A Stranger on the Beach

May 20, 2019
Well-to-do New Yorker Caroline Stark, the narrator of this engrossing, if flawed, thriller from Campbell (She Was the Quiet One), loses everything starting the night her husband, Jason, arrives late for the housewarming party at their new beach house followed by a Russian woman he claims is a business associate. Caroline knows the woman is his mistress, and their marriage falls apart. Soon the bank accounts are empty, the credit cards are canceled, and Caroline’s college-age daughter is siding with Jason. Drunk and despondent, Caroline has an impetuous fling with a bartender, Aiden Callahan, who has a history of violence. Aiden becomes obsessed with Caroline and her house, which is built on land that was once owned by his family. Meanwhile, Jason disappears and suspicion falls on Caroline that she murdered him. The fast pace and strong characters, especially secondary ones such as Aiden, will help the reader overlook the plot holes (some Russian mobsters show unconvincing restraint). Those looking for breezy intrigue on a hot summer day will be satisfied. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

This audiobook, artfully narrated by January LaVoy, purports to tell the story of Caroline Stark and her torrid affair with young Aiden, a bartender at a restaurant near her weekend house in the Hamptons. As her husband appears to be having his own affair, her impulsive desire seems understandable. But who's betraying whom, and to what end? Though the listener is privy to both lovers' thoughts, as the surprise plot twist at the end reveals (in the middle of a raging coastal storm, of course), it's not just the characters who are keeping secrets. LaVoy, who voices all the characters' roles, does a nice job of building the tension, but she can't make the plot contrivances seem any less manipulative. L.W.S. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine