The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda

All the Missing Girls, Book 2

Synopsis: In the masterful follow-up to the runaway hit All the Missing Girls, a journalist sets out to find a missing friend, a friend who may never have existed at all.

Confronted by a restraining order and the threat of a lawsuit, failed journalist Leah Stevens needs to get out of Boston when she runs into an old friend, Emmy Grey, who has just left a troubled relationship. Emmy proposes they move to rural Pennsylvania, where Leah can get a teaching position and both women can start again. But their new start is threatened when a woman with an eerie resemblance to Leah is assaulted by the lake, and Emmy disappears days later.

Determined to find Emmy, Leah cooperates with Kyle Donovan, a handsome young police officer on the case. As they investigate her friend’s life for clues, Leah begins to wonder: did she ever really know Emmy at all? With no friends, family, or a digital footprint, the police begin to suspect that there is no Emmy Grey. Soon Leah’s credibility is at stake, and she is forced to revisit her past: the article that ruined her career. To save herself, Leah must uncover the truth about Emmy Grey—and along the way, confront her old demons, find out who she can really trust, and clear her own name.

Everyone in this rural Pennsylvanian town has something to hide—including Leah herself. How do you uncover the truth when you are busy hiding your own?

Review: All the Missing Girls, the previous novel by Megan Miranda had been a good discovery for me. Even if I had some problems regarding the end with the consequences for the characters, I found that the author had succeeded in her bet. Moreover the format was really unusual and it had been an unprecedented experience. In short, what about this one? Megan presents us with something more conventional in the presentation of the story but it was also nice to read a story that really starts from beginning to end even if we return in the past by moments as it allows us to better understand the characters and what happened.

We discover Leah Stevens, a former journalist who, after an article that ended badly, ended up without a job. Becoming a teacher away from home, she hoped to have a fresh start and yet troubles are just beginning. Indeed, she has since lived with Emmy Gray, a woman she saw passing through her life several times and who is also fleeing her past. But now Emmy has disappeared and a woman is found dead near their home … the common point between the two seems strangely for Leah. While an investigation is initiated, the police initially focus on Leah hoping that she will help them but the disappearance of Emmy who does not seem to have ever existed makes her suspicious into their eyes. No one has ever seen the young woman and no one has information about her. Not wanting to find herself once again victim of a police affair, Leah plunges into her past to try to figure out who her roommate was and ultimately learn more than she thought, as some explanations about her past.

It was a very interesting book and I confess that I was anxious to understand exactly what was going on. Does Emy Gray actually exist? Is it an invention? I asked myself a lot of questions throughout the story and I greatly appreciated the flash back which allowed me to assemble the puzzle little by little. The relationship between Leah and Kyle, the police officer in charge of the case, adds an extra touch to the awkwardness they both have with each other. I really enjoyed the mystery and the investigation that this novel presents and while something was perhaps lacking in the previous novel in relation to the consequences of the actions of the characters I had the pleasant surprise to get something conclusive here.

Identity theft is a topic that I find very interesting and opens up many possibilities and it is true that I find that Megan plays very well with this subject.

4

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29 thoughts on “The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda

  1. I’m really happy this second book worked well for you, I SO have to grab the first instalment! Have you read Fracture? I loved that book, it’s also the reason why I know Megan Miranda is quite good!

  2. I had a few minor issues with this one, but I enjoyed the mystery and the suspense. The romance just didn’t work and I could have done without it. I like this one, but it didn’t compare to All the Missing Girls.

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