Does Not Hold Up On A Second Reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         Still recovering from Uwe Johnson's "Anniversaries," and wanting some fun, contemporary reading, I picked up Megan Miranda's "The Perfect  Stranger," having enjoyed her breakthrough thriller, "All The Missing Girls."

                                            The first thing I want to say is so many of these gender book jackets have become so generic that it is impossible, for one who reads so many books, to recall if the book has been read, or not.

                                               When I began Miranda's novel, and the name "Kyle Donovan" appeared, I started to wonder if I had read this before.  I kept on, and nothing, outside of the aforementioned name, seemed familiar to me.  It kept bugging me, so I checked on here, and I checked my book list, and discovered I had read this novel two years before, in 2018.

                                                On my original post, on March 1, 2018, I actually said it was better than "All The Missing Girls."  This time, I am wondering if I should go back and reread the earlier book, because this second reading did not hold up.  The whole identity thing is contrived, so the reader is unclear who or what this Emmy Grey is, or is not,  and after all the twists and turns, the climax was really not satisfying.  Now, Miranda has a book out called "The Last House Guest," and I am wondering if I should try it.  Even the cover for that one resembles this.

                                                  I guess the moral is too many thrillers run though my mind.  Hard to believe in two consecutive years I reread a book, without knowing it.  I must be more aware of what is being put out, in this genre.

                                                     So, darlings, in good faith, I cannot recommend this book. If I did not vividly recall it, and the second reading was disappointing, there is just no getting around that it is not worth reading at all.

                                                        Do yourselves a favor, dolls, and stay away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!