The Passenger

by Lisa Lutz

[Leah]

Lisa Lutz has long been a favourite author of mine. She seems to have that skill where she can write any genre and still write an awesome book. Her Spellman books are my favourites (although we have a LOT to talk about in regards to Isabel and Henry and the next generation of Spellman books?) and I was so intrigued to see how different The Passenger would be. It is obviously vastly different. In fact, I probably wouldn’t have known the same author wrote both books, if Lisa’s name wasn’t on the front, but that’s not a bad thing and I appreciate that Lisa just writes what she wants, and doesn’t have to publish under fifty different names to do so (because keeping track of pseudonyms is NOT FUN as a reader). If one of my fave authors writes a book under a different name I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT, but that’s a whole other blog post.

The Passenger is such an intriguing novel. Because I knew Tanya/Amelia/Debra/she of the many names was she of the many names, I wasn’t sure if she’d be a reliable narrator or not, but actually Tanya (she opens as Tanya, so we’ll stick with that) is a pretty decent narrator, and I never once disbelieved her or felt she was telling fibs. You know as soon as you start the book that it’s the kind of book that will have you on edge – any book where the main character must shed her identities like a snake skin, and with such alarming regularity, is clearly in PLENTY of trouble, and boy, Tanya doesn’t half get herself into some sticky situations, starting with her now-dead-husband Frank. She does what any sensible, paranoid person would be and she runs, and as such we get to witness an amazing cross-country journey, as Tanya tries to outrun all of her old lives and identities.

I actually really enjoyed The Passenger, it’s intriguing to read of someone who literally couldn’t care less about changing her identity at the drop of a hat, who is so fine-tuned to doing it, it’s like blinking to her. I was mostly just deadly curious as to what started the whole thing, and why someone named Ryan was trying to get in touch, and what the story was. It was a pretty freaking good story, actually, I put bits of it together, but never the whole thing. Tanya has certainly lived an interesting life, and the characters she meets on the run after Frank’s death is insane. Blue literally confused the life out of me – very much the unreliable one. I legit had no idea of her motives, ever. NO IDEA. I still don’t, quite frankly. She was a weird one. I liked Domenic, but the old softy in me is always happy with a hint of romance/spark/chemistry/whatever, even if he ended up a bit ehhhh worse for wear, shall we say.

The Passenger is one of those books you just can’t put down. Tanya is such an intriguing narrator, with the kind of life people dream of, but actually isn’t as interesting as it sounds. It actually sounds like a real hassle, and I would be literally terrified of ever leaving a room if I lived Tanya’s life. But I loved that she just got on with it, and it made for a fascinating, gripping story. This is such a good thriller, I would recommend it to all. Lisa Lutz is one of the finest fiction writers around, and this is a high calibre thriller.