The Stalker - Sarah Alderson

 This thriller follows newlyweds Laura and Liam as they spend a week on an isolated island in Scotland for their honeymoon. They're supposed to be the only people there, but soon find evidence that there is someone else on the island. The situation soon escalates, leaving Laura and Liam struggling to make it off the island alive.   TW/CW: domestic violence

 I loved this book.  I haven't read any of Sarah Alderson's other books but I now have plans to rectify that.  I'll be honest and admit that the title and cover of this book didn't exactly jump out at me, but the summary of this being an isolated home invasion type thriller was intriguing.  I was expecting this to be more of a creepy sort of mystery/thriller where strange things are happening but we don't know until close to the end that there's an actual person involved.  I was mistaken.  We know pretty quickly that there's another person on the island and are thrust into a survival situation of trying to outwit the killer and escape.  This read to me like a really solid home invasion horror/thriller movie and I absolutely loved it. I would consider this a pure thriller and while most books I read are more mystery/thriller, this one was really all about the thrills and the characters surviving.  There wasn't really much of a mystery presented beyond the characters wondering who is stalking them.  But even that question is quickly brushed aside with the answer of "it doesn't matter, we just need to get off the island" so even that mystery is pretty much abandoned. 

The pacing was incredible.  If this was a movie, I'd say it would be a really tight 90 minute thriller.  Right from the beginning, we get thrust into the story as Laura and Liam arrive on the island and we get very little downtime until the end.  I found that for me to have a break and calm down, I'd need to put the book down and walk away.  There weren't really any quiet chapters where the reader could relax and process the information.  I know other readers may have different opinions, but this is how I like my pure thrillers to be paced.  I want to start at the top of a roller-coaster and not slow down until I'm done.  I think the pacing was really balanced by the overall simplicity of the plot.  While the pacing was very fast, there weren't a ton of actual plot points and twists so it didn't feel like I was missing anything by the story moving too quickly.  The story takes place over the course of a week so there is only so much plot to squeeze in.   I think the narrative structure of this book also helped with the breakneck speed that we were on.  Almost all of the plot surrounding Laura and Liam on the island was wrapped up by the 70% mark and the last 30% of the book is a Part 2 which is a series of flashbacks and changing POV chapters that give explanation and context to what is happening on the island.  These chapters are thrilling for their own reasons but are more slowly paced than what we'd been reading up to that point.  This last 30% is really the last few puzzle pieces falling together so we can see the big picture.  I think this break happened at just the right time and acted as a very long resolution to the climax of the story to really bring the tension and pace down slowly for the reader.  

This story is told in first person, present tense from Laura's point of view.  Personally, those aren't my preferred options when it comes to thrillers but usually won't stop me from enjoying a book once I get used to it.  My one complaint for the book was that Laura was a pretty passive protagonist.  Liam was the one to always prompt them to go out and looks for ways off the island or to try and find information about who the stalker is but Laura would always want to stay in.  Most of her reaction was worrying and hand-wringing.  Which, to be fair, would also be my reaction to the situation but it isn't a very interesting perspective to be reading from.  This does improve as the book goes on, but I did spend a good chuck in the beginning wondering why we were following Laura at all when it seemed like Liam would be a more active and interesting protagonist. To her credit, once Liam is set on doing something, Laura pretty much always came along with him and didn't just stay at the cabin the whole time.

Despite Laura being not the most active protagonist, I do think the character work in the book was great.  We jump right into Laura and Liam arriving at the island and through them starting to celebrate on their honeymoon together we get glimpses and details about their relationship.  I think most of the characterization came through these small details and I personally find that a really effective method to convey information.  It also naturally helps the reader make assumptions about the characters and where the story might be going.  Sort of like, if character A acts like B in X situation then when the stakes are higher, I bet they'll act like C. The main story takes place over the course of a week, but we do get a good amount of character growth and change during that time mostly due to the high tension of the situation bringing out different sides of Laura and Liam. I also liked the colorful locals they met before taking a boat over to the island.  Very horror movie trope type where they warned the island is haunted and Laura tries to brush it off like they're joking but there's a sinister undertone to their warnings.  

Finally, the twists and the ending I think could really make or break the book. I've read through some other reviews and the main twist/reveal seems to be the point of most contention.  I know a lot of readers like to be able to guess the twists in thrillers and I don't think the main twist falls under that category. Maybe some very very detailed reader could catch on but I sure couldn't.  However, once we know the twist, we can see some little breadcrumbs that support the reveal so it isn't like it came completely out of nowhere and I think re-reading the book would be fun to see exactly how many little breadcrumbs there were.  I do think it is a little over the top and some readers may not be able to suspend their disbelief enough to fully accept it, but I absolutely loved it.  There were some really obvious suspects that fell into the category of "it couldn't be X because we're only at the 20% point in the book" but then I was second guessing because maybe it really is X but just not in the way I initially thought it was.  The end reveal does tie everything together in a pretty nice way and overall I found it really fun and satisfying. 

Overall, this was a really fun and thrilling read.  Basically a summer blockbuster thriller movie in book form. Highly recommend!

 

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the ARC in exchange for review

Expected publication date is July 8, 2021.