Strangers by C.L. Taylor | Review

Strangers by C.L. Taylor
on April 2, 2020
ISBN: 9780008221065
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Suspense, Noir, Psychological, Women, Urban, Mystery & Detective, General
Pages: 352
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased Book
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

The Sunday Times bestseller and Richard & Judy Book Club author of Sleep returns with her most gripping book yet.
STRANGERS: NOW A TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTELLER
‘Fast-paced and satisfying’ DAILY MAIL ‘I was glued from start to finish!’ SHARI LAPENA
Ursula, Gareth and Alice have never met before.
Ursula thinks she killed the love of her life.Gareth’s been receiving strange postcards.And Alice is being stalked.
None of them are used to relying on others – but when the three strangers’ lives unexpectedly collide, there’s only one thing for it: they have to stick together. Otherwise, one of them will die.
Three strangers, two secrets, one terrifying evening.
The million-copy bestseller returns with a gripping new novel that will keep you guessing until the end.

How to describe a stranger?  Someone you’ve yet to meet.  Do they wish you ill harm or are they a person who lives along the same confines and laws as you?  Strangers is three stories that interweaved with each other’s.  A calming hand in a storm of pain? What do these three stories have in common – compassion, understanding an humility.

Our three main protagonists Ursula, Gareth and Alice are lost souls swimming in a sea of pain and desperation.  They are jaded with life – they’ve all been handed a shitty hand of cards.  Divorce and cheating, death of a loved one and caring responsibilities has these characters looking for a way out of their anger and despair at the way the world treats people like them.  A lifeline is all they are looking for and it is only one Stranger away.

This was my first step into the magic world that C.L. Taylor has created.  I’m hooked.  Upon finishing the finishing scene of Strangers, I made a resolute promise to find her entire works and gorge upon it.  The author has an almost hypnotic ability to draw her readers into her drama filled worlds and she refuses to break that contact until their breath has evaporated and their system is in shock!  Reading the synopsis gave me an air of trepidation, the point of dipping your toe into an ice-cold lake – knowing it will be cold, but you need to check just in case!  The narrative gave me Goosebumps from the emotion but also execution. 

Alice’s life has become mundane and boring since her husband left her for another woman…yup one of those!  Her life has been work and supporting her daughter, but she has been convinced into trying online dating – will a traumatic date lead her into a cagey man’s arms, what is he hiding?  Ursula has a compulsion for shoplifting but just what has led her down this soul-destroying path?  She has nothing and no-one – she lets a room in her landlords’ home but what does he keep locked behind his basement door?  Why is his bedroom barricaded worse than Fort Knox?  And Gareth, sweet, sweet Gareth.  His life, his career and his ambition has been put on hold when his mum has been diagnosed with dementia.  She needs him, more than his need for a relationship or career progression.  Where has these mystery postcards came from that are signed off by his dad…his dad that died many years ago?  Will the CCTV that he installs find the culprit? 

Strangers has an air of danger lurking in every corner, everyone is a culprit.  For Alice she was more or less in an environment where guys are dicks.  Ursula is surrounded in a toxic society that judges people regarding their looks and body type.  I felt like I could be friends with all three of the characters, I don’t know if it was the pain I wanted to soothe or the friendly demeanour, but I was rooting for them all. 

Strangers is a book that I couldn’t help but devour.  Although if finished it quickly, I have been unable to move onto the next as it would be a betrayal on how much headspace it took up.  If tachycardia isn’t your bag, then look away now!

ABOUT C.L. TAYLOR

Cally Taylor was born in Worcester and spent her early years living in various army camps in the UK and Germany. She studied Psychology at the University of Northumbria and went on forge a career in instructional design and e-Learning before leaving to write full time in 2014.

She started writing short stories in 2005 and was published widely in literary and women’s magazines. She also won several short story competitions. In 2009 and 2011 her romantic comedy novels (as Cally Taylor) were published by Orion and translated into fourteen languages. HEAVEN CAN WAIT was a bestseller in Hungary and China and HOME FOR CHRISTMAS was made into a feature film by JumpStart Productions. Whilst on maternity leave with her son Cally had an idea for a psychological thriller and turned to crime.

C.L. Taylor lives in Bristol with her partner and young son.

C.L. Taylor