The Stranger Diaries

by Elly Griffiths

THE TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR

THE RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK

'Utterly bewitching ... a pitch-perfect modern Gothic' AJ FINN, author of THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW

'Compelling, intelligent and increasingly mesmerising' PETER JAMES

'At once a homage to the Gothic thriller, and a re-imagining, it is goose-bump spooky, smart, and haunting, in every sense. I loved this book! And you will too' LOUISE PENNY

A dark story has been brought to terrifying life. Can the ending be rewritten in time?

Clare Cassidy is no stranger to tales of murder. As a literature teacher specialising in the Gothic writer R.M. Holland, she teaches a short course on them every year. Then Clare's life and work collide tragically when one of her colleagues is found dead, a line from an R.M. Holland story by her body. The investigating police detective is convinced the writer's works somehow hold the key to the case.

Not knowing who to trust, and afraid that the killer is someone she knows, Clare confides her darkest suspicions and fears about the case to her journal. Then one day she notices some other writing in the diary. Writing that isn't hers...

• ISBN10: 1785419072
• ISBN13: 9781785419072
• Publish Date: 1 September 2020 (first published 1 November 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: F A Thorpe (Publishers)
• Imprint: Ulverscroft Ltd
• Edition: Large type / large print edition
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 462
• Language: English

Reviews

[alisoninbookland]

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Great on audio. Loved the 3 narrators for the ladies. Bonus addition of snippets of The Stranger between chapters was fun. I loved the full story of The Stranger at the very end.

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Stranger Diaries is a mystery thriller with Gothic horror overtones by Elly Griffiths. Released 5th March 2019 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, it's 338 pages and available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audio formats.

The author is quite astonishingly adept. It's not at all -easy- to get a jump-scare in a book and this one literally raised goosebumps several times for me. I have adored the gentle humor and intelligence of her Ruth Galloway series for years, but this standalone captivated me completely. I love the book-within-a-book device and this one is crammed full of delightful references for further reading. The alternating narrative PoVs were handled very well and weren't confusing or disorienting.

The plot is super twisty and the narrative tension is ratcheted up masterfully. I had several picks throughout the book for 'whodunnit' (my picks kept getting bumped off, as in the best murder mysteries). The denouement was satisfying and the bonus mystery of Mariana was wonderful.

This is one of the best and most enjoyable reads for me this year. (And I've read and reviewed almost 300 books in the first 6 months of 2019, so it's a pretty broad field).

Five stars. Wonderful author, wonderful book, very well written.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

4.25★⎮I started The Stranger Diaries on a whim after reading the synopsis. It wasn't something that was sitting on my TBR list or on my radar at all. In fact, I've never before heard of Author Elly Griffiths, but The Stranger Diaries has certainly made me take notice.

On the night I started The Stranger Diaries, I stayed up until around 3 AM listening to it. The Gothic atmosphere was absolutely entrancing. There's nothing better than atmospheric writing and I do love a Gothic setting. Griffiths sets the scene beautifully. The setting is somehow creepy and intriguing at the same time, as are many old places. The Stranger Diaries somewhat reminded me of something written by Ruth Ware, except better.

I adored the inclusion of R.M. Holland, a historical figure Griffiths created to provide a backstory for the setting in the plot. He was so realistic that I had to check to see if he actually existed (he didn't). I kept expecting Holland to play a bigger part in the contemporary plot (instead of just inspiring it) and I was disappointed when he didn't. There are a couple of unsolved mysteries surrounding Holland at the end of the book, but I suppose that just makes it more realistic. Holland wasn't meant to be the focus of the book, just a catalyst for it.

I liked Clare Cassidy as a protagonist. I related to her and felt for her. I especially appreciated her relationship with her rescue dog Herbert. On the other hand, Claire's daughter Georgie rather annoyed me, as teenage characters often do.

Unlike many other reviewers, I didn't have the "whodunit" figured out before hand. I'm not even sure I have it figured out now. It kind of feels like it came out of left field to me. The big reveal felt like a letdown. The first 3/4 of the book are building up this great mystery and there are several ways it could've played out, but the actual ending fell flat for me, which was especially disappointing considering how wonderfully Griffiths had set it up. But, then again, I can't complain too much about a book that had me listening until 3 AM. There's not much I would choose over sleep. I already have the first installment of Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series in my Audible basket.

Narration review: This book was beautifully narrated. It took me a while to figure out that there were three different narrators for the three different points-of-view. I was so consumed with the story that I assumed I was hearing one talented narrator voice Clare, Georgia, and Harbinder!

However, I did notice that the narrator for Georgie was sitting in a little too close to her microphone and it was picking up considerable "mouth sounds" (i.e. lipsmacking). I wouldn't rule out the possibility that it impacted my opinion of the character in some subconscious way. Other than that, this was a phenomenally produced audiobook and I wouldn't be surprised if it won an award or two. ♣︎