way

I couldn’t put it down . The Stranger Inside should be made into a tv series , It would be a nr1 on Netflix.

If you love psychological thrillers that will keep you guessing until the final page, this one’s for you.

I have loved Amanda Cassidy other books but this is her best yet. I couldn't put it down. Twists and turns everywhere. Highly recommend.

Clara leaves her daughter and a neighbour alone while she nips to the shops for a few minutes, on the nanny cam she sees something disturbing. Terrified she rushes home, but there’s no one there. She wakes up in the middle of the night, with her husband dead next to her and suddenly her life has been turned upside down. Surely she didn’t kill her husband?
The first chapter draws you in and ends on a cliffhanger. You’re desperate to find out what happens. The story hints to past mistakes and you want to know how they fit in.
I literally said wow as the story was going on, ended up not being what I thought but I was completely floored

Thanks to Netgalley for my early copy of this new book by Amanda Cassidy. A tense thriller following Ciara Duffy who wakes to find her husband murdered and has a battle to prove her innocence. A really good read with plenty of twists and turns!

It wasn't a boring read, but it was a very confusing one with a promising start. The main character is not a very nice person. She made many mistakes and also committed crimes, but somehow everyone forgives her, even the law. Many things happened that were not explained. Also, so many very, very rare medical conditions in a small group of people - coincidences play a major role in this book.

Like I said: it was not boring, but it is not one of the best thrillers I've read either.

My thanks to Canelo and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Stranger Inside’ written by Amanda Cassidy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Ciara Duffy has been arrested and charged with the murder of her husband Morgan who she found lying next to her in bed with a knife plunged into his stomach. Ciara knows she didn’t do it and realises that if she’s going to prove her innocence she needs to escape from the prison cell for her own sake and that of her nine-year-old daughter Sally.

‘The Stranger Inside’ is an action-packed thriller with several threads to the story, the murder of Ciara’s husband Morgan, the Brighton Baby case and her daughter Sally’s illness, and the shooting of her father ex-Detective Chief Superintendent Jimmy Mooney. In my opinion the author has tried to squeeze too many threads into the story with some so far-fetched as to defy logic, but I’ll accept them as generally it’s a fast-paced thriller with lots of suspense, intrigue and twists and turns that’s kept my attention from page one. I’ve enjoyed reading this thriller, my first by this author, and I’ll be looking out for more by her in the future.

First, thank you Netgalley and Canelo for the ARC!

What would you do if you find your husband murdered in your own bed, and then the police does arrest you for it? That is exactly what does happen here to a young woman called Ciara, who now had to do anything to clear her name while also needing to take care of her daughter, who is sadly fighting a life-threatening illness. At this point, it is basically a race agains time...

I really did enjoy reading the fast-paced story from beginning to end. It was my first book by the writer, as far as I am aware, but now, I will check out her other works, too. Very much recommended!