LitPick Review
Stranger Danger is a thrilling, one-of-a-kind read. The story alternates between two POVs, Lotus's and a mysterious, mistrustful narrator. Lotus, Vin, and Nova go out to a farmhouse to stay for a week with no WiFi, no cell phone, and no connection to the outside world. At least they think so. Lotus has been in contact with a stranger who has been stalking and threatening her, and she is even more worried when they follow her to the remote farmhouse. The stranger states that they know a secret of Lotus's. Though the three friends seem close, they each hide their own secrets. The friends find themselves in the midst of an elaborate plan of revenge, and slowly, the three find their secrets being revealed to others. Plot twists and turns galore as the limits of friendship and the morals of people are tested in this YA thriller.
Opinion:
At first, after reading the description for the book, I thought it would be a classic "who is the murderer" mystery. Instead, it turned out to be in a genre of its own, not exactly a murder mystery, but more like a mix of a thriller, horror, and realistic fiction. The exposition and rising action were great, but the climax and denouement got a little confusing. The book is for teens, but it seems to be a bit more on the explicit side. The plot is interesting, and I appreciated the graphic descriptions of the rising action where odd things start to happen to Vin, Nova, and Lotus. The first person point of view clicked in very well and made the book flow as I felt empathy for each of the narrators. As the book progresses, more about trio's past is revealed, and I found myself enjoying how the events mentioned in Lotus's point of view twinned with the events mentioned in the murderer's point of view. I liked how instead of a normal high school drama, the author came up with an elaborate teacher/student backstory that eventually lead to the attempted murders of Lotus, Nova, and Vin. In thrillers like these, usually only the teenager's point of view is represented, but in Stranger Danger, adults are brought into the book, and the relationships between the grown-ups and the teens are played out masterfully. At parts, the book got a little graphic, but it was mostly fit for its specified age range, which I greatly appreciated, and I think that it is the perfect book for avid readers of thrillers and dramas alike!
