BOOKCLUB Keep your wits about you. You’ll need them Kill A Stranger

Do you have a book review or would you like me to review a book you’ve enjoyed? Please get in touch at DRbookclub@dailyrecord.co.uk or tweet @NicolawordSmith I can’t speak for where you live in Scotland but it’s been absolutely chucking it down where I li

In this kind of torrential, non-stop rain, my dad would force us out the house and take us to the cinema for something interesting to do. Now, what with lockdown 2.0 thrust upon the likes of me in Glasgow, there’s no such escape. Luckily we can still read – it’s just like going to the cinema in my head, so to speak.

This week’s imaginationcreated film concocted in my head came in the form of Simon Kernick’s latest thriller, Kill A Stranger.

First, we meet Matt. He’s been on a night out with pals in London, leaving his pregnant fiancée Kate to rest in their cosy cottage. The duo have only been back in the UK for a week after a stint working in Sri Lanka.

But their lives are about to be changed for ever.

When Matt enters the front door, all seems fine and still in the cottage. Kate left the downstairs light on to welcome him home. He goes about his nighttime routine, brushes his teeth and hops into bed.

But something isn’t right. Kate, who should be sleeping next to him, isn’t making a single noise and on closer inspection, Matt realises it’s not Kate next to him but a completely different woman. And even more shocking, this stranger is dead.

He receives a call from an unknown number and watches a livestream of poor Kate with a noose around her neck, being threatened with murder. The only way for Matt to save her and keep himself out of prison is to dispose of the stranger’s body in his bed and kill someone for the terrifying captors who have Kate.

Matt’s given a time, location and target to get the job done – within 24 hours. But can he really do it? And who does he trust?

I’ll be honest, my first impressions of this book were a little lacklustre. Reading Matt and Kate’s chapters felt a little showy. They both seem very in the know of the strangest things. Perhaps I’ve been cooped up in my flat for too long, but if you had your hands tied behind your back, your eyes and mouth covered with duct tape, could you guess the height of someone you’ve bumped into? I’m not so sure.

And Matt seems to make the exact same assumption when he sees Kate’s terrifying livestream. What is it with this couple and their height guesstimations? But once I stopped overthinking it, I settled in to this page-turner and enjoyed watching the frightening story unfold.

I can’t fault Kernick’s pacing. He goes right for the jugular and Kill A Stranger is a non-stop tension creator where you begin to doubt those around you, their pasts and their families.

Thank goodness for DCI Cameron Doyle. That’s all I’m saying because with each page turn, you doubt each character’s personality and motives, question who they really are, and run alongside them in the search for the truth.

Keep your wits about you with this one. You’ll need them.