Review | The Passenger by Lisa Lutz

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

4/5 stars

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The more I read mystery books, the more I fall in love with this genre and this book could have easily made it to my all time favorites. One thing that didn't stick with me is why did Tanya Dubois leave her husband's dead body all along? There is absolutely nothing to make people even consider her a person of interest. It just was weird leaving that's all. One thing that I really loved about this book is that it read like a movie, the writing flowed beautifully and the events were smartly interwoven together. I loved every minute of this book that I read 80% of it in a sitting and the other 20% in another.

Tanya- or Amelia, our main protagonist struck me as dumb at first. I couldn't quite understand her actions, she wasn't as smart as Amy from Gone Girl and she didn't have that criminal mind that the mystery MC mainly has. I felt like she was just impulsive and her actions weren't calculated as much as they should be, since she is a woman on the run.

I loved the sequence of actions, the author was hinting at stuff all along the book. Eventually, everything just unraveled and it shocked me. Whatever the author did with putting the shock factor in the end and building up to it throughout the whole thing was indeed smart.

I mistrusted and should have trusted a lot of characters in this book. I just didn't know who was good and who was terrible. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and I wanted to know more about the characters and their history and all. I think the author should make a novella or a prologue about Blue's life because I would love to look deep into her past and she was always a mystery for us readers.

The characters grew on me, no matter how untactful Tanya was at first, I admired her a lot. Blue was smart. She was the smartest character in this book and I loved how smart she was. Blue was the epitome of the perfect criminal mind. I loved all the characters in this, with their good and their bad.

This book -although a mystery- had some romance elements and it tugged at my heart. I loved the family dynamics in this and the portrayal of messed up parents, siblings and friends. I connected to some of the events that occurred in this, even though it is an adult book. I would recommend this to everyone to read. It's absolutely amazing.

I really want to get into spoilers, so if you'd want that let me know! I'm also scared of saying more because I'm afraid I'll say more than I should.