Finding a mysterious novel at her bedside plunges documentary filmmaker Catherine Ravenscroft into a living nightmare. Though ostensibly fiction, The Perfect Stranger recreates in vivid, unmistakable detail the terrible day she became hostage to a dark secret, a secret that only one other person knew—and that person is dead.

Now that the past is catching up with her, Catherine’s world is falling apart. Her only hope is to confront what really happened on that awful day . . . even if the shocking truth might destroy her.

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Here's a list of the best books I read this year according to category:

Best thriller

I love Pierre Lemaitre and I picked this psychological thriller up when I saw it in my local bookshop. It was narrated by two broken people who's lives intersected in a fascinating way. This twisty thriller had the perfect pace and great depth. I loved it. 

Best YA

I'd never read anything by Sophie Kinsella before and apparently this was quite a departure for her. It ended up being one of two five star reads this year. It's about a girl who has extreme anxiety and hasn't left her house for some time. I really identified with this character as I experience acute anxiety myself at times.

Best New-Adult

An unexpected marvel, Unteachable tells the story of a girl who meets the right guy at the wrong time. The writing was spectacular and unlike anything I've ever read. The description had my senses on overdrive and it influenced my writing in a profound way.

Best Literary Fiction

I haven't reviewed this yet even though I read it a month or two ago. It's set  in Glasgow and written in Scottish dialect. It follows a man who has suffered a severe beating by the police and has gone blind as a result. A stream of consciousness, this book manages to create staggering closeness between the protagonist and the reader. It felt so authentic and gave me much to think about.

Best Classic

Another book I didn't review, mostly because everything's been said about it. I was amazed by the strength of the plot and it's reflection of Stalinist Russia.

Biggest Disappointment

I had been wanting to read this book for a long time and rewarded myself with it after a long month of writing. Unfortunately I found the plot and characterisation weak. The ending only slightly made up for this disappointment.

I’d been meaning to read this for a long time and after I finished nanowrimo I decided to reward myself. Unfortunately I was disappointed with my first proper read since the end of October, so I’ll keep this review short as I don’t have all that much to say about it. While I did appreciate the themes, it ultimately fell flat.

Finding a mysterious novel at her bedside plunges documentary filmmaker Catherine Ravenscroft into a living nightmare. Though ostensibly fiction, The Perfect Stranger recreates in vivid, unmistakable detail the terrible day Catherine became hostage to a dark secret, a secret that only one other person knew--and that person is dead.

Now that the past is catching up with her, Catherine’s world is falling apart. Her only hope is to confront what really happened on that awful day even if the shocking truth might destroy her.

What attracted me initially was that it started off written in second-person and the novel I’m writing is also written this way. I quickly found out that the alternating chapters are written in first-person by a man called Robert whose connection to Catherine is unknown. His chapters begin two years earlier and gradually intersect with Catherine’s in the present day.

Essentially, the central theme was that which we think we know, or presume, we often don’t. At the outset of the novel we think one thing, but later on find out things are very different than they first appeared. In this way I could see why the book was likened to Gone Girl, although this is really where the similarity ended. Unlike Gone Girl (a book I appreciated but didn’t like) the characters weren’t very well done, feeling flat and uninspired. Outside of the plot, which was a pretty standard psychological thriller, we didn’t get to know them much. The character-arc, when it came, was unfulfilling.

I was planning to give this two stars, but the ending, which wrapped things up well and provided one or two surprises, meant I increased this by half-a- star. I also appreciated the tender handling of some difficult themes that appeared towards the end.

The pacing is pivotal in a thriller and this lagged far too much in the first three-quarters to warrant it a decent read.

The last 25% made up for a novel that was just okay before that. Catherine, the main character, became much more sympathetic and all loose ends were tied up satisfyingly. 

I decided to reward myself for finishing nano with a book I've wanted to read for a long time and picked this, a psychological thriller likened to The Girl on the Train. It's a quick read at only 225 pages, so I'm racing through it. It's just okay. Not particularly well written. The characters aren't very strong, either, so it's not a brilliant read. It's a pity because I've been itching to read it for such a long time and it's mediocre at best.