The Second Stranger

By: Martin Griffin

Narrated by: Tamsin Kennard

One bitterly cold February night at the remote MacKinnon Hotel, Remie Yorke begins her last shift at the front desk as the snow begins to fall. She has booked a one-way flight for the next day—and she's never coming back to Scotland. Or so she thinks.

As the storm quickly invades the surrounding Highlands, the roads become impassable and the phone lines fall dead. When the icy temperatures plummet further, an injured man stumbles into the hotel lobby from the blizzard. Police Constable Don Gaines has been in a car accident on the mountain road, and Remie welcomes him to safety. Gaines tells her that the other survivor of the accident is a dangerous prisoner who is now at-large; and Gaines is sure he is heading their way.

Then a second injured visitor arrives—also introducing himself as Constable Don Gaines. Both claim to want to protect Remie and the hotel's remaining guests. Both are convincing. Remie doesn't know who to trust.

But she must endure a deadly night before dawn breaks, and if she doesn't succumb to the cold, one of these men will surely kill her first. And she has no idea why they have chosen to come to the MacKinnon Hotel . . .

©2023 Martin Griffin (P)2023 Tantor

I wanted to like it, I did.

Though the precise and delightful vocals by Tamsin Kennard were spot-on, I struggled to finish “The Second Stranger.” I found it moving along slow but, again, that is my point of view. You may very well enjoy it. Each to their own.

Unbelievable! Seriously- truly not believable!

Described in painful detail… each mind boggling event… walking in 2’ of snow in -5 degrees with wet clothes… can you describe hypothermia? Yet never a mention except cold toes and numb fingers.
The premise of the story is good but the devil is in the details. Good story with a twist at the end but it is overwritten. Not sure how many times I rolled my eyes and said “seriously??!” But it was a lot. I would not recommend this.

Lovely story, well read, with a poor, unconvincing finish

Was terrific until the last 30 mins when we learn that the protagonist travels with a fake new passport on her old ticket. Someone should have told the author how these things work these days in terms of international travel

Great suspense!

Narrator did a great job. Good suspenseful story but not too gruesome, more a question of who’s the bad guy and who’s safe to trust. I listen to a lot of mysteries, mostly more on the light and cozy side. This was a nice delve into a little darker mystery. Liked the plot line, would listen to more like this.

Great winter read

I enjoyed listening to this winter mystery over holiday break. Some fun twists and turns to keep it interesting, although I felt like at times the author put too many ideas into one novel. Performance was excellent and the actor nailed the accents.