A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena Book Analysis Essay Example

A Stranger In The House Have you ever been accused of something that you did not do? This is what has happened in the book A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena. It is a book with a very well put together storyline. The main characters Tom and Karen are very interesting people and helped make the plot of the book a lot more interesting. The author also used a third person point of view which really helped the reader see the full picture. That is my reasoning for thinking that the book A Stranger in the House was extremely suspenseful and enjoyable to read, despite all the unanticipated tragedies that came upon Karen, she never gave up. Lapena keeps the reader guessing what kind of interesting events are going to take place next in the novel. 

The plot of the book kept me intrigued from the beginning until the end. It really kept me guessing throughout the chapters and really helped keep me engaged. Throughout the novel the author continued to leave me on the edge of my seat, only giving little bits of information about what was going to happen next, but never directly informing the reader. One of the main characters, Karen, was leading a double life. Although multiple downfalls occur in Karen's life she always stood tall and argued her way through every mishap. She is unsure if she is involved in a murder but that did no tallow her to solve the situation no matter how many fingers were being pointed. She got into a car accident that caused her to have memory loss. Tom asks why she had left the house so abruptly and wonders where she could have gone. He says to Karen, “You must know. You had a car accident. You were speeding and hit a pole” (21) but she doesn’t remember; at least that’s what she told him.

I appreciated the characters. They were very interesting and mysterious, and one that stood out to me was Karen Krupp. This quote showing you how she stands out from the rest of the characters “you know it’s always seemed odd to me that Karen has never shared much about her past at least not with me maybe she has with you” (103). This quote indicates that the character Karen Krupp, who is a middle-aged women, always seemed very mysterious. What makes her seem this way is that in the book she was living a double life not letting anybody learn much about her because she had never really shared much about herself. This book really brought a sense of caution into my life. The tragedies and unexpected disadvantages that came upon Krupp show that nobody is safe all the time and to expect awful situations in life. 

A Stranger In The House was very much so enjoyable and suspenseful. It had Its ups and downs. Karen and the soon to be husbanded lived in a beautiful house in upstate in New York living a dream of wonders as newlyweds. They suffered Majorly in situations that occurred upon them. Suspense started when Tom came home one day to find his wife being vanished along with a missing car, and ID, as well as the phone was Left behind. Another action of suspense occurred when the police kicked down the door to bring Tom to the hospital as soon as Karen was admitted after the accident. Everything that came up around the newlywed life. Karen never gave up. Even having memory loss she still fought. Cops were showing up at her door which had her assuming someone had been in the house, and she didn't let a day go by without figuring it out. The story got better and better as it went by. 

Works Cited Lapena, S., & Schumacher, R. (2018). A stranger in the house thriller. Lübbe.