Review: The Stranger You Seek by Amanda Kyle Williams

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (August 30, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553808079
• ISBN-13: 978-0553808070

Product Description

 

The papers have called me a monster. You’ve either concluded that I am a braggart as well as a sadist or that I have a deep and driving need to be caught and punished.  

In the sweltering heat of an Atlanta summer, a killer is pushing the city to its breaking point, preying on the unsuspecting, writing taunting letters to the media, promising more death. Desperate to stop the Wishbone Killer before another victim meets a shattering end, A.P.D. lieutenant Aaron Rauser turns to the one person he knows can penetrate a deranged mind: ex–FBI profiler Keye Street.

And you must certainly be wondering if I am, in fact, the stranger you seek.

Keye was a rising young star at the Bureau until addiction derailed her career and her life. Now sober and fighting to stay so, Keye picks up jobs where she can get them: catching adulterers, serving subpoenas, chasing down bailjumpers, and dodging the occasional bullet. With multiple victims, little to go on, and an entire police force looking for direction, the last thing Keye wants is to be pulled into the firestorm of Atlanta’s worst nightmare.

Shall I convince you?

And then it suddenly becomes clear that the hunter has become the hunted—and the stranger she seeks is far closer than she ever dared imagine.

An electrifying thriller debut, The Stranger You Seek introduces a brash, flawed, and unforgettable heroine in a complex, twisting novel that takes readers deep into a sultry Southern summer, a city in the grips of chaos, and a harrowing cat-and-mouse game no reader will ever forget.

About the Author

 

The Stranger You Seek marks Amanda Kyle Williams’s suspense debut.  She is currently at work on the next Keye Street thriller, Stranger in the Room.


My Review

Former FBI agent turned private investigator Keye Street is a great new addition to literary world of private eyes.  This is Amanda Kyle William's suspense debut novel and it is an enjoyable read.  Keye is a realistic heroine; Chinese-American, adopted after the murder of her grandparents, by a white southern family she has struggled with her demons by abusing alcohol.  Alcoholism ruined her career as a profiler with the FBI but she is still in demand with the Atlanta PD.  She is quickly drawn into the killer's world.  Lots of twists and turns.  Do you really know the people around you is definitely a theme in this book.

I found the writing style to be excellent.  The characters that inhabit Keye's world are all believable.  I did find that I was able to read the clues along the way quite easily and was able to suspect the right villain.

I'm looking forward to more of Keye Street.  Highly recommend The Stranger You Seek.