The Stranger Game "Review"

So I just finished reading a young adult psychological thriller called The Stranger Game by Cylin Busby, and I honestly have to say this is one of the most fun books I've read in a long time. It was very tough to put down, and I literally had to read the last 100 pages or so in one day this past Saturday (which is unheard of for me - I rarely read that much in one day, and I'm a very slow reader at that). The book just commanded that I finish it.

In any case, for those of you who are wondering, here's a bit about the book: It's plugged as "Gone Girl for teens" (incidentally, I read and enjoyed Gone Girl recently, too, although I think I enjoyed The Stranger Game more due to the faster YA-style pacing), and it's about a high school girl name Nico whose older sister mysteriously disappeared for four years, and then is found by authorities and rejoins Nico's family. However, there are some major and mysterious (there's that word again) discrepancies between the sister Nico remembers from four years ago and the one who has returned. I won't say more than that, except that the story is predominantly told through Nico's eyes with sporadic flashes to her sister's perspective while she is "gone", and there are many great plot twists galore throughout the book. All in all, a very eerie, but very satisfying read.

On another note, I've found myself reading and enjoying psychological thrillers more and more. It's interesting...throughout my writing career I've been into and written horror, space opera, alien science fiction, epic fantasy, "straight-up" science fiction, dystopian, and I've even written a humorous superhero book somewhere in the mix, but I'm starting to think the next genre I'm going to write a story or book in is psychological thriller.

Also, I think I'm going to review a book on my blog every once in a while to add a variation to it, and I think it's a nice way to "give back" to the writing community, too. So, yeah, bottom line of this post: I highly recommend The Stranger Game, and I'm the last person to say that lightly, so go out and buy it and read it now!