The Stalker

The O'Connells, Book 13

By: Lorhainne Eckhart

Narrated by: John Mo

Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Dark secrets are resurrected in this new O’Connell novel. 

Alison Sweetgrass-O’Connell believes she’s forever a misfit and will never fit in. 

After struggling to recover from a teenage crush that dealt her a crippling blow, Alison watches from the sidelines in the small town of Livingston, Montana, which hasn’t been friendly to her. Silently, she believes everyone’s seemingly perfect lives have a dark side. And soon her beliefs prove true. 

Alison meets attractive young med student Bennett Warren, new to Livingston. Suddenly, Bennett is showing up everywhere she is - and then, in her good fortune, he turns out to have rented the apartment right next door. 

At first, she’s convinced it’s fate, and maybe there is hope for her, but a suspicious turn of events has her fearing she’s being stalked by someone who knows one of her secrets, something no one should know. 

She tries telling herself she’s imagining things, but she soon realizes someone has been inside her apartment, going through her very personal belongings. She finds herself looking over her shoulder, not knowing who she can trust. When she confides in Bennett, she’s convinced he thinks she’s crazy, too. 

Then Alison comes across evidence that has her questioning not only her sanity but also the real reason Bennett showed up in Livingston - and even more disturbing is the possibility that him moving right next door to her wasn’t entirely coincidental.

©2020 Lorhainne Ekelund (P)2022 Lorhainne Ekelund

Great Read

The Stalker (The O'Connells #13) was a great read by Lorhainne Eckhart. Alison Sweetgrass-O’Connell believes she’s forever a misfit and will never fit in. She struggled to recover from a teenage crush that dealt her a crippling blow. The small town of Livingston, Montana was never friendly to Alison. She silently believes that everyone's seemingly perfect lives have a dark side. Her beliefs soon show to be true. She meets med student Bennett Warren who is new to Livingston. Bennett seems to be showing up everywhere she is and turns out to have rented an apartment right next to hers. There is a suspicious turn of events that has her feared she's being stalked by someone who knows her secrets. She wants to believe that she's imagining things, but she realizes that someone has gone through her personal belongings. I enjoyed reading this book and cant wait to read more by the author.

A good addition to the series

In this audiobook, we are back with the O’Connells. A complex family filled with secrets, who overcome obstacles, and have a past. But through it all, the loyalty of the family is what makes them strong. Family means everything to each one of them.
This time the story belongs to Alison Sweetgrass-O’Connell. Alison has been more of a misfit, and her young life has not been easy. She still doesn’t feel part of the O’Connells and now that she is out of school and 18, she is determined to be on her own. She works as a waitress in an unfriendly environment. Her journal is her outlet, where she expresses her anger, those she dislikes.
When those individuals in her journal start having accidents, her new neighbor might not be whom he appears, and someone has been in her apartment, she is frightened and uncertain who to trust.
Will she be able to survive when her “stalker” confronts her?
Once more , the author gives us realistic situation, filled with drama, and showing that life is not black and white, but various colors of gray.

problem with secrets is they blow up in your face

I love the family dynamics in this book.

My heart goes out to Alison, who feels so alone despite being a part of the O'Connell family, admittedly she hasn't been a part of it officially for very long and they are all still finding their feet with the situation. So Alison is dealing with finding her place within this new family dynamic and trying to deal with the trauma of her life before it.

It makes me sad to see Alison so clueless that she is important to her family, thinking that it would be so easy for them to hate her, resent her, turn her away. Yet time and time again her family show how loved she is, especially her father. One of the first interactions we see between them is he sees how her boss treats her at work and tell her 'use your words to set your boundaries or I will' followed with 'want me to fight your battles or teach you how to fight'. He's supportive and protective of her, offering advice but also allowing her to make her own decisions and take responsibility for them. He is the first to tell her that the resulting murders are not her fault just because she wrote down her feelings and someone else found them, read them and then acted on them, he tells her that writing down her feels is totally normal and a valid thing to do.

Her uncle Marcus is also amazing to her, supportive and protective. He's the sheriff so has a lot more clout when it comes to saying who is to take responsibility for whats happening. I love that he makes it clear to Alison again and again that she is not responsible and that they are 'family so stuck with us. If you run and hide we're just going to run after you and if you don't know that by now then I'm really angry'. He's completely accepted her as family and is one of the first to jump to her defence when she starts being so cruel to herself. Even though she had no evidence that someone has been in her apartment the mere fact that she got a feeling about it is good enough for him.

The women of the O'Connell family are amazing and supportive too. None of them blame her for what happens, even when one of their own gets hurt, they never hold Alison responsible for what happen and validate her feelings and encourage her to be more open with them. The silent conversations that they have when they discover that Alison spent a night in her own apartment with a chair wedged under the door handle, they are absolutely deverstated for her but also they have all known that fear.

I really loved the way the men in this book stepped up to help and support Alison without being overbearing and controlling. They are an amazing family and I definitely intend to hunt down all the books about them.

I love the way Lorhainne Eckhart writes, she has such a beautiful voice and conveys her meanings so well, at 120 book (at the time of this book) she is incredibly prolific and I can't wait to work my way through her back catalogue, I liked hearing a bit about her at the end of the book.

John Mo is fantastic, I could listen to him read absolutely anything. His tone is just perfect for this book and definitely makes it so much more enjoyable. I also loved that at the end we were given a little insight into him and my absolutely favourite fact is that he prefers the company of dogs rather than people, which is completely correct.

I was given this audiobook for free from audiobooks unleashed and have left this review voluntarily.

Good

Alison feels like the whole world is against her and everyone hates her. After people start to have accidents she realises they are the people she has marked in her diary. She meets Bennet but he turns out to be the prime suspect is this another thing she will have to blame herself for.