A Stranger at the Door

A Rachel Marin Thriller, Book 2

By: Jason Pinter

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's Summary

Rachel Marin is in a good place. After years of struggle, the single mother has found both a stable, loving relationship and a new purpose: putting her investigative skills to work solving crimes for the local PD. But just as the pieces of her life are finally starting to fall into place, her teenaged son’s teacher is gruesomely murdered, starting a domino effect that shatters her peaceful existence.

When Rachel discovers an ominous email the teacher sent to her just before his death, she knows she must help bring his killer to justice. But soon a figure from her past reappears, threatening to expose Rachel’s darkest secrets if she doesn’t tread lightly. And when her son is recruited by a shadowy businessman who may be connected to the murder, Rachel knows this has just gotten very, very personal.

Someone out there is dead set on keeping this grisly cover-up good and buried, which means if Rachel’s not careful, it’s only a matter of time before her dream life becomes her worst nightmare.

©2021 by Jason Pinter. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic Reviews

“Beneath the brutality in this suspenseful thriller lie bone-deep fear and a genuine concern for justice.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“A Stranger at the Door is a worthy successor to Hide Away in the Rachel Marin series. Chilling and suspenseful, a page turner in the best sense.” (William Landay, New York Times best-selling author of Defending Jacob)

Excellent Edge of Your Seat series...

This is book 2 in the Rachel Marin series. I suggest listening to the first book as well. That book is an edge of your seat mystery that grabs your attention with the first line. It also fills in background that you won’t get by listening to this book alone. This book picks up where the first leaves off. It can be listened to as a standalone.

The publisher’s summary is excellent and if I add more it would only be spoilers. I don’t want to do that as it would only ruin a great book for some. Others like to know the ending like Wayne (Matthews, NC). I haven’t seen any reviews from him in months and he is normally a very prolific reviewer. I hope he is ok.
This book has my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.
If you found this review helpful please indicate so.
Thank You.

Love this series

I really enjoyed this series. My only critique is the fact that he goes too much into detail about what happened in the previous book. We didn’t need that long of a play by play. You don’t really have to read the previous book to love this story, but it helps character build. I really enjoy the characters and I hope he continues with these characters.

For Angela Dawe Fans and Author Too

Great sequel to book 1. As a fan of Ms Dawe, (I have over 100 of her reads), I found this author for Hide Away. That was such a fast pace listen and this book is no exception. So glad author proved he can write fast and well to his book 1 best seller. Author’s dialogue is clear in the Hemingway's style. Publishers summery is spot on so no need to add to it. I do use the 1.2 speed to match the mystery. Give it a try.
If you enjoyed this book, check out Marcia Clark’s Samantha Brinkman series, excellent listening too.
Were my comments of help?

good story but.....

The story is really good but the main character, Rachael, is very full of herself. Which became very annoying.

Not as good as first book

I really enjoyed the first book. Rachel‘s character in the second book was whiny and sometimes condescending to the wrong people. I admired Rachel’s intelligence and physical abilities in the first book, but when she throws a tantrum because the detectives have to arrest someone who murdered two people, I lost respect for her character. Did she really think these detectives had the authority to “not arrest” a murderer? Of course not. I hope there will be a third book and Rachel’s character goes back to being the smartest person in the room not the person with the smartest mouth.

It's a little cheesy side but still good

The dialogue and interactions are a bit on the cheesy side but it's entertaining. I enjoyed both of the books in this series!

awful. first time I hated the lead character

I felt like I would never get through it, but was sure it would get better - wrong. a mother with anger issues who puts a hidden camera in her teenage sons room - imagine what she might see. nothing was consistent. at least no trees died printing it since it was books on tape.

Downer

The first portion of this story seems to follow the prerequisites for depression. I stink, the world stinks, and it’s not gonna get any better. I very nearly rejected this book after the first third. It did get somewhat better, but there seemed to be leaps of logic based on information never shared with the reader.

Hokey story

The premise of this book was ok but the author was overly indulgent with the emotions of the main character, to the point that I was annoyed with it. The characters were all melodramatic and the story suffered because of it.

Good Story

I liked this story, but I have a odd comment about the writing. I'm not sure if I would have noticed this had I read the actual book. I must admit I had not noticed this in other audio books and I'm wondering is other listeners had noticed. Ms. Dawe did a fine job of voicing the different characters, but each time she finished a piece of dialogue she would say (in her narrator's voice) "Rachel said," "Evie said." It was disconcerting and took away from my listen. Mr. Pinter should check out a Thesaurus once in awhile. An occasional "replied" or "explained" would have raised the level. I also found (as did other reviewers) that Rachel was a bit much. I didn't really like her that much.

superb writing and telling.

really enjoyed it like the first one. each one has it's own flavour but great 👍