The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

This is the place for spoilers as you're reading The Stranger Diaries.

Nancy wrote: "This is the place for spoilers as you're reading The Stranger Diaries."

Thanks Nancy. ❤📚

The solution was awful, Ty should be one of the first logical suspects. The killer obviously had regular access to Claire's diary and the handwriting experts had identified the killer as a male. The only two guys who visited the Cassidy home regularly are Ty and Patrick. Those are the first two handwriting samples any half smart detective would collect, Kaur does not do that. Griffiths should have at least mentioned why Kaur did not even think of Ty as a potential suspect or how she collected it and it did not match. And this is NOT nitpicking. This is a police procedural and that is basic police procedure.

The supernatural angle, Kaur seeing a ghost as a kid was another idiotic red herring I could have done without. But I already wrote about that on the spoiler free thread, so I won't repeat myself again. Overall this was disappointingly generic. If your chose to read this keep your expectations as low as you can. Some books just don't work for some readers even when they are pretty good. I don't really think that's the case here with me, I thought this one was genuinely a mediocre book at best.

My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

You know I am enjoying this read. Such varying views on this book just from group members so I truly wanted to read with an open mind. So far so good. I can’t wait to read one of her Ruth Galloway books.

Donna wrote: "You know I am enjoying this read. Such varying views on this book just from group members so I truly wanted to read with an open mind. So far so good. I can’t wait to read one of her Ruth Galloway ..."

I read this when it was first published Donna and loved it. I also love her Ruth Galloway series. ❤📚

I really liked the book. It was fun, like some horror movies, before they got so graphic. You know, old haunted house with a legend, Halloween scares, a private school with a lot of kids as possible suspects, creaking doors, a creepy old deserted factory, weird adult teachers - I was reminded of the movie ‘Scream’ and such like, even most of the 1970’s movies which seemed to always take place in a summer camp with a unknown crazy killer who had had a mommy fixation because of a sick upbringing. This novel was fun like that.

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "I really liked the book. It was fun, like some horror movies, before they got so graphic. You know, old haunted house with a legend, Halloween scares, a private school with a lot of kids as possibl..."

You are right, it does give some of those slasher movie vibes, never cared about those either.

I liked this book! I liked the gothic nods. I didn’t feel any slasher film vibes. Yes, Ty was our suspect but no one really knew about him. We didn’t really get much on him which I liked.

I really enjoyed this book. This was a good example of an author enjoying herself while writing without making it super convoluted. I also enjoyed the voices given to the different POVs. Even Kaur's family was not done badly though it was a bit stereotypical. A minor quibble - no Sikh women would be wearing a sari at night while waiting for her daughter to come home.

I thought this was a good read. I loved the Gothic elements and the different points of view. I'm a big fan of the Ruth Galloway series and this was a lot different, but pretty enjoyable.

I honestly didn't see it coming about Ty. It made sense of course, but I love when I'm surprised like that.