09/18/2023
Griffin’s taut, atmospheric debut is set at a remote Scottish lodge sandwiched between two hulking mountains. On Remie Yorke’s last shift as night manager of the MacKinnon Hotel before she flies to Chile to begin a new life, she hears an alarm indicating trouble at the nearby Porterfell Prison, where her inmate brother, Cameron, died a year earlier. A fierce storm sets in, cutting the phone lines, and a man appears at the hotel’s door, claiming to be a police officer named Gaines who’s been injured while transporting a dangerous prisoner who’s now at large. Remie lets the man in and gives him shelter, but not long after, a second man appears, also claiming to be Gaines. Remie and Jai, the hotel’s lone guest, can’t agree on which is the legitimate policeman; each man’s argument seems to consist of equal parts veracity and elaborate artifice, and they’re both kept overnight at the hotel until the storm subsides. Griffin makes the most of his strong premise: while Remie does a few foolish things that stretch credibility (including leaving her safe, locked room at one point when she’s sure one of her guests is a killer), well-earned shocks and expertly calibrated suspense keep the pages turning. Griffin is a mystery writer to watch. (Nov.)
Break out the superlatives! The Second Stranger absolutely blew me away. This superb thriller is the book everyone's going to be talking about, a brilliant, tense, twisty, atmospheric, and utterly compelling debut from a major new voice in crime fiction. Just read it.
"A nasty February storm has cut off phone service at the remote MacKinnon Hotel in the Scottish Highlands, where Remie Yorke is working at the front desk. Suddenly, an injured man comes through the door, identifying himself as Police Constable Don Gaines and saying that he’s been in a car accident—and that the dangerously manipulative inmate he was transporting from the local prison has escaped. The policeman is securing the premises when another injured man arrives, the title character in Martin Griffin’s The Second Stranger. In a dismaying turn of events, this new visitor also claims that he is P.C. Gaines — and that the first man is the escaped prisoner, Troy Foley. Remie’s own memories, about a criminal brother who was killed in prison, contribute to a sense that she, too, is keeping secrets from the reader. Are any of them telling the truth, and will any of them get out alive?
Praise for The Second Stranger:
Good premises can come easy; sustaining them across a novel's length is the trick. Martin Griffin does precisely this, and then some, in The Second Stranger, a Misery-evoking debut thriller set in the blizzard-blasted Scottish Highlands.
If there is a finer crime debut this year, it will be a surprise, for this story set in a remote hotel in the remote Scottish Highlands during a blizzard is stunning. There are shades of the great 1948 American film Key Largo as the serpentine story unfolds, and this is not only every bit as gripping, it also boasts a heroine whose resilience warms the blood.
Clever and bold. The Second Stranger starts with a shiver of dangerous uncertainty before exploding into full on murder and mayhem. Anything you think you know, you don't.
"An impressive debut thriller shot through with a menace that makes its Highlands hotel setting feel like a house of cards. The tension winds ever tighter as the storm strengthens its grip and the cracks start to show—in the illusion of warmth and safety, the mask of the murderer, and the frozen landscape itself.
An incredibly fun concept: two strangers both claiming to be the same person. This original and enticing premise kept me glued to the pages, trying to guess which of the men was who they said they were, and what would happen when the two finally met. I loved the setting of a remote hotel in the Scottish highlands during a winter storm with the phone-lines down, the road blocked, and the threat of an avalanche imminent. The surprises kept coming and I could not predict the ending. Fresh, gripping, and addictive! An absolute gem of a crime novel."
08/01/2023
DEBUT On a stormy winter night in the Scottish Highlands, Remie Yorke is working her last shift as the night manager of the Mackinnon, a remote lodge where she and two guests are the only inhabitants. The closest building to the lodge is the prison where Remie's younger brother Cameron had been incarcerated until his sudden death a year prior. A man purporting to be Police Constable Gaines knocks at the lodge door and claims to have been in an accident while transporting a prisoner. The prisoner has escaped and may be heading toward the Mackinnon. A second man appears soon after, also claiming to be Gaines. With no way to communicate with the outside world and no escape on impassable roads, Remie must figure out who's really with her at the Mackinnon and why. Griffin's debut locked-room mystery quickly shifts into a cat-and-mouse thriller as Remie has to decide whom to trust. VERDICT Uneven pacing and several glaring inconsistencies impede some of the suspense, but fans of plot twists and isolated settings will find something to enjoy. Recommended for larger public libraries.—Anitra Gates
