A Stranger in the House

By: Shari Lapena

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

A perfect holiday gift.

Shari Lapena’s new thriller, AN UNWANTED GUEST, is available now!

“Smart and suspenseful. . . you'll never see the ending coming.” --PureWow

In this neighborhood, danger lies close to home. A domestic thriller packed full of secrets, and a twisty story that never stops—from the bestselling author of The Couple Next Door

He looks at her, concerned. “How do you feel?” She wants to say, Terrified. Instead, she says, with a faint smile, “Glad to be home.”

Karen and Tom Krupp are happy—they’ve got a lovely home in upstate New York, they’re practically newlyweds, and they have no kids to interrupt their comfortable life together. But one day, Tom returns home to find Karen has vanished—her car’s gone and it seems she left in a rush. She even left her purse—complete with phone and ID—behind.

There's a knock on the door—the police are there to take Tom to the hospital where his wife has been admitted. She had a car accident, and lost control as she sped through the worst part of town.

The accident has left Karen with a concussion and a few scrapes. Still, she’s mostly okay—except that she can’t remember what she was doing or where she was when she crashed. The cops think her memory loss is highly convenient, and they suspect she was up to no good.

Karen returns home with Tom, determined to heal and move on with her life. Then she realizes something’s been moved. Something’s not quite right. Someone’s been in her house. And the police won't stop asking questions.

Because in this house, everyone’s a stranger. Everyone has something they’d rather keep hidden. Something they might even kill to keep quiet.

Great Sophomore Book from Shari Lapena

I loved the premise of this book. A law abiding housewife has an out of character traffic accident. At the same time her husband comes home and finds her missing but her purse and cellphone are still there it looks like she left in a hurry or in a panic. The problem is the wife Karen now has amnesia and has no idea why she left the house and ended up in the terrible accident.
The story slowly starts to unravel with twist after twist right up to the thrilling conclusion. The character development is great as you learn that all parties involved have secrets.
I recommend this for fans of mystery/thrillers like Gone Girl, The Couple Next Door, I See You, I Let You Go, and The Girl On The Train.

The Stranger in this house is the TWIST!

I also reviewed this book on my podcast, called AudioShelf. Look it up!

Shari gone and done it again. I absolutely LOVED this book! I found the story to be absolutely mesmerizing. The twists were delivered with raw and disturbingly confident sass. The entire book, I thought I knew the ending of the book, but I was proved wrong the entire last two hours. I think that's the genius of Shari Lapena--making you honestly think you are correct in your assumptions, then ripping your brain out to make you second guess your thought process.

People are complaining on here that the characters were horrible and that no character was likable--well guess what?! YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO LIKE ANYONE. Karen was a shady b*txh, Tom was a jack*ss, and Bridget was a nut job! If you liked anyone, then I feel sorry for you because you were PLAYED!

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Tavia Gilbert. She was phenomenal and read the story exactly how the story should have been read. Her interest in the story, emotions, cadence, and inflection were 100% genuine and effortlessly poignant. I would highly recommend this audiobook to EVERYONE!

not good - no spoilers

TikTok said this was great, it was not. Not scary, not suspenseful. Predictable. Almost stopped reading it multiple times, but suffered through.

Winning Story, Losing Narration

As is the case with The Couple Next Door, the story is intriguing from the start and the end twist is wonderful; it invites the reader to imagine the sequel story.

But the slightly nasal, breathlessness, often bordering on the melodramatic, narration is often an irritating distraction.

Wow

Great story line. Narrative was enthusiastic and vibrant thank you!!! I love the voice adjustment as well based on story line