A Stranger at the Door

After recently reading Hide Away, my first book by Jason Pinter, I was excited to find a new-to-me author who had written several books already. I loved Hide Away and eagerly read this second book in Pinter's Rachel Marin series the following week. Yup. It was that good.

This latest installment in the series shows the extent a mother will go to protect her children. When Rachel gets pulled into the vicious murder of a teacher at her son's high school, she uses her skills and role as a freelance forensics investigator to help the police catch the killer.

The story starts out with a bang with a grisly murder that leads Rachel into less-than-savoury and concealed aspects of her small town. It's an interesting premise and start, but it was Rachel who was the pull for me to continue reading this series. She's a character with flaws, a mysterious and dark backstory and I love the shades of gray within her character - particularly her conflicts as a survivor and mother who desperately wants to keep her kids safe. But this time out, it felt like she leaned a bit too far into the obstinate-avenger-at-all-costs realm giving her a slightly obnoxious feel. Tone it down a bit, Rach. 

The story is engaging and enjoyably dark at times, but occasionally gets convoluted and requires readers to suspend disbelief when some of Rachel's choices and actions felt implausible. I enjoyed the tense, nail-biting action scenes and how one person from Rachel's past returns, but felt the story lagged a bit and the dialogue between Rachel and her kids went overboard with its excessively saccharine tone that removed me slightly from the building tension.

While this book could be read as a standalone, I'd strongly recommend reading Hide Away before jumping into this one. Some spoilers are given for the first book and since some issues/people from Rachel's past come back to haunt her, without the background info, I think readers will miss out.

A Stranger at the Door was an entertaining and suspenseful follow-up to Hide Away and I eagerly I look forward to reading more from this author.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Author: Jason Pinter

Genre: Suspense

Series: #2 in the Rachel Marin series

Type and Source: eBook - personal copy

Publisher: Thomas and Mercer

First Published: January 12, 2021

Opening Lines: The day Matthew Linklater was murdered, he taught 

three social studies classes, caught Becca Matheson and Steve 

D'Agosta making out in the north stairwell, refused to loan his 

sister any more money on account of the fact that she'd 

already borrowed nearly six grand from him and there was 

as much chance of getting repaid as there was of finding coffee 

on the moon, and responded to three messages on dating 

apps during his lunch break.

Book Description from GoodReads: Rachel Marin is in a good place. After years of struggle, the single mother has found both a stable, loving relationship and a new purpose: putting her investigative skills to work solving crimes for the local PD. But just as the pieces of her life are finally starting to fall into place, her teenaged son’s teacher is gruesomely murdered, starting a domino effect that shatters her peaceful existence.

When Rachel discovers an ominous email the teacher sent to her just before his death, she knows she must help bring his killer to justice. But soon a figure from her past reappears, threatening to expose Rachel’s darkest secrets if she doesn’t tread lightly. And when her son is recruited by a shadowy businessman who may be connected to the murder, Rachel knows this has just gotten very, very personal.

Someone out there is dead set on keeping this grisly cover-up good and buried, which means if Rachel’s not careful, it’s only a matter of time before her dream life becomes her worst nightmare.