I’m thrilled to be taking part in what is possibly the longest blog tour on record! I think the sheer amount of bloggers who wanted to join in promoting Strangers shows how much love there is for C.L. Taylor. Thank you to Sanjana Cunniah at Avon for inviting me to take part. Before I give you my thoughts, here’s the blurb.
The Blurb
Ursula, Gareth and Alice have never met before.
Ursula thinks she killed the love of her life.
Gareth’s been receiving strange postcards.
And Alice is being stalked.
None of them are used to relying on others – but when the three strangers’ lives unexpectedly collide, there’s only one thing for it: they have to stick together. Otherwise, one of them will die.
Three strangers, two secrets, one terrifying evening.
My Review
I adore C.L. Taylor’s books. What I love most is that she takes the most ordinary of characters although ironically, since Covid-19, these three appear more heroic than they might have done. Ursula is a delivery driver and most definitely a key worker in today’s society. Gareth is a security guard at a local shopping centre and Alice is the manager of one of the clothes shops in the same place. Just three people who don’t know each other, getting on with their lives.
Although they may seem ordinary, they all have things going on. Alice, recently divorced, finds herself at the mercy of a stalker. Ursula is kicked out of her home by her friend and has to find somewhere new to live. Gareth has issues at work as well as dealing with his mother who’s suffering from dementia. For me, this is where C.L. Taylor excels. She takes characters already under pressure and cranks up the tension more. I liked the way the chapters swapped between Alice, Ursula and Gareth and I was always left wanting more from each individual thread. Although there is a prologue at the beginning giving a hint of what’s to come, I honestly had no idea where the story was heading and how the three characters would finally come together.
Although the book is largely about Alice, Gareth and Ursula, there is an underlying thread about a possible murderer. This is kept pretty low-key but I would have liked a bit more about it. Overall, this is another excellent book from C.L. Taylor. Ordinary people put in extraordinary circumstances, pushed to breaking point – it’s what C.L. Taylor does best!
You can buy Strangers here.
The Author
C.L. Taylor is a Sunday Times bestselling author. Her psychological thrillers have sold over a million copies in the UK alone, been translated into over twenty languages, and optioned for television. Her 2019 novel, Sleep, was a Richard and Judy pick. C.L. Taylor lives in Bristol with her partner and son.
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