Imperfect Strangers – David M Staniforth

(4 / 5)

I really enjoyed this one. I always love a good thriller!

Imperfect Strangers focuses on two characters, Keith and Sally. Keith, is in no uncertain terms, a stalker. And Sally, his victim. However this isn’t your usual stalker-victim story, as the author delves deep into Keith’s life and thoughts and gives us glimpses of WHY he behaves the way he does. And Sally, just trying to be nice, finds herself in deep trouble.

What I really enjoyed about this book was the different perspectives of the same situations. I loved how Keith and Sally would have an encounter together, in the street for example, and take TOTALLY different things away from it. It really made me think that we all do this. We all make assumptions based on a persons perceived behaviour. I may have a totally wonderful encounter with a person, yet their perception could be completely different. Human relationships man… They are so freaking complicated!!

It also made me reflect on people’s behaviour when they are attracted to someone. Behaviour is in the eye of the beholder. And all in the delivery. Say a man came up to me and sleazily brushed something off my shoulder. I would probably think it was a bit weird, a bit of an invasion of personal space, and I probably wouldn’t be too happy about it. But if it was someone I was physically attracted to, I would be much more less likely to have a problem with it. Might even be happy about it. This is Keith’s main problem. He doesn’t get appropriateness. He has an extremely child-like innocence about him. In his mind all the things he is doing are sweet and lovely. But his delivery is all wrong. And very creepy.

I pretty much hated every character in this book. But it wasn’t a bad thing. I absolutely hated Sally, I thought she was a HUGE bitch. A self absorbed STUPID woman. And Steve, what a tool! Although Keith was incredibly creepy, I really enjoyed that you have empathy for him. It was certainly a different take on the stalker story. The voices he heard in his head, his mother and himself as a child were well done and gave an indication of just how messed up he was.

There wasn’t too much action in the book until the final scenes, and they were done really well and were really enjoyable. Otherwise it was mainly about Keith and the way his mind worked.

Would I recommend it?

Yes it was a very different take on the mind of a stalker, and overall a very enjoyable novel. Even though all the characters annoyed me, I think they were supposed to!

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