The Passenger

Lisa Lutz

From the author of the New York Times bestselling Spellman Files series, Lisa Lutz’s latest blistering thriller is about a woman who creates and sheds new identities as she crisscrosses the country to escape her past: you’ll want to buckle up for the ride!

In case you were wondering, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it...

Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town. It’s not the first time.

She meets Blue, a female bartender who recognizes the hunted look in a fugitive’s eyes and offers her a place to stay. With dwindling choices, Tanya-now-Amelia accepts. An uneasy―and dangerous―alliance is born.

It’s almost impossible to live off the grid today, but Amelia-now-Debra and Blue have the courage, the ingenuity, and the desperation, to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra especially is chased by a very dark secret…can she outrun her past?

With heart-stopping escapes and devious deceptions, The Passenger is an amazing psychological thriller about defining yourself while you pursue your path to survival. One thing is certain: the ride will leave you breathless (from Netgalley)

My Thoughts

 

Tonya Dubois finds her husband Frank dead after apparently falling down the stairs. Instead of calling the police, she packs her bags and takes off. So begins our journey with this mysterious women. Just who is she and what is she really running from?

What’s it like to spend life on the run? To always be looking over your shoulder, never knowing who to trust? To change identities at the drop of the hat for fear you’ve been found? As we run with Tonya, we get to find out what all this is like. We also get to read email exchanges between her and someone from the past. From these emails, we know something happened that caused her to go on the lam several years ago, but don’t find out what happened until the very end. As Tonya runs, she encounters both people who want to help her and those who don’t.

I thought this was a fast paced mystery. I liked Tonya and my heart would pound each time she had to change her identity and make a fast escape. I actually thought the author found a unique way to end her story and liked the twist at the very end.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster, via Netgally, for allowing me to read this very entertaining novel in exchange for an unbiased review.