Not So Perfect Strangers by L.S. Stratton

One fateful encounter upends the lives of two women in this tense domestic thriller, a modern spin on Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers On A Train that flips the script on race and gender politics.

“I’m a big believer that women should help each other, Tasha,” she says. “Don’t you think?”

Tasha Jenkins has finally found the courage to leave her abusive husband. Taking her teenage son with her, Tasha checks into a hotel the night before their flight out of D.C. and out of Kordell Jenkins’s life forever. But escaping isn’t so easy, and Tasha soon finds herself driving back to her own personal hell. As she is leaving, a white woman pounds on her car window, begging to be let in. Behind the woman, an angry man is in pursuit. Tasha makes a split-second decision that will alter the course of her she lets her in and takes off.

Tasha and Madison Gingell may have very different everyday realities, but what they have in common is marriages they need out of. The two women want to help each other, but they have very different ideas of what that means . . .

They are on a collision course that will end in the case files of the D.C. MPD homicide unit. Unraveling the truth of what really happened may be impossible‒and futile. Because what has the truth ever done for women like Tasha and Madison?

TW: Abuse

My Verdict

This domestic thriller is mostly plot driven and it moves along nicely for the most part. It is a good example of why you should not get in a car with strangers. This book was a fun, twisty thriller and a commentary on race and gender politics. Tasha and Madison have very different realities, and the author does a great job exploring the privileges, or lack thereof, as the women are under investigation for their crimes. I appreciated reading a thriller where I was completely satisfied with the ending, and nothing felt too far-fetched. These have been few and far between lately. The pacing was a little slow in some areas, especially in the book's first half, but once we learn about Madison's true intentions, the story picks up and becomes a perfect binge-worthy thriller. I enjoyed this book and I give this one 4 stars.