Review- THE PASSENGER by Lisa Lutz

 

Publisher: Simon & Shuster

Pub.Date: March 1, 2016

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Source: Print ARC from publisher 

Rating: 3.5 Stars

GOODREADS

Blurb:

From the author of the New York Timesbestselling Spellman Files series, Lisa Lutz’s latest blistering thriller is about a woman who creates and sheds new identities as she crisscrosses the country to escape her past: you’ll want to buckle up for the ride!

In case you were wondering, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it...

Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town. It’s not the first time.

She meets Blue, a female bartender who recognizes the hunted look in a fugitive’s eyes and offers her a place to stay. With dwindling choices, Tanya-now-Amelia accepts. An uneasy―and dangerous―alliance is born.

It’s almost impossible to live off the grid today, but Amelia-now-Debra and Blue have the courage, the ingenuity, and the desperation, to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra especially is chased by a very dark secret…can she outrun her past?

With heart-stopping escapes and devious deceptions, The Passenger is an amazing psychological thriller about defining yourself while you pursue your path to survival. One thing is certain: the ride will leave you breathless. 

Review-

'The Passenger' is one of those books that has an unreliable narrator. You don't know what or who to believe, and the main character only lets you know what they want you to know. In this case, our MC is a woman by the name of Tanya, who flees her home, after her husband falls from a flight stairs and dies. Tanya then works on changing her whole identity and moves to get away from who we think she is.

Because Tanya has been keeping secrets. The reader is then left in the dark and taken on a while ride as "Tanya" takes on several different identities. The most prominent to me was when she met "Blue". Another woman who sees a kind of brokenness in "Tanya" as she sees in herself. Blue...was an interesting character. In fact, she kind of scared me at times. In the end, she did become a character that I felt was very well written and multidimensional. 

I think that reviewing this book is a bit hard because I feel if I say too much, I may give things away and spoil the story for potential readers. The plot twists are done with clever thoughtfulness that will take you on a wild ride. The last time I felt so unsure of a main character was when I read 'The Girl on the Train' and that one took me for a doozy. 

While Tanya was also a multidimensional character, I couldn't bring myself to like or trust her. I don't know if this is exactly what the author wants or not, but if so, job well done! Overall, I really enjoyed this suspenseful masterpiece full of so much uncertainty. I think booklovers alike will also enjoy 'The Passenger' and all of its glory into the deception. Where you won't know what hit you when you finally learn the truth. 

*Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Buy the Book:

Amazon- http://amzn.to/1oUfjLH

Amazon UK- http://amzn.to/1RgYPnb (March 15, 2016)

About the author:

Lisa Lutz is the New York Times bestselling author of the six books in the Spellman series, How to Start a Fire, Heads you Lose (with David Hayward), and the children's book, How to Negotiate Everything (illustrated by Jaime Temairik). Her latest book, The Passenger, a psychological thriller, will be published March 2016 by Simon and Schuster. Lutz has won the Alex award and has been nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel.

Although she attended UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, the University of Leeds in England, and San Francisco State University, she still does not have a bachelor's degree. Lisa spent most of the 1990s hopping through a string of low-paying odd jobs while writing and rewriting the screenplay Plan B, a mob comedy. After the film was made in 2000, she vowed she would never write another screenplay. Lisa lives in the Hudson Valley, NY.