Talking to Strangers

Another superbly plotted and well-paced crime thriller.

This is a slow burner that kept me intrigued and guessing until the epilogue with its shocking finish. Basically, it's a mystery centered on two different murders that are inexplicably intertwined. The story was told in alternating points of view with the primary characters being DI Elise King and reporter Kiki Nunn.

A single, middle-aged woman just wants to have fun. Karen Simmons likes her dating apps and often swipes right. She meets and hooks up with the wrong guy late on Valentine's Day night. DI Elise King and her team investigate with many possible suspects to interview. Kiki Nunn is trying to make a living working for a local online news agency and decides to use the murder show more of Karen Simmons to do her own little deep dive into the online dating scene and the danger of strangers. And she definitely puts herself in it with a very bad guy -- could he be the one who also murdered Karen?

Lots of suspects and solid police techniques make for a slow process as they wade through witness statements and scant evidence. It's only when they also start looking at the death of a young child years earlier in the same woods where Karen's body was found that they start to narrow their focus.

I was able to listen to the audiobook while also following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publisher. I usually enjoy the narrators, but I really was put off by the voice of Jayne Entwistle who voiced Kiki. She sounded like an elderly woman and didn't fit the character in my mind. The other female narrator and the male's voice were satisfactory and matched their parts.

I look forward to reading the next installment in this series. show less

Talking to Strangers by Fiona Barton is a highly recommended procedural and the second book in the series featuring Detective Inspector Elise King following Local Gone Missing (2022). This is a good choice for those who enjoy procedurals.

In the small town of Epping in Essex, England, Karen Simmons, a popular hairdresser, is murdered and her body is left in Knapton Wood on the day after Valentine’s Day. Detective Inspector Elise King is back on the job after her mastectomy and chemotherapy. She is concerned about her ability to focus due to chemo brain, but is relying on notes to help her. Elise wonders if Karen was killed by a man she met online.

Kiki Nunn, a journalist and single mother, is closely following the murder investigation show more while aggressively conducting her own investigation into Karen's life. This includes joining online dating apps and looking at any/all of the men she was seeing.

Annie Curtis, one of Simmons’s clients, never recovered from the death of her son, eight-year-old Archie, who was killed sixteen years ago in the same woods. Although the police arrested a man for the crime, Annie still has questions about the investigation and wonders if the murders might be connected.

The short quick chapters in the narrative alter between the point-of view of Elise, Kiki, and Anne to propel the story forward and increase the tension and suspense. Although this is the second in a series, it can easily be read as a standalone novel. All the lead characters are fully realized individuals and the plot, while full of complications, is compelling. Admittedly, many fans of procedurals and investigative mysteries are going to figure out where everything is headed very early on, but it is an intriguing, thought provoking, intense, and entertaining journey to the end.

The plot in Talking to Strangers has many complexities so part of the pleasure is following the different leads, disclosures, discoveries, and viewpoints heading toward the devastating resolution. Thanks to Berkley for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2024/08/talking-to-strangers.html show less

I definitely preorder Fiona Barton's books now. In this book, a popular hair dresser, Karen is found murdered in the woods where a young boy was killed about fifteen years ago. We have the DI Elise King investigating and a reporter Kiki Nunn working the case trying to stay relevant in a digital world. The narrator for Kiki did bother ne at first until it fell into place for me as part of her character. Definitely held my interest and did keep me up a night or two.

This was a good murder mystery told from the point of view of three different women - Elise, the detective investigating the case, Kiki, a reporter and Annie, a woman whose young son was murdered in the same location years earlier. There were some predictable plot points but also a few surprises, especially the epilogue. I didn't realize this was the second in a series but I didn't feel like I was missing anything by not reading the first book. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This concerns the investigation into the death of a woman called Karen, both by Elise, the DI tasked with the case, and Kiki, a reporter who has a personal interest as she has met Karen and her group of singles looking to socialize. The short chapters switch mostly between the perspectives of Elise, Kiki and a woman called Annie whose son died in the same woods as Karen many years previously. At times I found it difficult to remember if it was Elise or Kiki narrating, since they both went round interviewing the same people and their voices were fairly similar.

The ending was as I anticipated, and is the kind of ending I very much dislike, but it flowed naturally from the show more plot. I really don't see why people want to become reporters, and I really really don't see why people are so ready to talk to reporters, but there you are. show less

Elsie King returns in this novel to take a case where a woman, Karen Simmons, is found dead in the woods. Elsie believes Karen was killed by a man she met online. She researches online dating apps to try to find the killer.
Kiki Nunn is a reporter who gets wind of the story and investigates the dating apps on her way to solving this story. She finds the mother of a young boy who was killed in the same woods years earlier, and the mother of the man who committed suicide after being accused of the murder. Kiki believes their deaths could be a precursor to Karen dying in the woods. She feels that the online dating group of men she found may also be key to discovering the truth.
But the ultimate truth is all the more shocking.

I really enjoy Barton's story telling, good twists in the mystery but strong characters that stick with you. I liked this better than the first in this series.