Yesterday, I finished reading The Trespassers by Stephanie Black. She is one of my favorite writers. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was very excited to read this book. I did not mention that I was a bit apprehensive. Stephanie Black is great at suspense novels, but this has some paranormal elements. Even the best writers can’t cover every genre efficiently, right? Let’s just say that the book comes out on September 5th, and if I were you, I’d preorder it right now.
My Thoughts
It’s been several months since I’ve read a book where I’m so obsessed with knowing the outcome that I’m thinking about the book when I’m not reading it and that I want to make any excuse to get back to it. This book did that for me.
At one point, I was sitting in the car, reading this book while waiting for a family member to drop something off to a neighbor. It was quite hot in the car, and the air conditioning was not turned on, but I really hoped that the family member would take her time.
Categorizing the Book
This book can best be described as a paranormal suspense novel with hints of romance. The romance was really only lightly touched on, but I’m sure that it will be developed in future novels. If you’re not a fan of most science fiction/fantasy, don’t worry. I don’t like really sciency science fiction. I’m actually kind of picky when it comes to anything with science fiction/fantasy elements. For me to enjoy this type of book, the characters have to feel real, the plot has to be interesting and feel at least somewhat plausible, there can’t be a bunch of too-hard-to-understand jargon, and the paranormal elements have to be woven in so well into the story that I don’t even feel like I’m reading something farfetched. Luckily, this book matches my criteria and exceeded my expectations.
Did Not Disappoint
This book included a lot of twists and turns. There were so many moments when I thought, “I know who it is,” “Don’t trust that person. I know what’s going to happen,” or “Yep, I’ve got things figured out.” I was wrong on pretty much every account. I won’t elaborate on it, but I will say that I was very happy that two characters, who I thought we might not be able to trust turned out to be trustworthy.
This is a clean novel. You’re not going to find swearing, graphic violence, or sexual content in it. Yes, there are a few deaths and even some violent scenes, but the violence is what I’d call “Old Western” violence, in the sense that you know what’s happened, but you don’t experience the graphic details. Even calling it that might make it sound more graphic than it was in reality.
Final Thoughts
As of right now, I’m thinking that this might become my new favorite Stephanie Black series. My only regret is that I’m likely going to have to wait another year before the next book comes out. I want to read the whole series right now. In looking through the books that I’ve read this year so far, I can comfortably say that this is the best book that I’ve read in 2023. This is the first book since starting this blog that I would say is “Well Worth It” even if you don’t have a lot of time to read.
