Book review: Letter From A Stranger

Title : Letter from a stranger

Author: Barbara Taylor Bradford

Genre: general fiction

First line reads: The following morning the letter was read once more, corrected and locked away for the second time.

Rating: 1/5

I was extremely intrigued with the synopsis and the first sentence left me even more curious to read the entire story. Its somehow reminded me of the the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Thus, with great anticipation of getting into the bottom of some hidden family secrets and betrayals I started reading the story.

Justine Nolan returns to her childhood home in Connecticut after completing a documentary on a elusive artist. The tranquility of her country home the Indian Ridge was marred when she discovered a letter from Istanbul for her mother. Feeling utterly piques she opens and read it and was left speechless with the contents. The letter uncovers the cruel lie her mother told her and her twin Richard 10 years ago involving the disappearance of their beloved grandmother Gabriele. 

That left Justine with the urgency of finding out the source of the letter and the mysterious circumstances surrounding her grandmother. She leaves for Istanbul almost immediately and works with a tour guide to unravel the whereabouts of the writer of the letter which she hoped would lead to her grandmother. 

The prologue of the book was written is such a beautiful manner whereby it tantalizes us on following the destruction that the letter was going to create on its wake. The intrigue stops there for me. The following chapters were written haphazardly and drags on with the same lines being churned out by different people. I did not find the mystery behind the letter compelling enough and the romance between Justine and her new found love in Turkey distracting. The story had the potential of a good plot however it lacked the clear direction and execution and the correct wordplay to make it a good read. This book failed miserably in making me read it. I found myself skipping lines, and then pages and then lose focus altogether.