Lying With Strangers

by James Grippando

I love Grippando's Jack Swyteck series, but I enjoyed this stand-alone story even more. Doctor Peyton Shields and her lawyer husband, Kevin Stokes, are great characters. They both seem to have bright futures, but Kevin feels inferior to his charismatic wife. It will probably be years before he attains partnership status in the law firm he works for, and she is already a respected physician and high earner. Kevin thinks he has wasted the past five years and is now secretly pursuing a career in writing. Kevin and Peyton suspect each other of infidelity, and their failure to trust each other makes them vulnerable to a psycho who has become obsessed with Peyton.

Peyton's car is run off the road and into a lake during a winter storm. She is rescued by a stranger but then left alone in the freezing snow . Peyton is convinced that it was not an accident. Her laptop is stolen, and roses and notes are left for her by a mysterious someone... She is just sure it is her former lover. Then, when her ex-boyfriend is murdered, both she and Kevin are indicted for the killing. The interplay between Peyton and the stalker in the Internet chat-rooms is a bit confusing. She just doesn't seem like someone who would do that...and, when some transcripts of these sexually explicit emails turn up in Peyton's home and her nine millimeter hand gun is missing, she looks like the murderer.

I was a bit put off by Peyton's pursuit of her former lover, and her belief that he is her stalker feels like a contrived plot twist. In spite of that, Lying with Strangers is a fine psychological thriller that kept me reading long into the night. Grippando does have some unique surprises in store for readers, and I could not guess the unexpected, stunning climax.