The Stranger Game

‘Intriguing, enigmatic literary thriller’ The Financial Times

’A unique premise, chillingly written and evocative’ Woman’s Own

‘An enigmatic novel . . . a metaphysical thriller’ Edmund White

‘Like the best of Highsmith and Hitchcock rolled into one’ Marisa Silver

Are you ready to play?

Rebecca’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, Ezra, has gone missing, but when she notifies the police, they seem surprisingly unconcerned. They suspect he has been playing the ‘stranger game,’ a viral hit in which players start following others in real life, as they might otherwise do on social media.

But as the game spreads, the rules begin to change, and disappearances are reported across the country.

Curious about this popular new obsession, and hoping that she might track down Ezra, Rebecca tries the game for herself. She also meets Carey, who is willing to take the game further than she imagined possible.

In playing the stranger game, what leads Rebecca closer to finding Ezra will take her further and further from the life she once lived . . .

A compulsive, inventive thriller for fans of The Girl Before, Little Deaths and The Book of Mirrors

Genre: Mystery

"If you've ever spent time people watching, or if you yourself have ever felt watched or followed, you'll see yourself in Peter Gadol's The Stranger Game--and it will unnerve you. This is the perfect novel for a world in which real human connection is so elusive." - Will Allison

"The Stranger Game is a gripping and nuanced novel that asks whom we trust and why. It is about being an insider and an outsider, about being watched and, finally being truly seen." - Ramona Ausubel

"'Following’ gets a whole new meaning in Peter Gadol’s stylish psychological thriller set in the future of the day-after-tomorrow. A moody, increasingly dangerous house of mirrors where the rules morph as his players become more obsessed with 'the stranger game'." - Janet Fitch

"Like the best Highsmith and Hitchcock rolled into one, The Stranger Game is a compulsively absorbing and thought-provoking triumph." - Marisa Silver

"The Stranger Game is a sharp-toothed commentary on the ways in which 'following' can foster a pretense of intimacy between strangers, and how the falsity of this intimacy—its utter lack of substance—often creates a perilous hunger for more: more access, more communion, more knowledge. It’s also a fun, moody, twisty thriller, with a sun-touched, West Coast vibe...as much Joan Didion as Patricia Highsmith." - Scott Smith

"Imagine a metaphysical thriller inspired by Patrick Modiano and illustrated by Giorgio Di Chirico and you’ll have an idea of this enigmatic novel, The Stranger Game." - Edmund White