The Passenger; Lisa Lutz
Simon & Schuster - 2016
After finding her husband Frank dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs, Tanya Dubois is on the run. She claims proclaims on page one that she had nothing to do with his death but, why has she decided to run and to change her name and her appearance as she travels cross country from one small town to another?
As the story progresses it's clear that this woman which I'll refer to as Tanya has a somewhat checkered past. She was having an affair with her chiropractor while married to Frank. On the road she stops at one flea bag motel after another, where true identities as not as important as cash customers. She gets to know all the public libraries in the each town so that she can check to see whether her name or picture has made the news. She also checks her email -- there is an interesting exchange with a male from her past that gave interesting clues about these two individuals.
Tanya's new looks and new identities keep her just under the radar for a while bit, all too frequent stops for drinks at small town bars make more than a few individuals suspicious that she is running from something. So who is the woman we first know as Tanya Dubois and what is her real story?
This novel doesn't have a lot of action or even a cat and mouse feel. There is not a lot of character development either but, this is a page turner that held my interest from start to finish. I enjoyed the first person POV and getting to understand why Tanya felt the need to run. Readers who enjoy psych thrillers should give this one a try. It's one of those books that are hard to put down after you begin reading.
4/5 stars
(library book)
I have always wanted to try Lutz, but haven't yet. One day!
ReplyDeleteI think we have similar taste in books so I'll have to pick this one up.
ReplyDeleteI have this book on my shelf. I can't wait!
ReplyDeleteI have only read one book by this author: Heads You Lose written together with David Hayward. It was OK. Entertaining, not too deep, but with some good insights into modern culture.
ReplyDeleteHard to put down means this sounds like a good read.
ReplyDeleteI've got this one on hold.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds that a good one!
ReplyDeleteI listened to this on audio last week, and I agree that it was a pageturner, even though I have trouble pointing to why. I thought Lutz did a good job building the reader's curiosity.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds so different from her series of the Spellman Files. I do have this one on my Kindle and hope to get to it this summer.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a lot of good buzz on this one.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know as well why if she was innocent did she run?
ReplyDeleteIt sounds similar to one I've just read except it has a real "cat and mouse" feel to it and is very involved. It is also the first of a trilogy and is called If I Run by Terri Blackstock.
ReplyDeleteI really try to like psychological thrillers, but most fall flat for me. I will say, I'm tempted by this one from the cover alone.
ReplyDeleteI've heard good things about this one so I'm glad you liked it! And she may be an answer to the quiz I just posted :(
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