From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Little Lies. Could ten days at a health resort really change you forever? In Liane Moriarty’s latest page-turner, nine perfect strangers are about to find out.
Moriarty’s latest novel, Nine Perfect Strangers, is a locked-door mystery, but the mystery itself remains a mystery for much of the book. There’s a general sense of foreboding that builds, but what it’s building to and which of the nine is and isn’t a victim is a perplexing puzzle ... Alternating narrators usher us through brisk chapters providing glimpses into the inner thoughts of each character ... whether you enjoy this novel or find it confounding will largely come down to whether you feel you’re in on the joke or that it’s being made at your expense.
If three characters were good in Big Little Lies, nine are even better in Nine Perfect Strangers ... The other characters are also fully realized, with compelling lives, relationships and motivations ... One of the most satisfying aspects of Nine Perfect Strangers is that it is thought-provoking but never pedantic. The novel raises fascinating questions about our relentless quest for self-improvement, why we seek out others to transform us and whether external change causes internal change, or vice versa ... Moriarty doesn’t supply the answers, but trusts her readers to come up with their own, which is just as it should be.
It’s hard to share details, since each reveal is a delicious surprise. Like she did in Big Little Lies (2014), Moriarty uses several narrators to tell the whole tale, and though some story lines get more attention than others, readers will find themselves flipping through the nearly 500 pages. But even at that length, Nine Perfect Strangers is so well written and slyly constructed that it won’t feel like enough.
