When a small town girl goes missing, the town thinks she’s run away. When another girl disappears, the town calls in the FBI. But what they dig up is more than anyone in rural Louisiana ever expected. Never Smile at Strangers by Jennifer Jaynes is a thriller, that keeps the reader hooked until the last page. Sometimes the people closest to you are the ones with the biggest secrets.
An intense thriller, murder mystery with deep themes, Never Smile at Strangers is a must read.
Synopsis
Never Smile at Strangers follows the first person point of view of multiple characters following the disappearance of a young woman, Tiffany Perron. Did she runaway? She was always looking for attention, but her mother insists she wasn’t the runaway type.
Haley, who’s father was killed by a drunk driver, struggles to stay grounded while balancing her best friend’s disappearance. Her mother, wasted away in her bedroom, leaves Haley to care for her younger sister, Becky, who needs a mother figure now more than ever. Haley tries to make sense of the series of unfortunate events, and leans hard onto her long time boyfriend, Mac.
Without her best friend, she also connects with her co-worker, Erica, who previously butted heads with Tiffany. Erica, an aspiring author, struggles with the fact that her mother abandoned her family last year to pursue a better life in NYC. She hopes to follow in her mother’s footsteps, publishing her own book, and earn her mother’s approval.
Before her disappearance, Tiffany had a relationship with Tom Anderson, a married man. After her disappearance, fingers point towards Tom and his wife, Rachel.
Meanwhile, the reader knows Tiffany has been killed, because they are able to see into the murder’s point of view. Though his identity remains hidden until the end, his story leading up to her kidnap and murder is slowly revealed. His troubled past haunts him, as he struggles with mental illness that controls his thoughts throughout the day and lives the facade of an upstanding citizen. No one suspects he had anything to do with Tiffany’s disappearance.
As each character’s story is unraveled, their lives are further wrapped around each other, until finally the truth is revealed. But by then, it’s too late. More lives are lost, and some answers may never be found.
Reader Thoughts
This book had me hooked. The alternating points of views gave the reader great insight into how each person could be a suspect, but also how they are also victims themselves. There are many hints dropped leading up to the finish, but I only predicted one detail. I was almost disappointed I suspected the wrong man as the murderer (and feel bad I suspected him, in the end. oops) I thoroughly enjoyed how it kept me captivated, and each character was deeply developed. By the end, the reader knows so much about every character, but without any info drops. There is a lot of alcohol, pornographic references, sexual abuse, mental illness, and straight evil intent in this book. Do not read before bedtime, or at least make sure you’ve locked your doors, and windows too.
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Sounds interesting and potentially a little creepy, too!!
It’s definitely creepy, but also realistic enough where you could see it happening in real life.