Thank you to Text publishing for the arc of this book.
I didn’t enjoy this book at all, it was very easy to get into but lost something along the way

**Thank you to Netgalley and Text publishing for the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an unbiased review.**
2.5 stars
The story pulls you in and keeps you engaged initially. But the pace gets to you. It’s too slow. I think the purpose is to make the reader feel the confusion but it only makes you want to skim through instead. This isn’t a thriller, more of a domestic psychological tale. You think you’ve figured it out but you keep reading to understand the ‘why’. As the tale unravels you realize that you didn’t really figure it out and the why is a lot simpler than you imagined! My main I ssue with the book is that it gets too verbose at times and some of it is repetitive in places, maybe it is related to being a translation. My other issues are the unexplained parts. Like how Sarah claims that the stranger is shorter than her husband, how an old neighbor laughs at him and says he’s not who he claims to be, his mother’s reaction, the Johann connection, the old colleague connection - I feel like these derailed the book a little for me. Like loose ends that were not neatly tied up. There are a few more instances that I can quote but I don’t want any spoilers and hence won’t say anything else. Not a book that I would easily recommend.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview The Stranger by Melanie Raabe.
Sarah's husband disappears from South America with her son.. She is frantic to find him but goes to South America to get her little boy. Sarah is devistated but carries on her life.
Seven years go by and then she gets a call that her husband is alive. A stranger meets her and this brings more confusion and trouble for Sarah - who is the stranger and why after all this time does she find out her husband may be alive.
This book was slow for me and I found it to be more of a family drama than a thriller.
Lots of plot lines and unfortunately, I found myself skimming to get to the end.
just ok for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ecopy for my Kindle.
A good psychological thriller that really didn't turn out like I expected!

Thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing Company for a free review copy. This book is scheduled for publication in October 2018.

“The Stranger” by Melanie Raabe (translated by Imogen Taylor) is the story of Sarah Petersen whose husband Philip disappeared on a business trip seven years ago. It was presumed that Philip died, but Sarah never had him declared dead. One day, Sarah receives a phone call telling her that her husband has been found alive and will be coming home, but the man who meets her (and all the press) is not her husband.

***Spoilers ahead***

I really enjoyed this book until I got about 85% of the way through as the story started to resolve itself. Told mainly from Sarah’s point of view, the book takes us through Sarah’s attempts to prove that the stranger is not her husband. In a handful of chapters from the stranger’s point of view, we see his thoughts about how this was proving more difficult than he anticipated.

We learn that at one point in their lives, Sarah hit a person with their car while she and Philip were coming home from an evening out. They left the scene, and Sarah blocked parts of it from her memory. The stranger keeps asking her to tell him the worst thing she has ever done, and she starts thinking about that night. It seems the reader is supposed to assume that the stranger has some vendetta because of that night. Was it his wife? His child? We can only presume that it’s someone he loved because he seems determined to ruin Sarah’s life.

In the end, the stranger and Sarah start to fight, and she cuts him with a knife across the chest, revealing...Philip’s birthmark. It IS Philip after all! What we learn next is that Philip thought one of three people (one of them being Sarah) could have arranged for his kidnapping and imprisonment. He needed a couple of days to find out for sure and did not want to reveal himself until then, so he pretended to not be Philip when it was clear Sarah didn’t recognize him.

There were a lot of things I questioned at the beginning about how the authorities didn’t know whether it was Philip or not. We are told that DNA tests have to be voluntary, but Philip was wealthy, so you assume they would verify somehow. Sarah mentions that the stranger is shorter than Philip. So at the beginning of the book, I kept wondering how they hadn’t proven his identity before contacting Sarah. By the end of the book, I kept wondering why Philip didn’t just wait to be reunited with his family until they had proven his identity and his questions were resolved. Why torment everyone for what even he said would only be a couple of days?

And then at the end, Philip leaves again anyway because he realizes he no longer loves Sarah, and Sarah searches for him every day because she still loves Philip. The end really just annoyed me. It felt like a daytime soap opera where a character is killed off and several seasons later they come back and you get this unbelievable story about what really happened when they died. It totally ruined the book for me, so I would not recommend this book or this author.

The Stranger is about roommates Mary, Cat, Ben and their newest roommate Rachel. To everyone but Mary Rachel seems strange. Mary believes that Rachel and her are alike. Went through similar things. But is it tru? Or is this ‘stranger’ out for more?

The Stranger by Melanie Raabe was the first book that I've read of hers and it definitely kept me on my seat! (Not to mention was impeccably translated by Imogen Taylor!)


And the story goes...


Successful business man Philipp Peterson was a mostly-happily married husband who disappeared seven years ago on a business trip to Columbia without a trace. Sarah, his wife, did everything she could to find out what happened to him, but was left to raise their son, Leo, on herown. And then the call that she's been waiting for finally comes... Philipp is alive and coming home.
As he steps off the plane, while waiting with their now eight-year-old son, she becomes paralyzed with fear when she realizes that it is not her husband who got off the plane, but a stranger. But no one believes her...and this stranger is going to be living in her house. Confronting the man, she tries to call the police, until the stranger threatens her by telling her he knows what she did and she will lose her son if she calls. The imposter has done his homework... could this stranger really be her husband or is he out to destroy and expose her secret???
I enjoyed The Stranger and found myself getting as frustrated as Sarah with needing to know who the stranger was, what her secret was, and what he was after.

I definitely give this 4 ⭐️ and make sure to pick this up October 8 to find out who the stranger is!!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing Company for the advance reader's copy in exchange for my honest review!!
#NetGalley #TheStranger

This was okay. I think this book had a lot of potential. I felt like there was too much going on and I didn't really connect to any of the characters as I couldn't get a feel for them. I had high expectations when I requested this book. I'm sad to say it didn't meet those expectations.

Sarah's husband, Philip, left for South America 7 years ago and has not returned. We last see Philip at the airport, 7 years ago, thinking about his upcoming trip...

While at the zoo with her and Philip's 8 year old son, Leo, Sarah receives a call that Philip is coming home tomorrow!

At the airport, all is not what it seems. Sarah looks at Philip, the Stranger, and says, "Who are you?". He answers, "Your husband." She knows that he is not her husband.
The Stranger also tells her that he knows what she did and that she is not getting away with it.

The press is all over the homecoming as are the foreign and domestic ministries.

Leo freaks out and Miriam, Sarah's good friend, takes Leo to stay with her and her family for the night. Sarah continues to utilize Miriam's good will and keeps Leo there for days.

Sarah just knows the whole thing is a set-up to obtain money from her very well-to-do family. Of course, she is silent about her affair with another teacher, Mirko. She becomes unhinged following The Stranger, trying to trip him up. This includes trips to downtown Hamburg (where they live), visits to "friends", demanding DNA testing (what about quick fingerprints?), taking Philip's mother out of a retirement home to verify that The Stranger is NOT Philip.


Eventually, the reader sees the cracks in Sarah's behavior and thoughts... She finds the family gun, she runs away, and continues to call Johann - the closest family friend - to no avail. Finally, Sarah is convinced that not only is this man a Philip imposter, but that he also killed Philip.


SO MANY twists and turns in this book! WOW!!! I thought I saw the conclusion coming , but was I wrong!

Excellent character development. Strong storyline. Brilliant portrayal of emotions! Highly recommend! My thanks to TEXT Publishing and NetGalley for a roller coaster of a ride!

Seven years have gone by since Sarah’s husband disappeared and she has tried her best to move on with her life when suddenly he returns. Upon picking him up from the airport she realizes that the man in front of her is not her husband but a complete stranger. Now she is focused on finding out who this man is, what he wants, and what has really happened to her husband but these questions bring much more to light than Sarah might have initially realized. While I was really excited to read this one it ended up just being ok for me. The first half of the book I was really hooked into the story line, but the ending left me wondering about a few things. I felt that there were a few parts of the book that could have been developed more along with some loose ends that could have been wrapped up at the end of the book. Despite this, it was still an enjoyable read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I DNF - I would give it 2 stars. I got about 30% of the way through and unfortunately it didn't grab my interest. If you are looking for an edge-of-your-seat read, I would not recommend this. I read a lot of thrillers, and I just thought that this was slow. I wasn't sure what to think of the main character, she's shady but also seems depressed/sort of a loner, so I wasn't empathizing with her, and I found it hard to care about what happened to her. I'm sure I could try and "guess" what happened to her husband or this awful thing she supposedly did, but I found myself wanting to move on to another book.

The Stranger
by Melanie Raabe
4 stars for this thriller! many thanks to the author and publisher who provided a copy of this e-book in exchange for my honest review.

After finishing this book one word comes to mind, confusion, my confusion. What was the point of the story? It really wasn't a mystery, maybe life, love, misunderstanding.. At the end I felt like I just came through a room of mirrors.

CREEPY is the word I’d use to describe The Stranger by Melanie Raabe. This book is out now so if you are looking for something to read right now, look no further.

She doesn’t know him. But he knows everything about her. Philip Petersen, a wealthy businessman, disappears without a trace on a trip to South America. His wife, Sarah, is left to bring up their son on her own.

Seven years later, out of the blue, Sarah receives news that Philip is still alive. But the man who greets her before a crowd of journalists at the airport is a stranger—and he threatens Sarah. If she exposes him, she will lose everything: her house, her job, her son…her whole beautiful life.

The premise reminds me of the story of the changeling, a missing kid who returns only its not the same child who went missing…I can’t wait to see what surprises unfold in this book.

First I want to thank netgalley and the author for an advanced copy for my kindle! I started this book with high hopes and I just couldn’t get interested in it. My big question was if her husband was missing and she had reported it wouldn’t they notice that the person getting off the plane didn’t match the license or pictures?? I just couldn’t finish it and that’s not like me. Plus the translation was a bit off. Thank you and sorry for the disappoint review.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a perfectly serviceable domestic psychological thriller. If you like psychological thrillers of the domestic variety, you will like this book. It won’t stick around in your psyche for a long period of time, you may not even remember to tell your friends about it. But you will like this book. And that’s it.