‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ Liane Moriarty
Reading Time: 2 minutes 
Liane is a hugely successful Australian author of popular novels, that are unfairly derided by some as ‘mere chick-lit’. She has sold over 27 million books because she tells stories about issues with which we can all relate, and does so with great insight into the human psyche and behaviour.
I have looked forward to this latest novel as I knew it would provide escapist reading that I would devour in as few sittings as possible. To a large extent ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ has not disappointed.
It is the story of nine individuals who sign up for a 10 day treatment program at an exclusive and mysterious health resort. The story is told by the characters who take turns (chapters) to allow us to get to know them, and to move the story on from their perspective. I find that this writing technique creates much greater breadth and complexity than having the story narrated by a detached writer.
The first half of the 500 plus page book introduces us to the diverse group of guests as well as resort management and staff. It also illustrates the guests’ differing responses to the unorthodox program, disclosing a great deal more about the book’s characters.
To say too much about the second half of the book would spoil the surprises and unexpected twists in the plot, that Liane does so well. Suffice to say that drama, suspense and action come to the fore, but not at the expense of the incremental revelations through individual perspectives.
Unlike many other popular novels, no individual character in Liane’s books ends up being painted as either all good or all bad. Thus in later chapters a number of the characters that we had earlier come to dislike or suspect to have ill intent, we come to understand, if not embrace.
My only reservation about this novel is that in contrast to her earlier books, Liane appears to be less disciplined and consequently seems to overextend the winding up chapters, and to be self indulgent in the number of pages she devotes to the LSD induced hallucinatory conversations.
My little gripes aside, If you’re looking for some escapist reading by someone who writes beautifully on themes of general interest and is bound to have you hooked in no time, then Liane Moriarty’s current No 1 best seller ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ should fit the bill.
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