Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

Mystery/Thriller, 2018 from Flatiron Books, 453 Pages

What I Didn’t Like:

Genre confusion. Most of this novel reads like contemporary fiction with no mystery (and certainly no thrill) whatsoever. I checked (and rechecked) to make sure the genre was listed as mystery/thriller and it is. It’s listed as a lowkey psychological thriller. That’s a stretch, in my opinion. If you go into this one expecting a psychological thriller you’d be disappointed.
There’s a lot of characters. It took me a bit to really get the hang of who everyone was. Someone would be mentioned by name and I’d have to stop and try to remember who that was.
A few too many chapters. I like my endings to leave a little unanswered so that I’ll keep thinking about this book and these characters long after I’m done. If that was the case, this had a few too many chapters. I would’ve cut at least two (and not the final two), but that’s my opinion.

Once it picks up, it moves quickly. From the moment you do figure out why it’s labeled a thriller this one is great! The intensity is good, the mystery element is good, and it’s definitely intense.
The characters are great. They’re relatable and flawed, which is what I always like in characters. You become invested in their futures and their lives.
It’s easy enough to see how something like this could happen and get out of hand in our society, which is it’s own type of thriller. This leans toward the darkness in humans and our capacity to think we know best and that is a scary concept in itself.

I’d say if you are a contemporary fiction fan but you want to try something a little thrilling, this is a PERFECT book for you. They’re characters you’re going to love and relate to who feel like they could be real but they have landed in an interestingly thrilling situation.

This one falls to that niche audience of contemporary fans who want a little thrill, but it’s a good book with strong characters.