TUESDAY EXCERPTS: “A STRANGER IN THE HOUSE”

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by The Purple Booker.

Today’s featured book is a recent download.  A Stranger in the House, by Shari Lapena, is a domestic thriller packed full of secrets, and a twisty story that never stops—from the bestselling author of The Couple Next Door.

 

 

 

Prologue:  She doesn’t belong here.

She bolts out the back door of the abandoned restaurant, stumbling in the dark—most of the lights are burned out, or broken—her breath coming in loud rasps.  She runs like a panicked animal to where she parked the car, hardly aware of what she’s doing.  Somehow she gets the car door open.  She buckles up without thinking, wheels the car around in a screeching two-point turn, and peels out of the parking lot, swerving recklessly onto the road without even slowing down.  Something in the strip mall across the street catches her eye—but she has no time to register what she sees, because she’s already at an intersection.  She runs the red light, picking up speed.  She can’t think.

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Teaser:  Tom wants more than anything to take a swing at the detective.  But he doesn’t.  As they take their leave, Tom stands up and watches them go.  He has to stop himself from slamming the door behind them in fury.  (p.155).

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Synopsis:  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.

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I’ve been eager to get my hands on this one for ages!  What do you think?  Do you want to keep reading?

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