Customer Reviews

Lying with Strangers

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

High achievers are often happy only when they stand atop the mound of people they have overcome. Lying with Strangers has much than its quota of such self-absorbed people.

At the center of the story, we have the perfect woman, Dr. Peyton Shields. She's bright, beautiful, married, and on the fast track in her profession as she starts her internship at Boston Children's Hospital after graduating from Harvard Medical School. The rest of the major characters find themselves overwhelmed by Peyton . . . including her husband, her old boy friend, and her stalker. Many men want to be the career stars in their marriages. That opportunity isn't likely to be fulfilled for Kevin Stokes whose career isn't doing well as he follows Peyton to where her career can flourish. Kevin finds himself being attracted to another woman and a chance for a new career. The ex-boy friend simply feels used. The stalker has convinced himself that Peyton wants him sexually, and he's frustrated by her come-ons in a chat room.

As the story evolves, Peyton and Kevin realize how little they know about each other and their marriage. But deadly peril makes it critical that they pull together. Will they?

How will Peyton get rid of the stalker? Usually, the more attention you pay to them . . . the worse it gets. But what if you don't realize you have a stalker?

The plot has many unexpected twists and turns that will keep some women up late at night checking for prowlers and burglars. I found myself wondering how the conflict set up by the plot would be resolved, but didn't feel like the threat implied in the plot was a serious one.

Those who like legal thrillers will enjoy some good insights into the difficulties of sustaining a defense for co-defendants.

But ultimately, it's a book that doesn't do enough to develop its characters, to create suspense that readers will feel in their guts, and to lure readers into caring about the characters.

This book is a great "rainy day" book.

I read it and found myself nodding off in the first few pages. My ex-mother-in-law had a copy of it by the couch, well needless to say I had a great nap.

I decided to read "Lying With Strangers" by James Grippando because of the praises that James Patterson has given his books. Patterson's praises certainly hold up as Grippando shows all the signs of entering the realm of the best mystery writers today--like Harlan Coben, James Patterson, Dean Koontz and many more.

The book starts out with a bang as Dr. Peyton Shields is run off the road by a stalker she doesn't even realize is stalking her while her husband is out of town on business having an affair with a colleague. Kevin Stokes, Peyton's husband, is riddled with guilt, but doesn't tell his wife about the tryst. And so begins a series of keeping secrets coupled with circumstances that appear one way, but truly are not. When Peyton believes her husband really isn't being faithful, she goes out with an ex-boyfriend and his friends, gets very drunk, and wakes up the next day in his bed. From there, the book twists and turns leaving the reader to wonder what will happen next after Peyton and Kevin are indicted for murder and secrets are revealed.

Although I figured out who the culprit was behind Peyton's trials and tribulations, I did find myself doubting my decision until the very end. Grippando's writing and his way of having the characters keep secrets from the reader make this an exciting read for any mystery buff. He is definitely an author to watch.

I listened to this book on my commute. The absurdity was apparent early on, and normally I would have quit midway - but I kept plowing through.My curiosity was piqued to see if it could continue it's amazing journey through ridiculously incredulous plot leaps and clumsily written dialogue.It did not disappoint! - it was horrible to the end (I found myself saying "unbelievable" many many times). It could be studied in a class as an example of one of the most cliched and illogical plots of all time.

"Peyton is a first year resident at a Boston Hospital when she is rescued by a stranger in an automobile accident. No one believes her account of the events as she must confront those closest to her in this psychological thriller. Grippando continues to write the most realistic fiction about crime and criminals."

LYING WITH STRANGERS is the second James Grippando book I've read. He's been known for the Jack Swytek novels, and I've read one and thought it was okay. This novel is one that I could easily begin reviewing by pointing out its many faults and problems. But truthfully, I found it quite compelling and easy to read.

The story starts out slowly as Grippando introduces Peyton Shields, a resident working 80 hour weeks at Boston Children's Hospital. Her husband, Kevin Stokes, is also working long hours as an associate lawyer at a prestigious Boston firm. Peyton has a nagging belief that a man is stalking her, and when she is run off the road and narrowly escapes with her life from an icy lake, the story really takes off. This is a story of deception and trust within a marriage. Kevin is tempted by other women and jealous of Peyton, who is working with her old high school boyfriend Gary Varnes. Peyton is fearful of a stalker, and can't trust her husband once she catches him in one too many lies.

The good: Grippando creates some compelling characters, and conflict within a marriage has always been fun for me to read. Peyton and Kevin are a perfect example of how a marriage can be destroyed when a couple doesn't communicate and builds up walls of mistrust. Grippando throws a lot of problems at the couple and I kept turning the pages to figure out how they would escape.

The not so good: From the very beginning of the novel, I kept having the feeling that if Peyton and Kevin would have talked just a bit longer, none of their problems would have existed. I felt that way throughout the entire book. Suspense novels usually don't work when the reader believes all the problems could have been avoided. Also, there is a legal strategy of joint defense used later in the book. Grippando is a lawyer, so I believe he knew what he was doing, but I'd never heard of it or read about it in real life or other fiction. (After a quick internet search, I saw that it does exist.)

This is a fun, quick read that will cause me to consider reading more of Grippando's books.

This book had me from the first chapter with Peyton Shields apparently being stalked by a madman. Peyton works as a doctor for children in a clinic. To compound her problems, she is on real shaky ground with her husband Kevin, her mother is very domineering about Peyton and Peyton's relationship with Kevin, and Peyton is in trouble with the hospital over accidently shooting someone while stopping a violent man in the hospital.

With all the stress in her head Peyton seems to be run off the road during a snowstorm into a pond. She is rescued by a mysterious stranger who then disappears.

Her husband Kevin has his own issues, like working for a law firm where no matter how well he does he has no future. Also, on the night of Peyton's car accident, he was involved in a one night stand that left him feeling guilty and disgusted.

After Peyton's accident Kevin and Peyton try to reconcile but the stalker is still around. The reader only knows him as Rudy or RJ (his Internet chatroom name). Rudy seems to be obsessed with chatting with someone by the chattroom name of Ladydoc, who he is sure is Peyton, thus his obsession with Peyton too.

The book grips you from the start and never lets go. The reader is never sure if both Peyton and Kevin are totally honest and who Rudy is. When I got to the last 30 pages, I kept thinking that there is no way everything will be resolved by the end but the author does an amazing job of wrapping things up while keeping the suspense till almost the last page! This is the fourth book I have read by this author and it is by far the best!

This book grabs your attention from the first page, and doesn't let you go until its end. The action is almost non-stop, and there are red herrings and clues strewn all about the pages to challenge the reader. You find yourself rooting for the heroine and her husband, and trying to discover the person who is behind all of their problems. As the book gets closer to its conclusion that person becomes somewhat obvious (at least to me) but it doesn't destroy your interest in reading on to discover what happens on the next page.

I am a big fan of James Grippando's works. Perhaps I've been a little spoiled by his Jack Swyteck novels as I had anticipated "Lying with Strangers" to be of that ilk. Not quite so. "Lying with Strangers" just didn't have the same suspense or tension of his other works. It also lacked any of the witty repartee that we've become accustomed to. Nothing riveting or entertaining that normally makes you want to keep turning the pages.

The storyline is fine. Peyton Shields suspects that a mysterious stranger may be stalking and harassing her. But the stranger is cleaver and Peyton has difficulty convincing others of her suspicions. The ending is interesting but the route to it isn't. I found Peyton Shields to be a weak central character that couldn't carry the plot like a Jack Swyteck character could. Nothing bad just not up to previous standards set.

The twists and turns in this novel are treacherous for the reader who attempts to solve the story line before reaching the end. It is a complicated but fascinating tale of Peyton Shields, a first-year resident at a top Boston children's hospital. She's married to an attorney, an associate at a leading Boston law firm. Then everything seems to go wrong.

There are a series of incidents, and it seems someone is stalking Peyton, causing several embarrassing occurrences and even forcing her off the road one snowy night, resulting in multiple injuries. Then the marriage goes on the rocks and she ends up getting drunk with an old boyfriend, waking up in his bed clad only in her [...] and one of his old T-shirts. For his part, the husband has a one-night stand. Guilt all over the lot on both sides.

Then Peyton receives a blackmail threat, asking for $[...] or her ex-boyfriend would be killed. Peyton and her husband decide not to pay. Peyton then turns up in her car unconscious with a half bottle of sleeping pills by her side. The boyfriend is discovered in the trunk dead of a single bullet wound to the head.

Peyton and her husband are arrested and charged with second degree murder, setting the stage for a fascinating description of a trial How the novel turns out demonstrates the author's skill in creating a most unusual plot, with writing and dialogue as sharp as can be. Highly recommended.