The Stray Reader

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Author:	Per Jacobsen
Genre(s):	➡️ Post-apocalyptic ➡️ Horror ➡️ Mystery ➡️ Thriller
Series? Series Order: Series Title:	✅ Yes Book 1 Strung Trilogy
Goodreads Rating:	⭐3.85 (1.2k ratings; 86 reviews)
Personal Rating:	⭐ 4 / 5 Overall

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🛑 Spoiler Warning 🛑

I might be recounting events, characters, and themes so THIS MIGHT BE FULL OF SPOILERS.

If you’d like to read a review with the spoilers hidden, kindly head to my Goodreads post to read my spoiler-free review. You don’t need an account to read it. 🙂

🗒️ BLURB 🗒️

Author Randall Morgan is on his way home after spending fourteen days in the secluded cabin where he always goes to write the endings of his books. However, when he arrives in his hometown, East Alin, he is greeted by a disturbing sight.

At a traffic light near the city limits, someone has turned a lamppost into a makeshift gallows, and in it a man–dead and decomposing–hangs.

The sight of the hanged man is terrifying in itself, but it soon dawns on Randall that there are other–and far greater–problems in the small town. While he is waiting in his car for the police to show up, several people pass by the crime scene – and not a single one of them reacts to the fact that a dead man is hanging in the middle of the street.

Something has gone completely wrong in East Alin while Randall has been away.

Source: Goodreads

🌟Review (4/5) 🌟

Straight to the eerie and the action! Love it!

This book not only had me with its blurb, but it also hooked me from the first chapter. The story immediately starts just as the description says: our protagonist author was driving one night when he saw a hanging man in a lamppost and immediately called the cops. No lengthy monologue, no long-winded backstories, just immediately in the presence of a murder. Now that’s a thriller. From there, the story starts to emit feelings of uneasiness to full-blown creepiness as passersby act as if the hanging body is a normal decor on the road. Because of course, I immediately asked ‘What the hell is going on?!’ and I knew I would not be sleeping tonight until I got some answers.

There are also a couple more things to like other than the captivating plot.

First, it’s amazing how so few characters can make such a thrilling and suspenseful adventure. They didn’t need to have such long backstories to establish their distinct personalities. Their backgrounds were sprinkled in at just the right moments.

Second, the writing style was pretty straightforward. It made it easy to go through the story really quickly, like a post-apocalyptic movie playing in my mind. The action climbs and dips in a great rhythm. And like any wonderful book in a series, it resolves a major plot point but there’s still a larger mystery remaining to be resolved in its sequel.

The mystery just unfolds so beautifully. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed that this seems to be pointing to an alien invasion. But it’s just for the sole reason that sci-fi – especially aliens – is just not my cup of tea.

So if you like being kept in suspense as the characters try to figure out what’s happening as the people start exhibiting odd behavior, then I would highly recommend this book. Check it and its sequels out from Kindle Unlimited!