A Stranger at the Door

By: Jamie Steinberg

Jason Pinter’s book A Stranger at the Door can best be summed up as verbose. The tale follows police adjacent Rachel Marin as she attempts to save her son from the clutches of a Svengali like businessman named Bennett Brice. Unfortunately, the tale is so longwinded that it is hard to invest in the lengths she’ll go to in order to protect her loved one.

Rachel Marin and her children (teenage Eric and youngster Megan) live in the small town of Ashby. The town is rocked when one of the teachers at the high school is gruesomely murdered and Rachel receives an email from the deceased noting that he wants to discuss something nefarious that has been happening in town. Rachel makes it her mission to find out what caused someone to attack someone so innocuous. Matters become even deeper tangled when her son is drawn into the clutches of a local businessman, Bennett Brice, who is recruiting troubled young boys to help his business YourLife – promising to earn them more money than they would see in their lifetime otherwise.

Sadly, Pinter makes it incredibly difficult to invest in the plot as his penchant for far too much exposition is overwhelming. Certainly, we need to why Rachel and tribe are in their current predicament, but it’s the added backstory on each character that goes overly in depth and their inner monologue is too vastly explored. Yes, you want to know who killed the teacher and why, but there are a number of unneeded explanations and exploration that it wastes the reader’s time. By the fifty-first chapter this reader was exhausted.

For those looking for a deep murder mystery that is going to keep you on the edge of your seat, take a pass on A Stranger at the Door. There are grittier films out there that will keep you intrigued and invested.