A Stranger on the Beach

A Stranger on the Beach
Michele Campbell

‘A Stranger on the Beach rides its rising tide of terror to a finale that blanched my knuckles. An exceptionally suspenseful thriller’  AJ Finn  From the bestselling author of It's Always the Husband comes a novel about a love triangle that begins on a fateful night… There is a stranger outside Caroline's house. Her spectacular new beach house, built for hosting expensive parties and vacationing with the family she thought she'd have. But her husband is lying to her and everything in her life is upside down, so when the stranger, Aidan, shows up as a bartender at the same party where Caroline and her husband have a very public fight, it doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. As her marriage collapses around her and the lavish lifestyle she's built for herself starts to crumble, Caroline turns to Aidan for comfort…and revenge. After a brief and desperate fling that means nothing to Caroline and everything to him, Aidan's obsession with Caroline, her family, and her house grows more and more disturbing. And when Caroline's husband goes missing, her life descends into a nightmare that leaves her accused of her own husband's murder. A Stranger on the Beach is Strangers on a Train meets Fatal Attraction in Michele Campbell's edge-of your-seat story of passion and intrigue. Praise for A Stranger on the Beach: ‘A Stranger on the Beach rides its rising tide of terror to a finale that blanched my knuckles. An exceptionally suspenseful thriller’  AJ Finn ‘This book had so many twists and turns. I LOVED it. ’ Kathy L, Netgalley reviewer ‘This is an edge of your seat tale of obsession. It's compelling, absorbing, and gritty. ’ Lyndsie G, Netgalley reviewer ‘Michele Campbell once again penned an addictive thriller that kept me hanging on until the very last page. ’ Rebekah L, Netgalley Reviewer ‘This is a twisty page-turner with all of the best plot elements: love, lust, murder, and deception. ’ Kelly F, Netgalley reviewer ‘Wow, Michele Campbell, you had me glued to the pages on this one!’ Bonnie F, Netgalley reviewer Praise for Michele Campbell: ‘Michele Campbell vividly conveys the complexity of teenage years and punctuates the narrative with clues that develop into an explosive conclusion’ Woman ‘You’ll be desperate to know what went down at the lake’ The Sun ‘A tale of unrequited love and rule-breaking… Fans of Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng will love the untangling of these seemingly perfect lives’ i News ‘The narrative powers through to a gripping conclusion’ Press Association

A Stranger on the Beach

Michele Campbell

About the Author

A graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School, MICHELE CAMPBELL worked at a prestigious Manhattan law firm before spending eight years fighting crime as a federal prosecutor in New York City. You can sign up for email updates here (http://us.macmillan.com/authoralerts?authorName=michelecampbell&authorRefId=200051993&utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=adcard&utm_term=ebookreaders&utm_content=michelecampbell_authoralertsignup_macdotcom&utm_campaign=9781474091510).

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ALSO BY MICHELE CAMPBELL (#u488c102b-7f69-5f38-ac2b-8ac1e8e7b1d5)

She Was the Quiet One

It’s Always the Husband

Copyright (#u488c102b-7f69-5f38-ac2b-8ac1e8e7b1d5)

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2019

Copyright © Michele Rebecca Martinez Campbell 2019

Michele Campbell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Ebook Edition © July 2019 ISBN: 9780008354510

Note to Readers (#u488c102b-7f69-5f38-ac2b-8ac1e8e7b1d5)

This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:

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The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.

For Jack

Acknowledgments

This book was so much fun to write. It started its life at a lunch I had with my editor and agent where we threw around ideas and laughed and drank wine. After that, the book was charmed, and flowed like magic.

I am so grateful to work with Jennifer Enderlin, who is not only the savviest woman in publishing but a true collaborator in the writing process. Her vision lights my way through all the ups and downs of the writing process. Her ideas and influence are apparent on every page of this book. And I could not write, nor would I ever want to, without the guidance, support, and friendship of Meg Ruley, who has always had my back and nurtured my books beyond the call of duty.

I am indebted to the amazing team at St. Martin’s Press for publishing my work so brilliantly. Thanks especially to Rachel Diebel, Jordan Hanley, Brant Janeway, Kerry Nordling, Erica Martirano, and Lisa Senz, and to my wonderful publicist Jessica Preeg who works so hard to get my books out there so readers can discover them.

A million thank-yous to the fabulous crew at Jane Rotrosen Agency for being so warm and supportive, and especially to Jess Errera for everything she does to help me.

Thank you also to Crystal Patriarche and her team at BookSparks, who are just so good at publicizing books in the digital age and have brought my work to the attention of countless new readers.

Finally, as always, I’m profoundly grateful to my husband. I couldn’t write without him. He is my rock and my inspiration. Plus, he cooks!

We are only as blind as we want to be.

—MAYA ANGELOU

Contents

1  Cover (#ub9bda320-1faf-569f-8702-a30a12dab083)

2  Title Page (#udbae4382-c152-5ce0-a635-e839cc150bf0)

3  About the Author (#u72498534-7d08-5305-9ddd-a1b9261c21c2)

4  Also by Michele Campbell (#u18e631cb-440d-58e3-9ddb-89aeb44aaa46)

5  Copyright (#u226c1245-5e3d-5750-8948-7786f7b389b6)

6  Note to Readers (#u4b49ff1f-f1bf-5be1-a0a4-140727f330e2)

7  Copyright Notice (#u6f93a417-00d4-5dfb-9303-6225ff1db06f)

8  Dedication (#uc73f9d98-3431-50a3-a98f-b3962e9f7e44)

9  Acknowledgments (#u04757867-8b44-5442-a1ba-0af7fa90bbd5)