Review: The Stranger Inside by Jennifer Jaynes

Publication Date: May 9, 2017

Diane Christie, a mystery author, widower, and mother of two, recently moved to the small town of Fog Harbor, Massachusetts. Attempting to rebuild her life and reconnect with her daughter, she begins to realize that things aren't so simple.

Suddenly, a girl from her daughter's college is murdered, and things begin to spiral. Things get worse when she receives strange calls from the killer on a crisis hotline, and struggles when an attractive man comes into her life, expressing great interest in her.

Rating: 5 stars

Jennifer contacted me about reading this book in advance, and I jumped at the chance to do so. I've really enjoyed three of her books in the past, and I wanted to read this as soon as possible because I knew that I would love it.

Right off the bat, I was hooked. I wanted to read it all in one sitting, but alas, homework and sleep got in the way of that. But whenever I had the chance, I took the opportunity to read more of this and delve further into the story.

The pacing, like all of her books, was done really well. It was fast, but not too fast, and it maintained a good balance between the tension and the good moments. Especially near the end, she did a really good job of playing with the levels of tensions and keeping you interested for the rest of the book.

I loved the mystery and the characters. I've always had a really good time getting to know the characters and something I've found is that I've always been able to connect to at least one of the characters in these books. There's something about the way that Jennifer builds her characters that makes them really real to me and relatable.

This being the 4th book of Jennifer's that I've read, I think that I've started to pick up on the little cues she gives as to what's really going on behind the mystery. Part of that is normal because I've read so many of her books, but another part of me wishes that I could have remained oblivious and enjoyed watching everything unfold without having this nagging thought in the back of my mind as to who the culprit could be. However, that's not to say that I didn't still enjoy the mystery greatly. I can't say that I was able to predict how the book ended, though I did get a good idea of where it was likely to go.

I enjoyed the ending a lot and would actually like to see if there would be a follow-up to this, even though I'm pretty sure that this is a standalone. I think I just enjoy her books so much that I wanted more.

I liked that Diane was an author too, because that made things feel more relatable. I liked her a lot in general, and found it easy to find things in common with her, despite our big age gap. She was a really enjoyable main character, and I think that she did show a good level of character development by the time the book ended.

I won't say anything about the rest of the characters because I think you need to explore them for yourselves to see how you like them. Anything I say could really skew your perception, and I don't want that.

5 stars. I would definitely recommend this if you're a fan of mystery books or if you've read any of Jennifer's other books in the past. I really enjoy her writing, and I hope that you will too.