Talking to Strangers, a review by Sherry

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Talking to Strangers
Fiona Barton

385 pages
Berkley Publishing
published August 15, 2024

Amazon | Goodreads

Thanks @berkleypub for my #gifted book. #BerkleyPartner #Berkley

This one started a little slow for me, but man did that extra time build a quite complex and interwoven story. I connected and sympathized with Elise in Local Gone Missing. She leads a little bit of a sad life, but is one tough cookie in her personal and professional lives.

I liked that this is told by three women when the theme is sexual predators. It makes a statement without being blatant. And don’t be put off by that as it didn’t really hit me until I finished, so there isn’t any off putting preaching through the story.

I can’t really say either of the other two main characters are likable. but I wanted to know how their stories intersected. A woman still overcome by grief from the death of her young son and a reporter investigating the death of a friend. Their experiences drive them to know more about these deaths and take them to dark places.

I’m not much for slow burns, but this mystery heats up part way through and the pace increased. I wasn’t surprised by the ending as I started to suspect what had happened but I wasn’t sure until the end and I must point out that it was the journey through the complicated story that really grabbed me.
There is something about the author’s writing that really keeps me invested. I can’t wait to read her next book.

About the book

Detective Elise King’s investigation into a woman’s murder is getting derailed by a reporter who insists on doing her own investigation in this nail-biting mystery from the author of Local Gone Missing.

When Karen Simmons is murdered on Valentine’s Day, Detective Elise King wonders if she was killed by a man she met online. Karen was all over the dating apps, leading some townspeople to blame her for her own death, while others band together to protest society’s violence against women. Into the divide comes Kiki Nunn, whose aggressive newsgathering once again antagonizes Elise.

A single mother of a young daughter, Kiki is struggling to make a living in the diminished news landscape. Getting a scoop in the Simmons murder would do a lot for her career, and she’s willing to go up against not just Elise but the killer himself to do it.

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