Customer Reviews

The Familiar Stranger

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Familiar Stranger by Christina Berry is a page-turner.

Denise knows that Craig is not himself. When he decides to skip church to go hiking, she doesn't fight it. In the middle of church service, she takes a phone call that changes her life. Craig has been in an accident. Could she have prevented the accident? If only she had persuaded him to go with them instead.

Denise rushes to his side and vows that she will do everything in her power to make their marriage work. It will take much more than her effort because he has amnesia and doesn't even know his own wife. Not wanting to hurt his two boys, he wills himself to do what he would normally do (as told by Denise) with them even though he doesn't remember them. This is a chance for them to start over. Or is it?

Craig is tore apart in attempting to regain his memories. The more he remembers, the deeper the secrets lie. Each secret revealed digs a deeper hole for Craig. Can Denise remain by his side and forgive him?

This was a difficult book to put down. I thought I had it all figured out but I was wrong. Christina Berry kept my attention the entire book. It was full of plot twists and surprises. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is struggling in their marriage or not. The characters remain with you after the book has ended.

The characters and the drama of a marriage-on-the brink pulled me into this story immediately. Good writing and a twisting, intriguing plot line kept me turning pages. Though not perfect this is a terrific debut novel. Some pacing issues and some slight characterization quirks caused me to pause a bit. I also didn't find the details of some aspects of the story to be completely believable, there are some "but" moments.

Denise and Craig are in a cold war. Their marriage has degenerated to the point that polite, simple sentences are the only safe communication. The reasons that this relationship is so strained becomes apparent as the story unfolds.

The story begins as Craig is preparing to do something permanent to take care of this situation. But there is an accident. Then Craig wakes up with amnesia. Yes. I know, very soap opera...but by this point I was invested in the story and the writing. Denise and Craig discover that the puzzle pieces don't fall into place at all. As a matter of fact there seems to be a never ending pile of puzzle pieces. The story twists and turns from there.

There is a pretty strong faith element within the book.

By the time the novel resolved I was satisfied. I will be eager to read the next book Berry cooks up.

The Familiar Stranger, Berry's debut novel, opens with a scene between a couple whose marriage is obviously in trouble. Craig goes his way, Denise goes hers. Then she receives a phone call that changes the stakes from the everyday to stunning suspense.
Craig has been in a devastating accident, and when he wakes from a drug-induced coma he no longer remembers Denise or their life together. Berry ramps up the story from a domestic plot to page-turning suspense as one revelation about Craig's past follows another. Betrayals, lies, and false memories all play into the mystery of their marriage.
Told from two points of view, we see Denise reel as she grapples with discoveries from Craig's secret life. At the same time we share Craig's bewilderment at finding himself part of a family he doesn't remember, and being accused of things he has no recollection of doing.
The Familiar Stranger moves quickly, and kept me riveted to the story when I should have turned off the light and gone to sleep. Berry does a masterful job of bringing all the plot points together at the satisfying conclusion.
I recommend The Familiar Stranger, and look forward to Berry's next novel. Inspirational fiction has a new star.

To say that Denise Little was not thrilled with her husband's decision to skip church for a hiking excursion would have been putting it mildly. But when she receives a call from the police at the end of the service, her world comes crashing down around her. Rushing to the hospital, she finds her husband broken, unconscious but mercifully alive. When he finally wakes up, he has no idea who she is.

Their already bumpy marriage takes horrible hits as dark secrets of his past come sneaking out of the closet. Denise finds herself forgiving again and again. But how much can one woman take? Can she handle the whole truth?

Christina's book grabbed me from the beginning and didn't let me go. I even dreamed about the story, trying to put all the pieces together while I slept. Christina's style was easy to read and very engaging. Her characters were real - flawed and believable. The story line was compelling and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

If you haven't read The Familiar Stranger yet, I suggest that you do so. It's worth it!

The Familiar Stranger" is a great ride. From the opening page to the very last I had to know more. Christina Berry's original voice and her ability to raise uncertainty drives the reader forward to a surprising ending. A wonderful first book!

Well, I can say without a doubt that this was an incredible book. However, I must confess that I completely did not like the ending. I felt it was completely far-fetched, not believable, and almost downright bizarre. There's not a whole lot of detail I can provide on it without completely giving away the whole story, except to say when the husband got his memory back was when things started to go downhill, in my opinion.

On the flipside, I am very eager to read another book by this new author. I loved how she told this story from both points of view, and occasionally, repeated a few scenes so I could see how each person was affected by the others actions.....very insightful. I think I would recommend this first novel of Ms. Barry's to anyone that loves a good women's fiction novel with a little bit of suspense thrown in.

I am always drawn to new authors and stories with a different twist. The Familiar Stranger is the first novel by Christina Berry and it definitely has its fair share of twists and turns. At first I thought the concept of a character having amnesia could be a bit overdone, but after having read the book, it was very well written. I also initially didn't like the truth once it was realized. I'll leave it at that because I don't want to give anything away. But again, after reading the entire book, the truth serves a purpose; a purpose that goes deeper than the story on the surface.

Most of the story is painful, but like life, the pain is for a purpose and there are many important Christian lessons that can be learned in the pages of The Familiar Stranger. I appreciate books that include characters' prayers. There were many prayers throughout this story, which is very beneficial to the reader. Having prayer in a story teaches me how to pray better and helps me to see God at work, even if it is just a story. Denise prayed a lot and had a lot of forgiveness in her heart. She was an easy character to like mostly because she was so real.

Overall, The Familiar Stranger is a very good debut novel. This book has a lot of deep spiritual meaning and a strong Christian foundation. I found it to be very well written with a nice dose of mystery, suspense, faith, and love. It will appeal to a wide audience. I highly recommend it.

"The Familiar Stranger" is a contemporary Christian fiction novel. The pacing was very good, and the world-building was okay. In the first half of the novel, a noticeable amount of dialogue (including inner dialogue) felt unnatural to me--and I'm not talking about when awkward dialogue might be expected. In the second half, though, this problem disappeared and the writing was excellent.

The characters were sympathetic enough characters, but the only ones I really bonded with were the kids. This may partly be because I've never seriously dated or been married or had a loved one in a bad accident so I couldn't personally relate to the stress the adults were going through. I did like the way the author handled the struggles that the characters went through, though.

I suspect most people will thoroughly enjoy the novel, but I didn't fully enjoy it because there were two or three "mighty convenient" things that happened at critical points in the story to make it end up where it did. I would have liked for these points to have been fleshed out to make them more realistic and probable.

The characters were Christians living out their faith. The novel wasn't preachy, but there was a large amount of God-talk and praying. Non-Christians probably wouldn't enjoy this book. There was no sex and no bad language. Overall, it's an enjoyable book and good, clean reading.


Reviewed by Debbie from Genre Reviews (genrereviews. blogspot. com)

In The Familiar Stranger, author Christina Berry takes the reader on a journey in a marriage that is on shaky ground. Dark secrets from Craig Littleton's past threaten to ruin his life completely even though he is on that road to destruction before an accident lands him in the hospital with only a fuzzy memory of his past. As his wife Denise helps him to recover bits and pieces of memory, those secrets are revealed and things are not as they appear. Now they must make choices that will either bring forgiveness and trust or tear them apart forever. Berry's characters are finely drawn and evoke both sympathy and anger as they travel the path God has set out for them. Will that path lead to a restored love and marriage, or has deceit destroyed all hopes of reconciling differences?

The Familiar Stranger is one of the most unique books I've ever read. It's storyline was so captivating I found myself nodding off during the wee hours of the night because I couldn't put it down. I will read it again to be sure I didn't miss anything pivotal. Berry wove a sometimes sad, always believable, story without even once giving away a thrilling conclusion. Hopefully, she will write many more gratifying super reads. She definitely has a gift.