Summary

Caroline Stark’s beach house was supposed to be her crowning achievement: a lavish, expensive space to showcase what she thought was her perfect family. But after a very public fight with her husband, she realizes things may not be as perfect as they seem: her husband is lying to her, money is disappearing, and there’s a stranger on the beach outside her house. 

As Caroline’s marriage and her carefully constructed lifestyle begin to collapse around her, she turns to Aidan, the stranger, for comfort… and revenge. After a brief and desperate fling that means nothing to Caroline and everything to him, Aidan’s infatuation with Caroline, her family, and her house becomes more and more destructive. But who is manipulating whom in this deadly game of obsession and control? Who will take the blame when someone ends up dead… and what is Caroline hiding?

Why I chose to read this book
I was scrolling through Reddit as I usually do late at night when my daughter had finally fallen asleep on me. I had noticed A Stranger on the Beach mentioned quite a few times in a non-book-related subreddit. It looked like a light summer read and with that many people recommending it, I thought I would give it a try.

Thoughts & Opinions
This is not the type of book I usually read however it did have a lot of the same elements I look for in a good read; suspense, thrills, and scandals. What’s lacking a bit is an enriched vocabulary however for this type of book it doesn’t matter. When you’re reading a scandalous, juicy story, what matters is how enthralling and captivating it is. The two main characters tell the story from each of their viewpoints. You get the sense early on that someone isn’t telling the truth because their accounts are wildly different.