The Strangers We Know

By Pip Drysdale

Imagine seeing your loving husband on a dating app. Now imagine that’s the best thing that happens to you all week …
 
When Charlie sees a man who is the spitting image of her husband Oliver on a dating app, her heart stops. Her first desperate instinct is to tell herself she must be mistaken – after all, she only caught a glimpse from a distance as her friends laughingly swiped through the men on offer.  But no matter how much she tries to push her fears aside, she can’t let it go. Because she took that photo. On their honeymoon.
 
Suddenly other signs of betrayal start to add up and so Charlie does the only thing she can think of to defend her position – she signs up to the app to catch Oliver in the act.
 
But Charlie soon discovers that infidelity is the least of her problems. Nothing is as it seems and nobody is who she thinks they are ...
 

‘…a fast-paced page-turner which I couldn’t get enough of’ The Book Cosy

‘…clever and well-paced… I’d definitely recommend this!’ Tilly Loves Books
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Nov 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781471196980

Pip Drysdale

Pip Drysdale is an author, musician, and actor. She grew up in Africa, Canada, and Australia, became an adult in New York and London, and lives on a steady diet of coffee, dreams, and literature. All four of her previous novels—The Sunday Girl, The Strangers We Know, The Paris Affair, and The Next Girl—have been bestsellers in Australia. Connect with Pip at PipDrysdale.com or on Facebook and Instagram @PipDrysdale.

Reviews for The Strangers We Know

[shelleyraec · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“Nothing is ever as it seems, is it?”When Charlie Carter catches a glimpse of a man who looks like her husband on a dating app, she desperately wants to believe she is mistaken. Since their marriage eighteen months previously, Oliver has been the perfect husband…hardworking, attentive and loving, and she wants his unequivocal denial to be enough.“You see, that’s the problem with trust issues: eventually you find you can’t trust yourself either.”But it isn’t. To allay her lingering suspicions, Charlie sets a trap and is devastated when her worst fear is realised. Her marriage is over.“And that should have been it: rock bottom. A cheating husband and broken dreams. Fair is fair. But no. Life was just getting warmed up.”Fast-paced with some surprising twists, The Strangers We Know is an entertaining contemporary thriller from Pip Drysdale.I really enjoyed the plot, and I’m loathe to spoil the surprises it offers. There is an unpredictability that is compelling, if not entirely credible, and I easily read it straight through.Unfolding from Charlie’s first person perspective, Drysdale exploits the character’s profession as an actress in the structure of the novel, it’s easy to imagine this novel being adapted for the screen. It has a modern sensibility which will appeal to a younger audience, and a classic whodunnit twist to satisfy mystery fans.Caught in a web of deceit and betrayal, and unsure who to trust, Charlie doesn’t always make smart decisions, which can be frustrating, but her naivety is also relatable, which makes her an appealing character. She is indubitably the star of this novel.“But here’s the thing with life: You have to get through it. There’s no choice. Eventually, even in real life, the heroine has to win out in the end.”