STRANGERS ON A BRIDGE.

STRANGERS ON A BRIDGE by LOUISE MANGOS.

She should never have saved him.

When Alice Reed goes on her regular morning jog in the peaceful Swiss Alps, she doesn’t expect to save a man from suicide. But she does. And she shouldn't have.

Adamant they have an instant connection, Manfred’s charming exterior grows darker and his obsession with Alice grows stronger.

In a country far from home, where the police don’t believe her, the locals don’t trust her and even her husband questions the truth about Manfred, Alice has nowhere to turn.

To what lengths will Alice go to protect herself and her family?

- Inner Front Page Blurb

I wouldn't normally exercise on the weekend, but several days of continuous spring rain had hampered my attempts to run by the Aegerisee near our home during the week.

- First Sentence; Chapter One, April

I felt his eyes burning into my back every time I rounded the end of the track and ran away from him, and the more the sight of him set me on edge, the more I panicked about how he'd known I would be here today, twenty minutes'drive from my home in a different town. Had he followed me here in a car, or had he known I was going to be here by some other means, like my diary?

- Memorable Moment, Page Unnumbered

SOURCE ... A manuscript copy kindly sent to me by the author.

READ FOR A CHALLENGE? ... No

MY THOUGHTS ... OK, so what to some might be seen as a slow burner. It just so happens that that was more than fine with me as it built the tension beautifully in what turned out to be a cleverly crafted debut novel that, though not without its thrills and spills, wasn't so much a 'roller-coaster of a read' type thriller as it was a gripping psychological one; the author taking great pains to get inside its characters' heads.

A story of obsession, of suspicion, of cultural differences, of just how far you might go to protect those you love when feeling increasingly isolated and unsupported; that you have nowhere to go and no one to turn to, of ... Oh my goodness there are just so many threads explored within this book's 384 or so pages, threads that take some dark underlying themes and runs with them.

Strangers On A Bridge is the story of Alice Reed who takes on the role of good Samaritan on an early morning run. Beautifully depicted as a women believed to be paranoid at best and totally disbelieved at worst. Naive, some would doubtlessly argue, unbelievably so. Personally, I hold my hands up, I  could (up to a point) see myself being just that 'stupid'.

Hmm! 

(My apologies for not sanctifying the following comment but to fully do so would mean to include  spoilers.)

A book I'd equally have happily seen end before it did; certainly before Manfred's son (Manfred being the man Alice saves) played a major part and things began to verge on what I felt were the implausible. However, that said ...

Despite any of the misgivings I may have had, I'll definitely stand by the ****'s ('Really liked it') I rated it on GoodReads.