The Passenger
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3.8 • 12 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“A dead-serious thriller (with a funny bone)” (The New York Times Book Review), from the author of the New York Times bestselling Spellman Files series, comes the story of a woman who creates and sheds new identities as she crisscrosses the country to escape her past.
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 in the twenty-first century, 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. From heart-stopping escapes and devious deceptions, we are left to wonder…can she possibly outrun her past?
The Passenger’s white-knuckled plot and unforeseeable twists make one thing for certain: the ride will leave you breathless. “When the answers finally come, they are juicy, complex, and unexpected. The satisfying conclusion will leave readers rethinking everything and immediately turning back to the first page to start again. Psychological suspense lovers will tear through this thriller” (Library Journal, starred review).
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
You’ll have a hard time getting anything done once you pick up The Passenger, a fun, fast-moving thriller by the author of the bestselling Spellman Files series. Lisa Lutz’s novel centers on a 30-something woman who’s on the run, again, after her husband (and boss) ends up dead at the bottom of the stairs. The story unfolds in sections, each titled according to the name and identity our bad-news protagonist is assuming at the time. We read the book at a furious pace, trying to figure out what early catastrophe triggered our jaded, morbidly funny heroine’s downfall.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tanya Dubois, the enigmatic heroine of this enjoyable standalone from Lutz (How to Start a Fire), is the unhappy wife of the deceased Frank Dubois, who took a fatal and unassisted header down the basement stairs of their Waterloo, Wis., home. Since she fears the police will think she pushed Frank, Tanya decides to get out of Waterloo as fast as possible, and she holes up in a sleazy motel, the first of many she'll stay in, to call the mysterious Mr. Oliver, who grudgingly agrees to supply her with a new identity and some starter cash: it's clear he's done it before. Tanya becomes Amelia Keen in Austin, Tex., where she meets the beguiling but dangerous bartender Blue. It's soon clear that Amelia and Blue both have unsavory pasts, and the agreement the women reach sends both of them off with new names. While the pacing falters in places and some of the final reveals lack wallop, Lutz's complex web of finely honed characters will keep readers turning the pages.
Customer Reviews
Worthwhile Read
Well-written, smoothly paced, engrossing and beautifully wry. It reminded me of Sue Grafton’s writing when every once in a while I’d laugh out loud at the same kind of fine, perfectly placed humour.