The Passenger By: Lisa Lutz

Plot:

From the author of the New York Times bestselling Spellman Files series, Lisa Lutz’s latest blistering thriller is about a woman who creates and sheds new identities as she crisscrosses the country to escape her past: you’ll want to buckle up for the ride!

In case you were wondering, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it…

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 today, 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…can she outrun her past? With heart-stopping escapes and devious deceptions, The Passenger is an amazing psychological thriller about defining yourself while you pursue your path to survival. One thing is certain: the ride will leave you breathless.

Review:

I really loved the first few books in the Spellman Files, enough that Lisa Lutz almost became a must buy for me. However, I read her book Head you Lose and honestly didn’t like it too much. After reading the last Spellman Files book and The Passenger I think I know why Lutz isn’t a must buy for me. Her characters are very loose and fast with their morals.

The main character, that has several names, is a victim and at first I felt sorry for her. Something had clearly gone wrong for her and it was bad and not her fault, but the more I got to know the character the more I didn’t care. She was just so stupid. Part of that was because she was a teenager when event first happened, and other things I’m not going to go too into, but the book happened like ten years later. How had she not gotten any smarter?

At one point the main character has someone hold her up and she thinks of them as a thief, at no point in her journey does she really acknowledge all the bad she’s done. She is constantly defending her actions and even talks about the guilt she feels, but it doesn’t change anything for her. She still keeps doing the wrong things. It’s annoying.

I was disappointed by the story and I thought the ending was anti-climactic. Also reading the book blurb now I realize it’s misleading and I assumed a lot from it. Oh well.

2/5