A 'Stranger on the Beach' isn't What it Seems |Book review|

|...these characters are always on the move.|

One afternoon, in September 2019, I was browsing Instagram, checking what book bloggers were reading – apart from the same book. I kept coming across a familiar title I wasn’t interested in. I was looking at some images the bloggers, I follow, were posting of. I thought the title is outlandish. I don’t remember why I reasoned before reading the blurb. Quite few images of that cover again rolled on my feed. My mind said, “Nah, pass,” But, something tickled my curiosity. I said, “There’s no harm checking out what the book is about,” So, that same day, I typed the book’s name on Goodreads, a popular site where readers and authors talk about books. I went through the blurb. Only thing I was able to say, stunned, in a low whisper, “What was I thinking?!”

This is the last pic that made me go for it; Image credit: Emily Wilkinson on Instagram, shot on July 22, 2019

Michele Campbell’s A Stranger on the Beach is a thriller fiction in which forty-two-year-old, Caroline Stark, meets the uncanny young stranger, Aiden Callahan — finally, who keeps checking out her lavish home outside at the seaside. This brief encounter unnerves her but she doesn’t expect him to meet again until he shows up at her extravagant housewarming/birthday party thrown for her busy lawyer husband, Jason. Caroline noticed but waved off the coincidence. Again, she meets Aiden at a bar when she’s emotionally a mess after her twenty year marriage falls off. Caroline is uncertain about her future but brazenly finds solace in Aiden. As Caroline and Aiden keep teasing each other, their attraction undeniably steams off. A passionate one-night becomes an obsession. An obsession that turns into a deadly scene. The question is — can Caroline escape Aiden?

Title: A Stranger on the Beach

Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense, Fiction

Author: Michele Campbell

Publisher: HQ

Publication date: July 23, 2019

Where you can buy? Click here

I couldn’t afford to buy the physical copy so instead I went for e-book, which I got at a discounted rate on Google Play Books – an app where you can buy and read books at affordable prices. As soon as the download finished, I couldn’t stop at the beginning. It hit me directly that surprisingly I wasn’t expecting to get started so soon. Curiosity build up like Jenga. I only knew to keep going when the narration was amazing. The flow is indubitably lucid. It sailed on smoothly as I kept on reading. The dialogues are dramatic — which is so entertaining to keep you on your toes. I was ready for Caroline sharing her point of view. But, Aiden jumped in like a smoking gun. Their eyes direct you where they want to take you and majorly try to convince you. I was perplexed what was happening. Who should I believe? Who is telling the truth? I had my sleuth cap on the whole time even when Caroline and Jason didn’t clash. There is no doubt, the characters are fantastically profiled. Each of them is given certain personality that made me glued to them. It was like standing in a party, Moscow mule in hand, my eyes rove to Caroline and then on Aiden, secretive yet hinting — finding something alluring about them. I can’t say I made a favourite character here because these characters are always on the move. Even Caroline’s and Jason’s eighteen-year-old distant daughter, Hannah. It was hard to pick one. Though, Jason surprised me on so many levels. He is like the person who would dulcify you easily with his charm. Aiden, however, quipped me keeping in pace with him. He rushes to places where he shouldn’t be. Even his cop brother, Tommy, is suspiciously concerned about the woman he is clinging to. He stalks on Caroline’s family and friends as his obsession grows with every heartbeat. Secrets unearth which not only shocked me but made me question, “Are they what they seem?” My favourite scene was Caroline entering the bar where Aiden bartended. Both of them describe their thoughts about each other differently. Here’s one such quote from Caroline’s view,

“That’s a simple, down-home, easygoing guy. And easy on the eyes. If only I were ten years younger, or not married, I’d … No.”

The author, Michele Campbell, sweetly takes you on a comfortable ride and then after some minutes, turns up the lever suddenly, that you wouldn’t know if your heart is still inside you. The plot majorly kept me hooked. The twists and clashing points made me anticipate plausible speculations. Until a basketball hit my head, bringing to my senses, awakening me about the actual climax I wasn’t so ready for. This book will keep you guessing. You may be bound to believe the characters like a spell. I sure enjoyed the novel. I also believe, this may make a great web series. This thriller certainly has the elements to make audience chew their nails. And of course, I was wrong in refusing to read this book. I’m glad I chose to read it otherwise I wouldn’t have realised what I was missing.

Priyanka Patra is a self-published writer of Upon Me. She lives in Odisha, India with her family in a small town. She has done her MBA in Marketing & HR from Birla Global University in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. She is aiming to write more books especially in fiction genre.